Pompi Hazarika was born in Assam, India. She obtained BSc in Chemistry from Biswanath College, India, in 2000 and MSc in Chemistry from Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG), India, in 2002. Then she moved to Germany to pursue PhD in the field of Nanobiotechnology under the supervision of Prof. Christof M. Niemeyer at the Dortmund University of Technology. She was awarded PhD in 2006 for her thesis titled “Biofunctionalized Gold Nanoparticles: Synthesis, Characterization and Applications”. Her doctoral research was mainly focused on functionalisation of gold nanoparticles with biological molecules such as DNA and various proteins to produce hybrids that can be used as structural building blocks for nanostructures as well as in development of biosensors.

After completion of her PhD, she joined the group of Prof. David A. Russell at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK, as a postdoctoral research associate. Here she worked on a challenging project to develop a novel technique for the detection of various forensic analytes in the sweat deposited within latent fingerprints. She was able to successfully detect a number of drugs of abuse and their metabolites in latent fingerprints using antibody functionalised magnetic particles. This method could be conveniently used to enable identification of an individual whilst providing chemical information regarding drug usage. This innovative work was the platform for the University of East Anglia spin out company Intelligent Fingerprinting Ltd established in 2009, where she was later employed as a senior research scientist. The company got much recognition including being shortlisted as finalists in the Outstanding Contribution to Innovation and Technology category in the Times Higher Education Awards 2010.

In December 2010, Pompi joined the group of Prof. Michael L. Turner at The University of Manchester as a research associate. Currently she is involved in an EU FP7 funded project “RAPID: Robust, affordable photonic crystal sensors for point-of-care disease diagnostics”.

Publications

1. P. Hazarika, S. M. Jickells, K. Wolff, D. A. Russell “Multiplexed detection of metabolites of narcotic drugs from a single latent fingermark” Anal Chem, 2010, 82, 9150-9154.

2. P. Hazarika, S. M. Jickells, D. A. Russell “Rapid detection of drug metabolites in latent fingermarks” Analyst, 2009, 134, 93-96. Paper featured on inside cover of the journal.

3. P. Hazarika, S. M. Jickells, K. Wolff, D. A. Russell, “Imaging of latent fingerprints through the detection of drugs and metabolites” Angew Chem Int Ed, 2008, 47, 10167-10170. Paper featured on inside cover of the journal.
(Paper highlighted by: Angewandte Chemie as a “Very Important Paper”; Nature Materials (2009, 8, 5); Discovery Channel on-line; Chemical and Engineering News (Dec 22, 2008, p34).

4. P. Hazarika, J. Irrgang, M. Spengler, C. M. Niemeyer “Biochemical synthesis and manipulation of a 70 nm DNA linker for the assembly of DNA-functionalized gold nanoparticles” Adv Funct Mater, 2007, 17, 437-442.

5. C. F. W. Becker, Y. Marsac, P. Hazarika, J. Moser, R. S. Goody, C. M. Niemeyer “Functional immobilization of the small GTPase Rab6A on DNA-gold nanoparticles by using a site-specifically attached poly(ethylene glycol) linker and thiol place-exchange reaction” ChemBioChem, 2007, 8, 32-36.

6. P. Hazarika, F. Kukolka, C. M. Niemeyer “Reversible binding of fluorescent proteins at DNA-gold nanoparticles” Angew Chem Int Ed, 2006, 45, 6827-6830.

7. P. Hazarika, B. Ceyhan, C. M. Niemeyer “Sensitive detection of proteins using difunctional DNA-gold nanoparticles” Small, 2005, 1, 844-848.

8. P. Hazarika, B. Ceyhan, C. M. Niemeyer “Reversible switching of DNA-gold nanoparticle aggregation” Angew Chem Int Ed, 2004, 43, 6469-6471.

9. P. Hazarika, T. Giorgi, M. Reibner, B. Ceyhan, C. M. Niemeyer “Synthesis and characterization of deoxyribonucleic acid-conjugated gold nanoparticles, in Bioconjugation Protocols: Strategies and Methods” (Niemeyer, C. M., ed.), Humana Press, Totowa, New Jersey, 2004, 283, 295-304.

10. C. M. Niemeyer, B. Ceyhan, P. Hazarika “Oligofunctional DNA-gold nanoparticle conjugates” Angew Chem Int Ed, 2003, 42, 5766-5770.

11. P. Hazarika, D. Chowdhury, A. Chattopadhyay “Fabrication of submicron scale patterned plastic thin film fluidic devices with controllable thickness” Lab Chip, 2003, 3, 128-131.