Prof Hywel Morgan
PhD (MBE)
Professor, Deputy Director IfLS
Profile page(s)
Hywel Morgan is professor of Bioelectronics in the School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS), University of Southampton. He is also Deputy Director of the University Institute for Life Science.
His research interests are in microfluidics its applications to biology and medicine, including novel diagnostics, sensing, and organ on chip. In 2016 he co-founded Verso Biosense, a spinout that develops implantable wireless sensors to continually record vital signs. In 2020 he co-directed a team that developed a personal respirator during the COVID19 pandemic (PeRSo). In 2020 he received an MBE for services to biomedical engineering in the Queen's Birthday Honours.
Landmark publications:
Spencer D., Inglis T., Paton T., Sutton J.M. and Morgan H., iFAST: impedance-based Fast Antimicrobial Susceptibly Test. Nature Comms., 11 5328 (2020).
Spencer D and Morgan H. High Speed Single Cell Dielectric Spectroscopy. ACS sensors 5 424 (2020).
Xavier M., Holm S.H., Beech J.P., Spencer D., Tegenfeldt J.O., and Morgan H. Label-free enrichment of primary human skeletal progenitor cells using deterministic lateral displacement. Lab on a Chip 19, 513-523 (2019).
Desalvo A., Bateman F., James E., Morgan H and Elliott T., Time-resolved microwell cell-pairing array reveals multiple T cell activation profiles. Lab Chip 20 3772 (2020).
Nakano M., Kalsi S and Morgan H. Fast and sensitive isothermal DNA assay using microbead dielectrophoresis for detection of anti-microbial resistance genes. Biosensors and Bioelectronics 117, 583-589. (2018).
Walker DI., McQuillan J., Taiwo M., Parks R., Stenton CA., H Morgan and Mowlem M. A highly specific Escherichia coli qPCR and its comparison with existing methods for environmental waters. Water Research 126, 101-110 (2017).
Hu C., Kalsi S., Zeimpekis I., Sun K., Ashburn P., Turner C., Sutton JM, and Morgan H. Ultra-fast electronic detection of antimicrobial resistance genes using isothermal amplification and Thin Film Transistor sensors. Biosensors and Bioelectronics 96, 281-287 (2017).
Evans D., Papadimitriou KI, Greathead L., Vasilakis N., Pantelidis P., Morgan H. and Prodromakis T. An Assay System for Point-of-Care Diagnosis of Tuberculosis using Commercially Manufactured PCB Technology Nature Sci. Rep. 7 685 (2017).
Kalsi S., Sellars S.L., Turner C., Sutton M.J., and Morgan H., A Programmable Digital Microfluidic Assay for the Simultaneous Detection of Multiple Anti-Microbial Resistance Genes. Micromachines 8, 111 (2017).
Blume C., Reale R., Marie H., Matthew L., Millar T., Collins, J, Swindle E., Morgan, H., and Davies D. Cellular crosstalk between airway epithelial and endothelial cells regulates barrier functions during exposure to double-stranded RNA. Immunity, Inflammation and Disease, 5 45-56 (2017).
Major grants:
2016-19 NIHR i4i II-LB-0715-20002 (Co-I) IntraUterine SENSing using a batteryless, wireless intrauterine platform (USENSE) £852,086
2018-21 EU FET Open (Co-I) The Extracellular Vesicle Foundry Euro 2,726,000
2020-24 EU BlueGrowth Horizon 2020 (Southampton PI) TechOceanS £961,639
2020-24 NIHR 200968 (Co-PI) Bacterial impedance cytometry for rapid antibiotic susceptibility. £1.05M
Impact example:
Co-founded Vivoplex, with Prof Ying Chong to develop wireless implantable sensors
Co-directed a team that developed the PeRSo respirator during the Covid pandemic