Matt is a Senior University Teacher in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and before that was an EPSRC Prize Fellowship winner in a collaboration with Professor Allan Pacey in the Department of Human Metabolism. (Actually, before that he was a University Teacher.) For his doctorate, which began in October 2006, Matt studied the diffusion of polymers on surfaces close to their glass transition. Matt used fluorescence correlation spectroscopy to this end, and is pictured with the kit. FCS is a single molecule technique that works by detecting the fluorescence as laser dye-tagged molecules drift in and out of a confocal volume. The kit we use is a Zeiss LSM510 confocal microscope/confocor 2 FCS combi. Matt is a graduate of the University of Sheffield and had the unusual good sense to want to do a PhD in the area of Soft Matter. I guess doing Physics with Astronomy as a degree allowed him the fullest perspective to made him realise what was and what wasn't interesting. Anyway, well done Matt. You have taste and sense. On Tuesday August 16, 2011 Matt successfully defended his thesis before his examiners, Professors John Torkelson (Northwestern University) and Tony Ryan (University of Sheffield). Matt's EPSRC prize fellowship was to study the motion of sperm, as if polymers were not interesting enough. Despite the fellowship only lasting a year, and the many difficulties in wiorking with live cells, Matt was able to publish his work in Theriogenology, a journal of animal reproduction! This is a nice achievement. Anyway, as mentioned, Matt is now a Senior University Teacher (senior lecturer to anyone who speaks English) at the University. It does mean that Matt has not so much time to spend on research as he used to, but he soldiers on.
Professor Allan Pacey's home page
Professor John Torkelson's home page
Email: m.mears_AT_sheffield.ac.uk
Publications
M. Mears, Z. J. Zhang, R. C. D. Jackson, Y. Si, T. J. B. Bradford, J. M. Torkelson, and M. Geoghegan "Lateral diffusion of single poly(ethylene oxide) chains on the surfaces of glassy and molten polymer films" J. Chem. Phys. 154 164902 (2021)
Z. J. Zhang, S. Edmondson, M. Mears, J. Madsen, S. P. Armes, G. J. Leggett, and M. Geoghegan "Blob size controls diffusion of free polymer in a chemically identical brush in semidilute solution" Macromolecules 51 6312-17 (2018)
Y. Pen, Z. J. Zhang, A. L. Morales-García, M. Mears, D. S. Tarmey, R. G. Edyvean, S. A. Banwart, and M. Geoghegan "Effect of extracellular polymeric substances on the mechanical properties of Rhodococcus" Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1848 518-26 (2015)
M. Mears, T. M. Kennelly, J. R. Howse, D. S. Tarmey, M Geoghegan, and A. A. Pacey "Reduced curvilinear velocity of boar sperm on substrates with increased hydrophobicity" Theriogenology 81 764-9 (2014)
A. M. AL-Baradi, M. Mears, R. A. L. Jones, and M. Geoghegan "The diffusion of dextran within poly(methacrylic acid) hydrogels" J. Polym. Sci. B: Polym. Phys. 50 1286-92 (2012)
M. Mears, D. S. Tarmey, and M. Geoghegan "Single macromolecule diffusion in confined environments" Macromol. Rapid Commun. 32 1411-8 (2011)
Awards
Poster prize, Physical Aspects of Polymer Science (PAPS13), Sheffield, September 2013
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Prize Fellowship, awarded August 2011; a one year research fellowship at the University of Sheffield from October 2011