Med-Tech Innovation University News
NEWS FROM THE UNIVERSITIES New wound test from Cardiff
A test that examines the genetic signature of a wound could save the NHS millions of pounds. The test is the result of a four-year collaboration between Professor Keith Harding, Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine and Wound Healing, and Professor Jiang, Professor in Surgery and Tumour Biology, both at Cardiff University. Professor Jiang said, “The very close correlation between the genetic signature and the future outcome of the wound healing process gives us confidence this test will deliver real benefits to patients.”
Chronic wounds such as those caused by leg ulcers and pressure sores associated with diabetes cost the NHS £180 million a year in Wales alone. “The idea is to give the average clinician the opportunity, at almost the first appointment, to tell whether a patient is going to be easy-to-heal or hard-to- heal,” commented Professor Harding. It can currently take up to 12 weeks to determine whether a leg ulcer wound is responding to treatment and approximately 60% of chronic wound cases are unresponsive to traditional treatment. The new test has been shown to be 98% accurate in initial research.
The collaboration has been granted £150,000 from the
Welsh Government’s Academic Expertise for Business programme to validate the new wound test. The Professors
Sheffield develops magnetic MEMS sensor platform
A sensor platform technology, in which smart magnetic layers have been added to the cantilever beam in microelectromechanical systems (MagMEMS), has been developed by researchers at the University of Sheffield and is available for license.
In sensing applications, the MEMS cantilever beam is coated with appropriate functionalised layers (FL) to detect specific analytes. The analyte sticks to the FL causing a mass increase and change in the resonant frequency of the cantilever. Standard ways of measuring this change in resonant frequency use optical or electrical detection protocols. Both methods add cost to the fabrication and limit the utility of the detection device.
The benefits of the Sheffield MagMEMS technology are that no direct contact or line of sight access to the cantilever is required. Inductive coupling is used, which gives the possibility of deployment in remote or hostile environments. Using the magnetic field dependence of Young’s modulus in carefully chosen smart magnetic materials, the beam resonance can be tuned. This means that the shift in resonant frequency does not need to be tracked, detection is only at resonance, which dramatically simplifies system complexity and hence cost.
The MagMEMS sensor platform technology offers the opportunity for wireless integration into microfluidic devices for rapid onsite detection systems. The development of appropriate FLs would offer a range of application areas, including biosensors for medical diagnostics, for example for the detection of pathogens such as MRSA.
www.fusionip.co.uk
04 ¦ November/December 2011
hope to set up a company to commercialise the product with support from Fusion IP, Cardiff University’s commercial partner. Source:
www.mediwales.com www.cardiff.ac.uk
Dublin links with China
University College Dublin (UCD) and Shenzhen University have joined forces to establish the Institute of Health Science and Innovation. The collaboration integrates education, research and innovation programmes in health sciences, bioengineering and health-related technologies, healthcare management and informatics. UCD President Dr Hugh Brady said, “
...this initiative should provide exciting new opportunities for Irish academic researchers and entrepreneurs to work in partnership with some of China’s most impressive medicine and biotechnology programmes.”
www.ucd.ie
Ultrasound technology
A suite of cavitation-based technologies developed by the University of Oxford allow real-time 3D mapping, temperature detection and cavitation control during therapeutic ultrasound. Offering improved treatment delivery and monitoring, applications include cancer treatment and drug delivery. The technology, offered for commercialisation, has also demonstrated that it can accurately and effectively destroy and monitor fat tissue in real-time. Project numbers: 4000, 4082 and 4083.
www.isis-innovation.com
www.med-techinnovation.com
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