Affiliation: Czech Technical University, Prague

Dr. David Rutherford received his Bachelor of Science degree honours in 2006 from Queens University, Belfast. He was then employed by Biosearch Ltd. as a microbiology laboratory assistant and later at the Agri-food and Biosciences Institute as an assistant scientific officer. Here, he discovered his interest in scientific research and was responsible for performing laboratory work, analyzing the data, and reporting results to management. He obtained his PhD in 2018 from Ulster University. His research was focused on the atmospheric-pressure plasma treatment of aerosolized bacteria. This dynamic optimization of the plasma system incorporated a stream of droplets in the gas flow and the development of the customized equipment used to collect and investigate the treated cells. He is currently employed in the Applied Physics group at Czech Technical University, Prague, where he studies the interaction between bacteria and novel antibacterial treatments, particularly photoactive nanocomposite particles.