Dr Minkwan Kim
University of Southampton, PI
Dr Min Kwan Kim (MK) is an associate professor in Astronautics, and he will lead the project. He has demonstrated his leadership and influence through his research career and activities on plasma technologies over 10 years.
He has been PI and Co-I over £2M in projects including EPSRC/UKRI, European Council, ESA, UK Space Agency, MoD, MRC, Royal Society, Ross & Sir Keith Smith Fund (Australia), and Helmholtz Institute (Germany). He has received an award from AHSN Regional Competition on Innovative Ideas to Solve Real World Problems related to COVID-19. Currently, he is the PI of UKRI/EPSRC funded research project developing a new rapid plasma decontamination system for the reuse of facemasks, which is an innovative approach to tackle the global shortage of PPE and the PI of a new UK Space Agency project developing a plasma-based in-situ resource utilisation system for future crewed space missions.
He is the member of UK Space Agency space exploration advisory committee (SEAC) and the AIAA Plasma dynamics and Laser technical committee. His research experience in plasma physics and diagnostics will bring research skills in plasma physics to successfully deliver the proposed project.
Recently, he has applied space-oriented low-temperature plasma technology on a new dry decontamination method for facemasks, which leads to secure the research funding from UKRI/EPSRC as COVID-19 response (EP/V051679/1), which is aiming to inactivate coronaviruses on the surface of facemasks for reuse. The innovation and impact of his COVID-19 research has been highlighted by several public media.
He is responsible for the day-to-day running of the project as the PI and provide direct support on developing a porous non-thermal plasma source for air sterilisation.
Dr John Lawson
University of Southampton, Co-I
Dr. John Lawson is a Lecturer in the Aeronautics and Astronautics Department within the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Southampton.
John specialises in experimental fluid mechanics, turbulence and particle laden flows such as aerosols. He is part of the aerodynamics team on the PASTA project, which seeks to test and predict the aerodynamic performance of the PASTA technology. Since completing his PhD in Engineering at the University of Cambridge in 2015, John has held postdoctoral positions at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organisation in Germany and later completed a prestigious Marie Curie postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Southampton.
His wider research unites theory and numerical simulations with the development and application of optical flow diagnostics to explore, quantify and model multiphase turbulent flows.
In PASTA project, Dr Lawson oversees the development and testing of the porous and parallel-plate DBD plasma sources from the perspective of aerodynamic design and experimental filtration testing.
Prof Bharathram Ganapathisubramani
University of Southampton, Co-I
Prof Bharathram Ganapathisubramani is a Professor of Experimental Fluid Mechanics in the Aerodynamics and Flight Mechanics (AFM) Group at the University of Southampton (UoS).
He has an international reputation for devising advanced experimental methods and utilising them to develop fundamental understanding of fluid flows. His research is funded by EPSRC, EU-FP7, Royal Society, Leverhulme Trust, Lloyds Register, British Council and the US Air Force. He has an outstanding publication record and has published in the journals such as Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Experiments in Fluids and Physical Review Fluids. He has delivered keynotes and invited talks in various conferences/symposia including ICTAM, Particle Image Velocimetry symposium and AIAA Scitech.
He was a recipient of the ERC Starting Researcher Grant and the Philip Leverhulme Prize. He is an associate editor of Experiments in Fluids, was a member of the AIAA Aerodynamic Measurement Technology (AMT) technical committee and serves on the scientific, steering and advisory committees of international conferences.
Prof C. William Keevil
University of Southampton, Co-I
Prof C. William Keevil is a Director of the Environmental Healthcare Unit in the Centre for Biological Sciences at the UoS and a chartered biologist with over 40 years’ experience.
He has an international reputation in microbiology (focussing on cell signalling and biofilm formation, colonisation by pathogens and study of decontamination mechanisms in food processing, water treatment and healthcare), recognised by Fellowship of the American Academy of Microbiology (1998), Fellowship of the Society of Biology (1998), Fellowship of the Royal Society of Medicine (2011). CWK received the Colgate Prize (1985) and several best paper prizes though his career, and his paper on VBNC E. coli4 was selected as one of the six best articles for all ASM journals for the Journal Highlights section of Microbe (formerly ASM News).
He is co-inventor of the episcopic differential interference contrast (EDIC) microscope for the live imaging of biofilms and tissue proteins and prions (manifolded proteins causing Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease) on complex surfaces, which will be used to quantify biofilms and toe assessment their viability in this project.
Dr Rodolphe Hervé
University of Southampton, Researcher
Dr Rodolphe Hervé is a Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences at the University of Southampton.
With a mixed background in cell biology, immunology and microbiology, since 2005 he has focused on infection prevention in healthcare settings, particularly the evaluation of new detection and decontamination technologies aimed at eliminating a range of pathogens where these may pose a threat to patients and staff.
He has been involved in several national and international collaborations, including previous studies on the use of cold atmospheric plasma for the elimination of pathogens in various contexts.
He has been an invited speaker and chair at international conferences on infection prevention, contributed to various Advisory Committees for the English Department of Health and Social Care as well as the latest national recommendations for the reprocessing and surveillance of reusable surgical instruments (Health Technical Memorandum 01-01) and endoscopes (HTM 01-05).
He is member of the Institute of Decontamination Sciences, member of the Network for Anti-Microbial Resistance and Infection Prevention (NAMRIP) at the UoS and an editor of the Journal of Hospital Infection.
In this project, Dr Hervé will contribute to the development and testing of the technology from the microbiology perspective.
