Areas of expertise

  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Biosensors & Diagnostics
  • Defence Sensors
  • Food Safety
  • Instrumentation, Sensors and Measurement Science
  • Manufacturing of Functional Materials
  • Monitoring and Environmental Informatics
  • Nanotechnology
  • Sensor Technologies

Background

Professor Anthony (Tony) Turner's name is synonymous with the field of Biosensors. He joined Cranfield from the University of Kent in 1981, as a founder member of the UK's first Biotechnology Centre. He established the Biosensor Group which developed, in collaboration with Oxford University, the World's most commercially successful type of home diagnostic, the electrochemical glucose sensor for diabetes. He went on to perform contract R&D for many of the leading diagnostics companies in the World and other organisations interested in emerging biotechnologies. His 45-year academic career culminated in the positions of Principal of Cranfield University at Silsoe and Distinguished Professor of Biotechnology. In 2011, he was granted Emeritus status and moved to more basic research in bioelectronics for a further 8 years with Linköping University in Sweden. In addition to his academic activities, he has specialised in patent litigation, leveraging IP and driving numerous biosensor start-ups over the past four decades.

In 2016, Prof Turner was awarded the Ukraine's highest academic honour, the Vernadsky Gold Medal from the National Academy of Sciences and, in the same year, he was awarded the Datta Medal by the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS). Among a number of other international awards, the Royal Society of Chemistry presented him with the Theophilus Redward Medal, in 2011, He was elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences in 2013 and admitted as a Fellow of the UK Royal Society of Chemistry in 1996. He was awarded a Higher Doctorate (DSc) for his exceptional contribution to biosensors by the University of Kent, in 2001, and an Honorary DSc by the University of Bedfordshire in 2008, where he served as a Governor for six years and is a Member of Court. He was elected a Foreign Associate of the USA National Academy of Engineering in 2006, for his work on glucose sensors, environmental monitors and synthetic recognition molecules and has been a Visiting Professor at various universities in the UK, Italy, Sweden, Korea, Japan and China. Anthony Turner has over 750 publications and patents (>350 refereed journal papers and reviews) in the field of biosensors and biomimetic sensors and has supervised 54 PhD students. He has a G.S. h-index (2023) of 94. He published the first textbook on Biosensors in 1987, co-founded the principal journal in his field, Biosensors & Bioelectronics (Elsevier), which he edited from 1985 to 2019 (and remains Founding Editor-In-Chief), and chaired the World Congress on Biosensors, from when he founded it in 1990 until 2021.

Current activities

Professor Turner is Founding Editor-In-Chief of the principal journal in his field, Biosensors and Bioelectronics (Elsevier). His main focus now is on science communication, translational research and technology transfer.

Clients

Prof Turner has consulted for a large number of national and multinational companies in the field of diagnostics design and manufacture including Abbott, Beckman Instruments, Bayer, Boehringer Mannheim / Roche, Ciba Corning, DeLaval, Distiller, E.I. Du Pont de nemours, General Electric, Hewlett Packard, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Nova Biomedical, Oblon, Radiometer, S.C. Johnson & Son and Wellcome. He has also been commissioned to advise government bodies such as the European Parliament, DTI and OST (UK), MITI (Japan), Danish Department of Health, Swedish Ministry of Technology, Australian Ministry of Science, NATO and WHO.

Publications

Articles In Journals

Conference Papers

Books