Spotlight On: Develop your assay – What type of Gii do you need? With Michelle Ntola

Q: What is your academic and professional background?

I earned a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Imperial College London and a PhD in Chemistry and Biological Sciences from Durham University.

During my PhD, I developed an interest in carbon nanotechnology, which shifted my research focus. I deepened my expertise in this field as a postdoctoral research associate, specializing in biosensor development and nanomedicine.

I was referred by a colleague already working at iGii and was deeply intrigued by the innovative material, Gii. The opportunity to contribute to such groundbreaking work greatly excited me.

Q: Can you describe your current role at iGii?

I lead a team of materials scientists from diverse backgrounds to develop new forms of Gii tailored for specific applications.

Gii is incredibly versatile, and we adapt it for various purposes, such as adjusting conductivity or thickness.

We’ve outlined roadmaps for established use cases, like biosensor assay development, but we also collaborate with customers on new applications—such as heat sensors—to create the optimal version of Gii for their devices.

Q: What are your tips for customers looking to develop their assays?

First – to give Gii a try. You won’t be disappointed with its high sensitivity, sustainability, scalability, supply security and low cost features.

Also, to understand that at iGii, we offer a full end to end process for assay development.

Our process is flexible, and we adapt Gii for different use cases. Resistance is an important feature for supercapacitors, but less so for sensors. Our Kapton substrate works for many purposes, but you may want to use a different form. Whatever you need – we have experts who can help you through each step.

Q: How do you collaborate with other teams?

My work is focused on our core technology – Gii – and so naturally, I work closely with functions across the company. My team are very much the starting point of what we do here.

For a new version of Gii, we do the proof-of-concept work, before handing it over to the engineers, and then to the production team.

Q: What skills does iGii have across the business that really stand out?

We have an impressive range of skills across the business. I am genuinely amazed by the talent that we have in house covering everything from screen printing to data science. We’re a team of heavy lifters doing some incredible work.

Q: What trends or innovations in your field are you most excited about?

We use Kapton as our main substrate for Gii. But the nature of my role means I am excited about the next big thing! A major focus is using Gii on different substrates – for example metals, PET, ceramic substrates. The more we know about how Gii reacts on these different materials, the more use cases we can develop.