There is currently a timely opportunity to create dramatically improved green (renewable) and environmentally-friendly biodegradable materials for high volume, low load, and low cost. By manufacturing new bacterial cellulose reinforced bio-derived polymer nanocomposites, a new class of hierarchical composites with both much improved mechanical and environmental performance, as well as reduced through-life costs will be possible. The resulting product will be made completely from renewable resources, and will be totally biodegradable. We are expecting greatly improved materials for which three major applications are envisioned: fibre reinforced green nanocomposites for the automotive and construction industry and foamed nanocomposites as novel insulating materials for the packaging and construction industries.

One hundred and fifty ago, life expectancy in the UK was about 43 years. Improvements in nutrition, medicine and public health have dramatically increased this such that those born today can expect to live for over 80 years. This 150 year period is but the blink of an eye in evolution terms, and the evolution of our musculoskeletal system has not caught up with the increased life expectancy. It is therefore no surprise that musculoskeletal disorders are one of the biggest expenditures in the annual NHS budget (about £5.4bn). Our vision is for lifelong musculoskeletal health. We consider the only way to achieve this is to identify musculoskeletal problems early in life, then make small interventions to correct them before they become chronic. This preventative approach needs new technology which we will create using the equipment in the Medical Device Prototype & Manufacture Unit. We seek to manufacture early intervention implants using material that is tailored to make the surrounding bone stronger by controlling the bone strain experienced. We want to make smart instruments and implants that can measure biomarkers in synovial fluid to provide objective measures of joint health. We want to deploy new biomaterials like nanoneedles that can bypass the membrane of bacteria cells and provide anti-infection coatings on our implantable devices. We will manufacture ligament, tendon and capsule repair patches using a soft tissue 'velcro' fixation combined with functionalised surfaces that adhere to soft tissues on one side, yet provide a low friction sliding surface on the other side. We also want to better understand the ageing process of osteoporosis and the effects of bisphosphonate theory. Finally we want to perform higher fidelity laboratory testing of musculoskeletal tissues, both to understand better the pathology, but also the response of tissue to our proposed treatments. The proposed Medical Device Prototype & Manufacture Unit would enable breakthroughs in all these interrelated research themes. The powder bed fusion additive manufacture (AM) machine and 2-photon lithography AM machine allow manufacturing of porous lattice materials at the range of scales we need to create stiffness matched implants with 150 micron features down to microfluidic channels for our sensing technology and nanoneedles with sub-micron features. The nano CT scanner has a higher resolution (sub-micron) than currently available and the 3D microscope is equipped with confocal profiler with 100 nanometre resolution - these imaging instruments will allow unprecedented surface and internal imaging of pathological tissues and the response of tissues to our interventions. Our research will be conducted in an environment that will strongly encourage translation. The Prototype & Manufacture Unit will be set up with all the regulatory approval and quality control to enable us to manufacture devices from first off prototypes through to small batch production parts for early clinical safety studies. This combination of cutting edge AM and imaging equipment in an environment with strong emphasis on translation would enable us to break new ground in all our research themes and also bridge the gap between exciting laboratory testing and clinical practice.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the commonest primary malignant brain tumour. Despite advances in chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgical technology, the prognosis remains poor. Only a minority of patients are suitable for maximal treatment comprising surgical excision, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and even following maximal treatment, average survival remains at approximately 14 months from diagnosis. There is no cure for GBM and patients inevitably suffer from recurrence and progression of the disease. The majority of tumour recurrences occur within 2cm of the site of the original tumour due to microscopic invasion of tumour cells into surrounding brain tissue which escape surgical excision and radiotherapy. One of the major obstacles to the effective treatment of brain tumours is the existence of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), which prevents the free passage of drugs from the bloodstream into the brain. It is sometimes possible to increase the amount of drug which enters the brain by using high drug doses, but this often results in severe side-effects which are unacceptable to patients. Our solution is to bypass the BBB by delivering chemotherapy directly to brain tissue surrounding the tumour following excision, using a neurosurgical technique called convection-enhanced delivery (CED). CED describes a method of direct drug delivery to the brain through ultrafine microcatheters. This technique allows us to target the chemotherapy to recurrent brain tumours with very high safety and accuracy, and to distribute effective drug concentrations throughout relevant areas of the brain. This approach also reduces the risk of side-effects by specifically targetting drugs to the brain. We have previously used this technique to deliver drugs to patients with Parkinson's Disease, and over the last 5 years we have been working with industrial collaborators to develop a CED catheter system which allows us to deliver repeated drug doses to the brain. In this project we propose to combine CED with recent advances in the field of nanotechnology. By encapsulating chemotherapies in biodegradable nanospheres our aim is to achieve controlled drug release within the brain, to reduce the drug doses required to achieve tumour regression, and to limit the risk of side-effects. We have chosen a nanosphere formulation which is widely used in the medical industry and is proven to be safe and non-toxic. We have approval for a clinical trial of CED of unencapsulated chemotherapy, and this study represents a logical progression. By using CED to deliver chemotherapy nanoparticles to the brain we hope to reduce tumour recurrence and progression and to improve the quality of life of patients with this devastating disease. Our research team comprises a unique collaboration between neurosurgeons, neuroscientists, chemists and chemical engineers with the knowledge and experience to develop this novel technology for patient benefit.

Precious metals are an indispensable material for many production processes and products in today's world, from welding rings to dental implants. Global precious metals market size was expected to grow continuously, reaching nearly US $435.07 bn in 2027. Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF), an additive manufacturing (3D printing) technique, uses a high-powered laser to melt and fuse metal powder layer-by-layer together creating a 3D object. It allows us to produce highly personalized and customized products. Although precious metal 3D printing promises robust growth, precious metal alloys which can be used for 3D printing are limited. The project aims to design, develop, fabricate, and test high performance precious metal alloys specifically customized for LPBF, targeting applications in space, healthcare, glass manufacturing and jewellery. To achieve this goal, the project will pioneer and employ state-of-the-art techniques to produce and functionalize precious metal powder for testing and prototyping. The project involves collaboration between researchers from academic and industry, and will establish a research team and innovation facilities to address shared research challenges facing the precious metal additive manufacturing industry, contributing to the regional and national economic prosperity.

UK has committed to an ambitious decarbonisation plan: reduce CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050 - a dramatic transformation of our energy system. Decarbonisation of the electricity sector is expected by 2030. However, meeting the targets will be impossible if decarbonisation of heat is not tackled. More than half of UK finial energy use is due to heating and cooling, which accounts for about 30% of CO2 emissions. This will require the introduction of low carbon alternatives - wind and solar energy in particular. However, such a shift poses major challenges including the imbalance between supply and demand, congestion of energy networks and in ultimate analysis the need of a more flexible energy system. Thermal energy storage (TES) has the potential to provide a solution to these challenges by capturing excess heat, time-shifting heat demand and increasing the use of renewable sources. Among the TES technologies, latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) is seen as one of the most promising; LHTES uses phase change materials (PCMs) and it stores/releases thermal energy during a solid to liquid phase transition of the PCM. As our ability of storing thermal energy efficiently depends significantly on the design of the heat exchangers enclosing the PCMs, a great attention has been drawn to designing new LHTES heat exchangers that outperform current state-of-the art ones. To devise the LHTES heat exchangers of the future, thinking of advanced design methods - coupled with proper manufacturing techniques - is urgently necessary. The proposed research - involving energy storage, computational methods, heat & mass transfer and manufacturing technologies - aims to i) establish a generalized route to designing thermal energy storage systems with PCMs using topology optimization methods and to ii) link the designing route with metal additive manufacturing methods. This project will therefore offer an innovative numerical design methodology and will generate experimental evidences that will allow a robust validation of the proposed method. This proposal is highly relevant for the UK research and industry in the energy sector; in particular i) It will help researchers to develop thermal energy storage systems faster and more accurately; in doing so it will enable faster deployment of low carbon technologies ii) it will support UK in maintaining a leading role in the field of energy storage - one of the pillar technologies identified by the UK's government industrial strategy iii) it will test additive manufacturing in the novel context of thermal energy storage; therefore it will offer the opportunity of a new market sector for additive manufacturing products.