About
"Discovery-driven engineering: I develop microfluidic methods for gaining new insights into biological systems"
“Diagnostics: I develop sample-to-result point of care systems for predicting thrombosis risk”
Research in my lab focusses on the development of high throughput microfluidic approaches for cell and molecular handling. My microfluidic toolkit ever evolves ensuring methods are aligned to performance needs of given challenge. The lab has two area of interest: (1) Platforms for understanding protein dynamics by time-resolved serial crystallography or hydrogen/deuterium exchange approaches. (2) Platelet function testing for understanding platelet diversity, how this extends to thrombosis risk and how to develop a point of care technology for testing in the clinic.
Research
Research groups
Research interests
- Thrombosis prediction at the point of care
- Microfluidic HDX for investigating protein dynamics
- Droplet microfluidics for time-resolved serial crystallography
- Single cell profiling
- Open instrumentation
Current research
Thrombosis prediction at the point of care: The lab has a keen interest in understanding the nature and consequences of platelet functional diversity. Using droplet microfluidics we measure, in high throughput, single platelet reactivity. Broad-continuum reactivity is observed, with hyper-reactive platelets able to coordinate system-level responses. The technology is being applied in the clinic to profile platelets from patients at risk of thrombosis. Beyond this, the lab aims to develop a point of care platform for sample-to-result processing in minutes for real-time decision making.
Investigating Protein Dynamics: We have a vast library of high-resolution protein structures, yet we know very little about protein motion. This knowledge gap represents an enormous arena for discovery. We are addressing this by developing microfluidic formats delivering the temporal precision, reliability and speed necessary for routine, high throughput studies involving serial crystallography and hydrogen/deuterium exchange MS/NMR measurement approaches. We advocate technology sharing with academic and industrial users to broadly advance our knowledge of protein dynamics.
Research projects
Active projects
Completed projects
Publications
Teaching
I am module lead and principle lecturer for the MSc Biomedical Engineering module called Human Biology and Systems Physiology.
I am guest lecturer on the topic of "DNA Sequencing" for the Electronics and Computer Science degree in Biomedical Engineering.
I am a pastoral academic tutor and an Academic Integrity Officer for the Faculty of Medicine
External roles and responsibilities
Biography
Dr Jonathan West is Associate Professor of Biomedical Microfluidics within Medicine at the University of Southampton. His research focusses on the development of microfluidic technologies for cellular and molecular analytics. Jonathan has a multi-disciplinary background, starting with a BSc in Medical Microbiology from the University of Edinburgh, before taking up the challenge of a PhD (“Microsystems for Genetic Diagnostics”) at Tyndall National Institute (formerly NMRC), University College Cork. In 2003, his interest in technology commercialisation led him to the Institute for Nanotechnology Exploitation. Jonathan then moved to ISAS, Dortmund in 2006 to work with Prof. Andreas Manz, pioneer of the Lab on a Chip field. In 2010 Jonathan was promoted to Group Leader with independent research focussed on the development of organ-on-a-chip technologies and microfluidics for investigating receptor dynamics in cell membranes. In 2012 Jonathan joined the University of Southampton as an Institute for Life Sciences member appointed to the Faculty of Medicine, with the aim to extend biomedical science by implementing and innovating microfluidic technologies. Core interests are microfluidic methods for studying protein dynamics and methods for predicting thrombosis risk.