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The Healthy Infrastructure Research Group studies how we can make our indoor environments healthier and how to reduce the spread of infections.

AboutÌý

The Healthy Infrastructure Research Group is located within the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering​ at University College London.

Prof Lena Ciric

Professor of Built Environment Microbiology and HIRG Director

Lena completed her first degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Oxford in 2000. She then went on to work as a research assistant at the NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) in Oxford, where she also completed a CASE PhD Studentship hosted at Napier University Edinburgh investigating the bacterial community dynamics in diesel degrading consortia in 2006. Lena moved to the UCL Eastman Dental Institute in 2007 and worked on two EU funded postdoctoral projects. Lena took up a permanent post at »Ê¼Ò»ªÈË CEGE in October 2012 and runs the Healthy Infrastructure Research Group there. Lena is the Director of the

Prof Elaine Cloutman-Green

Honorary Professor at HIRG, CEGE

Professor Elaine Cloutman-Green is a Consultant Clinical Scientist working within Infection Prevention and Control and as Lead Healthcare Scientist for the world-renowned Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children. Her research focusses on the development and implementation of rapid molecular typing schemes and investigation of the role of the environment in transmission of infection.Ìý She is the Chair of the Environmental Network and holds strategic positions as a member of the NHS England AMR Programme Board and London Clinical Senate Council. In 2021 she was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to healthcare.

Dr Melisa Canales

HIRG Technical Officer & CEGE Biological Safety Officer

Melisa Canales joined UCL in 2009. Before joining UCL, she worked at the AIDS National Reference Laboratory, Ministry of Health in Honduras, and later within Quality Control in biotechnology and radiopharmaceutical companies in the UK.Ìý Melisa completed her PhD from at the University of Zaragoza, Spain in 2003. She has more than 15 years of experience working in microbiology.Ìý She is responsible for the day-to-day running of the HIRG laboratory, the supervision of laboratory experiments in undergraduate and postgraduate modules at CEGE, and the laboratory supervision of undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD students, assisting with a range of multidisciplinary research projects at HIRG, and within the department. Her research interests lie in engineering solutions that help to reduce the spread of pathogens within the built environment, and antibiotic resistance genes and their mechanisms of transfer in rivers, wastewater and other environments.

Mr Jegak Seo

Doctoral Student

Jegak obtained his BSc in Environmental Science and MSc (by research) in Environment from the University of York in 2018 and 2020, respectively. His research focused on the environmental impacts on the toxicity of mixtures of antidepressants to Daphnia magna. Jegak has a keen interest in the risk of residual levels of pharmaceuticals in daily human life from the One Health perspective, which has led to his current PhD research. His PhD research aims to explore the unforeseen risks of antimicrobial resistance caused by the consumption of antibiotic residues in animal-derived food products. His research involves quantitative surveys, chemical analysis, concentration estimation modelling, in-vivo and in-vitro microbial wet-lab experiments, and transcriptomics.

Ms Maisie Milton

Doctoral Student

Maisie Milton is PhD student studying under the supervision of Dr Lena Ciric and Prof. Giorgio Volpe. Her project investigates how a bacterium’s ability to swim and how the structure of its microscopic environment influences plasmid conjugation rates. Prior to joining UCL, she graduated from the University of Birmingham with an MSc in Microbiology and Infection. Her MSc project used molecular genetic techniques to edit a ‘curing’ plasmid (pCURE), which is designed to spread through a microbial population displacing multidrug resistance plasmids and restoring the populations antibiotic susceptibility.

Ms Helen Rickard

Doctoral Student

Helen has an undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences from Lancaster University and a master’s in Medical Microbiology from LSHTM. Prior to joining UCL Helen worked for UKHSA conducting research into the role of different aspects of the built environment in infection transmission, testing novel decontamination technologies, and as part of the UK COVID-19 research response. Her PhD project aims to study the bacteria found within hospital sinks and further understand these sinks as a source of potential pathogens.

Mr Sam Watkin

Doctoral Student

Sam graduated from Aston University with an integrated Masters of Biology in 2020. His project focused on the germination of Clostridioides difficile spores. His undergraduate and masters’ studies included clinical microbiology, food microbiology and applied molecular biology. His PhD research aims to develop evidence-based guidance on sampling the hospital built environment to detect pathogens. This will be achieved through gathering prospective evidence on microbial dissemination in clinical spaces to inform infection prevention and control practice. He has an interest in science communication and public outreach activities, and is involved in the Environment Network () and Nosocomial outreach project ().

Mr Chengyu (Louie) Lu

Doctoral Student

Chengyu Lu is a PhD student with a strong academic background, having completed his undergraduate studies at Lancaster University and postgraduate studies at University College London (UCL). Chengyu's work focuses on the application of non-thermal plasma to water disinfection and the optimization of water pipeline systems. His research interests encompass innovative water treatment technologies and the development of sustainable and resilient water infrastructure.

Mr Haoran Liu

Doctoral Student

Haoran obtained his Bachelor of Environmental Engineering from Suzhou University of Science and Technology (China) in 2019 and Master of Environmental Engineering from UNSW Sydney (University of New South Wales, Australia) in 2021. After that, Haoran worked at the Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences until he started his PhD studies at CEGE, UCL in September 2022. He has been focusing on phytoremediation and microbial degradation of organic pollutants, including PAHs and plastics, and is committed to developing green and environmentally friendly carbon nanomaterials to improve the efficiency of bioremediation. He is also engaged in the compilation and review of the current status of research on phytoremediation and nanomaterial catalytic degradation based on meta-analysis and is exploring the feasibility of applying this analytical tool in the field of environmental pollution.

Past Members

Dr Rupy Kaur Matharu (2016-2024)

Research Associate and Doctoral Student

Rupy Kaur Matharu is a PhD student at University College London working between the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering. She received her BSc Hons in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Westminster. Following an MSc in Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering at University College London, in which Rupy gained top marks and was included in the Dean of The Faculty of Engineering Science List 2015-2016 for her achievements, Rupy joined the Biomaterials Processing Laboratory of Prof Mohan Edirisinghe and the Healthy Infrastructure Research Group of Dr Lena Ciric to conduct research on the manufacture of antimicrobial fibres for air and water filtration systems. Rupy also worked on the EPSRC-funded AIRBODS project and on a number of consultancy projects as part of the HIRG lab.

Dr Stacey Rawlinson (2017-2022)

Doctoral Student

Stacey graduated from the University of the West of England in 2012 with a degree in Biological Sciences, focusing on microbiology and bacterial identification. Her undergraduate project focused on microbiological quality of pre-packed salads, as ready-to-eat foods have great potential for food-borne pathogens. She chose to undertake a year in industry, working as a food microbiologist, analysing food and water samples for potential pathogens and performing presumptive identification of bacterial species and further conformational work. She then moved into the medical device industry starting work at STERIS, working in bioburden testing, cleanroom work for sterility testing, environmental monitoring and microbiological analysis.Ìý My PhD project is in collaboration with GAMA healthcare, investigating composition, distribution and movement of organisms in the clinical setting and how other influences, such as air flow, can cause a change in these factors

Dr Like Xu (2016-2021)

Doctoral Student

Like obtained her bachelor's degree in Environmental Engineering at Huazhong Agricultural University in 2012, and then completed her Master's degree at Zhejiang University in 2015. During her graduate studies in Environmental Engineering, she mainly focused on detecting antibiotic resistance in specific environments (e.g. sustainable agricultural systems, natural rivers, wastewater or drinking water treatment plants). Like has training in bacteriology and pharmaceutical chemistry. Her PhD research project aims to study the behaviour of antibiotic resistance in the sand filter procedure used in the treatment of drinking water.

Dr Stanislaw Makarchuk (2017-2019)

Research Associate

I am a postdoctoral researcher under the supervision of Dr Giorgio Volpe. I am interested in studying the individual and collective motility of bacteria in porous media. The motility of the bacteria as well as their biological behaviour depend on the structural properties of the medium, so by understanding the link between these parameters one can predict the behaviour of active matter in complex environments. During my PhD I studied the mechanical forces exerted by a cell while it adheres to a matrix made of soft hydrogels. During this time, I developed an optical microscope to combine traction force microscopy with single particle tracking by holographic microscopy. My master project was based on studying imbibition kinetics of polymer solutions inside spherical colloidal aggregates. Master and PhD project were both performed in the group of Dr Pascal Hebraud at the Institute of Physics and Chemistry of Materials in Strasbourg, France.

Dr Claire Bankier (2016-2018)

Research Associate

Claire is working on an EPSCR-funded project to investigate the antimicrobial effects of intermetallic nanoparticles for the development of air and water filtration systems. Before coming to UCL, Claire completed her undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences at Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh in 2010. She continued her studies at HWU, receiving an MSc (distinction) in Biotechnology after being awarded a competitive scholarship for academic excellence (2012). Claire most recently completed her PhD at Imperial College London in 2016 which involved the development and analysis of complex bacteria and virus infection networks in natural microbial communities

Dr Asrah Binti Mohamad (2015-2020)

Doctoral Student

Asrah has obtained her first degree in Biochemistry at University Putra Malaysia in 2004. She began her career at the Environmental Research Centre, Institute for Medical Research Malaysia (IMR) as a temporary research officer and later, was offered a permanent post in 2005 until now. In 2007-2009, she pursued her Master in Applied Biological Sciences (Environmental Health) at the Chulabhorn Graduate Institute, Thailand. In IMR, she has been involved in few investigations/ projects related to air quality and sick building syndrome mainly on mould infestation in indoor environment in collaboration with the engineering department. Due to the great interest in the field of fungi in the indoor environment, she started her PhD in 2013 at the Healthy Infrastructure Research Group, CEGE, investigating proteomic responses to anti-fungal treatment in Stachybotrys chartarum.

Public Engagement and MediaÌý

We are passionate about science communication and work closely with festivals, museums and the media.

Our exhibit Sing Say Spray!Ìýhas been to the Bloomsbury Festival and Cally Fest and won the Institute of Healthcare Engineering Engagement Award in 2023.

In One of HIRG's regular public engagement activities How Clean Is Your Phone?, phone swabbing offers members of the public a chance to see how the microbial world is very much part of our world. The exhibit has been to the Science Museum Lates, It’s All Academic Festival, among others.

Along with Dr Tse-Hui Teh, Prof CiricÌýwon the Provost’s Award for Public Engagement in 2019 for their sustainable sanitation project with Spitalfields City Farm.

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Ìý

Prof Ciric won the British Science Association Media Fellowship in 2019 and spent a month working at the BBC Radio Science Unit. She regularly talks to the media and has contributed to print, web and broadcast.

Other related links:

FacilitiesÌý

The HIRG research space consists of a category 2 microbiological laboratory and a 43 m3 environmental chamber. We use both traditional culture and molecular biology methods. We also use a wide array of instruments for the measurement of indoor air quality including temperature, relative humidity, ventilation, CO2, particulate matter, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) light intensity and biological matter.

We provide consultancy across three main themes:

For consultancy or equipment hire, please contact Dr Melisa Canales or Prof Lena Ciric. We have discounted rates for UCL, universities and NHS institutions.

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PublicationsÌýÌý

Find a list of our recent publications Ìý