Dr Mark D. Tarn

Profile

I am a University Academic Fellow (UAF; equivalent to Tenure-Track Assistant Professor) at the University of Leeds (UK), working across Earth & Environment and Civil Engineering to build novel bioaerosol detection technologies for applications including public health and atmospheric science.

I obtained a MChem Chemistry with Forensic Science and Toxicology and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Hull (UK) with the latter focussing on the magnetic manipulation of particles in microfluidic devices. Following a short postdoc and a stint as a microfabrication technician at Hull, I worked as a Post Doctoral Scientist at KIST Europe (Germany) on the development of detection systems. I later returned to Hull where I worked on the miniaturisation of analytical chemistry techniques for the quality control testing of PET (positron emission tomography) radiopharmaceuticals, before starting a position as a Research Fellow, later a Senior Research Fellow, in microfluidics for ice nucleation at the University of Leeds. I have 18 years of experience in the design, fabrication, and operation of microfluidic devices for a range of applications, and I am always interested in applying microfluidic technology to new and exciting fields.

I work as part of the Ice Nucleation Group in the Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science (ICAS) at the University of Leeds, and jointly with the Water, Public Health and Environmental Engineering group in the School of Civil Engineering.

Responsibilities

• ICAS External Seminar Organiser
• Associate Editor for the "Environmental Sensors" section of Frontiers in Lab on a Chip Technologies
• Co-Lead of the Microfluidics theme for the UK Microsystems Network

Research interests

• Microfluidics and lab-on-a-chip
• Microfabrication
• Ice nucleation and ice-nucleating particle analysis
• Aerosol and atmospheric science
• Bioanalytical chemistry
• Environmental analysis
• Clinical diagnostics
• Radiopharmaceutical chemistry
• Outreach

• A microfluidic device for quantification of atmospheric ice-nucleating particles (FluidIce)
• Analysis of ice-nucleating particles and their biological content in the eastern Mediterranean using microfluidic devices
• Can Antarctic dust and biology be aerosolised and affect the region’s clouds and climate?
• Compositional analysis of Southern high latitude ice-nucleating particles
• Contrasting the ice-nucleating activity of Northern and Southern high latitude dusts
• Does dust from Antarctica make ice in clouds and influence global climate?
• Measuring the variability in ice-nucleating particles over the Southern Ocean to reduce uncertainty in cloud-climate feedbacks (IceSO)
• Using Minecraft to teach microanalytical chemistry to school students

Qualifications

• PhD Chemistry, University of Hull, 2011
• MChem Chemistry with Forensic Science and Toxicology (1st Class hon.), University of Hull, 2007
• PGDip Postgraduate Diploma in Research Training, University of Hull, 2010

Professional memberships

• Royal Society of Chemistry (MRSC)
• The Aerosol Society
• Community for Analytical Measurement Science (CAMS)
• UK Microsystems Network

Student education

• Atmospheric Pollution from Local to Global Scales
• Environmental Measurements
• Masters research projects
• Environmental research projects

Research groups and institutes

• Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science