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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.
Research on designing mathematical methods for optimisation carried out at the University of Southampton has been fundamental to the development of software solutions for transportation problems and has directly led to the growth and commercial success of the niche software company, Logical Transport. Additional beneficiaries are local councils — who have obtained school bus schedules that typically reduced the number of required vehicles by 10-20% and miles driven by 12-15% and have an information management tool for better decision making — and passengers who have experienced improved service quality.
Birkbeck's Centre for Nineteenth-Century Studies (CNCS) has pioneered a reassessment of Victorian sentimentality, prompting the rethinking of a maligned cultural phenomenon. Its major impacts include contributions to understanding Dickens's life and writings, exemplified by the success of Dickens Day and Slater's publications; and two recent exhibitions. `Victorian Sentimentality' (commissioned by Tate Britain, 2012) and `Touching the Book: Embossed Literature for Blind People in the Nineteenth Century' (with the support of RNIB and funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, 2013), illustrate how CNCS has played an influential role in re-shaping public understanding and reception of Victorian literary and visual culture.
Atlas Genetics Ltd is a University of Bath spin-out company established in 2005 by Dr John Clarkson, a former lecturer in the Department of Biology and Biochemistry (DBB). In collaboration with DBB researchers, Atlas Genetics developed novel technology for rapid (<30 minute) and robust detection of infectious diseases at the point-of-care. Atlas Genetics has raised over £22m funding specifically to develop the Atlas ioTM detection system, which combines a patented electrochemical detection system with probes for specific micro-organisms within a small disposable cartridge. Different probe cartridges are used to detect a range of pathogens that have critical clinical importance and large-scale socio-economic significance, including Candida, methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), bacterial meningitis, and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) Trichomonas, Chlamydia and Gonorrhoea. Candida research in DBB underpinned the specificity, sensitivity and application of the technology to clinical samples and was used in seeking capitalization for Atlas.
Atlas Genetics re-located from the University to a nearby business park and employs 35 full-time staff, some having moved from academia into the company largely thanks to the synergistic relationship with University of Bath researchers. The ioTM platform has undergone successful clinical tests on Chlamydia and Trichomonas at Johns Hopkins University, USA. The ioTM platform and Chlamydia test is scheduled for clinical trials in 2014, with roll out in Europe and the USA, pending regulatory approval, providing global reach within the $42bn in vitro diagnostics market.