Metamaterials for healthcare and biomedical applications

From antibiotic therapy and targeted drug delivery to cancer detection and novel microscopy techniques

Modern society continues to face serious challenges in the healthcare and biotechnology sector, such as antibiotic resistance, cancer, and severe side effects of drug treatments. Metamaterials can address these challenges, using cross-disciplinary research expertise in hydrodynamics, microfluidics, mechanics, spectroscopy, electromagnetism, and (THz) imaging.

For example, we study

• how the fundamental diversity in the capability to take up molecules in bacteria can help us develop guidelines for the optimisation of antibiotic therapy in killing infecting bacteria;
• how magnetic metamaterials can help us create microscopic machines that would be able to mimic micro-organisms which could revolutionise a range of practices used in medicine and biotechnology (e.g. targeted drug delivery);
• how we can advance the development and applications of Brillouin microscopy as a novel optical technique within biophotonics and the clinical environment;
• how to use THz imaging to quickly take accurate high resolution images of breast tissue in the operating theatre, showing the exact boundaries where healthy and cancerous tissue meet, should greatly enhance the accuracy of breast cancer surgery and reduce the need for repeat procedures;
• how to develop sensor systems that enable detection and analysis of molecules on miniature devices ('lab on a chip');
• the fundamental physics of acoustic, thermal and electrical transport both within materials and across interfaces between materials to investigate the ways in which these properties are used in biological systems, including biomimetics, thermoregulation in insects and electrical signalling in plants and animals;
• the development of textile-based wearable electronics as an emerging technology with potential to enable the imperceptible integration of electronics with the human body.
  

If you have any questions or ideas to explore, don't hesitate to get in touch: metamaterials@exeter.ac.uk.