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GlySure, an Oxfordshire-based company, has developed a continuous blood-glucose monitoring system using an intravascular, optical fluorescence-based sensor to support clinical implementation of Tight Glycaemic Control and Intensive Insulin Therapy. A novel, highly selective chemosensor for glucose developed in the School of Chemistry at the University of Birmingham made a crucial contribution to Glysure's development of this new medical technology. To date, this activity has achieved economic impact, including £9.5 million of venture capital investment in GlySure since 2008 and 30 jobs created at the company, and has demonstrated impact on health through the results of clinical trials of the device in intensive care units. If the company is successful in achieving European and US regulatory approvals for the device, its introduction could improve patient outcomes as studies have shown that tighter control can be valuable in reducing morbidity and mortality amongst intensive care unit (ICU) patients.
Catalysis is a major UK industry strength and wealth generator for the UK economy. Research carried out in the group of Professor Matthew Davidson in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Bath resulted in the development of titanium and zirconium alkoxide catalysts for use in three industrial polymerisation processes and patented by the UK companies ICI Synetix and Johnson Matthey. Patents have recently also been acquired by the Indian multinational Dorf Ketal and filed by the Dutch multinational Corbion Purac. The research has resulted in the adoption of new catalysts in industry leading to increased turnover, onward dissemination and implementation of the Bath intellectual property. It has also generated £4.6M from sale of intellectual property and an increase in generated sales of new, sustainable titanium catalysts that replace heavy metals such as tin, antimony and mercury in major industrial processes. The intellectual property and process developments have been implemented globally in the poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and poly(urethane) (PU) plastics markets, worth $23B and $33B, respectively, in 2010.
This case study outlines the impact in generating investment in a spin-out SME and in developing a technology for clinical diagnosis based on chemistry research carried out in Bath. The research led to a spin-out company, Atlas Genetics, which has raised over £18M funding in the REF period specifically to develop the Atlas io™ platform, novel technology for rapid (<30 minute) and robust detection of infectious diseases suitable for point-of-care. The investment has created new jobs for highly skilled workers at the cutting-edge of medical diagnostics, with Atlas currently employing 36 staff. The io™ platform has been fully developed and has undergone successful clinical tests on multiple infections (based on bespoke Chemistry developed at Bath) prior to clinical trialling and rollout in Europe and the United States.
Reliable and timely measurements are vital for innovation, trade, environmental protection and quality of life. University of Bedfordshire work with measurement systems was already established in 1993 with commercially sponsored work to develop and patent sensors for rapid toxicity assessment in the water industry. Biosensor technologies provide approaches to development and application of cost effective devices for measurement at the point of need in many fields of application and the university's Sensor Research Group has continued to work with industry to develop robust (bio)sensor systems to address business and society needs — particularly with respect to environmental protection, health and wellbeing.
Body Sensor Networks (BSN) research developed novel sensing algorithms and technology suitable for on-body pervasive sensing suitable for healthcare, well-being and sporting applications. The main impact includes:
The development of microelectronic sensor arrays for biological applications, pioneered at the University of Glasgow, is central to a unique gene sequencing system developed by Ion Torrent. The Ion Torrent personal genome machine is a bench-top system that, compared to optically mediated technologies, is cheaper and easier to use. Ion Torrent was founded in 2007 and bought by Life Technologies in 2010 for $725M; they, in turn, were bought by Thermo Fisher for $13Bn, citing Ion Torrent as a motivation. Ion Torrent now has 62% of the bench-top sequencing market, estimated to be worth $1.3Bn in 2012.
Research on fluorescent PET sensors by de Silva at Queen's University Belfast was directly, and collaboratively, built into the Roche/Optimedical OPTI blood electrolyte analyser, which has had sales of US$50M in the past five years equating to 10 million sensors sold. The market for this sensor is global and it is used every day worldwide in hospital critical care units, ambulances, general-practice surgeries and veterinary care, often in life or death circumstances. The research, therefore, has led to both economic impact as well as significant health benefits.
The pioneering work of Steven Ley on polymer-supported reagents and continuous-flow reaction technology has helped change the way we achieve cleaner chemical processes. The concepts and techniques invented in Cambridge allow more sustainable processes to be developed, with concomitant reduction in purification steps, shorter reaction times and diminished solvent usage. The work has led to a spin-out company (Reaxa), seeded the creation of a number of other companies, and resulted in the development of several devices for continuous flow synthesis that are now commercially available via Mettler-Toledo (USA) and Cambridge Reactor Design (UK). This technology is having an impact in industry, with continuous flow processing increasingly being used for full-scale commercial production.