Investment in nanoscience innovation to benefit healthcare sector

Grant funding totalling over £6.5 million has been awarded for seven business-led projects that will focus on developing therapeutic agents and diagnostics where nanoscale technologies are at the heart of the innovation.

The funding will be provided by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) (www.epsrc.ac.uk) and the Technology Strategy Board (www.innovateuk.org) and the projects will be led by Critical Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Johnson Matthey plc, Mologic Ltd, Nanomerics Ltd, OJ-Bio Ltd, Renishaw Diagnostics Ltd and Sharp Laboratories of Europe Ltd. 

The aim of the investment is to help ensure that the UK can become an early competitive adopter of these novel technologies and rapidly meet the urgent and difficult challenges posed within the worldwide healthcare sector, by translating world-class early stage ideas from academia and commercialising them through building supply chains with innovative businesses. 

This investment is part of a two stage initiative under the Nanoscience through Engineering to Application Grand Challenge for Healthcare. The University partners on two of the funded projects had initially received 3 years of funding from EPSRC and these projects will follow on seamlessly to scale-up the technologies developed in the first stage. 

EPSRC Chief Executive, David Delpy, said: 

“This is the second example of pulling nanoscience research originally funded by the Research Councils through to application by co-funding with the Technology Strategy Board. This approach actively supports economic growth whilst contributing to advances in healthcare technologies."

 Iain Gray, Chief Executive of the Technology Strategy Board, said: 

“Nanoscale technologies are at the heart of the innovations that will be developed through these seven interesting and exciting projects. They will address challenges in building the supply chain across enabling nanoscale technologies and the healthcare sector, and take ideas from basic proof-of-concept or process to pilot technology demonstration.”

The new research and development projects will help to develop links between the healthcare community and the emerging nanoscale technologies community, in order to rapidly develop and commercialise early-stage nanoscale technologies. Key challenge areas include the earlier and better detection and diagnosis of disease, leading to marked improvements in patient outcomes, and highly effective treatments that are tailored to patients’ needs, and which either modify the underlying disease or offer potential cures.