Group website: www.mackenzie-lab.org

Dr Lewis E. MacKenzie is a Royal Society University Research Fellow & Chancellor's Fellow in the Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, leading an interdisciplinary research team. The team’s research focuses on the development of nanosensors for biosensing, with a current focus on non-invasive measurement of blood and tissue oxygenation. The end-goal of this research is to improve the efficiency quality of hypoxia measurements in biomedical research. Dr MacKenzie is also interested in biophotonics, imaging, spectroscopy, microscopy, circularly polarised luminescence for chiral molecules, optical instrumentation, and science communication. Dr MacKenzie can offer project opportunities for masters-level and PhD students. Please email directly for details.

Career Timeline:

2025 - 2033. Royal Society University Research Fellow (Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry).

2021 onwards: Chancellor’s Fellow (Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, University of Strathclyde).

2020 – 2023: BBSRC Discovery Fellow (initially hosted by the Pal group at Durham, then as independent group leader at Strathclyde from 2021 onwards).

2017 – 2020: Postdoctoral Research Associate (Pal group, Department of Chemistry, Durham University).

2016 – 2017: Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Millner BioNanoTechnology Group, School of Biomedical Science, University of Leeds).

2012 – 2016: PhD Researcher (Imaging Concepts Group, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow)

The MacKenzie NanoBioPhotonics group currently focus on these interdisciplinary research themes:

1. Upconversion nanoparticles: synthesis, design, and functionalization.
2. Nanobiosensing: oxygen measurement in blood, cells, and tissue.
3. Applied optics: imaging and spectroscopy
4. Chiral nanomaterials and chiral spectroscopy, particularly circularly polarised luminescence.
5. Quantitative science communication: science podcast and chemistry YouTube channels

For a detailed breakdown, please visit:

https://mackenzie-lab.org/research-areas

2025. Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. Advance HE. In recognition of attainment against the Professional Standards Framework for teaching and learning support in higher education

Ph.D. 2016. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow. Thesis title: 'In vivo oximetry using multispectral imaging'. Supervisor: Prof. Andy Harvey.

M.Sc. Astrophysics. 2012. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow.

B.Sc. (Hons). Physics and Astronomy. 2011. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow.

Upconversion nanoparticles, nanosensors, biophotonics, blood oximetry, tissue optics, imaging, optical instrumentation, spectroscopy, chiral spectroscopy, circularly polarised luminescence (CPL), science communication and new media.

Dr MacKenzie currently teaches CH213 'Handling Chemical Data and Mathematics' as part of the level 2 undergraduate Chemistry curriculum.