Zhugen Yang Group
Advanced Sensors for Water-Environment-Health at Cranfield
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2023

January 2022
  • Cranfield will host the 6th International conference on Testing the Water (TTW) 6 in Oxford June 26-27, 2023, following last one TTW5 in Queensland, Australia 2021.​

2022

December 2022
  • We now have the PhD opening to start in 2023, with the topic of biosensors and artificial cell for biocomputing.  
 
  • Dr Yang receive the funding from Leverhulme Trust Research Leadership Awards on #Sensing #Wastewater, which is a 5-year program to support 3 PDRAs & 2 PhD students - stay tuned for job openings soon. Thanks for the team and collaborators' support.
 
  • We welcome a new visiting academic Dr Fanyu Meng from Harbin Medical School, who will stay with us for 12 months to carry out the research on bioelectrochemistry. 
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November 2022
  • Our proposal on biocomputing has been funded by BiotBit International programme and we have on Postdoc and PhD studentship to open in the field of microfluidic, artificial cells and biocomputing. 

October 2022
  • Four PhD student in our group presented at EBNet ECR workshop and had lots of fan. 
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  • The Royal Academy of Engineering has featured our work for STEM, in particular briefing Wenliang's work. 
September 2022
  • Yuanye submitted her thesis on saliva diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 on paper-based platform - well done. ​  
 
  • We had an annual project meeting funded by RAEng follow-up scheme with PhD students and SAB, from world-leading AMR expertises Dr Andrew Singer (UKCEH) and Prof Yong-Guan Zhu (IUE-CAS).  
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July 2022
  • Dr Yang will be promoted to be Senior Lecturer from October 2022. 
 
  • Yuwei has finished her PhD project on environmental sensors for water detection - she relocated to Cranfield with The Yang group from Glasgow and spent over two years in Cranfield for sensors development. 

June 2022
  • Karina has completed her MSc by Research after a 12 month research project on new variant detection, and she is moving to UK Bio centre for a consultancy job at MK - well done.  

May 2022
  • Origami-paper device for SARS-CoV-2 detection has been displayed in London Science Museum.
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  • We have Sheriffa to join our group for a MSc thesis project to develop rapid sensors for total coliform detection in water

March 2022
  • Dr Yang gave an invited talk at ACS spring meeting 2022, as part of James J Morgan award. 

January 2022
  • Our three PhD students talk about the choice of accommodation (Location!!!) around Cranfield University.


2021
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October 2021
  • Dr Yang wins James J Morgan ES&T Early Career Award- Honorable Mention, ACS. He will be giving an invited talk at ACS Spring meeting in 2022, San Diego, CA and contribute a paper to ES&T. 

  • Congratulations to Yuwei on the overall best poster award from international conference of TTW5, Queensland, Australia 2021.  

September 2021
  • Yuanye joins the group as a MSc by research (12 month research-intensive work) to develop POCT devices. 

July 2021
  • Our paper-origami device was field-tested at managed quarantine hotel around London Heathrow airport, which has shown an promising for rapid and on-site wastewater analysis for SARS-CoV-2.
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  • Dr Yang is invited to be a Guest Editor on Chemsophere (IF 7.1), and the topic is on Fate and Control of PBTs and Emerging Contaminants​
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March 2021
  • Qingxin and Karina joined the group as new research students. Qingxin works on the CRISPR/Cas -enable sensors, and Karina explores the VoC for SARS-CoV-2 for WBE. 

February 2021
  • Carla, Qihang  joined the group as new PhD students. Carla works on the live organism detection, and Qihang works on microplastic using SERS coupled microfluidic technology. 

​January 2021
  • Dr Yang is co-editing a special issue on Biosensors for wastewater at TrAC (IF 9.8 Elsevier) with Prof Damia Barcelo  ​

​2020

December 2020

  • ​We have two papers accepted, one on biosensors for WBE at Water Research, another on rapid method for AMR at TrAC, end up with a total 20 papers published/accepted in 2020.

  • Our group are featured in the Cranfield University News of the Year 2020 for contribution on paper-based COVID-19 sensors for wastewater analysis within the UK national monitoring programme. 

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November 2020

  • Dr Yang gave an invited talk on Biosensors for Environmental monitoring and wastewater analysis  invited by UK EBNet, and the video is online. 
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October 2020
  • We have one fully-funded opening for Master by Research with a stipend £1500 per month and tuition fees waive.
 
  • Dr Yang was invited by ACS Publications Forum as panelist to discuss for recent progress in COVID diagnostics. 
 
  • Paper-based SERS sensors for illicit drug detection published at Water Research.   

September 2020
  • Dr Yang was interviewed by BBC with a live television on BBC news and Look east on presenting paper-based sensors for early warning of COVID-19. 
 
  • Wengliang has join our group as a new PhD student. 
 
  • Two papers has been accepted at Biosensors and Bioelectronics, one on iBMW for COVID management and another on paper aptamer sensors. 

August 2020
  • We have one PhD opening for UK/EU candidate to join our exciting RAEng project. 

July 2020
  • Dr Yang is on Co-I of UK national programme (UKRI-funded NWESP) to detect COVID-19 in wastewater

  • Our paper on nanosensors for illicit drugs for WBE published at TrAC-Trends in Analytical Chemistry .
 
  • Dr Yang was awarded an outstanding presentation award for ECR at EBNet. 


June 2020
  • A UKRI fast response project was approved on National COIVD-19 wastewater monitoring program for COVID-19, led by our collaborator Dr Andrew Singer from UK CEH. This has attracted attention by US Financial Times. 
 
  • A  review paper on biosensors for COVID-19 was published at ACS Nano
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  • A interview from Cranfield University was released- A sit down with Dr Zhugen Yang
Dr Yang talks about paper-based devices for bulk Covid19 testing
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This episode discusses paper-based devices for the use in waste water epidemiology and focuses on how these sensor devices can positively contribute to the current issues caused by the Covid19 pandemic. Many informal settlements in South Africa and other third world countries are exposed to waste water and this device may help to establish any contamination of their drinking water. These Paper-based devices could also be used to test the wastewater of a settlement and establish the presence of Covid19 in communities, thus eliminating the need for individual testing which could also lower the load on testing facilities which are currently being overwhelmed in many countries. 

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May 2020
  • We are recruiting two fully funded UK/EU and oversea PhD students, funded by RAEng, on low-cost paper-based biosensors for monitoring of water quality.  

April 2020
  • Dr Yang discussed at Science (AAAS) the low-cost paper-based device for early warning of COVID-19 for wastewater-based epidemiology.

  • Dr Yang was featured in Cranfield News on collaboration and innovation: the cross-industry research and development bolstering the Covid-19 recovery 
 
  • Dr Yang was interviewed by BBC to discuss testing wastewater for early warning COVID-19 with paper device( from18 min onward), and the work has been featured by many medias including [Daily Mail],[Newsweek][Science Daily] [Science Alert] [Yahoo News], etc

March 2020
  • Dr Yang wins Royal Academy of Engineering Frontier Follow-on Grant (£300k).  We have two fully funded PhD studentship available!!!​​

2019
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April 2019
  • Dr Yang relocated to Cranfield University as Lecturer in Sensor Technology, heading a new state-of-the-art sensors lab at Water Science Institute. He will be heading up the new state-of-art sensors lab in Cranfield, sponsored by UKCRIC. 

2018

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December 2018
  • Dr Yang gave an invited talk at the conference of IEEE NANOMED 2018 in Hawaii, US. 

November 2018

  • Dr Yang gave a research seminar at the Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Science in China.  
 
  • Dr Yang gave an invited talk at the international conference of RME 2018 in Amsterdam, the Netherland, and present a poster.  

October 2018
  • Ms Franziska Tuerk joins our group as a RA, and she will be work on sensors for rapid test of water quality. ​​
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  • Dr Yang gave a research seminar at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Strathclyde. 
September 2018
  • It's our pleasure to host Prof Elise Cartmell, our industry partner and Chief Scientist from Scottish Water to give us a seminar on industry challenge of water sector.
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  • ​Dr Yang will give several lecturers as a invited speaker at the international conferences, including RME 2018, IEEE NANOMED 2018, BIOMATSEN 2019 (also serving as scientific committee). 

​August 2018
  • The paper on the electrochemical detection of PSA for cancer diagnosis using paper-microfluidic device published at Biosens Bioelctron.
 
  •  Mr Kang Mao from Peking University joins us as a visiting PhD student for 5 month, and he will work on paper device. 

July 2018
  • The paper on the detection of illicit drugs with SERS was accepted at Talanta.
 
  • Zhugen attend the Frontier Symposium with Royal Academy of Engineering, in Rio, Brazil, to discuss GCRF opportunity. 

June 2018
  • Zhugen was appointed as a Lecturer (Assistant Professor, UK tenure) at the School of Engineering, University of Glasgow.
 
  • Zhugen presented a poster on Faraday discussion at the University of Bath and meet a lot of excellent electrochemists. 
 
  • Zhugen present his recent sensors for the detection of illicit drugs at IAEAC-40 at Santiago de Compostela, Spain. 
 
  • Zhugen gives 2 talks at Biosensors Congress 2018 in Miami, FL, USA: one on community sewage sensors, another on paper-origami device for rapid diagnosis. With honour to have diner with Profs Antony Turner and Justing Gooding.

March 2018
  • Our paper origami devices was tested in Uganda, Africa for the field-testing of  Malaria. 

​Feb 2018
  • ​The origami diagnostics was featured by public media [UofG News], [MyScience], [Phys.org], [GaraviGujarat], [India.com], [Business Standard], [Businessworld India],[Outlook India].
 
  • Two abstracts were accepted as the oral presentation at Biosensors Congress 2018, Miami, USA, June 12-15, 2018. 

Jan 2018
  • Paper-origami device for diagnosis of STI was published in ACS Sensors. ​
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2017

11.2017
  • I was awarded a UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) academic Research Fellowship (508k GBP), and I will formally start my independent research group from December 2017. PhDs, Postdocs, Project Students, and visitors are very welcome!!!
 
  • The co-authored paper on enantiomeric profiling of chiral illicit drugs in pan-European sewage was accepted in Water Research. ​​

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10.2017
  • I gave a talk at the Testing Water III conferences, together with EU Cost Action meeting, in Lisbon, Portugal, October 26-27, 2017. 

09.2017
  • I give a talk on community sewage sensors for monitoring public health at BBMEC 12 in Rome, Italy, September 25-29, 2017. Thanks for the travel grant from British Council associated with UK/Turkey workshop. 

08.2017
  • The  paper on lateral flow device for the detection of population biomarkers was published in Analytical Chemistry.

07.2017
  • Another co-authored paper on the detection of caffeine was published in Science of Total Environment. 
  • The paper on the detection of illicit drug use nano materials-based sensing, co-authored with Prof Xiqing Li's group was published in Talanta. Well done, Kang!

05.2017
  • The paper co-authored with Nikolaos on pestjcide exposure using waterwater analysis was published at Water Research. (a predominant journal in Water Science IF 6.9) 

03.2017
  • I traveled back to China and gave talks at 3 universities (SUStech; SYSU; Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, CAS).

2016

12.2016
  • A review paper co-authored with SEPROF and COST Action colleagues on sewage biomarkers was accepted at Environmental International (high-ranking journal in Environmental science, IF 7.1)

11.2016
  • Another visit to IVRI in Bareilly ( India) was scheduled in the beginning of November for field test of semen samples using paper device.

09.2016
  • I travel to Bath University for UK/Turkey research links workshop and delivered a talk.   

07.2016
  • I went back to Bath for the 5th Molecular Sensors and Molecular Logic Gate jointly with China/UK research links workshop. I gave a talk on community sewage sensors. 

06.2016
  • The co-authored paper on the detection of methamphetamine with G-quadruplex-hemin DNA molecular beacon as sensing probe was published RSC Advance. This project is in collaboration with Prof Xiqing Li's group at Peking University in China.

05.2016
  • I visited at IVRI (Indian Veterinary Research Institute) for a week in India for the field test of infectious disease, supported by UK BBSRC-India  project. 

04.2016
  • I visited Tianjin University in China and gave a talk on community sewage sensors on April 28-29, 2016.

03.2016
  • My paper published in Analyst (2015,140, 2628-2633) has been featured as " Most accessed Analyst articles in 2015" by RSC.

02.2016    
  • I gave a talk at COST Action (ES1307) working group workshop "pathogens" in Krakow, Poland in Feb 10-12, 2016.   
  • My paper on DDIAS sensors for detection of cocaine in sewage for evaluation of drug use trends accepted in Scientific Report, a journal from nature publishing group.

01.2016    
  • I visited Prof Xiqin Li's group at Peking University, and gave a talk on sewage community sensors for monitoring public health and illicit drug use trends in Beijing China, on January 3rd, 2016. ​

2015

12.2015    
  • I visited Huazhong University of Science and Technology and gave a talk at the School of Environment Science and Engineering on December 28, 2015. 

11.2015    
  • I visited at the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineer, at the University of Leeds and had a talk on sensors for healthcare and environment monitoring. 

10.2015    
  • I am at  6th "SEWPROF" training course and Testing the Water Conference  in Ascona, Switzerland,  October 11-15, 2015. 
  • I joined Prof Jon Cooper's Advanced Medical Group, Division of Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, UK.

08.2015    
  • I had a talk on sewage community sensors at 15th ISEAC the in Changchun, China.

07.2015    
  • I visit Institute of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology at Saarland University (Homberg, Germany) for 2 weeks for collaborative project in July, 2015.

06.2015    
  • I presented a poster on RSC Sensors technology workshop in London, June 16,  2015. 

05.2015     
  • My view point paper on community sewage sensors was accepted at the high-ranking environmental journal ES&T, and first of time propose the concept of community sewage sensors.

04.2015     
  • I am  at  5th "SEWPROF" training course: Method validation and quality control, at University Jaume I, Castellón, Spain,  April 29-30, 2015. 

03.2015     
  • I visited University of Oldenburg (Germany) and had a talk on sensors for environment. 
02.2015     
  • This month, my second paper on DNA sensors for the detection of mitochondrial DNA in sewage was accepted in the high-ranking environmental journal ES&T.
  • My work on DNA-directed immobilization aptamer sensor for PSA detection accepted in Analyst.

2014

10.2014    
  • I  attend the first work-group meeting of EU Cost Action on sewage analysis (SCORE)  in Malta on October 27-28, 2014.

09.2014    
  • I presents at  4th "SEWPROF" training course: Training Course: Assessing human health and lifestyle by sewage epidemiology, Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research, Milan, Italy Netherlands, September 17-18, 2014. 

08.2014    
  • I visit Norwegian Institute for Water Research (Olso, Norway) for one month for collaborative project in August, 2014.

07.2014    
  • My book mainly based on the PhD thesis entitled "3D-Microstructured Protein Microarrays for Cancer Diagnosis" was published by Scholars' Press, Germany and available on amazon. 

05.2014    
  • The contribution of cantilever sensor for biomarker detection was presented with a poster on  World Congress on Biosensor 2014 in Melbourne, Australia, May 27-30, 2014. 

04.2014 
  • I attended 3rd "SEWPROF" training course: Analytical techniques for biomarkers analysis and gave a talk in Utrecht, the Netherlands, April 9-11, 2014. 

03.2014    
  • Our work was presented with a poster on aptamer sensors for PSA detection, on the workshop of Sensors in Medicine,  London, UK, March 25-26, 2014.

2013

10.2013    
  • I moved to University of Bath (UK) as an EU Marie Curie Fellow (Experienced Researcher in Biosensors) with Prof Chris Frost, Dr Barbara Kasprzyk-Hordern and Dr Pedro Estrela, based at the Department of Chemistry and Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering. 

08.2013    
  • I was invited to speak at the 17th ECCO - 38th ESMO - 32nd ESTRO European Cancer Congress,  Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Sept. 27 - Oct 1,  2013

03.2013    
  • I had a oral presentation on detection of cancer biomarker using cantilever sensors, on the workshop of Sensors in Medicine, London, UK, March 6-7, 2013. (slideshare, P12/25)
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01.2013    
  • I go back to Ecole Centrale de Lyon with Prof Stephen Elliott to discuss with Dr Eliane Souteyrand and Dr Yann Chevolot for collaboration on cantilever sensing. 
  • My paper on characterisations of three amine surfaces for elaboration of antibody microarray were published on Langmuir.  ​

2012

12.2012    
  • Our work was presented on Point-of-Care diagnosis workshop organized by RSC in London, UK, Dec. 4, 2012.

10.2012    
  • I moved to Chemical Physics Group as a Postdoctoral Research Associate with Prof Stephen Elliott, in the Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, UK.

07.2012    
  • I successfully defensed my PhD in the group of Dr Eliane Souteyrand at Ecole Centrale de Lyon (Ecully, France) on July 20th, 2012.  

05.2012    
  • The contributions on TAA microarray for detection of breast cancer sera were communicated on World Congress on Biosensor 2012 with a talk in Cancun, Mexico, May 2012. ​

2011

10.2011    
  • I am at the 2nd International Conference on Bio-Sensing Technology and presented a poster in Amsterdam , The Netherlands.

09.2011    
  • The contributions on anti TAA chip for detection of tumor markers involved in colorectal cancer was presented at the conference of EUROSENSORS XXV in Athens, Greece. 

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