Dr. Benji Fenech Salerno

Biography

Benji Fenech Salerno is a Teaching Fellow in Physical Chemistry at Imperial College London. He designs and delivers tutorials, lectures, and laboratory sessions for undergraduate and postgraduate students. Together with Dr. João Pedro Malhado, he acts as Year Tutor for third-year chemistry students, providing academic guidance, pastoral care, and professional development support as a personal tutor. His research focuses on developing low-cost, point-of-care diagnostic devices. He completed his PhD at Imperial College London under the supervision of Dr. Felice Torrisi, where he created a diagnostic test strip costing £0.20 per unit, using graphene field-effect transistor sensors and scalable manufacturing techniques. He co-authored successful Impact Accelerator Account grant applications, helping to secure funding to advance technology commercialization, and continues to contribute alongside his research team. Benji also earned an MRes in Nanomaterials from Imperial, where he developed a diagnostic tool for the early detection of ovarian cancer biomarkers. He gained diverse research experience in functional genetics and solid-state chemistry while working at the University of Malta and through exchange programs at Newcastle University and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. His achievements have been recognized with several awards, including the Innovate UK ICURe Discover grant, the Imperial College Trust General Conference Fund award, and RSC Researcher Development Travel Grants.

Research Interests