Prof Sandro Olivo, Academic PI
Sandro is a Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies. He has worked in x-ray imaging and detection for 25 years, and is considered a pioneer in the field of phase-based x-ray imaging, having co-designed the in vivo mammography system operational at the Trieste synchrotron and invented the “edge-illumination” and “coded-aperture” methods. He founded the UCL Advanced X-Ray Imaging Group in 2008.
Prof David Bate, Industrial PI
David received his PhD from Imperial College and has since worked in both SEM and X-ray microscopy. He currently works for Nikon X-tek systems as VP Research and is the Industrial PI on the prosperity partnership. Through this he is also an Honourary Professor in the group.
Prof Simon Arridge, Co-I
My undergraduate degree was in Physics from Cambridge University, after which I moved to UCL Medical Physics where I completed a PhD in 1990. I moved from there directly to a lectureship in the department of Computer Science UCL where I am currently professor of image processing, and a visiting professor in the department of Mathematics. I have been a visiting scientist at the University of Eastern Finalnd, Kuopio, Finland, the Université Jean Monnet, St.Etienne, France and the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesandtalt, Berlin. I was a visiting scholar at the Mathematical Research Institute Berkeley in 2010, and at the Isaac Newton Institute special seminar on inverse problems in 2011.
Prof Ioannis Papakonstantinou, Co-I
Ioannis received his diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering from National Technical University in Greece and his PhD in optical interconnects from UCL. He worked for Sharp Laboratories of Europe and CERN-European organisation for nuclear research before joining UCL. He is currently a Professor of Photonics and Nanofabrication in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at UCL.
Dr Charlotte Hagen, Co-I
Dr Hagen is an Associate Professor and Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow. A mathematician by training, Hagen has worked in an engineering environment for >10 years and has amassed expertise in CT combining its mathematical, physical, and operational aspects. Within AXIm, she directs a sub-team focused on the development of micro-tomographic methods that leverage synergies between scanner hardware, usage (acquisition, sampling) and software (reconstruction).
Prof Marco Endrizzi, Co-I
Prof Marco Endrizzi is Professor at the Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering , University College London. His contributions include a method for X-ray dark-field imaging under incoherent illumination, hence suitable for laboratory settings. Prof Endrizzi is co-Director of the National Research Facility for lab-based X-ray Computed Tomography (NXCT), which makes the first lab-XPCI systems available to industry and the research community.
Prof Peter Munro, Co-I
Prof Munro primary expertise is in the use of mathematical and computational techniques to improve and quantify biomedical imaging techniques. One of his notable contributions is developing the first approach to phase retrieval using the edge-illumination X-ray phase imaging technique.
Mr Anton Charman, NXTS Researcher
Anton is a Software Researcher at Nikon X-Tek Systems focusing on implementing edge-illumination phase contrast CT in Nikon's commercial X-ray CT systems by creating proof-of-concept software. He seeks to harness academic knowledge for industrial gain.
Dr Daniel Briglin, NXTS Researcher
I am a software researcher for Nikon Metrology working with the large area Mo anode phase contrast CT prototype. I am looking into various edge illumination techniques and algorithms for phase contrast, dark field and attenuation imaging.
Dr Ian Buchanan, PDRA
Ian hails from Northern Ireland and began his PhD in the AXIm group with instructions to refine simulations until they matched experimental data – he is still trying, only now as a postdoc. His interests include dark field imaging and nuanced retrievals, also human rights law.
Dr Grammatiki Lioliou, PDRA
Dr Lioliou is a physicist and engineer with a track record on developing radiation detection instrumentation and a focus on high-temperature and intense-radiation tolerant x/γ -ray spectrometers. In 2021, she joined the UCL Advanced X-Ray Imaging Group to work on x-ray imaging and CT; she develops methodologies that enable quick and low radiation dose scans, while maintaining the quality of the image.
Dr Michela Esposito, PDRA
Michela is a physicist with expertise in developing instrumentation for medical and biological applications within multi-disciplinary and translational collaborations. Michela joined the AXIm group in 2020 where she worked on extending laboratory phase-based imaging techniques to microscopic scale lengths, leading to the development of a phase-based x-ray microscope for high content volumetric histology. She is now working on applying phase-contrast microscopy to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
Dr Tom Partridge, PDRA
Tom completed his PhD from the University of Warwick studying NMR of fuel cell materials before continuing to investigate MRI at the University of Cambridge. He joined the AXIm group in 2019, looking at phase contrast imaging in the field of security, and has since worked on intra-operative imaging of oesophagii, high energy phase retrieval, fast CT and dynamic scanning.
Mr Joel Enwald, PhD Student
Joel is a PhD student developing algorithms for new and current X-ray imaging methods. His areas of interest include signal processing, Fourier transform, machine learning and iterative optimisation.
Mr Alessandro Rossi, PhD Student
Born in Cosenza in Southern Italy, I graduated at the local Universitá della Calabria in Physics for my BSc and in Physics of Condensed Matter for my MSc. During those years, I had the opportunity to gain some practical experiences in Material Science oriented labs at RUG (Groningen, Netherlands) and Georgia Tech (Atlanta, USA). Currently working on nanofabrication of optical devices for X-ray Phase Contrast Imaging within the PP project.
Mr Carlo Peiffer, PhD Student
Carlo is a PhD student with a background in Semiconductor/Nanophysics at University of Regensburg, Germany. As part of his PhD research he is investigating medical and industrial Elastography as a possible application of AXIm's x-ray phase contrast imaging technique (edge illumination).
Mr Carlos Navarrete Leon, PhD Student
Carlos is a PhD student in Medical Physics and Bioengineering, with a background in Detector/X-ray physics at Universidad de los Andes, Colombia. His research focuses on developing an X-ray Micro-Computed Tomography system based on the Beam Tracking principle, with 2D sensitivity to the phase, absorption, and scattering signals.
Mr Khush Shah, PhD Student
Hello, I'm Khush. I am a PhD student in the Advanced X-ray Imaging group (AXIm) at UCL. My current research focuses on utilizing machine learning-based techniques to denoise CT slices acquired through a combination of Edge illumination and 1D Beam Tracking methods, aiming to reduced exposure and increasing clarity.
Dr Silvia Cipiccia, Lecturer
Silvia is a lecturer in the Advanced X-ray Imaging group at University College London. Her research activity is focussed on nano-scale imaging based on coherent diffraction imaging techniques, novel compact light sources and multimodal x-ray imaging.
Dr Alberto Astolfo, Systems Engineer
Alberto studied physics at University of Trieste and gained his first experience in the field of x-ray imaging and phase-contrast techniques during his Master’s degree and PhD at the Elettra Synchrotron. He later moved to Australia and Switzerland where he worked at the Australian Synchrotron and the Swiss Light Source, respectively. He then brought his expertise to the laboratories of UCL and Nikon Metrology in the UK. Alberto is now a valuable member of the AXIm team and plays an important role in supporting the experiments performed within the group.
Ms Sumera Rehman, PhD Student
Sumera has recently joined the Advanced X-Ray Imaging group (AXIm) at University College London (UCL) after completing a BEng in Mechanical Engineering. The aim of her PhD is to develop innovative imaging techniques for applications in various fields from materials science to medicine. Ultimately, she will be involved in designing an imaging system that can detect features in industrial and biomedical samples that were previously invisible, this will entail developing novel image analysis and reconstruction approaches.
Dr Oriol Roche I Morgó, Experimental Officer
Oriol did a PhD in the Advanced X-Ray Imaging group focussing on innovative sampling strategies for x-ray micro-computed tomography. He currently works as an experimental officer for the National X-Ray Computed Tomography (NXCT) research facility, the result of a UK-wide collaboration providing access to state-of-the-art CT.
Dr Adam Doherty, PDRA
Adam completed his PhD in lab-based x-ray dark-field imaging techniques. He is currently completing a post-doctoral fellowship developing a high-resolution phase-contrast imaging system at The Francis Crick Institute. His expertise lie in system design, hardware and x-ray phase retrieval.
Ms Rimcy Palakkappilly Alikunju, PhD Student
I'm a Graduate Researcher working towards the development of innovative CMOS based sensor solutions coupled with cutting edge scintillation technology for X-ray detection and Imaging. My background is in Electronics and Communication Engineering with Masters in VLSI and Embedded Systems.
Mr Glafkos Havariyoun, PhD Student
Imaging Clinical Scientist at King’s College Hospital and completing a part time PhD with the UCL AXIM team. Keen interest in imaging optimisation and helping translate cutting edge imaging research into clinical practice.
Mr Yunzhe Li, PhD Student
I joined the Advanced X-ray Imaging (AXIm) group in 2024, following a MSc in Astrophysics from UCL. My work centres around the development of a new application of micro-CT, ultimately resulting in fast acquisition of organ microstructure and vasculature.
