Dr KEVIN WEBB
| Post Nominals | Ph.D. |
|---|---|
| Biography | Dr Kevin Webb is Associate Professor in Applied Optics and Electrophysiology, in the Optics & Photonics Group and the Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering. Kevin trained at the University of Auckland, New Zealand as an electrophysiologist, patch clamping differentiated fibre cells from the ocular lens - a unique tissue which is itself an optical component. Following a post-doc at University College London working on cell differentiation in the retina, he joined the Institute of Biophysics, Imaging & Optical Science at The University of Nottingham in 2008, applying surface plasmon imaging and electrophysiology to cultures of primary hippocampal neurons. Kevin was awarded a Royal Academy of Engineering/EPSRC Fellowship in 2010 to apply novel imaging and electrophysiological methods to the retina. His current work is using the retinal pigment epithelium as a model system to examine epithelial fluid transport in transparent ocular tissues using a combination of functional imaging, electrophysiology, and Raman microspectroscopy. He collaborates widely with other Departments and Universities both nationally and internationally. |
| Research Interests | Kevin has an abiding interest in the physiology of transparent tissues of the eye: in particular the cornea, retina, and ocular lens. He was the first to isolate and functionally characterise in vitro the terminally differentiated fibre cells which form the bulk of the ocular lens. His work confirmed at the cellular level the electrophysiological and ion transporting properties of these specialised cells and their role within the connected syncytium which is the ocular lens. Kevin applies novel high resolution imaging and electrophysiological methods to the study of epithelial transport, using model systems which include the cornea, retinal pigment epithelium, lung, and gut. Among the techniques used are confocal laser scanning microscopy, immunofluorescence, optogenetics, scanning ion conductance microscopy, Raman microspectroscopy, and epithelial voltage clamp. Kevin's work has been funded by the EPSRC, Royal Academy of Engineering, BBSRC, the Leverhulme Trust and the US National Science Foundation. |
| Teaching and Learning | Undergraduate courses: Convenor: EEEE3001 - Third year Project (3rd year, 30 credits, BEng) EEEE4008 - Industrial/Research Orientated Project (4th year, 40 credits, MEng) EEEE3089 - Sensing Systems and Signal Processing (co-convenor) EEEE2047 - Contemporary Engineering Themes (Biomedical Engineering) LIFE3001: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience LIFE3070 Translational Neuroimaging Interdisciplinary MSc and final year Projects supervised in Biomedical Engineering, Biomedical Science, Natural Sciences |
| Scopus Author ID | 8292189800 |
| PhD Supervision Availability | Yes |
| PhD Topics | Biosensing, bioimaging, drug delivery |