Mirella Di Lorenzo

Dr Mirella Di Lorenzo graduated from the Federico II University of Napoli in 2003. Here, and at the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald, she went on to gain a PhD in Industrial Biotechnology. Mirella has subsequently worked in research and post-doc positions at Newcastle University and the National Nanotechnology Laboratory of Lecce before joining the University of Bath as a Lecturer in July 2011. She is currently Director of Postgraduate Studies for the Department of Chemical Engineering.

Research

Biofuel cells (BFCs) are a particular type of fuel cells in which the conversion of the organic substrates into electricity is catalyzed by enzymes, which can be within an organism (microbial fuel cells, MFC), or alone (enzymatic biofuel cells, EBFC). In the high demand for miniature and sustainable electrical power sources, Dr Di Lorenzo’s research aims to micro machine the biofuel cell technology.

Mirella's goal is to promote the practical use of micro biofuel cells as potential power source for a number of biomedical accessories, including cardiac pacemaker, neurostimulators, hearing and vision devices, drug pumps, glucose sensors, bladder-control valves, and as biosensor for wastewaters.

This research has a multidisciplinary nature. It fuses together biotechnology aspects, fuel cell techniques, fabrication of enzymatic nanostructurated electrodes, microfluidics knowledge and micromachining techniques.

Interested in supervising students studying;

• Microfluidics
• Nanostructured bioelectrodes
• Fuel cells and biofuel cells 
• Bio- microelectromechanic systems (bioMEMS)