Dr James R McLaughlan

Profile

James earned his M.Phys. degree from the Physics Department at Bath University, where he spent a year working with high-power lasers at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratories in Oxfordshire. He then completed his Ph.D. at the Institute of Cancer Research (University of London), focusing on optimizing high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) cancer treatments through the use of cavitation.

Following his Ph.D., James became a postdoctoral research assistant in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Boston University (USA), where he investigated the potential of light-absorbing nanoparticles for cancer imaging and therapy.

In 2010, he joined the Ultrasound and Instrumentation Research Group within the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Leeds. There, he worked as part of a multidisciplinary team engineering therapeutic microbubbles for colorectal cancer treatment—a technology currently undergoing preclinical testing with the goal of advancing to ‘first in man’ studies.

In 2013, James was awarded a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship for a project titled Nanobombs for Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Therapy. This innovative research combines cancer-targeted nanoparticles with light and sound to develop a novel approach for detecting and treating early-stage breast cancer.

At the end of 2015, James began a joint University Academic Fellowship (UAF) role spanning the faculties of Engineering and Medicine and Health, and was promoted to associate professor in 2020. His primary aim in this position is to develop minimally invasive technologies for cancer imaging and therapy, bridging preclinical and clinical applications. The cross-faculty nature of his role facilitates the translation of engineering innovations into practical clinical tools.

In 2018, James was awarded a UKRI Innovation Fellowship (EP/S001069/1) to advance his novel nanoparticles targeting head and neck cancers toward clinical application. He serves as Principal Investigator (PI) on grants totaling £1.6m, including funding from CRUK (C47778/A30039), the Royal Society (RG170324), Grow Medtech (POC000129), and the UKRI COVID-19 Rapid Response Call (EP/V043714/1). The latter project focuses on applying artificial intelligence to identify features associated with COVID-19 pneumonia in lung ultrasound images.

Responsibilities

• School REF Impact Lead

Research interests

James’ background is in medical physics, and he has developed a diverse range of research interests. His primary focus lies in the development and clinical translation of minimally or non-invasive technologies for disease treatment, particularly cancer. This work involves the advancement of both diagnostic and therapeutic ultrasound, ranging from contributions to in-house developed systems (https://uarp.co.uk/) to the evaluation and testing of clinical imaging devices, such as those produced by GE.

James’ research is inherently multidisciplinary, incorporating in vitro, ex vivo, and preclinical disease models to maximize real-world applicability. His work has also included the development of machine-learning-based image segmentation techniques, applied for feature extraction in ultrasound imaging (https://github.com/ljhowell/LUS-Segmentation-RT). Additionally, he collaborates with professional organizations such as IPEM to shape policy on the integration of these technologies into healthcare settings (https://www.ipem.ac.uk/about/special-interest-groups/ai-group/).

A key area of his research is ultrasound-mediated drug delivery using microbubbles and nanobubbles. Working as part of a consortium at Leeds (https://microbubbles.leeds.ac.uk/), he has led the preclinical evaluation of a novel colorectal cancer therapeutic, now being prepared for translation into human trials.

At the intersection of ultrasound and photonics, James conducts research on photoacoustic imaging and plasmonic nanoparticles for molecular imaging applications. When combined with photothermal therapy, this represents a second minimally invasive tool for treating cancers, including those in the lung. As a theme lead (https://www.ipasc.science/) for the clinical adoption of this technology through IPASC, James is driving efforts to bring these innovations into widespread clinical use.

• Establishing lung ultrasound as a key tool in the stratification and monitoring of COVID-19 patients

Qualifications

• MPhys
• PhD

Professional memberships

• Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM)
• British Medical Ultrasound Society
• International Photoacoustic Standardisation Consortium

Student education

I teach across the faculties of Engineering and Physical Sciences (EPS) and Medicine and Health (FMH). In EPS, I lead modules focused on individual projects, engineering management, and audio signal processing. In FMH, I deliver lectures on ultrasound physics as part of programs in ultrasound imaging, science and technology of ultrasound, and a postgraduate certificate in echocardiography. Additionally, I lecture on nanoparticles within a cancer drug development program at the master's level.

Research groups and institutes

• Institute of Robotics, Autonomous Systems and Sensing
• Ultrasonics and embedded systems

Projects

<li><a href="//phd.leeds.ac.uk/project/2078-robotic-tendrils-for-high-density-laser-light-delivery-in-lung-cancer-therapy">Robotic Tendrils for High-Density Laser Light Delivery in Lung Cancer Therapy</a></li>