Professor Thomas Krauss

Can you tell us a little about your area of research?

I think that technology will solve many of the world's problems. Not all of them, but I believe we can make a major contribution to the life of people around the world with technology. 

So my team and I develop novel health technologies that we hope will enable people to diagnose themselves and help them to make decisions about their own health.

This technology is based on our research on photonics, which is the science and application of light. We’re also researching spectroscopy, where you shine light at a sample and measure which colours are absorbed to provide a spectral “fingerprint” of the molecules in the sample - similar to a blood oximeter that uses red light to measure blood oxygenation. This technique allows us to develop technologies to analyse blood directly.

What inspired you to get into this area of research?

When I was a boy I’d watch Star Trek and Dr McCoy had his tricorder, which he could point at people and it would tell him everything about the state of their health. With one scan he knew what was wrong. It’s things like this that have inspired me throughout my career. I want to make that a reality!

I want the world to be a place where people can take charge of their own healthcare, where they can play a part in diagnosing themselves and so really be empowered to look after themselves.

What do you love about your work and your research?

Oh, I love my research. Every day brings a new challenge, a new problem we can solve and a new understanding we can gain. Having new problems, new challenges and learning something all the time - that’s what I love the most.

And I really enjoy working with young people - inspiring them and supporting their work. At York we have incredibly bright young people and it’s really rewarding to see them develop into accomplished scientists.

What is the most challenging aspect of your research?

There are two key challenges. The first is about the research itself. Our immediate challenge is to measure reliably with blood. Blood carries so much information but it’s very difficult because we're looking for one particular protein or set of proteins and there are hundreds in your blood flow. We need to extract the one or two that clearly indicate a certain disease and that’s very difficult to do. And if we could make all of that non-invasive? That would be amazing if we could do that. 

The second is about translating academic research into commercial output. I’d like to see more colleagues really embrace translation, which means seeing their research become usable devices or products through commercialisation and forming start-ups. It's really exciting and it's really important. Translation is beginning to happen, but we need to do more of it. There are so many good ideas here at the University, they need to make it into the commercial world.

How do you see your research having an impact in the future? You mentioned wanting to create Star Trek-like handheld diagnostic devices that people could use themselves. How close are you to making that happen?

Well, to achieve this we’re using spectroscopy as I mentioned. It's incredibly difficult, but if you look back 60 years at how much we have achieved, I do believe it will be possible in the next 60 years. 

How hopeful are you about the future of your area of research?

I'm really positive. I'm really excited about the future. I believe technology has a major role to play in improving the lives of people and not just anybody, but everybody in the world equitably. Equitable technology in our mind is technology that really is accessible to everybody, irrespective of budget.

The technology we're developing will help people to make their own decisions about their health. We want to democratise healthcare. We want everybody to be able to take charge of their own health. We can develop equitable technology that's accessible and affordable for everybody and it will make people's lives better. I really believe that.

Find out more about Thomas’s research:

• Healthcare and bioscience
• Equitable Technology Laboratory
• Study in the School of Physics, Engineering and Technology