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York's analytical methods have been applied in food authentication, traceability and safety and have been shown to be superior to other methods. Mass spectrometric methods developed in York for the identification of archaeological bone samples rely on analysing surviving fragments of the bone protein, collagen. These techniques also identify collagen fragments present in gelatin-based plumping agents that retain water in meats for human consumption. York's authentication applications disclosed the animal species from which the collagen was derived, and revealed contamination of chicken with pork-derived plumping agents, a significant issue in communities with halal and kosher diets. These results have been disseminated by high-profile media reporting, including a one-hour BBC special, and the press. The Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA, a DEFRA agency) has validated the York analytical method and applied it to processed food and pharmaceutical products. An inter-laboratory trial transferred the method to other food enforcement laboratories across Europe and the USA (including the US FDA). The results were highlighted in the press in 2009 and the debate over food authentication exploded in 2013 highlighting the economic effects of mislabelling. This research therefore has impact on public and commercial services as well as public debate.
Essex research identified a novel bioprocessing matrix which has since been developed into commercial products and recently launched into external markets by Porvair Filtration Group Ltd. The discovery involved the chemical modification of sintered thermoplastic materials in order to attach biological molecules, so conferring highly specific functionalised properties to an otherwise inert base material. This enabled a new approach for protein immobilisation, having technical and practical advantages over existing processes. As a direct result, Porvair has adopted a new technology and invested £900k in R&D over eight years. Essex research has supported a change in business strategy, enabling entry into new markets, which has in turn both safeguarded and created jobs at Porvair.
The leather industry is globally significant: the supply chain, from leather production to leather goods manufacture is currently worth in the order of $1 trillion per annum. Although written records show that leather production is at least 5,000 years old, an understanding of the chemical principles underpinning the reactions involved only began at the turn of the 19th century, roughly corresponding to the development of modern chemistry and, coincidentally, with the revolutionary introduction of chrome tanning. At that time, the basis of the stabilising reaction was assumed to be crosslinking, whereby the component strands of protein are linked like stitches by the tanning chemical and this was the accepted view thereafter. Furthermore, it was also accepted that the ability of tanning reactions to confer high hydrothermal stability is a property of a few unrelated chemistries, of which chromium(III) tanning is the best known example.
Link-lock theory is revolutionary, insofar as it is the first new thinking in the chemical stabilisation of collagen in over half a century. This view of tanning was the outcome of examining the reaction with modern analytical instrumentation and applying a weight of evidence from the literature. The consequence has been the rejection of the accepted view of tanning mechanism, in favour of a simpler but more powerful theory. The principles of the theory can explain the effects of all known tanning processes. In an applied technology, its use is most powerful as it can predict the outcome of all, even as yet unknown reactions. Moreover, it is a major part of the way in which practitioners can predict details of the processes required to make leather and other biomaterials with desired properties and performance.
The fundamental importance of the theory is that it allows the subject to move on as it is more powerful than the alternative view and there is much evidence to support it. By combining this thinking with other new thinking into wider aspects of the heterogeneous chemistry, modifying collagen is now placed on a firm basis of leather science, which means that the outcomes of reactions can be predictable. The primary impact of this new view of protein stabilisation lies in the ways in which the thinking has and is informing developments of collagenic biomaterials and applications in the global leather and associated industries.
Seminal materials research at QMUL and its technological transfer via the QMUL spin-out ApaTech™, has led to the development of a range of cost-effective synthetic bone graft (SBG) products (ApaPore™, Actifuse™ and Inductigraft™), which safely and effectively stimulate rapid bone healing and are more reliable than previous autograft procedures. The successful use of the ApaTech™ range of products has delivered impact on health and welfare by reducing post-operative infection risks and improving recovery rates. To date, ApaTech™ products have been used to treat over 370,000 patients in over 30 countries. In 2010, ApaTech™ had 4% of the US SBG market, a $20 million annual turnover, employed 160 people in nine countries, and was sold to Baxter International for £220 million. By 2012, ApaTech™ products had attained a 10% share of the global SBG market (treating 125,000 patients per annum), estimated to be around $510 million. Other impacts include altering surgical clinical practice away from the use of autograft.
Hagan Bayley's research on nanopore sensing for DNA sequencing at the University of Oxford led to the formation of the spin-out company Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd (ONT) in 2005. Since 2008, ONT has raised £ 97.8M to support research and product development. This level of investment arises as a direct result of the pioneering technology ONT has developed, based on research in the UOA, which has the potential to revolutionise DNA sequencing and other single molecule analyses. ONT currently employs 145 people, nearly six times as many as in 2008, and was recently valued at $ 2 billion. Evidence from ONT was used in a 2009 House of Lords report on genomic medicine, demonstrating ONT's position at the forefront of this new technology.
Combinatorial Domain Hunting (CDH) technology is a technique for producing fragments of proteins that are soluble and tractable for biophysical analysis. It was developed between 1999 and 2008 at Birkbeck College, in the laboratory of Dr Renos Savva. This technology was patented in 2001 and the biotech company Domainex Ltd was then formed to commercialise it. In 2007, Domainex merged with a UCL spinout company, NCE Discovery Ltd. The company has attracted over £3m in investment and employs about 31 people. In addition to its contract research programme, it has developed an in-house drug discovery programme utilising CDH. Early in 2012 a patent was filed on a series of inhibitors of the protein kinases IKK03b5 and TBK1, which are validated drug targets for cancer and inflammation, and the first of these are expected to begin clinical trials in 2014.
Professors Zhelev (UoA5) and Bradley (UoA15) explored the scope and demonstrated the feasibility of using light-scattering methods for quantitative analysis of macromolecular associations and aggregation, including protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions. 16 years of design and development research was translated into a marketed product — the PAM™Zero — a novel hand-held, low-cost protein aggregation monitor capable of detecting macromolecule aggregation in microliter sample volumes. Manufactured and sold through a spinout company, Norton Scientific Inc. (established in 2010 and valued at $7M), this portable instrument is used in commercial Quality Control and academic research and has been sold to a range of stakeholders e.g. drug development companies, for food safety and water pollution monitoring.