Chris Toumazou


Christofer "Chris" Toumazou, FRS, FREng, FMedSci, FIET, FIEEE, FCGI, FRSM, CEng is a British Cypriot electronic engineer.
In 2013 he became London's first Regius Professor of Engineering conferred to Imperial College London during the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Toumazou is also Chief Scientist of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Professor of Circuit Design at Imperial; Founder of Toumaz Holdings Ltd, Executive chairman and Founder of DNA Electronics Ltd., Chief Scientific Advisor to GENEU and a Co-Founder of DNAnudge
He has been involved in developing new technologies, mainly in medical field, creating a research institute and a number of commercial ventures to commercialise his research. Toumazou invented and licensed Portable and Rapid Semiconductor Genome Sequencing which has now become a multimillion-dollar industry. One of his motivators was the diagnosis of his 13-year-old son with end stage kidney failure through a rare genetic mutation.
He has published over 500 research papers and holds 50 patents in the field of semiconductors and healthcare. Toumazou's career began with the invention and development of novel concept of current-mode analogue circuitry for ultra-low-power electronic devices.
For his inventions on semiconductor based genetic testing he won the Gabor Medal of the Royal Society and European Inventor Award. He is the first British winner of the prize in this contest since 2008.

Biography

Early life

Born to Greek-Cypriot parents in Cheltenham, it was expected he would follow his family by going into catering. He later trained to become an electrician, and was inspired by an English uncle who was an electrical engineer.

Academic career

Toumazou began undergraduate studies in 1980. He obtained both his undergraduate degree and doctorate at the then Oxford Polytechnic. He moved to Imperial College London in 1986 as a Research Fellow in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering becoming the youngest professor at Imperial in 1994 at the age of 33. He was appointed Head of the Circuits and Systems Group in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and then Head of the Department of Bioengineering in 2001.
In 2003 he raised a total of £22m to create the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College London, a multidisciplinary research institute focusing on personalised medicine and bionanotechnology. He became its first Director and Chief Scientist. His own specialism is in the field of personalised healthcare, providing worn or implantable devices for early diagnosis and detection of disease.
His research and entrepreneurial actions have shown how natural analogue physics of silicon semiconductor technology can be used to mimic and replace biological functions. Examples of this include cochlear implants for born-deaf children, an artificial pancreas for type 1 diabetics, wireless heart monitors for personalised ambulatory health monitoring pre- and post- operatively, inventing semiconductor-based DNA sequencing and inventing an intelligent neural stimulator as a drug alternative for obesity.
He has given numerous public lectures and keynote addresses at a national and international level. In 2011 he was invited to speak at the TEDMED conference in San Diego.
Other notable lectures include the G8 Summit and Royal Society public talk.
He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society, Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, making him one of a handful in the UK who are fellows of all three premier societies.

Regius Professorship

Toumazou was awarded a prestigious Regius professorship, recognising the highest standard of research and teaching in the Faculty of Engineering. Announced on 29 January 2013, the honour was granted by the Queen as part of her 60th anniversary celebrations. David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science, said: "I was incredibly impressed by the quality and range of the applications received and am delighted that twelve new Regius Professorships are to be created. Together, the successful applications demonstrated an exceptionally high level of achievement in both teaching and research

Commercial career

He has been involved with a number of commercial ventures, including the invention and development of the world's first analogue and digital mobile phone for the largest mobile phone cellular operator in Thailand. Since then, his entrepreneurial focus has been applied to a range of innovative electronic devices which harness semiconductor chip technology to provide significant improvements in health and patient care.
He has co-founded technology-based companies using silicon technology for early detection and management of chronic disease: Toumaz Technology Ltd and DNA Electronics Ltd. These companies are examples of the successful translation of innovative inter-disciplinary research into disruptive market-driven products with practical benefits for patients.
Toumazou founded DNA Electronics in 2001 recognising that by merging microchip technology with genetic chemistry and DNA sequencing he was able to invent, develop and commercialise a new revolution in genetic point-of-care diagnostics and DNA sequencing. The technology launched in 2010 as "ion semiconductor sequencing" and has been licensed to Thermo Fisher Scientific. DNA Electronics Ltd, is developing rapid near-patient live diagnostics providing actionable information to clinicians. DNAe's priority focus is a test for blood stream infections for use in the management and prevention of sepsis.

Honours and awards