Past Members and Visitors

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	Nan Ma graduated from the Beijing University of Technology (China), with a BSc in Applied Physics, and went on to obtain his MSc and MPhil from the University of Manchester in Laser Photonics & Modern Optics and Analytical Science respectively. His MPhil work involved using optical tweezers and AFM to study the mechanical properties of prostate cancer cells. He joined the group in fall 2007 to work on his PhD on the subject of photoporation. In March 2012 he moved to University of Surray as a post doctoral researcher.
	Anna Chiara De Luca graduated from the University of Napoli “Federico II” (Italy) with a diploma in Physics (cum laude) in 2004. She then stayed at the University of Napoli for a further four years as a PhD student in the “Laser spectroscopy and optical manipulation” group leaded by Prof. Antonio Sasso. She defended her PhD thesis in December 2008. Her PhD experimental research has been focused on the investigation of novel applications of optical tweezers and Raman spectroscopy for probing microscopic systems including living cells. Anna Chiara has joined the group in January 2009 working on Raman Spectroscopy for Medical Diagnosis. In February 2012 she moved back to Italy to take up a post-doc position.
	Rob Marchington was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Optical Manipulation Group of St Andrews. Rob's primary research focused on the combination of lab-on-a-chip microfluidic systems with biophotonic techniques. In October 2011 he left the group to work as a senior engineer in Cambridge consultants.
	Hana Cizmarova (M.D.) received her degree in General Medicine in 2004 at Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic, and performed her subsequent residency at St Anne’s University Hospital in Brno. She is currently working as a medical liaison between the schools of physics, medicine, and biology. In 2011 she left the group to complete her internship period as medical doctor.
	Elisabetta Canetta graduated from the Department of Physics of the Universita’ di Bologna (Italy) with an MPhys in Theoretical Nuclear Physics. She then moved to the Universite’ Joseph Fourier, Grenoble (France) and obtained a PhD in Experimental Biophysics in 2004. In 2004, she joined the University of Abertay Dundee (Scotland) as a Post Doctoral Research Assistant where she worked with Dr. Ashok Adya on the investigation of the biomechanical and structural properties of biological systems by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), photonic microscopy, and neutron scattering techniques. In 2007, she joined the Department of Physics of the University of Surrey (England) as a Post Doctoral Research Fellow (PDRF) where she worked with Prof. Joseph Keddie on the study of the mechanical and structural properties of nanocomposite polymers by AFM, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Profiling, Differential Scanning Calorimetry, Macro-mechanical analysis, and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy. Dr. Canetta joined the Optical Trapping Group as PDRF in June 2009 working on the development of advanced Raman spectroscopy methods for the discrimination of normal and neoplastic cells and tissues. In June 2011 she has moved to Cardiff.
	Andrew McKinley graduated from Imperial College London in 2003 with a BSc in Chemistry. He continued his studies in Newcastle, completing an MSc in Chemistry in 2004 and continuing into a PhD, completed in 2008. His researchfocussed on the photophysical behaviour of "light-switch" ruthenium complexes as a function of solvent environment, and their application as agents inphotoinduced electron transfer processes upon binding to nucleic acids. Andrew has joined the group as a Science Communicator and is working full time on a public engagement grant entitled "Seeing Life Through a New Light", demonstrating the wide and varied applications of photonics in biomedical sciences and healthcare. Currently he is a teaching fellow at Imperial college.
	David Stevenson graduated from the University of Georgia (USA), with a BSc in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, and went on to obtain his PhD from the University of Strathclyde (Scotland) in Bioengineering. He worked as a postdoc in the Optical Trapping Group from 2004-2011. His research interests include photoporation, laser guided neuron growth, cell patterning by optical micromanipulation, and a variety of other biophotonics projects. In 2011, he became a business devlopment manager for the University of St Andrews.
	Xanthi Tsampoula received an MSc in Photonics and Optoelectronic Devices with distinction in September 2005 and her PhD in September 2009, both from the University of St Andrews. She was in the Optical Trapping Group until March 2011 as part of the Biophotonics Workstation grant.Xanthi has worked on femtosecond cellular transfection using novel light beams such as Bessel beams as well as optical fiber based techniques.
	Joerg Baumgartl graduated from the University of Konstanz (Germany) with a diploma in physics. He then moved to the University of Stuttgart to obtain a PhD in physics. Joerg was in the group from January 2008 until December of 2010, working on colloidal manipulation with electrical fields and advanced laser beams.
	Tomas Cizmar joined our Group working on 2-D optical binding with evanescent traps and multiple beam optical trapping systems. He previously worked in ISI - Brno, Czech Rep to obtain a PhD in optical micromanipulation with non-diffracting beams.
	Prof. Gang Wang received his Ph.D. degree in Physics from Northwestern University (USA) in 2003 working on nonlinear optical materials. He then joined the faculty of Indiana University Purdue University at Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA. The recent research in his group involves optical trapping and wavefront engineering with evanescent waves or multibeams, thermodynamics of defects trapped in optical vertices, and fluidics at liquid interfaces using optical approaches. He joined the group at St Andrews in August, 2010 on his sabbatical leave.
	Jill Morris completed a Masters degree in Physics at the University of St Andrews in 2005. The following year she obtained a Masters in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She returned to St Andrews and completed her PhD in 2010, investigating supercontinuum optical micromanipulation and novel beam shapes.
	Yuanjie Yang received his PhD from Department of Optoelectronic Science and Technology, Sichuan University (China) in 2008. After that he worked as a lecturer at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. Dr Yang joined the Group as an Academic Visitor in September 2009 and left in 2010. He His current research interest includes the propagation and transformation of laser beams, optical vortices and optical forces on microscopic particles.
	Douglas McRobbie is from Denny in Central Scotland. He graduated in 2003 from St Andrews University with a BSc Joint Honours in Maths and Physics. In 2004 he went on to obtain an MSc in Photonics and Optoelectronic Devices (with distinction) from Heriot Watt and St-Andrews universities. He joined the Microphotonics and Ultrashort Pulse laser groups in September 2004 to study for a PhD. He completed his PhD thesis entitled Novel semiconductor based light sources in 2008. He then joined the optical trapping group to undertake a postdoctoral fellowship position in collaboration with the St Andrews University Microphotonics group. The focus of this new research concerns novel, integrated microfludic optical traps for lab-on-a-chip applications such as optical sorting and spectroscopy of biological tissue.
	Maria Dienerowitz graduated from the Universität Karlsruhe(TH) in 2005 with a Diplom in Physics (with distinction). During her last year of graduate studies she spent some time at the University of Central Florida in Orlando writing her final thesis about negative refraction and metamaterials. Maria received her PhD in 2010 in collaboration with the Microphotonics and Photonic Crystal Group at St Andrews University. Her research interests include plasmonic excitations in metal nanoparticles and their optical trapping properties. Maria is currently working as a postdoc in the Optics Group at the University of Glasgow.	This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
	David Carnegie is expected to receive his PhD in 2010. He is currently working as a KTP Associate at the University of Dundee on the development of compact sources of terahertz radiation for medical imaging.	This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
	Patience Mthunzi received her MSc Degree in Biochemistry from the Rand Afrikaans University in Johannesburg, South Africa. She holds an industrial position at the National Laser Centre (CSIR) in Pretoria, South Africa. She finished her PhD in the Optical Trapping Group as part of the Biophotonics Collaboration. Her research involved optical cell sorting as well as optical cell transfection where foreign genetic matter is introduced to various whole cells (including stem cells) or their subcellular regions.
	Woei Ming "Steve" Lee graduated from the Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) with a B.Eng (electronics) in 2002. He worked in the photonics research industry in Singapore before he joined the St Andrews Optical Trapping Group in 2006 as a research assistant. He completed his PhD and postdoctoral training in 2009 with the group, which included collaborative work with Prof. Ewan Wright at University of Arizona. He was involved in a number of studies: techniques in optical nanomanipulation, optical force spectroscopy, advanced microscopy imaging (CLSM, OCT, SPIM & DHM), techniques in interferometric metrology (wavefront analysis), optical cell sorting, nanoscale cell hyperthermia and nonlinear colloidal nanophotonics. He will be pursuing postdoctoral training in Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital (USA) in biomedical imaging techniques from 2010 onwards.
	Rhodri Morris is from south Wales and is currently an undergraduate at the University of St Andrews studying for an MPhys (Hons) in Physics, which he will complete in May 2010. He has a keen interest in laser and medical physics, and had a summer project in the Optical Trapping Group on a biophotonics project. A discovery during the course of his work led to the later development within the group of a single cell in situ assay technique, highlighted in Figure 3 of Brown et al 2008 and on the biophotonics collaboration website.
	Daniel Rhodes got his PhD from the group in 2005.
	David Gherardi got his PhD from the group in 2009.
	Toni Carruthers is a postdoc working in our group after completing her PhD in 2005 here at St Andrews. Her main interests are optical micro-manipulation techniques and blue laser diode applications. Currently, Toni is working on supercontinuum studies, experiments with turbulent media and Raman Spectroscopy.
	Claire Patterson graduated from the University of Glasgow in 2004 with an MSci in Maths and Physics. She then stayed at the University of Glasgow for a further three years as a PhD student in the Optics group, and is now in the last stage of thesis writing. Her research area was the breath analysis of ethane using laser spectroscopy for potential healthcare applications. She has recently joined the group as a Science Communicator and is working full-time on a public engagement grant. The project is entitled ‘Seeing Life through a new Light’ and involves engaging the public with the applications of photonics in healthcare.. Top
	Janelle Shane recently received her undergraduate degree in electrical engineering at Michigan State University, where her research focus was on shaping femtosecond laser pulses. She joined the group in fall 2007 and researched applications of pulse shaping and dispersion compensation in trapping and photoporation. She is pursuing an MPhil degree, funded by a National Science Foundation fellowship.

	Phillip Jess has recently completed his PhD with the group on Raman Spectroscopy and is currently working as a postdoc in the same area. He was a finalist in the Channel 4 Fame Lab contest. University News article. He will be joining Liphardt Lab.	prtj(at)st-andrews.ac.uk ext 1654
	Dr Michael MacDonald gained a BSc in Laser Physics and Optoelectronics from Strathclyde University in 1996 before moving to Berne University where he did a MSc (1996) and a PhD (2000) specialising in high power solid state lasers. He has worked as a Research Fellow in the Optical Trapping Group since 2000. His research interests include, optical tweezing, biological applications of optical manipulation and solid state laser systems. From Jan 2005 Mike is an EPSRC Advanced Fellow. He has recently moved to the University of Dundee	weblink ext 1653
	Dr N. K. Metzger has worked on dual beam fibre trapping and studies on optically bound arrays of particles. He has completed his PhD in 2007 and is currently working in the Ultrafast laser group here in St Andrews as a Postdoctoral researcher	nkm2(at)st-andrews.ac.uk weblink
	Dr Peter J. Reece is working in areas of surface enhance optical traps, optical soliton formation and cell growth. He is from Sdyney, Australia and has worked with the group since 2005. He has left the group to pursue a Vice-Chancellor's Fellowship in November 2007 at the University of New South Wales,Sydney , Australia.	weblink
	Dr David McGloin graduated with a MSci in Laser Physics and Optoelectronics from the University of St Andrews in 1997, before completing a PhD in Electromagnetically Induced Transparency, also at St Andrews, in 2000. After a spell with Dstl at Fort Halstead he now primarily works on a range of topics related to optical manipulation of particles and atoms as well as the properties of light beams. From October 2003 David is a Royal Society University Research Fellow. He has since moved to the University of Dundee heading the Applied Micromanipulation Group.	weblink
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	Professor Taguichi Kozo is a visiting professor from University Ritsumeikan in Kyoto. He is known to have pioneered the first single taper fiber optical trap. He has left the group after a one year Visiting Fellowship with us.	taguchi(at)se.ritsumei.ac.jp
	Dr Pascal Fischer obtained his MSci in Physics in April 2000 and his PhD in April 2003 on "Non ablative laser beam interaction with materials", both from the University of Bern in Switzerland. He entered the University of St Andrews in October 2004 as a Research Fellow after having received a fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation.Pascal worked in the field of white light radiation interaction with matter, which is funded by the EPSRC. He has left the group to pursue work in industry back in Switzerland	Email Contact
	Dr. Graham Milne received his MPhys in Physics from the University of Edinburgh. He completed his PhD with the group in 2007, during which he studied the interactions of Brownian particles with optical landscapes along with new techniques for optical sorting. He now works for [Daniel Chiu's group] (https://depts.washington.edu/chiugrp/index.html) at the University of Washignton. He is the authour of our LabVIEW particle tracking software, which he continues to maintain. It is freely availlable from his [website] (link to http://faculty.washington.edu/gmilne/tracker.htm).	Email Contact
	Mr. Michael Summers has both an undergraduate and MSc degree from the University of St. Andrews. Previously he did both his honours project and a summer project with the group and is now in the second year of his PhD. He is studying the optical manipulation of aerosols in air and on surfaces.He is in the final year of his PhD studies. He works in the Applied Micromanipulation Group.	weblink

	Mr. Daniel Burnham recently completed his MSci in Physics at Durham University and is now in the first year of his PhD working on the applications of holographic beam shaping in aersol tweezing and biophotonics. He is currently in his 2nd year of his PhD studies. He works in the Applied Micromanipulation Group.	weblink drb9(at)st-andrews.ac.uk ext 1619

	Mr. Daniel Rudd recently completed his MSci in Physics at Durham University and has joined the group to work on a PhD in optically enabled digital microfluidics. He is currently in his 2nd year of his PhD studies. He works in the Applied Micromanipulation Group.	weblink dr224(at)st-andrews.ac.uk ext 1619

	Dr Ian Cormack works in the biophotonics area on Raman spectroscopy, cell photoporation and neuronal growth studies. He obtain his PhD with the St Andrews Ultrafast Group and completed his Postdoctoral Studies in ICFO, Spain. He has now moved onto Coherence Inc (Glasgow).	EMAIL CONTACT
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	Dr Igor Andreev is working on the commercial development of an optical sorting system.	EMAIL CONTACT
	Dr Lynn Paterson obtained a BSc in Molecular Biology from Glasgow University in 1999. She then made the bold leap across to Physics where she very successfully studies novel optical rotators and biological applications of optical tweezers - in particular the generation of FISH (fluorescent in situ hybridisation) chromosome probes in collaboration with Dr Peter Bryant in the Bute Medical School. After obtaining her PhD in early 2004 she started work as a PDRA on a project looking at the optical signatures of cancer cells. She has moved to Heriott-Watt with an advanced fellowship in June.	weblink
	Dr Veneranda Garces-Chavez received her MSc degree in Optics from the Centre of Research and Higher Education of Ensenada (CICESE), Baja California, México. She also worked there as Research Assistant on analysis of ferroelectric domain structures in BaTiO3 in the group of Lasers and Nonlinear Optics. She moved to the "Institut d'Optique, Université de Paris XI", Orsay, France where she did her Ph. D. working in the development of a chirped-pulse amplifier in the femtosecond regime for studies of nonlinear optical properties of high critical-temperature superconductor films using time-resolved femtosecond spectroscopy. She has worked as a research fellow in the Optical Trapping Group since 2001-2007. She is currently working with Dr. Elliot Botvinick in the Beckmen Laser UC Irvine.	EMAIL CONTACT
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	Dr Ben Agate recent interests have included highly compact, portable femtosecond lasers, pumped with single narrow-stripe red laser diodes. Such investigations have involved novel prismless dispersion-compensating schemes and highly efficient second-harmonic generation (SHG) within high-performance, miniature femtosecond sources. He has move to Photonics Solutions.	EMAIL CONTACT
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	DrJohn Livesey received his BSc degree in Physics from the University of St. Andrews in 1999. He then took an MSc in Optoelectronics and Photonic Devices held jointly at Heriot Watt and St. Andrews University. His industrial placement took him to Sharp Labs Europe studying electrical properties of InGaAlP VCSEL semiconductor mirrors. He has currently completed his PhD and is now working in the petroleum industry as well as film industry.	EMAIL CONTACT
	Dr Carlos López-Mariscal has a BSc degree in Phyics Engineering and a MSc degree in Optical Engineering both from Tecnologico de Monterrey. He has joined the group for a research stay and will be working on optical manipulation techniques, novel light beams, angular momentum, 4-wave mixing and white light studies. His previous stay is funded by the Research Chair in Optics and the Photonics and Mathematical Optics Group in Monterrey.	EMAIL CONTACT
	Dr Hannah Melville graduated with a MSci in Physics with Photonics from the University of St. Andrews in 2002. She has completed her PhD in 2005, studying atom guiding and novel light beams and their application to optical tweezing.	EMAIL CONTACT
	Dr Paul Prentice used to split his time between here and Ninewells Hospital. He is working on optical tweezing and its application to sonoporation. Paul is now a postdoc at Dundee University	EMAIL CONTACT
	DrTanya Lake graduated in 1996, with a BSc in Laser Physics and Optoelectronics from the University of St. Andrews. In 1998, she obtained an MSc in Optoelectronics and Laser Devices from Heriot-Watt University, before completing a PhD in single-frequency miniature solid-state lasers, also at St. Andrews, in 2002. She now primarily works on the applications of blue and violet diode lasers. Her research interests include: Sum frequency generation, laser spectroscopy, optical tweezing and solid-state lasers. Tanya left to work for Edinburgh Instruments	EMAIL CONTACT
	Helen has now finished her PhD and has left the group. She worked with both our group and Wilson Sibbett's group studying femtosecond lasers and their applications.	EMAIL CONTACT
	Hitesh Jaising is currently a PhD student at the University of Tromso in Norway (the world's northern most university) where he works on integrated optics. He joined our group for a year (2003) and studied evanescent wave optical tweezing.	EMAIL CONTACT
	Prof. Gabe Spaldingworked in the group on a year's (2002 - 2003) sabatical from Illinois Wesleyan University. He spent his time with us working on a number of topics related to advanced optical tweezers, including the use of holographic elements to generate novel optical landscapes. Gabe has now returned to Illinois Wesleyan.	gspalding(at)titan.iwu.edu
	Dr Svetlana Tatarkova worked on applications of Bessel beaming, looking at Bessel beam guiding of particles and also optically bound matter. She also worked on studies of Brownian motion of particles in optical potentials.	EMAIL CONTACT
	Dr Jochen Arlt did his PhD at St. Andrews University, supervised by Prof. Miles Padgett and Dr. Kishan Dholakia, studying novel laser beams and their applications. He continued his work at postdoctoral level before moving to the COSMIC centre at the University of Edinburgh to take up a fellowship carrying out research into optical tweezing for biological applications. He is currently a academic staff in the University of Reading.	j.arlt (a)reading.ac.uk
	Dr Richard Conroy did his PhD on microchip lasers in Bruce Sinclair's group here at St. Andrews University. He spent time as a post-doc in both Miles Padgett's group and working on laser diode systems and atom trapping in our group. He then moved to the University of Konstanz, working on OPO devices for high resolution spectroscopy in Stefan Schiller's group, before moving to Harvard to work on atom-chips with Mara Prentiss	MAIL CONTACT
	Dr Gavin Lancaster did his PhD on studies on laser diode systems and cold atoms. After completion of his PhD in 2001 he moved to the Innsbruck University to work in Rainer Blatt's group. He now works on laser cooling of ions.	EMAIL CONTACT
	Mark Clifford worked on atom trapping and laser diode systems	EMAIL CONTACT