Dr Jeroen Nieuwland received his PhD in Plant Cell Biology from the Radboud
University in Nijmegen, The Netherlands in 2004. He was awarded a Marie Curie
Fellowship to work at the Institute of Biotechnology at the University of
Cambridge. Jeroen has over two decades experience in using molecular technology
in fundamental and applied research. As a Senior Lecturer at the University of
South Wales he developed with Dr Emma Hayhurst a rapid and affordable pathogen
test to reduce the use of antibiotics which was awarded the Discovery Award by
the Longtitude Prize and NESTA. This work was the basis of the development of
the rapid COVID-19 test and inspired the inception of Llusern Scientific.
Dr Emma Hayhurst, co-founder
Dr Emma Hayhurst is a microbiologist with a passion for applied research. She
completed her PhD on bacterial cell wall dynamics at the University of Sheffield
in 2006. After a few more years in fundamental academic research, she became a
Senior Lecturer at the University of South Wales in 2009. She then had a break
from research while she focused on her young children. In 2016, Emma returned to
active research, becoming a Ser Cymru National Research Network Returning
Fellow. Emma has research interests in antibiotic resistance and water quality,
and has been working with Dr Jeroen Nieuwland for a number of years on the
development of a diagnostic tool suitable for the detection of different
pathogens. Repurposing this research to help in the effort to combat COVID-19
was a natural step and Llusern Scientific is the result.
Dr Ali Roula, co-founder
Dr Ali Roula is an Electronics graduate with a PhD in computer science from
Queen’s University of Belfast on applying Machine Learning to quantitative
pathology and cancer diagnosis. Dr Roula joined the University of South Wales and
is now an associate professor in biomedical engineering, leading the electronics
department and conducting research in areas around signal processing and
computer pattern recognition with secured research funding from EPSRC, HPC Wales
and Welsh Government. Research projects include work on magnetic induction
tomography, brain computer interfacing and diagnostic technology including
the recent work around of rapid COVID-19 testing.
