meLAB News 2025
December 2025
To end a very sucessful year…
As we close out 2025, we wrap up and celebrate our exceptional achievements and express public gratitude for meLAB Team outstanding contributions.
This year, we’ve reinforced meLAB’s reputation as a world-leading microelectronics research group. With over 200 peer-reviewed publications in top-tier journals, your research continues to shape the future of medical electronics, neurotechnology, and smart materials. In 2025 alone, we’ve published works across ACS Nano, IEEE Trans Magnetics, IEEE Trans Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Engineering Materials, Advanced Materials Technologies, Advanced Science, ACS Applied Bio Materials, among others, testament to the calibre of your innovation. Beyond publications, our successful spinouts, Neuranics, Neurobite and Kelvin Quantum, demonstrate the transformative potential of our research in TMR sensors, neural interfaces and cryoelectronics.
What a year! We had 5 PhD graduates this year, Mahdieh, Jane, Maria, Changhao, Mohamed… with many more due to join them in 2026.
As we step into 2026, our ambition is to sustain such success which is strongly supported by the depth of our expertise and our strong culture of collaboration. We would like to thank the entire team for their commitment to pushing the boundaries of microelectronics design, fabrication, and experimental innovation.
See you in the New Year!
Congratulations!
For the final month of year 2 beautiful images made the cover of international scientific journals!
The Beautiful cover art below illustrates the innovative research by our own (Judy)Jungang Zhang and co-authors, reported in this week’s ACS Nano (from ACS Publications). It depicts the laser-welding post-process, where fused nanowire junctions enhance electrical conductivity and optical transmittance. The article describes how “interfacial dielectrophoresis achieves full-degree nanowire alignment for manufacturing ultrathin, flexible, and transparent films with applications in electromagnetic interference shielding and advanced nanowire-based electronics.” Read all about it now: https://lnkd.in/e8GjfVqk Venkatarao Selamneni Yalagala Bhavani Prasad Ben King Jiaoran Wang Luvsanbat Khurelbaatar Dr Carlos Garcia Nuñez Mahmoud Wagih Morteza Amjadi Hadi Heidari.
Also, our own YalagalaBhavani Prasad had a featured Cover Art for his manuscript ‘Lab to Fab Process Using Ablation Lasers: A Lightweight Flexible, and Biocompatible Microheater for Wearable Therapy Applications’ (10.1021/acsabm.5c01263) was published in ACS Applied Bio Materials from ACS Publications. He and co-authors Tala Masalehdan, Changhao Ge, John Mercer PhD, Morteza Amjadi, and Hadi Heidari describe a unique laser-based approach for accelerated wound healing using smart bandages. A large area, precision, and scalable fabrication methodology is proposed using an ultraviolet (UV)-based ablation laser as compared to conventional fabrication methods such as photolithography or printing. Demonstrating excellent robustness and biocompatibility, it paves the pathway for the fabrication of next-generation wearable and implantable biointegrated flexible microheater devices toward advanced thermal therapy solutions.
November 2025
Movember fundraising fun for a great cause raises £300 and counting…
The men of meLAB willingly (for the most part) shaved their faces clean then set about growing their moutstaches out to raise money in support of causes that improve men’s health – primarily those suffering from prostate and testicular cancer, but also those with mental health issues. The event is an annual intiative from charitable organisation Movember and funds are distributed worldwide between a large number of worthwhile programmes to combat the fact that “Men are dying on average 4.5 years earlier than women, and for largely preventable reasons.”
The total raised by the meLAB team – led by Research Technologist Dr. João Valente, is (to date) an impressive £300.00! Even though November is gone, along with (most) of the moustaches, you are still able to donate here: Movember – Team
Patrick Millar at launch of UofG Partnership PhD Programme
PhD student Patrick Millar was happy to join the first cohort of UofG’s ‘Partnership PhD Programme’ – an initiative designed to bring together academic research and real-world industrial innovation. He met with the programme’s other students on campus for 3 full days of training, discussion, and collaboration. Huge thanks to the College of Science and Engineering Graduate School, University of Glasgow team for organising the inspiring welcome.
Working within meLAB, alongside industrial partner Helia Photonics Ltd, Patrick is designing and fabricating bio-inspired “motheye” anti-reflective surface structures – functioning as an effective refractive-index gradient to minimise Fresnel reflection over broad wavelengths and incidence angles. This will involve the use of computational FDTD methods and the excellent fabrication tools at James Watt Nanofabrication Centre. His work sits at the intersection of physics, photonics, and computational modelling and contributes to both academic understanding and industrial impact.
Thanks to supervisors Dr Carlos Garcia Nuñez, Dr Douglas J Paul, Dr Caspar Clark, and of course, Prof. Muhammad Ali Imran (HoS at James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow) for providing Patrick with the opportunity to be part of this programme’s super talented cohort!
August 2025
PhD workshop with Imperial College London
In August, we were privileged to host visitors from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Imperial College London, holding a joint PhD Workshop at the University of Glasgow Advanced Research Centre, and giving them a tour of our state-of-the-art labs and facilities.
PGRs from Imperial’s ‘Optical and Semiconductor Devices Research Group’ and James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow (meLAB; the Biomedical Soft Robotics Group; the Sustainable Electronics Lab, and the Green RF-Enabled Electronics Lab) came together to share their highly diverse and cutting-edge research, stimulating new ideas and generating much discussion. Also present was Dr Mayue Shi, a visiting researcher at Imperial, ordinarily based at Oxford.
Talks from meLAB members were:
Jiaoran Wang – Development of compact, low-power, and reconfigurable simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) for wearable and implantable device
Laura Mazón Maldonado – Introduction to ME antennas for brain-implantable devices
Dr Negin Ghahremani Arekhloo MD (meLAB and NEURANICS) – Clinical Biomagnetism Using Quantum Magnetic Sensors
Katie Wilkie – (meLAB / FUSE CDT) – Simulating Auxetics Structures for Transducers
Guests were also given a tour of meLAB’s many labs and facilities, the JWSE Sustainable Electronics Lab, and facilities in the Rankine building including the Centre for Advanced Electronics. Colleagues supporting included Dr Mamoud Wagih, Professor Jeff Kettle, Dr Mahdieh Shojaei Bhagini, Dr Kathleen Menzies, and PhD students from other JWSE research groups, including Nikolas Bruce of the Green RF-Enabled Electronics Lab.
July
Graduation Party
July saw several meLAB members gain their doctorates at the Summer Graduation ceremony for the College of Science and Engineering at University of Glasgow. Degrees were conferred in magnificent Bute Hall before celebrations continued in the historic quadrangle.
Congratulations to our new doctors:
Dr Mahdieh Shojaei Baghini
Dr Maria Cerezo Sanchez
Dr Mostafa Elsayed
and to those who successfully gained Masters degrees in advance of commencing PhD study:
Danial Kiamarsi
Tala Masalehdan
With huge thanks as always to their expert academic supervisors, including Prof. Hadi Heidari and Dr. Carlos Garcia Nunez.
June
RAEng Fellowship for Dr Maria Cerezo Sanchez
Congratulations to Dr Maria Cerezo Sanchez on being awarded a Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Fellowship! This is a proud moment for NEUROBITE and a major milestone in her inspirational journey.
As the Academy noted of Sanchez and her cohort of 9, these “remarkable researchers and innovators are embarking on a journey to transform groundbreaking innovation into impactful ventures. Their projects span diverse technologies and reflect emerging trends in the UK’s innovation landscape.”
They will help her scale and commercialise a biodegradable neural implant that provides temporary recording and electrical stimulation to the brain to aid recovery after stroke.
Well done Maria for continually inspiring and setting the bar high for young, female engineering researchers – and engineering students in general!
April Roundup
Prof. Heidari’s trip to South Korea with the DSIT
Neuranics CTO, Hadi Heidari visited South Korea as part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) Semiconductor Delegation. During his visit, he met with Colin Crooks LVO, British Ambassador to the Republic of Korea.
As part of the delegation, he engaged in key discussions on semiconductor innovation and collaboration, exploring opportunities for Neuranics to contribute to the evolving semiconductor landscape in South Korea. With our pioneering TMR magnetic sensing solutions, we’re excited to connect with new partners and drive innovation in wearables, digital health, and XR.
Kelvin Quantum team at NQCC 2025
Dr Stavroula Kapoulea presented on the CryoCMOS quantum research activities on which she leads at the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) Scalability Conference 2025. The day also featured poster presentations from Dr Kapoulea’s colleagues and business partners Mostafa Elsayed and Robert Graham of Kelvin Quantum.
Kelvin Quantum is an increasingly successful startup developing circuits and systems operating at ultra-low temperatures and attracting interest from funding agencies and industry alike.
Founded by Prof. Hadi Heidari with Prof. Martin Weides as Chief Science Officer, Robert Graham serves as CEO while Stavroula is co-founder and Chief Operating Offier (COO). Mostafa acts as Chief Technology Officer (CTO).
