About
Prof Sumeet Mahajan is a Professor in Molecular Biophotonics & Imaging in Chemistry with a joint appointment in the Institute for Life Sciences at the University of Southampton. His group works at the life science interface. The overarching aim of the research in his group is to develop new spectroscopy and imaging techniques and apply them to extract chemical information from biological systems to understand biological phenomena and disease processes for early, faster or more sensitive diagnostics, monitoring and interventions.
Research
Research groups
Research interests
- New chemical biology methods based on Raman spectroscopy and label-free imaging
- Methodology and device development for commercialisation and clinical translation
- Neuro-diagnostics and early detection of dementia and neurodegenerative diseases
- Anti-microbial resistance (AMR)
- Environmental health and microplastic pollution
Current research
Research overview: The overarching aim of the research in my group is to develop new spectroscopy and imaging techniques and apply them to extract molecular, chemical and structural information from biological systems to understand disease processes and to develop early, faster or more sensitive healthcare diagnostics based on optical phenomena. The research in the group is highly inter-disciplinary and aims to push the boundaries of spectroscopy and microscopy techniques for high speed/sensitive and non-invasive, non-destructive and non-phototoxic label-free detection and imaging of chemicals, molecules and their assemblies. The key aspect of this fundamental research is to bring about a paradigm change towards better tools for healthcare diagnostics for early and faster detection and interventions through therapeutics or lifestyle changes.
Funding overview: Since 2010 we have been awarded funding exceeding 10 million pounds from external funding agencies (non-University) as lead PI focusing on:
- a) Excellence in science (ERC STG, EPSRC fellowship)
- b) Translating impact to bio-medical applications (EPSRC Transformative Healthcare 2050, Cancer Research UK, Alzheimer’s Research UK, Wessex Medical Research)
- c) Innovation (2x Impact Acceleration, 5x Industrial projects)
- d) Mentorship and training (1x JSPS, 1x Doctoral Prize, Many poster prizes, small grants, image competition prizes to ECRs)
I currently am the Southampton-lead for a £6.2M EPSRC Transformative Healthcare 2050 program to develop deep tissue imaging-based diagnostics. I also lead an EPSRC-BBSRC Prosperity Partnership to develop imaging platforms for quantitative biology and accelerating drug discovery.
Collaboration and group philosophy: We collaborate extensively locally, nationally and internationally. We work with groups at Tohuku University in Japan, the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras and Delhi and the University of Nottingham Malaysia, Inland Norway University (Hamar Campus) and several active collaborators across Europe. We work with collaborators across disease areas to translate techniques into biomedical research and ultimately into the clinic. My group also actively seeks commercialization of our technologies and works strongly with industry including AstraZeneca, M Squared Life and startups. Several of my students and postdoctoral fellows have secured faculty or industry leadership positions. We have a highly inclusive group and strongly believe in diversity being a strength, promoting a work culture that is respectful, equal, collaborative, and yet aspirational.
Publications summary: We have published 105+ journal articles (for a full list see: https://tinyurl.com/publns), 10+ conference proceeding papers, 50+ international/national conferences with 10+ Plenary and 20+ invited talks, 2 book chapters and 6 patents. Our publication track-record encompasses many interdisciplinary journals including:
- Physical Sciences (Photonics, Nanotechnology, Optics): Nature Nanotechnology, Advanced Materials, NanoLetters, ACS Nano, Nanoscale, Optics Express (IF 3.3) etc.
- Interdisciplinary research: Chemical Science, J American Chemical Society, Scientific Reports, ACS Chemical Neuroscience, Biomedical Optics Express etc.
- Life Sciences: eLife, Integrative Biology, Oncotarget etc.
Research projects
Active projects
Completed projects
Publications
Biography
Education and Professional experience
He has a diverse background and a range of professional experiences spanning disciplines which has shaped the current exciting interdisciplinary research activity in his group. He has published >105 peer reviewed publications, 6 patents and 2 book chapters.
He majored in Chemistry after an integrated natural sciences and engineering Masters degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur in 1998 and thereafter worked as a Scientist in Defence R&D Organization for 5 years developing analytical methods for environmental monitoring, process control and chemical sensors.
Subsequent to this industrial experience he did a Masters in Biomedical Engineering and worked on electrochemical conducting polymer sensors and actuators. His doctoral work was on electrodeposited nanostructures and their applications in optics and DNA detection with Prof. Phil Bartlett, FRS at the University of Southampton. As a postdoc he researched photonic applications of nanomaterials and nanospectroscopic techniques in the Nanophotonics Centre at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge with Prof. Jeremy Baumberg, FRS.
In 2010 after being awarded an EPSRC fellowship he setup his independent program in the area of ‘Biospectroscopy – spectroscopy inside living cells’ under the aegis of the ‘Physics of Medicine’ initiative at Cambridge. Since 2012 he leads his group at Southampton consisting of chemists, physicists, biologists and engineers conducting research at the interface of nanotechnology, spectroscopy, imaging and biomedicine. In 2015 he was awarded one of the prestigious European Research Council (ERC) grants to carry out frontier research on the development of next generation chemical imaging techniques for biomedical applications. In 2020, under his leadership Southampton was co-awarded an ambitious 5-year programme under EPSRC's Transformative Healthcare 2050 scheme for developing label-free chemical imaging approaches deep inside human tissues. He also leads a prestigious Prosperity Partnership award (2022-2027) funded by EPSRC and BBSRC and industrial partners (MSquared Life, Astra Zeneca and Dstl) to develop new chemical imaging technologies for 3D quantitative biology.
Prizes
- EPSRC Research Fellowship (2010)
- ERC Starting Grant (2015)
- Ronald Belcher Memorial Lectureship - Royal Society of Chemistry (2008)