Background

Graduated summa cum laude from the Department of Food Technology and Biochemistry of the University of Belgrade in 1987. Obtained his MSc (1992) and PhD (1997) degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Belgrade, where he worked as a Teaching Fellow (1987-1997), Assistant Professor (1997-2004), Associate Professor (2004-2006), and Visiting Professor (from 2007).

Awarded a Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to work on crossflow membrane emulsification at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology from 2000 to 2002 and then moved to Japan to take up a JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship at Miyazaki Prefectural Industrial Technology Centre. Worked at Leeds University with the Royal Society Fellowship on rotating membrane emulsification in 2004. Received a Fulbright Scholarship and worked on functional emulsions with nano-laminated droplets at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2005. Awarded an Invitation JSPS Fellowship and worked on microchannel emulsification at the National Food Research Institute in Japan in 2006. Worked on microfluidic projects in the Department of Microsystems Engineering at the University of Freiburg and in the Experimental Soft Condensed Matter Group of Prof. Weitz at Harvard University in 2007. Awarded a UK-JSPS Bridge Fellowship in recognition of his excellent achievements towards Japan-UK academic collaboration in 2013.

Became a Lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Loughborough University in 2006 and Senior Lecturer in 2010.

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Awards

• UK-JSPS Bridge Fellowship, JSPS Office, London, 2013 - 2014.

• Teaching Innovation Award, Teaching Centre, Loughborough University, 2010.

• Advances in Colloid and Interface Most Cited Paper Award, Elsevier, 2004 – 2007.

• Invitation JSPS Fellowship, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, 2006.

• Fulbright Fellowship, Fulbright Scholar Program, Washington, 2005.

• Royal Society Fellowship, Royal Society, London, 2004.

• JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, 2002 - 2003.

• Humboldt Research Fellowship, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, 2002 - 2002.

• Scholarship from the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 1986 – 1988.

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Outline of main research interests

• Drop microfluidics and membrane emulsification
  Investigation of droplet generation processes using microporous membranes and microfluidic devices, such as silicon microchannel arrays, coaxial glass capillaries, and PDMS devices.

• Functional microparticles and microcapsules, controlled release
  Microfluidic and membrane emulsification methods for generation of smart functional microparticles and microcapsules with tuneable size and morphology. Application areas: core-shell capsules from photocurable polymers for gas capture and sensing, biodegradable polymer particles for drug-coated balloons, pH-responsive microgels for encapsulation of bacteriophages, Janus particles, non-spherical particles, surface-patterned particles decorated with surface dimples and patches.

• Antisolvent nanoprecipitation / crystallisation
  Microfluidic and membrane nanoprecipitation methods for fabrication of micro- and nano-particles such as metal nanoparticles, liposomes, micelles, micro- and nano-crystals, and polymer-inorganic hybrid nanoparticles. Applications areas: Encapsulation and controlled release of bioactive materials and bacteriophages, fabrication of crystal seeds.

• Carbon capture
  Synthesis and characterisation of porous polymeric materials for post-combustion carbon capture.

• Membrane separation processes
  Membrane-based solvent extraction, ultrafiltration and microfiltration, membrane-based bas absorption and stripping. 

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Grants and contracts

• Production of drug-loaded biodegradable coating for novel drug-eluting balloons, National Productivity Investment Fund (NPIF), 2017 — 2021.

• Production of uniform silica gel particles for purification of insulin, Novo Nordisk Pharmatech A/S, Loughborough University Enterprise Limited project 8205, 2017.

• Production of molecularly imprinted polymer particles for CO2 capture, Cambridge Engineering Analysis & Design (CEAD), University Enterprise Limited project 7969, 2016.

• Combined energy recovery & CO2 removal, Innovate UK, 2015 — 2016.

• Encapsulation of sirolimus in poly(dl-lactide-co-glycolide) (PDLG) microspheres using microfluidic channel (MC) array device, Phases 1-4, Med-Alliance, Switzerland, Loughborough University Enterprise Limited projects 7360, 7687, 7977, 8375, 2015 — 2017.

• Formulated products by membrane emulsification, Knowledge Transfer Account, in collaboration with Micropore Technology Ltd, 2011 — 2012.

• Brain Gain Programme, World University Service (WUS) Austria, 2010 — 2011.

• Microfluidic methods for production of core/shell capsules using synthetic biodegradable polymers, EPSRC, EP/HO29923/1, 2010 — 2012.