The specific aim of this project is to develop the QMUL technology to a bench-top powder dispensing system. The commercial product will be market ready within 2 years, providing a lower cost, more accurate system compared to competitors, such as Symyx Powdernium, FlexiWeigh and BIODOT DisPoTM. The bench-top system will act as a first step in validating the technology for scale-up to high-value applications, such as production-line filing of capsules and blisters with pharmaceutical drugs and combinatorial research. The bench-top system will be developed in partnership with Huxley Bertram Ltd, an established engineering company with expertise in designing and developing equipment for the pharmaceutical industry

The specific aim of this project is to develop the QMUL technology to a bench-top powder dispensing system. The commercial product will be market ready within 2 years, providing a lower cost, more accurate system compared to competitors, such as Symyx Powdernium, FlexiWeigh and BIODOT DisPoTM. The bench-top system will act as a first step in validating the technology for scale-up to high-value applications, such as production-line filing of capsules and blisters with pharmaceutical drugs and combinatorial research. The bench-top system will be developed in partnership with Huxley Bertram Ltd, an established engineering company with expertise in designing and developing equipment for the pharmaceutical industry

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is the ability of microbes to evolve resistance against an antimicrobial treatment. For example, a bacterium can develop resistance to an antibiotic medicine, rendering that medicine ineffective in treating and containing the infection. The loss of effective antibiotics will have a significant impact on our lives, not only increasing the chances of developing a serious infection but also increasing the risk associated with medical procedures. The recent O'Neill review predicts "If we fail to act, we are looking at an almost unthinkable scenario where antibiotics no longer work and we are cast back into the dark ages of medicine". While AMR in bacteria occurs naturally over time, the misuse and overuse of antibiotics is accelerating this process. For example, many infections such as tonsillitis are predominantly (80%) viral and can thus not be treated with antibiotics, yet antibiotics are still prescribed. An obvious solution is to introduce new drugs. However, this is not only very costly but it is also inevitable that resistance to any new medicine will develop. A promising and sustainable solution to the AMR problem is the introduction of diagnostic tests that not only confirm a bacterial infection but also identify the best antibiotic for treating the infection. The aim of this project is to develop a diagnostic that will ensure the right drugs are prescribed at the right time. The technology, called MAPS, is based on silicon photonics. Although developed originally for use in the communications industry, we have shown that this same technology can be used to monitor biology, including bacteria and proteins, with very high sensitivity. We will exploit this technology to create a diagnostic that will identify the type of bacterium and severity of infection, the presence of resistance mechanisms and the most promising antibiotic for treatment. Working with clinical and industrial collaborators, we will demonstrate and validate the technology for the treatment of urinary tract infections and determine a route for taking it to the market.

Our vision is to establish the new field of inorganic intelligence by defining the key fundamental science problems, and by developing researchers equipped with the right skills to explore this emerging area of science. The Cronin Group has made world-leading contributions to foundational aspects of this research and now we need to explore, unify, and develop some of the central science problems. These include how to explore and control, and understand complex chemical systems using robotics and real-time data. We anticipate that the coordinated development of these four topics will lead into applications as diverse as self-assembly control in nano molecules, chemical synthesis and discovery automation or artificial intelligence (AI) optimisation of reactions and exploration and discovery of new underpinning principles. The new grant will continue to unify and develop synergies already established during the previous Platform, but most importantly will ensure continuity and stability. This will enable the team to evolve from focusing on inorganic systems to the digital control and exploration of complex chemical systems. The new Platform will not only contribute to unify the many strands already existing in the team, but will also allow an extension to new disciplines including robotics, machine learning, and development of synergies across those areas - a combination of topics very rarely merged and hence extremely hard to raise funding using other mechanisms. Thus, the new Platform is essential for continuation and the evolution of the research activity, giving added value in integrating the group, allowing us to be strategic and develop the team into the chosen new areas defining the area of 'inorganic intelligence'. The previous grant was instrumental in letting us extend our critical mass, enhance key existing international collaborations, and support inter-group collaborations in Glasgow, which allowed us to speculate and develop our exploratory work in chemical robotics. In addition, we had the flexibility to support and further consolidate some of the existing team, and to hire in new expertise, as well as restructure the team with help from the EPSRC mentor scheme. We need the new platform to continue our team development and provide stability and flexibility especially important during the next few years. As before, we will aim for our best results to be published in Science and Nature, protect innovations by patent applications, and engage a user group and industrialists as well as other world-leading academics to maximise both the academic and technological impact. This will be achieved by making full use of funding from various sources, aiming at areas that need to be developed using the Platform as a consolidating component. We will also seed 'pump-prime' projects within the Platform, provide bridging funding, and be ready to exploit unexpected and high impact results. The Platform will ensure the group remains at critical mass at a critical time, and at the cutting edge of science in a range of new areas.

The Innovation and Knowledge Centre in Regenerative Therapies and Devices will provide a sustainable regional and international platform to address the creation of new technologies in Regenerative Therapies and Devices and their accelerated adoption within a complex global market place with increasing cost constraints. Therapies and devices which facilitate the regeneration of body tissues offer the potential to revolutionise healthcare and be a catalyst for economic growth, creating a new business sector within healthcare technology (Foresight Healthcare 2020). This centre is focused on emerging novel technologies in biological scaffolds, nano-biomaterials and self assembling peptides. These hybrid technologies utilise novel physical and biological functionality to enhance and accelerate the regeneration of tissues by harnessing the potential of endogenous stem cells in vivo. These novel technologies will also provide a vehicle for the delivery of exogenous stem cells to patients in the future and can be used to generate neo-tissues in vitro. The delivery of these emerging technologies to patients will be accelerated by improved diagnostics and imaging for enhanced patient targeting and by new complex simulation methodologies (patient in the lab) for improved short term predictions of the long term clinical outcomes. The life expectancy and average age of the population continues to increase as a result of advances in biomedicine and healthcare and this is generating additional social and economic burden. The Regenerative Technologies and Devices IKC will address the needs and quality of life of the ageing population, and address their expectations of an active lifestyle for fifty more years after fifty . It will specifically, but not exclusively, focus on areas of clinical need in musculoskeletal disease, dentistry, cardiovascular disease and cancer, which have been strategically prioritised by the University and the Leeds Hospitals Trust. The centre will build upon and develop substantial clinical, academic and industry partnerships. Additional new collaborative funding of over 58 million has already been confirmed to match the IKC award, and the centre has plans which have identified research and innovation funding in this area of over 100 million during the initial five year period of its activities.This rapidly growing multidisciplinary area will require innovative scientists and engineers who can cross disciplinary boundaries, work in broader systems based projects and work flexibly and collaboratively with industry and clinicians at different stages of the innovation pipeline. The centre and its partners will develop new and different approaches to innovation at an early stage of the innovation cycle, to substantially accelerate innovation, shorten the time period to clinical trials and market, and mitigate technology risks associated with this emergent sector. Collaborators in the Leeds University Business School will develop and evaluate open innovation methodologies. The University of Leeds is ideally placed to take advantage of this EPSRC call for four important reasons. First it has considerable competency in technology and science, as well as capabilities in managing collaborative innovation and entrepreneurship. Second it has the capability to both manage facilitate and create accelerated innovation in emerging healthcare technologies. Third the University already has excellent facilities and a track record (WRHIP) for innovation and is working with Yorkshire Forward to establish an Innovation Hub in Healthcare Technologies. Fourth the strategic partnership with the Clinical Trials Research Unit and the Unit of Health Economics will enable transition into NHS practice.