Dr Majid Malboubi BSc, MSc, PhD, FHEA

Dr Majid Malboubi

Department of Mechanical Engineering
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Contact details

Email
m.malboubi@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Inspired by the workings of nature, Dr Malboubi applies the principles of mechanics and design micro-tools to unravel the physics underlying cellular processes and to understand how cells interact with their surroundings.

Dr Malboubi completed his PhD at the University of Birmingham and worked on the interaction of biological membranes with solid substrates, and published several articles on this subject, as well as a book (Gigaseal formation in patch clamping, Springer, 2014).

Upon moving to the London Centre of Nanotechnology at UCL, Dr Malboubi worked on the poroelasticity and pressure propagation in cells to explain cells’ ability to sustain transient and prolonged pressure gradients across their cytoplasm in response to extrinsic and intrinsic mechanical stresses.

Dr Malboubi also developed several microfluidic devices for cancer metastasis and drug screening. Subsequently, Dr Malboubi moved to the University of Oxford to investigate the effects of mechanical loadings, such as compression or stretch on neural electrophysiological responses and the ability of neurons to fire action potentials after trauma.

Dr Malboubi served as Head of quality assurance of the University of Birmingham Dubai from 2020 to 2023 and successfully led the accreditation of more than 50 programmes. In 2022, he built a microfluidics laboratory for multidisciplinary research at the University of Birmingham Dubai.

Qualifications

  • Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education
  • PhD in Mechanical Engineering
  • MSc in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
  • BSc in Mechanical and manufacturing Engineering

Biography

  • 2022 – Present   Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Birmingham
  • 2021 – Present   Certified Reviewer of Commission for Academic Accreditation, Ministry of Education, UAE
  • 2019 – Present   Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
  • 2020 – 2023   Head of Quality Assurance, University of Birmingham Dubai
  • 2018 – 2022   Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Birmingham
  • 2016 – 2018   Researcher Co-Investigator, Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford
  • 2014 – 2016   Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Oxford
  • 2011 – 2014   Postdoctoral Researcher, London Centre for Nanotechnology, University College London

Teaching

  • Solid Mechanics
  • Fluid Mechanics
  • Design for Manufacture and Assembly
  • Computer Aided Design and Manufacture

Postgraduate supervision

Dr Malboubi has supervised Postdocs, PhD and MSc research projects related to Microfluidics, Cell Mechanics, Neuronal electrophysiology and 3D printing.

Research

Research interests

  • Microfluidics
  • 3D Printing
  • Substrate-Membrane interactions
  • Patch clamp electrophysiology
  • Gigaseal formation
  • Cell and tissue mechanics

Funding

  • UK Science & Innovation Network (SIN). Microfluidics and 3D printing to reduce the carbon footprint of desalination, AED 225000, 2022, Principal Investigator
  • EPSRC Healthcare Technologies Challenge Awards. Electrophysiological-mechanical coupled pulses in neural membranes: a new paradigm for clinical therapy of SCI and TBI (NeuroPulse), [EP/N020987/1], £991282, 2016, Co-Investigator

Other activities

Memberships

  • Member of Advance HE
  • Member of Biophysical Society
  • Member of International Association of Engineers
  • Member of The Marine Biological Association (2016 – 2018)
  • Member of The Royal Microscopical Society (2010 – 2016)

 Reviewer

  • Member of Topical Advisory Panel of Micromachines journal

Publications

Book

Book chapter

Conference papers

Menakaya E, Archibong A, Malboubi M. (2023) High Efficiency Micro-Mixing, BioNanoMed2023, Graz, Austria 12 – 14 April

Malboubi M, Jerusalem A. Experimental multi-physics measurement of neuronal responses under trauma, Biophysical Journal, 110(2), 149a, 2016

Malboubi M, Jayo A, Parsons M, Charras M. An open access microfluidic device for the study of cancer cell deformation during migration. 40th International Conference on Micro Nano Engineering, 22 – 26 September 2014, Lausanne

Bove A, Malboubi M, Lowe A, Charras G. A microfluidic device for studying cancer cells competition under controlled conditions. 40th International Conference on Micro Nano Engineering, 22 – 26 September 2014, Lausanne

Davies J, Malboubi M, Ivetic A, Charras G. A microfluidic chip to model leukocyte inflammatory responses. 40th International Conference on Micro Nano Engineering, 22-26 September 2014, Lausanne

Malboubi M, Behroozi M, Bowen J, Chizari M, Charras G, Jiang K. The effect of aperture size on gigaseal formation. Biophysical Journal, 104(2), 673a, 2013

Malboubi M, Gu Y, Jiang K. Surface property characterization of glass micropipettes using SEM stereoscopic technique. 36th International Conference on Micro Nano Engineering, 19-22 September 2010 Genoa

Mohammadkhani M, Malboubi M, Anthony C, Jiang K. 3D-reconstruction of nanostructures made by nanosphere lithography using SEM stereoscopic technique. 36th International Conference on Micro Nano Engineering, 19-22 September 2010 Genoa

Malboubi M, Gu Y, Jiang K. Investigation of pipette roughness effects on seal formation in patch clamping. 35th International Conference on Micro Nano Engineering, 28 September - 01 October 2009 Ghent

Ostadi H, Malboubi M, Jiang K, Prewett P. FIB/SEM Nano-Tomography of a micropipette. 34th International Conference on Micro Nano Engineering, 15-18 September 2008 Athens

Malboubi M, Ostadi H, Wang S, Gu Y, Jiang K. The effect of pipette tip roughness on gigaseal formation. The 2009 International Conference of Systems Biology and Bioengineering, World Congress on Engineering. 1-3 July 2009 London. 1849-1852.

Malboubi M, Shakeri M, Bakhshi M. Design and fabrication of a prototype two-component strain gauge based grinding dynamometer. International Conference on Advances in Materials and Processing Technologies, 30 July - 01 August 2006 Las Vegas

Malboubi M, and Shakeri M. Machine tools with parallel structure and their calibration methods. The 13th International Conference on Mechanical Engineering, 17-19 May 2005 Esfahan

Journal articles

Elizalde M T, Chen H, Malboubi M, Ye H, Jerusalem A, Action potential alterations induced by single F11 neuronal cell loading. Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, 2021.

Jerusalem A, Rekabi A, Chen H, Ercole A, Malboubi M, Elizalde M, Verhagen L, Contera S, Electrophysiological-mechanical coupling in the neuronal membrane and its role in ultrasound neuromodulation and general anaesthesia, Acta Biomaterialia 97, 116-140, 2019 (Impact factor: 6.39)

Kwong M, Bianchi F, Malboubi M, García-Grajales J, Homsi L, Thompson M, Ye H, Noels L, Jérusalem A. 3D finite element formulation for mechanical–electrophysiological coupling in axonopathy, Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering. 346, 1025-1050, 2019 (Impact factor: 4.5 )

Bianchi F, George J, Malboubi M, Jerusalem A, Thompson M, Ye h. Engineering a uniaxial substrate-stretching device for simultaneous electrophysiological measurements and imaging of strained peripheral neurons. Medical engineering & physics 67, 1-10, 2019 (Impact factor: 2.2)

Bianchi F, Malboubi M, George J, Jerusalem A, Thompson M, Ye H. Ion current and action potential alterations in peripheral neurons subject to uniaxial strain. Journal of Neuroscience Research 97(7), 744-751, 2019 (Impact factor: 2.7)

Bianchi F, Malboubi M, Li Y, George J, Jerusalem A, Szele F, Thompson M, Ye H. Rapid and efficient differentiation of functional motor neurons from human iPSC for neural injury modelling. Stem cell research Elsevier, 32, 126-134, 2018 (Impact factor: 1.8)

Jayo A, Malboubi M, Antoku S, Chang W, Ortiz-Zapater E, Groen C, Tootle T, Charras G, Gundersen G, Parsons M. Fascin regulates nuclear movement and plasticity in migrating cells, Developmental Cell, 38 (4), 371-383, 2016

Malboubi M, Jayo A, Parsons M, Charras G. An open access microfluidic device for the study of the physical limits of cancer cell deformation during migration in confined environments, Microelectronic Engineering, 144, 42-45, 2015

Malboubi M, Gu Y, Jiang K. Surface properties of glass micropipettes and their effect on biological studies. Nanoscale Research Letters, 6(401), 1-10, 2011

Malboubi M, Gu Y, Jiang K. Characterization of surface properties of glass micropipettes using SEM stereoscopic technique. Microelectronic Engineering, 88, 2666–2670, 2011

Mohammadkhani A, Malboubi M, Anthony C, Jiang K. Characterization of surface properties of ordered nanostructures using SEM stereoscopic technique. Microelectronic Engineering, 88: 2687–2690, 2011

Malboubi M, Gu Y, Jiang K. Experimental and simulation study of the effect of pipette roughness on gigaseal formation in patch clamping. Microelectronic Engineering, 87, 778-781, 2011

Malboubi M, Ostadi H, Wang S, Gu Y, Jiang K. Effects of the surface morphology of pipette tip on gigaseal formation (pdf). Engineering Letters, 17 (4), 281-285, 2009

Ostadi H, Malboubi M, Prewett P. D, Jiang K. 3D reconstruction of a micropipette tip. Microelectronic Engineering, 86, 868-870, 2008

View all publications in research portal