2020-2021
Investigating the market need for a low-cost paper-based point-of-care anaemia
Inventors: Professor Alex Routh & Sheila Bhatt, Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology Mentor: Alim Thawer Anaemia is a widespread problem in low and middle income countries. It is estimated that 70% of women in rural India will be anaemic for most of their working lives, due to a low-quality diet. The researchers at Chemical Engineering have…
Improving food quality and livelihoods of people in low and
Inventors: Dr. Jonathan Cullen & Samantha Islam, Resource Efficiency Collective, Engineering Mentor: TBC The researchers are working on a food traceability project for low and middle income countries, sponsored by the Cambridge Trust and the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission. The primary focus for this research is the export shrimp supply chain from Bangladesh to the UK.…
Automating the detection of human schistosomiasis
Inventors: Oliver Higgins, Jonathan Cooper, Julien Reboud; University of Glasgow Mentor: Henry Blower Schistosomiasis (also known as bilharzia) is a disease caused by infection with parasitic flatworms called schistosoma. The disease is primarily transmitted through contact with contaminated water and is common in areas with poor sanitation facilities. It causes a range of chronic symptoms…
Developing robots to automate food handling tasks
Inventor: Dr. Fumiya Iida, Cambridge Bio-Inspired Robotics Lab, Engineering Website: http://birlab.org Mentor: Kevin Gooding The research interests of the Bio-Inspired Robotics Lab lie at the intersection of robotics and biology. Through abstraction of the design principles of biological systems, Dr. Iida’s team have developed core competences in the design and control of dynamic mechatronic systems,…
Visualising 3D data – identifying the markets with the greatest
Inventor: Dr. Daniel Esteban-Ferrer, Chemistry & ViRe Instruments S.L. Mentor: Dr. Mark Priest The inventor and his team are focused on producing tools to allow the effective use and visualisation of three-dimensional datasets, for example using VR to visualise super-resolution microscopy images. Such a tool has many requirements to be effective and user-friendly, including being…
Investigating the market need for improved cancer treatment using antibody-drug
Inventors: Dr. Steve Walsh, Dr. Jessica Iegre & Professor David Spring, Chemistry Mentor: Dr. Cathy Boucher There is a clear need for better and kinder treatments for cancer patients, with improved safety and lower rates of side effects, and one route to this involves the use of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). Currently there are 9 FDA-approved…
Investigating the market need for an ultra-miniaturised spectrometer
Inventor: Dr. Tom Albrow-Owen, Centre for Advanced Photonics and Electronics, Engineering More details: Nanowires replace Newton's famous glass prism Mentor: Marc Bax Spectrometry is a key workhorse in all scientific disciplines, using light to probe matter and identify its constituent molecules or observe chemical processes. It is widely used in areas such as the pharmaceutical…
Cytography: Identifying applications for a new class of imaging flow
Inventors: Mr. Gillies Kleboe, Dr. Steven F. Lee (Department of Chemistry), & Dr. Kevin O’Holleran (Centre for Advanced Imaging, Department of Physiology, Development & Neuroscience) Mentor: Brian Corbett Flow cytometers are widely used in scientific research and industrial applications to analyse and to sort millions of cells per minute. Typically cells are labelled with fluorescent…
Recommending a market entry strategy for a blockchain-based IP licensing
Inventors: Dr. Frank Tietze, Institute for Manufacturing and ALPS Mentor: Adrian Swinburne Intellectual property (IP) is licensed widely in many industries. A typical end-user product whether highly complex like a mobile phone or simpler like a computer mouse may rely on many different pieces of IP licensed from multiple companies under different payment terms. These…