Dr Pola Goldberg Oppenheimer BSC (Hons), BEng (Hons), MSc (Hons), PhD

Dr Pola Goldberg Oppenheimer

School of Chemical Engineering
Reader in Micro-Engineering and Bio-Nanotechnology
Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0) 121 414 5287
Email
goldberp@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
School of Chemical Engineering
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Pola G. Oppenheimer is Reader in Micro-Engineering and Bio-Nanotechnology, and a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow at the School of Chemical Engineering and the Healthcare Technologies Institute (HTI).

Dr Oppenheimer’s research interests lie in nano and submicron structure formation (please see the group website: Advanced Nano-Materials, Structures and Applications) at surfaces and in thin films, including pioneering the potential use of hierarchical electrohydrodynamically generated functional structures to develop novel polymer-based nano-detection devices. She brings detailed expertise in creating and aligning a wide range of nanostructures in polymers, carbon nanotube-based nanocomposites, crystalline materials and a synergistic interest in biomimetics, including the use of polymers with 10-nm morphologies as templates to create inorganic functional devices.

She received her PhD in Physics from the University of Cambridge in 2012,  during which time she received the Springer Doctoral Award, Switzerland, in recognition of scientific excellence of young researchers through an outstanding PhD thesis. On leaving Cambridge in August 2013, she was awarded a University of Birmingham Fellowship at the School of Chemical Engineering. In 2016, she was awarded the prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship as well as major funding from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratories to support her pioneering research.  Demonstrating her international recognition in the field, since 2013, she has given 13 invited seminars on her work in the UK, 10 invited talks at leading academic institutions conferences and companies across EU and internationally including, at UCL and Imperial College, University of Cambridge, Weizmann Institute, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, MRS, USA, Nice, France and has been invited to act as an external PhD examiner at the Universities of Southampton and Chalmers.

During her career Dr Oppenheimer has also been the recipient of several prestigious awards and markers of esteem and recognition. For instance, in 2017 she was invited to attend the House of Commons Science & Technology Committee, UK Parliament, London representing Early Career Researchers and the Royal Academy of Engineering on an enquiry into ‘Voice of the Future’, including an in-depth session by Government Ministers of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation.  She has won a number of other awards including, The Royal Academy of Engineering Award (2016), Female Faces of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK (2014) and Award in Leadership and Management, University of Cambridge, UK (2012), awarded by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge as a recognition of excellent leadership and management skills. In 2018, she was featured in the University's Healthcare Technologies Birmingham Heroes campaign.

Qualifications

  • Leadership and Management Award, University of Cambridge & ILM, 2013
  • PhD in Physics, University of Cambridge (Springer Award for Outstanding PhD Thesis), Churchill College, Cambridge, UK (Supervisor: Prof. Ullrich Steiner), 2008-2012
  • M.Sc. in Biotechnology Engineering, Ben-Gurion University, Israel (CUM LAUDE), 2006 - 2008
  • BSc. in Chemistry (CUM-LAUDE) and BSc. in Chemical Engineering (SUMMA CUM-LAUDE), 2002 - 2006


Biography

Pola G. Oppenheimer is a Reader in Micro-Engineering and Bio-Nanotechnology and a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow at the School of Chemical Engineering and the Healthcare Technologies Institute (HTI). Dr Oppenheimer leads an interdisciplinary research group at the University of Birmingham, closely working with the clinical teams at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEHB) and Alta Innovation, the UoB technology transfer specialists. the group's research programme is targeted at exploring the frontiers of micro to nanomaterials engineering while bridging the gap between nano-to-macroscopic-level understanding and implementations of novel hybrid and nanocomposite materials and submicron structures for miniaturised functional devices for advanced healthcare applications.

Dr Oppenheimer's research interests lie in nano and submicron structure formation (please see the group website: Advanced Nano-Materials, Structures and Applications) at surfaces and in thin films, including pioneering the potential use of hierarchical electrohydrodynamically generated functional structures to develop novel polymer-based nano-detection devices. She brings detailed expertise in creating and aligning a wide range of nanostructures in polymers, carbon nanotube-based nanocomposites, crystalline materials and a synergistic interest in biometrics, including the use of polymers with 10mm morphologies as templates to create inorganic functional devices.

Pola has given 13 invited seminars on her work in the UK, 10 invited talks at leading academic institutions conferences and companies across EU and internationally. Her publications include regular papers in leading journals such as Advanced Optical Materials, Advanced Functional Materials and Small. In 2012 she was awarded the Carl-Zeiss Prize in Engineering at the University of Cambridge. As a result of her research, several images were published as cover images including the Science Magazine of the University of Cambridge, the Carl-Zeiss Imaging Competition at the Department of Electrical Engineering and the 2012 annual reports of the University of Cambridge featuring her image named 'We all fall over sometimes' as a cover.

Teaching

  • 2015 - Current: Module Coordinator and Lecturer on Biochemical Engineering Processes, Year 1 Undergraduates (ca. 190), School of Chemical Engineering, UoB, UK
  • 2013 - Current: Lecturer on Engineering and Physical Science for Sci-Phy-4-Health, UoB
  • 2014 – Current: Research Projects, MSc Chemical Engineering, UoB
  • 2013 - Current: Mini Projects Supervisor, Doctoral EPSRC Training Centre, UoB
  • 2014 – Current: Tutor for Chemical Engineering Undergraduate (Year 1-4) Students, UoB
  • 2013 – Current: Supervisor of MEng Chemical Engineering Students, UoB
  • 2009 - 2012: Demonstrator for Physics Lab, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge
  • 2009 – 2010: Invigilator, Churchill College, University of Cambridge, UK
  • 2008 – 2009: Lab Demonstrator for Physics Undergraduate Students, University of Cambridge

Postgraduate supervision

Pola G. Oppenheimer is interested in supervising doctoral research students in the following areas:

  • Design and Fabrication of Micro and Nano-structured Sensing Surfaces
  • New Bio-Nanomaterials for Therapeutics and Health Care
  • Structural Nanotechnology: Nano-assemblies and Scaffolds
  • Structured Carbon Nanotubes & Graphene-Based Devices
  • Biommimetics

If you are interested in any of these subject areas please contact Pola Oppenheimer on the contact details above, or for any general doctoral research enquiries, please email: GoldberP:bham.ac.uk or call +44 (0)121 414 5287.

Research

Please visit our website for more details about the ongoing research in our group: www.ANMSA.com.

RESEARCH THEMES

Novel Lithographic Techniques

  • Development and implementation of advanced, cost-effective and versatile soft lithography techniques
  • Alternative routes capable of more than the generation of patterns below the sub-100 nm to develop tuneable 3D structures

New Bio-Nanomaterials for Therapeutics and Health Care

  • A paradigm shift from bulky and expensive diagnostics to rapid real-time chemical and biological detection
  • Specific and field-deployable analytical technologies for quick point-of-care medical diagnostics
  • Miniaturised and portable therapeutic systems

Structural Nanotechnology for Point-of-Care Diagnostics

  • Engineering designed molecules and materials as bottom-up building blocks for large area, highly ordered diverse 3D structures on the nanoscale
  • Porous templates for patterning inorganic materials 
  • Applications for hybrid photovoltaics, solar cells, electrochromic devices and display technology

Biommimetics

  • Bottom-up and top-down fabrication strategies to create new classes of high performance structure
  • Mimic the intriguing morphologies and patterns found in nature
  • Exploit and implement superior bio-properties

Structured Carbon Nanotubes & Graphene- Based Devices

  • Patterning of CNTs into well-ordered arrays for broad range of applications
  • Enhanced properties and advanced applications of CNTs /graphene based structured materials

Combining Soft & Hard Matter

  • Generate new classes of high-performance carbon nanotubes and nanoparticles -based composite materials
  • Development of functional devices for microelectronics, displays and biochemical sensors

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Nel, HA, Chetwynd, AJ, Kelleher, L, Lynch, I, Mansfield, I, Margenat, H, Onoja, S, Goldberg Oppenheimer, P, Sambrook Smith, GH & Krause, S 2021, 'Detection limits are central to improve reporting standards when using Nile red for microplastic quantification', Chemosphere, vol. 263, 127953. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.127953

Mowbray, M, Banbury, C, Rickard, JJS, Davies, DJ & Goldberg Oppenheimer, P 2021, 'Development and Characterization of a Probe Device toward Intracranial Spectroscopy of Traumatic Brain Injury', ACS Biomaterial Science and Engineering, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 1252-1262. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsbiomaterials.0c01156

Goldberg Oppenheimer, P 2020, '47 RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY CAN DIFFERENTIATE MUCOSAL HEALING FROM NON-HEALING IN INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE', Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gie.2020.03.023

Goldberg Oppenheimer, P 2020, 'Determination and characterisation of the surface charge properties of the bacteriophage M13 to assist bio-nanoengineering', RSC Advances. https://doi.org/10.1039/d0ra04086j

Goldberg Oppenheimer, P 2020, 'Efficient and Stable PbS Quantum Dot Solar Cells by Triple-Cation Perovskite Passivation', ACS Nano. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.9b05848

Gomes, PDC, Rickard, JJS & Goldberg Oppenheimer, P 2020, 'Electrofluidynamic Patterning of Tailorable Nanostructured Substrates for Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering', ACS Applied Nano Materials, vol. 3, no. 7, pp. 6774-6784. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.0c01190

Passaretti, P, Khan, I, Dafforn, TR & Goldberg Oppenheimer, P 2020, 'Improvements in the production of purified M13 bacteriophage bio-nanoparticle', Scientific Reports, vol. 10, no. 1, 18538. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-75205-3

Goldberg Oppenheimer, P 2020, 'Microptofluidic Technology for Biodiagnostics of Traumatic Brain Injury: A Commentary', J Exp Neurol.

Sun, Y, Passaretti, P, Hernandez, I, Gonzalez, J, Liu, W, Rodriguez, F, Dunstan, DJ, Goldberg Oppenheimer, P & Humphreys, CJ 2020, 'Nanomechanics of graphene oxide-bacteriophage based self-assembled porous composites', Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-72372-1

Goldberg Oppenheimer, P 2020, 'RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY CAN DIFFERENTIATE MUCOSAL HEALING FROM NON-HEALING IN INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE: Endoscopy ', ESGE Days. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0040-1704681

Rickard, J, Di Pietro, V, Smith, D, Davies, D, Belli, T & Goldberg Oppenheimer, P 2020, 'Rapid optofluidic detection of biomarkers for traumatic brain injury via surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy', Nature Biomedical Engineering, vol. 4, no. 6, pp. 610-623. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-019-0510-4

Rickard, JJS, Di-Pietro, V, Smith, DJ, Davies, DJ, Belli, A & Oppenheimer, PG 2020, 'Rapid optofluidic detection of biomarkers for traumatic brain injury via surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy', Nature Biomedical Engineering, vol. 4, no. 6, pp. 610-623. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-019-0510-4

Conference contribution

Goldberg Oppenheimer, P 2020, RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY CAN DIFFERENTIATE MUCOSAL HEALING FROM NON-HEALING IN INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE. in Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.

Other contribution

Goldberg Oppenheimer, P 2020, Brain Injury Diagnosed with a Finger Prick and an Optofluidic Chip..

Patent

Goldberg Oppenheimer, P, Non-Invasive Method for Determining the Changes in the Tissue of the Optic Nerve via Raman Spectroscopy of the Back of the Eye (GB2019/1913476.6), Patent No. GB2019/1913476.6.

View all publications in research portal