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NanoManufacturing

Michael De Volder, Engineering Department - IfM
 

Fri 14 Feb 16:00: TBA

http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/rss/5408 - Wed, 08/01/2025 - 13:59
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Fri 07 Feb 16:00: TBA

http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/rss/5408 - Wed, 08/01/2025 - 13:58
TBA

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Wed 05 Feb 16:00: Computational Methods to Design Broad-Spectrum Medical Countermeasures Against Antigenically Diverse Pathogens

http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/rss/5408 - Wed, 08/01/2025 - 13:44
Computational Methods to Design Broad-Spectrum Medical Countermeasures Against Antigenically Diverse Pathogens

Abstract Antigenically diverse pathogens, such as coronaviruses, highlight the need for broad-spectrum vaccines that protect against a range of variants. In this talk, I will introduce Spectravax, a computational framework for designing vaccines optimised for genetic diversity in both hosts and pathogens. Using Spectravax, I designed a nucleocapsid antigen that elicited immune responses to SARS -CoV-1, SARS -CoV-2, and MERS -CoV—the three coronaviruses responsible for major outbreaks since 2002.

Bio Phil recently submitted his PhD thesis, which he completed in Prof. Jonathan Heeney’s lab, focusing on computational methods to design broad-spectrum vaccines and antibodies. He previously worked as a bioinformatician in industry, was a visiting researcher at MIT , and completed his undergraduate degree in Biology at the University of Southampton.

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Fri 28 Feb 13:00: Identifying Key Countries in the Illegal Elephant Ivory Trade Network

http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/rss/5408 - Wed, 08/01/2025 - 12:55
Identifying Key Countries in the Illegal Elephant Ivory Trade Network

Abstract

Illegal wildlife trade is a key driver of biodiversity loss, but targeting policy to maximise disruption to trade remains a key challenge. A network approach was applied to seizure data to prioritise national action disrupting the illegal trade of elephant ivory. By simulating the removal of countries from trade, targeting groups of countries was found to be most effective due to network redundancy. Despite temporal variability, trade was highly concentrated and cessation in

Bio

Jakob is a PhD student in the Conservation and Development Lab (Department of Geography). His research focuses on evaluating policy for sustainable land systems, supervised by Prof. Rachael Garrett and Prof. Srinivasan Keshav. This work is supported by the Centre for Doctoral Training on Artificial Intelligence applied to the study of Environmental Risk (AI4ER CDT ). Before starting his PhD, Jakob completed an MRes with AI4ER in Environmental Data Science, where he collaborated with TRAFFIC to develop data-driven tools to inform international illegal wildlife trade policy. Previously, Jakob completed an undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, specialising in Plant Sciences, and contributed to research on metrics for biodiversity offsetting, novel approaches to wildlife monitoring and forest ecology.

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Fri 17 Jan 14:00: Structural design and optimisation of smart electrodes for Li ion batteries

http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/rss/5408 - Wed, 08/01/2025 - 11:52
Structural design and optimisation of smart electrodes for Li ion batteries

Since the invention of the Li ion battery more than 40 years ago there have been steady improvements in LIB performance, such as energy and power density. However, the most dramatic change has been the reduction by more than an order of magnitude in the cost per unit energy stored due to manufacturing innovations. LIB prices are continuing to reduce, albeit more slowly, but battery performance is beginning to stagnate, disappointingly well-below the intrinsic energy storage performance of the active cathode and anode materials. The cause of the performance plateau is the ubiquitous method of manufacturing the electrodes, which although highly productive and cost-effective, constrains the range of electrode structures possible – and therefore performance that can be achieved.

This talk explores how to configure conventional, widely available energy storage materials into different structural arrangements and examines if and why these changes can deliver useful benefits, and under what conditions benefits might be maximised. The electrochemical response of these deliberately heterogeneous electrodes is complex and so models are used in conjunction with experiment to unpick and understand the underlying physical behaviour. With this knowledge, such models are on the cusp of being able to design rationally electrodes structures that produce an optimised electrochemical response against a set of performance requirements. However critical to realising hetero- or smart electrodes in practice are manufacturing approaches that provide sufficient finesse in microstructural control. Several examples will be described including various graded electrodes, layered electrodes of two different active materials, novel binder arrangements, and interlayers in solid-state batteries.

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Wed 08 Jan 11:00: Searching for Life in Stranger Seas

http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/rss/5408 - Wed, 08/01/2025 - 11:20
Searching for Life in Stranger Seas

With a planet teaming with life all around us, it is tempting to think that any life on other worlds must be like Earth life. But is that true, and if it is not, what limits can we place on where we might look for life on other worlds? Starting from the still-controversial possibility of the presence of phosphine in the clouds of Venus, I will discuss what we know (not much) can model (some) and speculate about how the chemistry of life might work on other worlds under conditions very different from Earth. In particular, different atmospheres give different chemistries, possibly chemistries that use solvents other than water as their base. Alternative solvents open up the possibility of life on many bodies previously considered uninhabitable, such as the clouds of Venus, the surface of Mars, even the Moon. I will end with some thoughts on complex, even intelligent, life and where we might find it.

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Wed 22 Jan 14:15: Stable maps to quotient stacks with a properly stable point

http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/rss/5408 - Wed, 08/01/2025 - 11:10
Stable maps to quotient stacks with a properly stable point

Finding nice compactifications of moduli stacks of maps from smooth curves to a fixed target X is a central problem in enumerative geometry. Over the years, this problem has been solved in several degrees of generality, depending on what kind of object the target X is. I will present a way to compactify the stack of maps to quotient stacks having an integral, projective good moduli space and a properly stable point. This construction applies for instance when X is the GIT compactification of stacks of binary forms of even degree, of plane cubics, and also when X is a quotient of a Deligne-Mumford stack by a torus. This is a joint work with Giovanni Inchiostro.

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Tue 21 Jan 11:00: The State of Wildfires

http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/rss/5408 - Wed, 08/01/2025 - 11:10
The State of Wildfires

Extreme wildfires are becoming increasingly frequent, devastating societies and ecosystems worldwide, exemplified by the record-breaking fires of 2023 in Canada, the Amazon, and Greece underscore the growing urgency to understand their drivers and impacts. Year after year, extreme fires dominate headlines, prompting many of the same urgent questions: How much is driven by climate change? What role do human activities play? Who bears the brunt of these disasters? How does this year compare to the last? What can be done to prevent or prepare for such events? These questions, raised by media, NGOs, fire management agencies, and policymakers, reflect the growing demand for clear, evidence-based answers from the fire science community. The first of the annual State of Wildfires report integrates climate data, advanced fire models, and regional expertise to analyse wildfire activity during the 2023–2024 season. It identifies key events, attributes their causes, and projects future risks under different climate scenarios. Over 3.9 million km² burned globally during the season, with fire carbon emissions 16% above average. Canada experienced record-breaking emissions, more than nine times its average, driven by extreme fire weather and abundant dry fuels. Attribution analysis found that climate change increased burned area anomalies by up to 40% in Canada, 18% in Greece, and 50% in the Amazon, with the likelihood of extreme fire weather events rising significantly in these regions. Strong GHG emissions reductions can significantly limit the frequency of such extreme events in the future, but even under strong mitigation scenarios, some increase is inevitable, showing a critical need for both mitigation and adaptation to address this escalating challenge. As the first State of Wildfires report, this publication offers a foundation for understanding wildfire dynamics and shaping solutions. Future editions will expand in scope, focusing on actionable strategies to enhance resilience and preparedness.

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Fri 14 Mar 14:00: Title to be confirmed

http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/rss/5408 - Wed, 08/01/2025 - 10:45
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Fri 21 Feb 14:00: Title to be confirmed

http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/rss/5408 - Wed, 08/01/2025 - 10:44
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Fri 14 Feb 14:00: Title to be confirmed Note unusual location

http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/rss/5408 - Wed, 08/01/2025 - 10:42
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Fri 07 Feb 14:00: Title to be confirmed Note unusual location

http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/rss/5408 - Wed, 08/01/2025 - 10:41
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In-situ Constructing Hydrophobic Channel Interconnecting Progressively Zincophilic Planes on Zn Surface for Stable Zn Metal Anode

http://feeds.rsc.org/rss/ee - Wed, 08/01/2025 - 10:41
Energy Environ. Sci., 2025, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/D4EE03945A, PaperMiao Yu, Jiawei Mu, Lingfeng Wang, Yuchao Niu, Wenjie Si, Jiale Li, Xiaoyu Liu, Tiantian Li, Xiangcun Li, Wenji Zheng, Yan Dai, Xiaobin Jiang, Gaohong He
The poor reversibility of Zn stripping/plating processes induces the unsatisfactory cycling stability of Zn anode and limits the practical application of aqueous zinc ion batteries. Herein, sulfobutylether-β-cyclodextrin (SCD) was introduced...
The content of this RSS Feed (c) The Royal Society of Chemistry

Fri 31 Jan 14:00: Title to be confirmed

http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/rss/5408 - Wed, 08/01/2025 - 10:39
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Fri 07 Mar 16:00: Title to be confirmed

http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/rss/5408 - Wed, 08/01/2025 - 10:12
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Fri 02 May 16:00: Title to be confirmed

http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/rss/5408 - Wed, 08/01/2025 - 10:02
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Fri 28 Feb 16:00: Title to be confirmed

http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/rss/5408 - Wed, 08/01/2025 - 09:58
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Fri 14 Feb 16:00: Title to be confirmed

http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/rss/5408 - Wed, 08/01/2025 - 09:57
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Fri 31 Jan 16:00: Title to be confirmed

http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/rss/5408 - Wed, 08/01/2025 - 09:55
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Latest news

We are hiring!

4 January 2021

We are seeking to hire a research assistant to work on carbon nanotube based microdevices. More information is available here: www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/28202/

We are Hiring!

4 January 2021

We are seeking to hire a postdoc researcher to work on the structuring of Li-ion battery electrodes. More information is available here: www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/28197/

We are Hiring!

5 February 2020

We are seeking to hire a postdoc researcher to work on the development and structuring of Li-ion battery cathodes. More information is available here: http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/25090/