Professor Graham Davis, BSc(Eng), PhD

Profile

Graham Davis graduated as an electronic engineer in 1980 and obtained a PhD in medical electronics in 1984. After working originally in the design of computerised electromyography apparatus, he moved to the London Hospital Medical College (now part of Queen Mary University of London) in 1988 and shortly thereafter began work on the development of X-ray microtomography (XMT).

Designing scanners and software algorithms with accuracies exceeding commercially available systems, he is well recognised in this area of development and has served on the European Standards Committee CEN/TC 138/WG 1/AH 1 Computed Tomography. He also serves as a program committee member for the "Developments in X-ray Tomography" conference held every 2 years as part of The International Society for Optical Engineering's (SPIE) International Symposium on Optical Science, Engineering, and Instrumentation.

He is currently the lead for Imaging Sciences in the Centre for Oral Bioengineering, which includes electron microscopy, X-ray imaging, and facial scanning. His chief aim is to work alongside clinicians towards better understanding and treatment of dental conditions and has an additional interest in developing public engagement activities related to dentistry involving gaming and virtual reality. He also supports staff and student wellbeing at QMUL, helping to organise the QMUL running club, and is trained in mental health first aid.

Centre: Oral Bioengineering

Teaching

Prof Davis teaches 3D X-ray imaging to dental postgraduates, as well as basic neurophysiology and associated clinical electrical measurements (EMG, EEG, etc.) to Medical Engineering students, He also teaches critical thinking to PhD students across QMUL and has delivered similar critical thinking sessions to Masters students. He is a supervisor for PhD, DClinDent and Masters students.

Research

Research Interests:

My main research interest is the design and application of advanced X-ray microtomography (XMT or micro-CT) systems. Unlike commercially available systems, these are optimised to produce high quality images giving an accurate representation of the mineral content in biological hard tissue. In dentistry for example, these can be used to precisely map and quantify mineral loss and gain in demineralisation and remineralisation processes respectively. The high contrast ratio available from these scanners allows us to study small differences in the degree of mineralisation throughout dentine and enamel and provides a non-destructive method of observing the in vitro release and action of ions from dental materials in restorations performed on extracted teeth. The unique availability of these instruments provides opportunities for clinical staff and research students to be involved in cutting edge research in these areas.

The use of this facility also spans many other disciplines including archaeology, palaeontology, petrology and materials science. The high sensitivity of the scanners has allowed us to recover text from damaged historical scrolls and this has been widely reported in the cultural heritage community. The facility also came to the public's attention when it was used to recover images from a severely degraded film reel of the Morecambe and Wise show.

Publications

1. Xi L, De Falco P, Barbieri E, Karunaratne A, Bentley L, Esapa CT, Davis GR, Terrill NJ et al.(2019). Reduction of fibrillar strain-rate sensitivity in steroid-induced osteoporosis linked to changes in mineralized fibrillar nanostructure. Bone vol. 131, 10.1016/j.bone.2019.115111. 
2. Rosin PL, Lai YK, Liu C, Davis GR, Mills D, Tuson G, Russell Y(2018). Virtual Recovery of Content from X-Ray Micro-Tomography Scans of Damaged Historic Scrolls. Scientific Reports vol. 8, (1) 10.1038/s41598-018-29037-x. 
3. Davis GR, Mills D, Anderson P (2017) Real-time observations of tooth demineralization in 3 dimensions using X-ray microtomography. Journal of Dentistry 10.1016/j.jdent.2017.11.010. 
4. Davis GR, Fearne JM, Sabel N, Norén JG(2015). Microscopic study of dental hard tissues in primary teeth with Dentinogenesis Imperfecta Type II: Correlation of 3D imaging using X-ray microtomography and polarising microscopy. Archives of oral biology vol. 60, (7) 1013-1020. 10.1016/j.archoralbio.2015.03.010. 
5. Boyde A, Davis GR, Mills D, Zikmund T, Cox TM, Adams VL, Niker A, Wilson PJ et al.(2014). On fragmenting, densely mineralised acellular protrusions into articular cartilage and their possible role in osteoarthritis. J Anat vol. 225, (4) 436-446. 10.1111/joa.12226. 

All publications