2018-2019
Identifying the need for monitoring extracellular fluids in brain injuries,
Inventor: Dr Tanya Hutter, Chemistry Mentor: Bob Pettigrew Microdialysis is a sampling technique that is used for continuous measurement of free, unbound analyte concentrations in the extracellular fluid of a tissue. The inventors have developed a new method to detect several chemical molecules simultaneously in microdialysis fluid. This means they can detect these molecules very…
Designing a screening device for ovarian cancer
Inventor: Dr. Elizabeth Moore, Obstetrics & Gynaecology at Addenbrookes Hospital & Cancer Research UK Mentor: Dr. Marc Bax Ovarian cancer is typically difficult to diagnose by symptoms alone, with the result that many cases are not diagnosed until the cancer is at a late stage. The current blood test which is used as the first…
A new method of identifying the genes behind complex genetic
Inventor: Dr. Luba Chakalova, SNPr Mentor: Bill Matthews Complex genetic diseases are influenced by multiple genes, with examples including diabetes, psychiatric disorders and autoimmune diseases. Numerous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been carried out to identify the hot spots in the chromosomes which are involved in the pathology of these diseases. These areas are marked…
Using AI based micro drones to improve crop yields and
Inventor: Dr. Sohab Sarfraz, Speedy Quarks Mentor: Kevin Gooding Global food production needs to increase by 50% by 2050 to meet the expected increase in world population. Precision agriculture is one such technique to better target the use of water, fertiliser and pesticides to the plants that actually need them. This gives better results for…
Assessing the viability of a device for improving patient adherence
Contact: Dr. Andrés Arcia-Moret, Dr. Whitney Scott & Dr. Maria Sharmina, D-FLEX and Computer Lab Mentor: Bill Matthews Patient adherence to complex or long-term medication regimens is a known problem in both developed and developing contexts. Sub-optimal adherence to prescribed medication is linked to poorer health outcomes and greater healthcare costs. There are many reasons,…
Investigating the need for blockchain technology in developing economies
Contact: Dr. Melvyn Weeks, Economics Mentor: Dr. Lara Allen, Director, Centre for Global Equality Blockchains allow for distributed digital ledgers, rather than centralised systems governed by a single authority. Although the initial use has focused on new peer-to-peer currencies such as Bitcoin, blockchain systems can be used in any situation where a transaction takes place…
Developing antimicrobial ointments and wound dressings for the developing world
Contact: Dr. Nuno Faria, School of Veterinary Medicine Mentor: Dr. Mark Priest, Harrogate Partners Metals are known to have antimicrobial effects and silver has been used widely in recent years. However silver is an expensive material, and although silver dressings remain sterile for longer than normal dressings, they do not actively treat the wound underneath.…
Investigating the market potential for a new microscope designed to
Contact: Dr. Andrew Thompson, Department of Medicine, and SMi Drug Discovery Mentor: Peter Hill The use of microscopy to observe biological processes has undergone huge advances in the last decade, an achievement recognised in 2017 with the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. A paralleled increase in commercial investment has coincided with the development of new fluorescent…
Finding the best commercial approach for a tool to monitor
Contact: Andrew Rice and Matthew Danish, Computer Lab Mentor: Adrian Swinburne For more information: See CamFort on GitHub FORTRAN was one of the first computer languages to became widely used in the 1970s and 80s, in particular being used as a way to carry out computational modelling. As well as providing the underlying code base…