Projects
Using fingerprints to detect drugs and other metabolytes
Contacts: Professor David Russell, Department of Chemistry, University of East Anglia, & Jerry Walker, Intelligent Fingerprinting Ltd. Mentor: Dr. Julian White A team of researchers at the University of East Anglia have developed a ground-breaking new technique which can use the sweat in fingerprints to identify a number of illegal drugs, prescription drugs and drug metabolites.…
Highly-sensitive low-power gas sensors
Contacts: Professor Stephen Elliott, Chemistry, & Professor Bill Milne, CAPE Mentor: Dr. Mark Priest A team of researchers from Chemistry and Engineering have worked together to develop novel gas sensors based on carbon nanotube technology. These sensors have the potential to be low-power, compact and lightweight, as well as to be highly sensitive to low concentrations…
Developing insect-proof surfaces
Contacts: Jan-Henning Dirks, Dr. Walter Federle & Cristofer Clemente, Department of Zoology Mentor: Dr. Mark Priest he team of researchers in Zoology has used advanced optical techniques to identify the adhesion process by which insects are able to stick to surfaces, a mechanism which uses a secreted emulsion of water in oily fluid. They have then used this understanding…
Improving athletes’ physical performance
Contact: Dr. Salman Taherian & Dr. Marcelo Pias, Computer Lab Mentor: Dr. John Hunter http://www.sesame.ucl.ac.uk A team of researchers from the Computer Lab and Engineering in Cambridge has worked for the past 2 years on a detailed sensing project for athletes. The SESAME project (SEnsing in Sport and Managed Exercise) has looked at a variety of methods for…
Commercialising a pain-relieving Peruvian plant extract
Contacts: Dr. Francoise Barbira-Freedman, Department of Social Anthropology Mentor: Dr. Catherine Beech Dr. Barbira-Freedman has spent many years studying the medical traditions of indigenous Peruvian peoples, and compiling a database of over 400 Peruvian plants with medicinal properties. All the plants have been carefully selected to be under no threat of extinction, and to be easy…
Carbon Capture via Mineralisation
Contacts: Derek Fray, Materials Science, & Michael Priestnall, Cambridge Carbon Capture Mentor: Dr. Nicky Athanassopoulou Professor Derek Fray and his team in the Department of Materials Science, in partnership with Cambridge Carbon Capture, is investigating novel chemistry and electrochemistry to cost-effectively capture and sequester CO2 from fossil fuel power generation as a solid carbonate mineral. Compared to…
A low-cost computer for the developing world
Contact: Jack Lang, Lecturer, Computer Lab Mentor: Amy Weatherup A team from The Computer Lab here at Cambridge is currently developing a low-cost computing box initially designed to allow kids and other enthusiasts to learn how to write programs. Led by Jack Lang, who was one of the creators of the BBC Micro (recently featured in…
Non-labelled and selective detection of bacteria at the point-of-care
Contacts: Sourav Ghosh, Engineering & Dr Viktor Ostanin, Chemistry Mentor: Marc Bax Rapid detection of pathogenic micro-organisms is getting increasingly important in clinical, bio-defence, food processing and environmental applications. However, the conventional biochemical techniques, such as ELISA and PCR, are time-consuming and expensive, and are dependent on complex sample preparation which requires skilled personnel. The problems…
Investigating the citric acid marketplace
Contacts: Dr David Zou, Materials Science and GreenPB Mentor: Dr. Nicky Athanassopoulou GreenPB (who were originally an i-Team) are in the early stages of commercialising a new environmentally-friendly method of recycling car batteries, invented by Dr. Vasant Kumar of Materials Science. The company has secured an EEDA Proof of Concept grant, and also won the first…