A team from the School of Engineering at the University of Glasgow has been selected to present their research at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition in London from 29 June – 5 July, together with collaborators from Imperial College London and Aston University.

The team from Prof Jonathan Cooper’s Biomedical Engineering Research Division is part of the £4.6m EPSRC-funded ‘Proxomics’ project (www.proxomics.ac.uk), aimed at developing next generation analytical tools for diagnostic applications.

A major focus of the Glasgow team has been the application of Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) technology, which can be used to manipulate liquid droplets on microchip-sized devices.

The Glasgow researchers use piezo-electric crystals that convert electrical signals into acoustic waves that travel along the surface of the crystal.

Depending on the frequency they apply, the acoustic waves can be used for moving, mixing or even turning fluids into an aerosol. In order to illustrate the concept to the public, the researchers will re-create one of the fundamental experiments in acoustics performed by physicist Ernst Chladni in the 19th century.

In the “Chladni plate” experiment, sound transmits vibrations to a metal plate, causing sand sprinkled onto the plate to arrange in characteristic patterns.

Visitors will be able to test this themselves by playing notes on a keyboard attached to the plate.

Entry to the exhibition at 6-9 Carlton House Terrace is free for all visitors who will be able to try their hand at using different sound frequencies to rearrange particles, use an interactive panel to see how disease affects protein interactions and guide a living cell through a maze using an optical laser trap.

Media enquiries: stuart.forsyth@glasgow.ac.uk / 0141 330 4831

First published: 26 June 2015

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