Role: Postdoctoral Research Associate in Fluorescence Imaging of Surgical Tools

Grade and Salary: Grade 7 - £37,694 - £47,389

Contract Type: Full Time (1FTE), Fixed Term (6 months - We welcome discussions about flexible working arrangements, including reduced hours over an extended period)

Location: Edinburgh Campus

Rewards and Benefits: 33 days annual leave, plus 9 buildings closed days (and Christmas Eve when it falls on a weekday) for all full time staff. Use our total rewards calculator: https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/work/total-rewards-calculator.htm to see the value of benefits provided by Heriot-Watt University.

About our Team

Within the Photonics Instrumentation Group (PhI, https://phi.eps.hw.ac.uk/ ), and specifically the “TannerLab” sub group ( https://tanner-lab.org/ ) we exploit novel photonic techniques such as time resolved single photon technologies, spectral imaging, and optical fibre sensors to tackle clinical/biomedical challenges and other real world applications.

Our work is primarily experimental, developing measurement systems and principles, with theory and analysis to support this. We strongly collaborate with clinical practitioners in order to move those systems towards application.

Some of our work is research level lab development, however some projects are strongly focused on practical translation – taking novel or well established principles from the lab to useful implementation. We have pathways to take new medical devices and techniques through to pre-clinical testing and early in-human testing, with full support for regulatory approval, to perform patient trials in the hospital wards in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh and NHS Lothian.

This position is a funded impact project focused on working closely with an external company, Tiny Air, a growing company who develop surgical instrument cleaning systems. This will be a great opportunity for experience working with industry colleagues, expanding Tiny Air’s capabilities through incorporating imaging technologies with their current systems, and being involved in the pathway to real implementation in surgical decontamination facilities.

This work will also be supported by Business Development teams at Heriot-Watt University.

The position is available for immediate start, however timing can be discussed.

For further information or to discuss the role, contact the Principal Investigator, Dr Michael Tanner, M.Tanner@hw.ac.uk.

Detailed Description

This project has a broad multidisciplinary scope – it is not expected that a candidate will have experience in every aspect mentioned, and our team can support you. We will be very happy to hear what you can bring to the project, and we will work together to achieve the goals.

In collaboration with Tiny Air Limited we are seeking to develop a cobot inspection system to assist surgical instrument decontamination. Tiny Air are transforming surgical decontamination with their pre-cleaning technology. A new cobot inspection system would augment this technology and create stand-alone units within washroom and cleanrooms.

We will develop widefield fluorescent imaging techniques to segment contamination from instruments, with automated multi-spectral overlay, to delineate tissue types (bone/flesh/adhesives/other). Practical translational demonstration, TRL advancement, and system integration of the photonic techniques is the project deliverable, for commercial and health economic impact.

Further detail:

We have demonstrated proof of concept on the lab bench of a UV ‘elucidation’ method. This identified previously missed bone fragments that had passed manual inspection at a decontamination facility. This project aims to expand the capabilities of this fluorescence imaging technique, increase the automation and analysis, and work with Tiny Air for practical integration with their automated systems.

In this collaborative project we will lead technical development and integration of dual photonic imaging systems (1 early integration, 1 advanced). The current prototype single fluorescence channel system will be translated with Tiny Air automation. Alongside this, an advanced multi-colour system will be developed for later substitution once demonstrated at sufficient TRL. Characterisation of tissue/bone/adhesive spectral properties will be performed with existing facilities, guiding interpretation of spectral images. As such, tissue, blood, and bone will be separately labelled for the user. Systems will be tested with instruments of varying degrees of contamination with the identified partners.

Technical challenges / skills.

1. Practical integration/adaptation of the demonstrated novel imaging for the commercial system, for example to cope with a wide area of imaging, and on a moving platform, as the instruments travel through instrumentation.

2. Advancement of a photonic multispectral imaging technique co-developed to better identify contamination (blood/bone/tissue/adhesive), providing enhanced cobot guidance to the operative. The multispectral technique will be based on experience in fluorescent spectral imaging, widefield fluorescence, multicolour illumination techniques, and general experience in spectroscopy and imaging techniques.

3. Integration of cameras and software in a Beckhoff PLC. This supported with external consultant with relevant Beckhoff expertise (experience of industrial automation is not expected).

4. Testing and validation e.g. initially using animal tissues (supermarket farmed meat and bone) for testing and validation in the lab, followed by in situ testing at clinical decontamination facilities.

The broad project scope includes aspects of (relatively simple) optical design and assembly, larger practical whole system design, system control and automation (lab and industrial), automating data acquisition, data processing and interpretation. It may be this suits a candidate with a background in optical systems / imaging, or with more experience in machine vision, or systems control and automation, or data interpretation. A candidate would not be expected to be expert at all aspects – but instead hopefully versatile and willing to learn and expand their experience.

Open to all:

We run a diverse research group, supporting varied gender, ethnicity and backgrounds present (often insufficiently) in science. This is actioned as standard principles of tailored support for all and deliberate efforts to expand diversity, and providing public visibility of diversity to encourage career choices in science.

We welcome applications from those with non-standard career pathways, or with other needs. Talk to us about flexible working. We aim for flexibility in this role for reduced hours over a longer total contract if desired, please discuss this with us if interested so we can properly confirm what will be possible.

For further information or to discuss the role, contact the Principal Investigator, Dr Michael Tanner, M.Tanner@hw.ac.uk.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

Performing rigorous and systematic development of optical imaging system as above.

Automation and control of image illumination/acquisition and stage movement systems.

Processing and analysis of data from the above.

Interacting with commercial collaborator for the translation of concepts to applied systems.

Reporting on the above through written summaries for the team, and potentially feeding in to formal documentation.

Assisting in the day-to-day maintenance of the experimental facilities.

Supervising the activities of junior group members / PhD students.

Education, Qualifications and Experience

Essential Criteria Applicants must have:

A PhD in physics or engineering or related discipline, or equivalent industrial experience (or awaiting graduation by the start date of the project).

Ability to work as part of multidisciplinary team, and to communicate effectively with individuals from different academic & professional backgrounds.
Enthusiasm for subject area, with hands-on technical experience in relevant fields, and the ability and willingness to expand skills in the relevant areas below.

Experience or skills for developing optical/imaging systems.

Experience or skills for system automation.

Experience or skills for experimental data/image acquisition and processing in relevant coding languages (e.g. Matlab / Python)

Experience of or willingness to work with pre-clinical tissue models (e.g. farmed meat) and human tissue (e.g. contaminated instruments in clinical facilities).
A proven academic ability and a demonstrable high level of technical competence in experimental science or systems development, and in the analysis of the outputs/results.

The ability to articulate research work, both in technical reports / papers and by oral presentation.

Desirable Criteria

Direct experience of fluorescence imaging system development, including multi-spectral techniques

Direct experience of tissue spectroscopy / fluorescence

Direct experience of system automation, and / or industrial system integration

Direct experience of bespoke image analysis

Direct experience working with animal / human tissue models

Evidence of ability, subject to opportunity, to guide other researchers, e.g. PhD students and undergraduate project students.

How to Apply

Please submit via the Heriot-Watt on-line recruitment system (1) Cover letter describing their interest and suitability for the post; (2) Full CV.

Applications can be submitted up to midnight (UK time) on Sunday 31st August 2025.

Interviews are expected to take place in early September 2025.

We welcome discussions about flexible working arrangements, including reduced hours over an extended period.

At Heriot Watt we are passionate about our values and look to them to connect our people globally and to help us collaborate and celebrate our success through working together. Our research programmes can deliver real world impact which is achieved through the diversity of our international community and the recognition of creative talent that connects our global team.

Our flourishing community will give you the freedom to challenge and to bring your enterprising mind and to help our partners with solutions that can be applied now and in the future. Join us and Heriot Watt will provide you with a platform to thrive and work in a way that also helps you live your life in balance with well-being and inclusiveness at the heart of our global community.

Heriot-Watt University is committed to securing equality of opportunity in employment and to the creation of an environment in which individuals are selected, trained, promoted, appraised and otherwise treated on the sole basis of their relevant merits and abilities.  Equality and diversity are all about maximising potential and creating a culture of inclusion for all.

Heriot-Watt University values diversity across our University community and welcomes applications from all sectors of society, particularly from underrepresented groups. For more information, please see our website https://www.hw.ac.uk/uk/services/equality-diversity.htm and also our award-winning work in Disability Inclusive Science Careers https://disc.hw.ac.uk/ .

Use our total rewards calculator: https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/work/total-rewards-calculator.htm to see the value of benefits provided by Heriot-Watt University.