Andrew James deMello (born 1970 in

Kingsbury Kingsbury may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Kingsbury, London, a district of northwest London in the borough of Brent ** Kingsbury tube station, London Underground station * Kingsbury, Warwickshire, a village and civil parish in Warwickshi ...

, United Kingdom) is a British chemist and Professor of Biochemical Engineering at

ETH Zürich (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , ac ...

(Swiss Federal Institute of Technology).

Education

deMello was born in London, and spent his formative years in Harrow, attending the

John Lyon School ("May the fortune of the house stand") , established = 1876 , closed = , type = Public School Independent Day School , religion = , president = , head_ ...

. He was awarded an entrance scholarship to

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

in 1988, subsequently obtaining a first-class bachelor's degree in Chemistry in 1991 and a PhD in Molecular Photophysics in 1995 (for research supervised by Dr. Garry Rumbles).

Career

On completion of his graduate studies, deMello took up a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Chemistry at the

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...

. Working under the supervision of Professor Richard A. Mathies, he began to develop microfluidic systems for biological analysis, and in 1995 co-authored the first report of system for rapid and integrated DNA analysis within a silicon/glass microfluidic chip. In 1996, he was appointed as a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Physical Chemistry at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

, and in 1997 moved back to his alma mater to take up the AstraZeneca Lectureship in Analytical Sciences at Imperial College London. In 2003, at the age of 33, deMello became Professor of Chemical Nanosciences and between 2007 and 2011 headed Nanostructured Materials & Devices Section within the Department of Chemistry. In 2011, he was appointed to the Chair of Biochemical Engineering within the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences at

, and served as the Chair of the Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering from 2014 to 2016 and 2018 to 2020.

Research contributions

deMello has made scientific contributions in diverse areas, but is best known for his work in the fields of

microfluidics Microfluidics refers to the behavior, precise control, and manipulation of fluids that are geometrically constrained to a small scale (typically sub-millimeter) at which surface forces dominate volumetric forces. It is a multidisciplinary field tha ...

nanotechnology Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal o ...

bioanalytical chemistry Bioanalysis is a sub-discipline of analytical chemistry covering the quantitative measurement of xenobiotics (drugs and their metabolites, and biological molecules in unnatural locations or concentrations) and biotics (macromolecules, proteins, ...

and

Optical Spectroscopy Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets the electromagnetic spectra that result from the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and matter as a function of the wavelength or frequency of the radiation. Matter wav ...

, having published over 300 papers in the peer-reviewed literature. His group has pioneered the use of microfluidic systems for small molecule chemistry and nanomaterial synthesis, and in recent years has been at the forefront of developments in droplet-based microfluidics for ultra-high-throughput biological experimentation. A key theme of deMello's research has been the development of ultra-high sensitivity detection methods for use in microfluidic and nanofluidic environments. Highlights in this large body of work include the development of fluorescence lifetime imaging methods, the application of high sensitivity vibrational spectroscopies to small volume analysis and the development integrated optics for point-of-care diagnostic technologies. More recently, his group have introduced the technique of stroboscopic imaging flow cytometry, which allows for high resolution imaging of biological cells at throughputs in excess of 100,000 cells per second.

Honours and awards

deMello is the recipient of the SAC Silver Medal (2002) and Corday Morgan Medal (2009) from the Royal Society of Chemistry. In 2009, deMello was awarded the Clifford Paterson Medal from the Royal Society of Great Britain in recognition of his achievements in the fields of nanotechnology and bioanalytical science, and in 2012 was awarded the Pioneers of Miniaturisation Award for his "outstanding achievements and significant contributions to the understanding and advancement of micro- and nano-scale science". He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society (professional association) in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Ro ...

in 2004 and was awarded the 2020 Advances in Measurement Science Lectureship by the American Chemical Society. He was the winner of Simon-Widmer Award and a speaker of

Mendel Lectures The Mendel Lectures is a series of lectures given by the world's top scientists in genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry, microbiology, medicine and related areas which has been held in the refectory of the Augustian Abbey of St. Thomas in Br ...

in 2021.

Personal life

deMello lives in Zürich with his wife Samantha and two children. His brother is experimental physicist

John deMello John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

, who is Professor of Nanomaterials in the Department of Chemistry at Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

References

External links

Prof. Dr. Andrew deMello, Person Detail
– Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences – ETH Zurich
deMello Group Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:deMello, Andrew 1970 births Living people People educated at The John Lyon School Alumni of Imperial College London Academics of the University of East Anglia British chemists Academic staff of ETH Zurich