Dr. Katie L. Moore is a Senior Lecturer in Materials Characterisation in the Department of Materials and Undergraduate Programme Director for Materials Science and Engineering. She joined the University of Manchester in October 2014 as Research Fellow in Materials Characterisation by NanoSIMS. She moved from the University of Oxford where she held an EPSRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship working on NanoSIMS imaging of trace elements in crops. Prior to this Katie graduated with a D.Phil from the University of Oxford in Materials Science in 2011 and a MEng in Materials Science in 2007 also from Oxford University.

Katie has been working in the field of NanoSIMS analysis since 2008. Her research has been primarily to use the NanoSIMS to investigate trace element uptake in crops, such as arsenic uptake by rice and iron in wheat grain, but has also used the NanoSIMS on a wide range of other materials.

More recently Katie's work has focused on hydrogen and deuterium detection with the NanoSIMS. This has included an investigation of oxidation and hydrogen pick up mechanisms in zirconium and hydrogen embrittlement of steel and nickel alloys.

NanoSIMS Group Website

My research focuses on applying NanoSIMS characterisation to a range of different materials science and biological problems.

In the field of materials science I am using the NanoSIMS to investigate the localisation of hydrogen in a range of materials used in demanding environments. Hydrogen causes embrittlement in many alloys but it is very difficult to detect and localise to microstructural features. The NanoSIMS is one of the few techniques that can detect this important element. This work will assist with the development of corrosion resistant alloys more resistant to hydrogen embrittlement. Another area of interest is to use the NanoSIMS to investigate zirconium oxidation and hydrogen pickup using isotopic tracers.

My current biological research concentrates on understanding the uptake of trace elements into crops which affect the human diet such as arsenic uptake into rice and the uptake and localisation of iron, zinc and selenium into rice, wheat and other crops.

MEng (Materials Science) University of Oxford 2007

D.Phil (Materials Science) University of Oxford 2011

Fellow of The Higher Education Academy 2019