Dr. Andrew Downes is a Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Edinburgh's School of Engineering. He earned his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1996. Dr. Downes specializes in bioengineering, focusing on optical microscopy, Raman spectroscopy for biomedical analysis, and nanoscale microscopy techniques such as Atomic Force Microscopy. His work emphasizes label-free imaging for chemical contrast in tissues and cells. He has been a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy since 2017. Dr. Downes is leading research on developing Raman spectroscopy-based blood screening tests for early detection of multiple cancer types using machine learning.