Log in
Impact: Health and Economic Gains:
Research has led to a wearable light source that provides a new way of treating many skin cancers and acne. The treatment is safe, convenient, and easy to use bringing benefits to patients and healthcare providers. In addition it brings economic benefits to Ambicare Health Ltd, the company commercialising it.
Significance
For skin cancer treatment, the device gives effective treatment with much reduced pain. The simplified treatment procedure allows more patients to be treated in a clinic session. For acne, the device provides a convenient at-home treatment without the application of drugs or chemicals.
Beneficiaries:
Skin cancer and acne sufferers, the clinics that treat them and Ambicare Health Ltd.
Attribution:
The work was led by Professor Ifor Samuel (PHYESTA) working with Professor James Ferguson (Ninewells Hospital, Dundee).
Reach:
The wearable light source has changed treatment in the UK and the Netherlands. The skin cancer treatment is in regular use at more than 25 clinics, and the acne treatment at more than 250 clinics.
Interdisciplinary research on a new class of organo-metallic light emitting polymers showed that they could produce white light very efficiently. A consortium of the University and Industry (predominantly Thorn Lighting, the largest lighting manufacturing employer in the North East) developed and patented these into a viable alternative to mercury vapour fluorescent lights with a £4.3M grant from the DTI with matched funding from industry. The companies are investing in scaling this up to a full commercial supply chain, supported by a £4M grant from the Technology Strategy Board. The success of the project helped BIS secure £20.5M to support Plastic Electronics in the UK, creating 26 jobs, and was cited as a factor in the Thorn decision not to close down its North East site, safeguarding 600 jobs.
Implementation of photonic quasi-crystals on light emitting diodes (LEDs) can produce more light using less energy. This technology was brought to the global market via the successful commercialisation of laboratory devices derived from research in nanophotonics and the subsequent development of photonic quasi-crystals by a multi-disciplinary team from the University of Southampton. The intellectual property of the technology was acquired and adopted in 2008 by Luxtaltek Corporation, a global manufacturer of LEDs. In the period 2008-2012 Luxtaltek Corporation, made total profits of £35 million utilising the photonic quasi-crystal LED technology, employing more than 300 people in its production facilities.
The company Ossila Ltd has developed a range of products targeted at developers of organic electronic devices, with products based on know-how derived from research within the Soft Matter Physics (SMP) group in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. The company also supplies research-based services to technical markets around the world. Since its establishment in 2010, the company has grown organically, and now has a growing revenue stream that makes it a sustainable profit-making entity, with 85% of its products sold to overseas markets. The company enjoys rapid growth and currently employs 10 people (~7 FTE equivalent). Ossila's financial turn-over has increased by between 50-100% annually, [text removed for publication].
Regulation of our sleep-wake cycle is crucial to health and well-being. The quality (intensity and spectral distribution) of artificial light is currently described according to its ability to activate rod and cone photoreceptors in the human eye. This approach ignores the discovery of a third photoreceptor that Lucas and his group have shown to be responsible for a range of sub-conscious neurophysiological and neurobehavioural responses to light, which together strongly contribute to health, productivity and well-being. Their research has established ways of measuring light that predict its effect on these newly discovered photoreceptors. They have partnered with industrial [text removed for publication] and public policy (various) organisations to translate this knowledge into improved artificial light sources and updated international standards for architectural lighting, for use in a wide range of domestic, public and industrial settings.
Natural photonics research by Professor Pete Vukusic at the University of Exeter was responsible for shaping the successful global communications strategy of Bausch & Lomb, a world-leading supplier of eye health products. Drawing on Vukusic's studies into bio-inspiration, Bausch & Lomb built its core brand messaging for a major new lens product around the ability of nature to inspire technological breakthroughs. Outreach campaigns targeting media and optometry professionals took Vukusic's research to an international audience, raising wider public awareness of the concept of bio-inspiration. Bausch & Lomb attributed their subsequent rapid sales growth to Vukusic's work.
Impact: Economic gains
PHYESTA research has led to the setting up of a company now known as ForthDD. Since 2008 it has increased its annual revenue by more than 25% to around US $5M, and its global workforce from 25 to 35. It has released new products directly underpinned by PHYESTA research as recently as October 2012.
Significance:
A consortium involving PHYESTA staff in collaboration with Edinburgh's School of Engineering and five industrial partners realised the world's first high-resolution ferroelectric liquid crystal over silicon (FLCOS) microdisplay. This digital display attracted investment from the UK, Taiwan, and USA of over $40m, and was taken forward to production by MicroPix, MicroVue, and Forth Dimension Displays.
ForthDD now has offices in Valencia, USA, and Berlin, Germany. The company designs, develops and manufactures single chip microdisplays used in the demanding near to eye (NTE) training and simulation systems, HD video camera viewfinders, medical imaging systems and virtual reality and head-mounted displays.
ForthDD, its customers and business partners (e.g. in the medical imaging sector).
Attribution: This work was led within PHYESTA by Professor David Vass involving PHYESTA and done in collaboration with Edinburgh's School of Engineering.
Circadian rhythms impact upon a large proportion of human biology. Disruption due to genetic or environmental (e.g. altered sleep patterns in shift workers) cues results in reduced quality of life and increased morbidity for millions of people every year.
Researchers at Surrey first demonstrated blue light sensitivity of the human circadian system, resulting in increased alertness and mood. This led to changes in international lighting standards and the development and use of novel lighting systems, such as blue-enriched polychromatic lighting. These systems have been employed in homes for older people, factories, offices, hospitals and schools, increasing health and wellbeing.
Research in the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating (WCPC) at Swansea University has produced a sophisticated understanding of the physics of the fluids and interfaces in the printing process, and has pioneered the development of printing with complex, multi-phase inks. The application in volume manufacture made possible by the research has generated significant, multi-million pound, economic impact in the printable electronics and packaging industries, directly leading to the creation of new high technology printed products, including next generation lighting. It has also led to the development of the supply chain for complex functional inks, whilst a comprehensive revision of the ISO standard on ink colorimetric characterisation in 2013 has demonstrable impact on practitioners.
Prof Silver's research on the development of the technology to fabricate 3D electro-optic circuits via ink-jet and screen printing has provided a more sustainable solution to conventional back-lit posters (energy saving up to 75%) and printed displays. Due to the flexibility of the components (they can be printed in any shape or design) and low maintenance (battery operational), the technology has been commercially exploited by several industrial collaborators. Johnson Matthey have used Brunel research to gain knowledge of the market and supply chain, to sell silver and palladium nano-particles for ink-jet printing and to inform the investment of around £2M on R&D in this area. Intrinsiq Materials Ltd successfully marketed copper-based inks for ink-jet printing of ACEL displays, allowing the company to employ 22 additional staff. In addition, they have secured $4M of venture capital investment to develop the technology. Printed Electronics Ltd have secured £8.6M of investment to develop a high-volume supply chain for printed electronics, and have employed an additional 9 staff within the company. As a result of working with Brunel, Keeling and Walker have begun to sell ink that contains antimony-doped tin oxide nano-powders.