A group of scientists from Amersham have won a total of around £160,000 of no strings funding after coming up with innovative ways which could enhance the world of health.
Taking place at the 10th Emerging Techonlogy competition that was hosted by the Royal Society of Chemistry, the winners pitched their ideas in front of a Dragon’s Den-style panel, with some of th judges working for the likes of AstraZeneca and Unilever.
Winning big at the event were:
• Enabling Technologies: Alivion AG - Methanol poisoning causes blindness or even death. Yet, methanol detector for diagnosis by breath analysis or screening of beverages are not available. Here, a handheld, nanostructured sensor is presented for highly selective methanol detection in less than two minutes. This device enables on-site analyses by distillers, authorities and health professionals.
• Energy: Porous Liquid Technologies - Porous Liquid Technologies is a unique technology enabling ultra-efficient CO2 capture by combining low cost, readily available porous liquids and solids to create an easily recyclable/regenerable liquid, with high CO2 capacity. These liquids display huge cost advantages and thermal stability over current technology. Physisorbed gas can be released at low energy by simple temperature/pressure swing.
• Environment: Low Sulphur Fuels - LSF has developed a unique chemical recycling process to convert used hydrocarbon containing feedstocks and produce circular outputs that can used to make new plastics, rubbers, chemicals and other industrial products.
• Health: MetalloBio Limited - MetalloBio have developed a novel ruthenium platform technology with application potential as a systemic antibiotic and as a coating for medical devices. The compounds that underpin the platform are more active than clinical antibiotics, have a novel multi-modal mechanism of action, little-no-emergence of resistance and represent a new antimicrobial class.
Dr Helen Pain, CEO of the Royal Society of Chemistry, said: “This year’s Emerging Technologies Competition is perhaps the most important yet.
"Now, perhaps more than at any point in recent years, we need to encourage dynamic, innovative companies to chase their ambitions and turn their ideas into successful businesses.
“This is the tenth time that we have held the Emerging Technologies Competition, celebrating cutting-edge technologies and innovations that truly are tackling some of the world’s most pressing problems.”
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