University of Leeds - Impact Magazine - Issue 7

ImpactResearch and Innovation at the University of LeedsIssue 7

MAKING A SPLASH:The University celebrates the Games withsome very special guestsON TIME AND ON TRACK:the success story that is Leeds’ spin-out Tracsis

CANCER DETECTIVES:Leeds research boosts the fight against bowel cancer

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A spotlight on Research and Innovationat the University of Leeds© University of Leeds 2012

Steering Group:Professor David HoggPro-Vice-Chancellor for Research & Innovation

Martin HolmesMarketing Director

Kathy BrownridgeDirector,Research & Innovation Services

Paul BarrettStrategic Marketing Manager

Sue UnderwoodHead of Communications ProductionCommunications and Press Office

Written by:campuspr Ltd, Paul Barrett andCommunications and Press OfficeDesigned by:Leigh Marklew, Communications and PressOfficeSelected Photography:Simon and Simon PhotographyEdited by:Paul Barrett

Visit the Impact website atwww.leeds.ac.uk/impact

This publication is available in other formats.Please contact Paul Barrettemail: [email protected] on recycled paper.

ImpactResearch and Innovation at the University of LeedsIssue 7

MAKING A SPLASHtesting the fabric of the fastestswimsuits aroundON TIME AND ON TRACK:the success story that is Leeds’ spin-out Tracsis

CANCER DETECTIVES:Leeds research boosts the fight against bowelcancer

Impact 7 University of Leeds

CONTENTS

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04CANCER DETECTIVESHow photographic records of bowel cancertumours can help Leeds researchers to improvesurvival rates.

07SECURING OUR FUTUREAs the world’s population approaches 7 billion,the issues surrounding the global availability offood are becoming increasingly urgent.

10ON THE VOYAGE OF DRUG DISCOVERYThe University of Leeds is pioneering innovativeapproaches to developing safe new medicines,faster.

14DESIGNING A BETTER FUTUREThe University’s partnership with designconsultancy Arup can deliver strategiccollaborations in research, innovation andeducation.

17PROCESS PERFECTHow the Institute of Process Research andDevelopment (iPRD) helped one start upcompany bring their product to market.

20MAKING A SPLASHHow a Leeds research team helped Speedodevelop it’s latest and quickest swimsuit.

22CELEBRATING THE GAMESThe University’s Olympic programme can helpshowcase the city to a global audience.

26FILLING WITHOUT DRILLINGTechnology developed by University of Leedsresearchers could help many people visit theirdentist without fear.

28ON TIME AND ON TRACKHow software developed by Leeds’ spin-outcompany Tracsis is helping to keep the UK’s railnetwork moving.

31MATERIAL GAINSFrom blood filters to tea bags, Leeds’ spin-outNIRI Ltd provides world-leading expertise innonwoven fabric innovations.

35AND FOR THAT REASON......I’m in. Inspiring enterprising individuals,creating entrepreneurs, the Leeds way.

38SEEING THE BIG PICTUREImaging techniques developed at the Universityof Leeds offer unprecedented insights into howour bodies work.

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There are 40,000 new cases of bowel cancerdiagnosed in the UK each year and numbersare on the increase. The main treatment forthis disease, the third most common cancer inthe UK, is an operation to remove the tumour.But, as Leeds researchers have found, not allsurgeons operate in the same manner.

Following an operation, pathologists stepin to do the detective work, dissecting andanalysing the tissue removed to determine thecancer’s characteristics and stage of spread,key information to help decide on what furthertreatment needs to follow.

But before this work can begin, a picture istaken of the whole specimen. Although it’snow common practice to retain these pictures,that hasn’t always been the case. At Leeds,however, images of tissue removed duringbowel cancer surgery have been retained sincethe early 1980s, creating a large resourceunrivalled anywhere in the world.

Researchers from the Leeds Institute ofMolecular Medicine (LIMM), part of theUniversity’s School of Medicine, have been ableto use this material for a new kind of detectivework: assessing whether the way bowel cancersurgery is conducted can make a difference toa patient’s likelihood of survival.

The work was first begun by Professor PhilQuirke, who looked at how surgeons removedtumours when bowel cancer was located inthe rectum, which at the time had a worseprognosis than cancer in the colon.

Working with the archive and then withsurgeons around the world who used differenttechniques, he identified ways to improvetreatment using changes to surgical practicealongside pre-operative scanning andradiotherapy. His work led to a new UK-widetraining programme for rectal cancer surgery inthe 1990s.

While survival rates for both types of bowelcancer are improving, colon cancer now hasthe worst prognosis. So the team from LIMMwanted to see if they could mirror ProfessorQuirke’s success with rectal cancer to identifywhich surgical techniques for colon cancerwould impact on survival.

“Two thirds of bowel cancer patients havetumours in their colon, which is around25,000 new cases each year in the UK,” saysDr Nick West, who led the research. “So anyimprovement in survival rates will affect a lotof lives. However, we can’t simply transferthe lessons learned in rectal cancer to coloncancer because their treatment and surgery isdifferent. We had to start again, by going backto the archive to look at the different surgicaltechniques being used.”

Dr West first looked at specimens removed inLeeds between 1997 and 2002, comparingtypes of surgery in relation to five year survivalrates amongst patients. He then comparedmore recent surgery at Leeds to a hospital inGermany, where patients had a survival rate 20per cent higher than in the UK.

A photographic record of bowel cancer tumours, dating back over twentyyears, is helping Leeds researchers to improve survival rates for the UK’ssecond most common cause of cancer death.

CANCERDETECTIVES

At Leeds an extensive photographicrecord of bowel cancer tumours helpresearchers carry out a vital form of detectivework; assessing whether the way surgery isconducted makes a difference to survival rates.


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It was remarkable, the specimenschanged overnight. We still need towait another three years before wecan do a full comparison using fiveyear survival rates, but it’s clear thatsurgical practice for bowel cancer canbe altered through training.”

Doctor Nick West

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Cancer detectives

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Impact 7 Cancer detectives

He found that the factors which appeared tomake the greatest difference were the neatnessof the surgery – ensuring that the cancer didn’tspread to other areas – and taking out all of theblood vessels which supported the tumour.

He classified bowel cancer surgery into threetypes: intact surgery, where the sample wasneatly removed; samples with some defects;and poor. His research showed that patients onwhom the surgery was ‘intact’ had a 15 percentgreater chance of survival than those for whomthe specimens removed were ‘poor’.

“Although the evidence from the pathologyspecimens is compelling, we knew it wasn’tenough on its own to justify the majorundertaking that would be needed to retrainall bowel cancer surgeons in the UK,” says DrWest. “First, we needed to prove that surgeonscould be effectively retrained to carry outoperations which would produce the ‘intact’specimens which we’d linked to improvedsurvival. Then we needed to follow throughthese patients to see whether survival rates didimprove.”

Dr West’s initial findings hadn’t gone unnoticedin Denmark, which has the highest incidencerate of bowel cancer for women in the EU andthe highest mortality rate for the disease inWestern Europe. The Danish health authoritiesdecided to implement a complete retrainingof all surgeons, pathologists, radiologists andradio/chemotherapists involved in bowel cancertreatment, based substantially on Dr West andProfessor Quirke’s findings.

Dr West worked with the Danish authorities,analysing pathology specimens fromsurgery before and after the training. “Itwas remarkable,” he says. “The specimenschanged overnight. We still need to waitanother three years before we can do a fullcomparison using five year survival rates, butit’s clear that surgical practice for bowel cancercan be altered through training.”

A similar programme is now set to begin inYorkshire, which – by coincidence – has asimilar population to Denmark at around 5.5million. The first stage in West Yorkshire isbeing funded by Yorkshire Cancer Researchand will involve all surgeons, pathologists andother clinicians involved in bowel cancer care.“There’s still a long way to go, but we hopethat in a few years’ time we’ll be able to takeconclusive data from Denmark and Yorkshireto the UK government, showing the impact thatsurgical retraining can have on survival rates forthis disease,” says Dr West.

In the meantime, his work is gaining himaccolades, including the British OncologicalAssociation’s Young Investigator Award, TheRoyal College of Pathologists HistopathologyResearch Medal and the University’s ownPostgraduate Researcher of the Year Award.Such progress has convinced him to continuean academic career alongside his clinical workas a pathologist.

“Clinical work can help to inform the academicside, ensuring that you keep up to date withwhich questions need answering throughresearch,” he says. “Unfortunately mostpathologists now choose to focus purely onclinical work, but for me, studies like ours showthe vital contribution research in pathology canmake to improve the way we treat diseases likebowel cancer.”

40,000new cases of bowel cancer in the UK each year

3rdmost common cancer in the UK each year

2ndmost common cause of cancer death in the UKeach year.

figures from Cancer Research UK

Dr Nick West was named PostgraduateResearcher of the Year at the Leeds PGRConference. Find out about this year’s conferenceat www.leeds.ac.uk/rtd/pgrconference

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Impact 7 Securing our future

As the world’s population approaches the 7 billion mark, the issuessurrounding the global availability of food are becoming ever morepressing.

SECURINGOUR FUTURE

As the world’s population continuesto expand, we are going to have tofind smarter ways to make sure wecan provide nutritious and affordablefood, using less land and causing lessdamage to the environment. To besuccessful, we need to broaden ourapproach and be more proactive inthe way we bring researchers togetherwith potential partners.

Adam Getliff – Innovation Manager,The Food Security, Nutrition andSustainable Agriculture Hub

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Impact 7 Securing our future

The University of Leeds has an establishedtrack record in this area so it’s unsurprisingthat food security is the focus of one of theUniversity’s new Sector Hubs. TheSector Hubmodel enables a more focused and strategicapproach to working with industry and otherexternal partners by developing meaningfulpartnerships, maximising the impact ofresearch and fostering research excellence.

A wide range of disciplines have been broughttogether under the food security umbrella.Six University faculties and schools make upthe Food Security, Nutrition and SustainableAgriculture Hub, including BiologicalSciences, Medicine and Health, Engineering,Mathematics, Earth and Environment andEducation, Social Sciences and Law.

Issues which will be addressed under the Hubvary equally widely, from how to grow cropsthat are resistant to drought, or can grow inhostile conditions, how to make crops workharder, with higher yields and higher nutritionalcontent, to how to look after crops post-harvest,ensuring they are stored and transported withminimal damage.

The Hub will not solely concern itself withissues in the developing world either: foodsecurity is increasingly a topic of concern tomore developed countries. Reducing wastein supermarket supply chains, investigatingmore environmentally friendly ways of heatinggreenhouses, and avoiding the use of toxicchemicals to tackle disease in crops are allsubjects for investigation.

Hub director, Professor Christine Foyer, in theFaculty of Biology’s Centre for Plant Sciences,for example, is currently working on a project aspart of the EU-funded Crop Life Initial TrainingNetwork. Professor Foyer is leading a researchprogramme into plant productivity and lifespan,a topic of increasing importance for Europe’sagricultural economics and environmentalpolicies.

Commercial partners include grass seedcompany Euro Grass and NorddeutschePflanzenzucht Hans-Georg Lembke KG, a plantbreeding company based in Germany.

Adam Getliff, Innovation Manager for the Hubexplains: “As the world’s population continuesto expand, we are going to have to find smarterways to make sure we can provide nutritiousand affordable food, using less land andcausing less damage to the environment. To besuccessful, we need to broaden our approachand be more proactive in the way we bringresearchers together with potential partners.”

Mr Getliff’s role is to raise the profile of theHub among academics and persuade themto consider end uses and possible routesto market for the technologies they aredeveloping.

“Lots of the projects we are working on involvethe developing world and people might expectthat these technologies would be given away, ordelivered by charities,” he explains. “The realityis, however, that we need to work with industryin order for many of these projects to havea meaningful and timely impact. The wholefunding environment has changed in recentyears, and we have got to respond to that; itwill be private industries that have the capacity,expertise and networks to get our research outof the laboratory.”

The approach is one that is being increasinglyadopted by development organisationsworldwide. Bill Gates, the philanthropist andentrepreneur, for example, frequently advocatesincreased partnership with the private sectorto drive forward technological benefits in thedeveloping world.

One activity planned for later this year is anindustry day: this will be an opportunity forresearchers to meet potential industry partnersto exchange ideas and find common ground forsolving problems.

“We hope that by starting these conversationsin an informal way, we can provide a catalystfor some fruitful partnerships to grow,” saysMr Getliff. “By holding events like these on aregular basis, we aim to promote a healthy flowof ideas between our researchers and privatecompanies.”

The Hub’s activities will also extend topartnerships with public sector and charitableorganisations, with grant applications alreadyunderway for projects that will address specificissues raised by the agricultural sector.

Of course, food security is a global challenge,that requires global approaches to solutions.Although initially theSector Hub’s focus willbe on working with UK industry, some ofthe companies involved will also operateinternationally. The University’s owninternational links will also play a significantrole: as the Hub establishes itself, it is expectedthat strong partnerships will be developed withother global projects with an interest in foodsecurity.

One obvious link would see theSector Hubengaging with the Worldwide UniversityNetwork (WUN), a global network of 19research institutions, with a focus onaddressing some of the world’s most significantchallenges. Leeds is one of WUN’s foundingpartners, and is engaged in a number ofbroad research areas, such as a collaborationinvolving five universities looking at criticalglobal poverty. Equally significant will be theAfrica College project, an international researchpartnership set up by the University of Leedsin 2008, which works to improve lives in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Food Security, Nutrition and SustainableAgriculture Hub, therefore, is set to play a keypart within an important network of nationaland international organisations all workingto address the varied and complex issues ofsecuring our planet’s food supply for manyyears into the future.www.foodsecurity.leeds.ac.uk

The Hub is working across a range ofissues, from drought resistant crops tomaking crops work harder, with higheryields and higher nutritional content.

IMPROVING CROP EFFICIENCYOne project that is already underway within the hub is a study called IMPACT, or ImprovedMillets for Phosphate Acquisition and Transport, which is being undertaken by Professor AlisonBaker in the University’s Faculty of Biological Sciences and Dr A. Ceasar Stanislaus, a EuropeanUnion-funded International Incoming Fellow from Loyola College, in Chennai, India.

Millets, which are cereal crops, are food staples in much of Asia and Africa. They grow wellin dry conditions and are likely to become increasingly important in Southern Europe as theclimate gets warmer and drier. This three year research project aims to identify genes andproteins involved in phosphate uptake in foxtail millet, with the ultimate goal of being able toidentify and breed millets that can thrive on phosphate poor soils without need for additionalfertiliser.

Plants need phosphorus for growth, but fertiliser is expensive and overuse causesenvironmental problems.

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ON THE VOYAGEOF DRUGDISCOVERY


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Pharmaceutical companiesface tremendous challengesin their quest to developinnovative new drugs.Despite unprecedentedinvestment in research anddevelopment, the rate of drugdiscovery has remained ata similar level for the past60 years1. The University ofLeeds is pioneering innovativeapproaches to help thesector to discover safe newmedicines faster.

£1BNthe estimated cost of bringing a new drug tomarket, and the process is frustratingly slow.

On the voyage of drug discovery

The process of bringing a new drug to marketis slow, and costs over £1 billion2 (includingthe costs of failed campaigns). Because of this,there’s a pressing need to develop innovativenew tools and approaches that allow resourcesto be focused on developing the mostpromising drug candidates. This challengeis at the core of activity at the University’sPharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical SectorHub.

Hub director, Professor Adam Nelson,explains: “Despite huge investment andchanges in practices over the years, therate of drug discovery has not increased.There is a growing recognition that increasedpartnership with academia is a key mechanismto increase innovation in drug discovery.The Pharmaceutical and BiopharmaceuticalSector Hub exists to address these issues, bysupporting drug discovery within these industrysectors.”

Leeds already has a strong track record in thissort of interdisciplinary activity. The AstburyCentre for Molecular Biology, for example,brings together more than 250 researchersat the interface between the physical andbiological sciences, while the Biomedicaland Health Research Centre brings togetherscientists and clinicians with other health-relevant disciplines to help translate researchfrom the laboratory to the clinic.

The new sector hub will help focus andintensify these activities. The hub’s prioritieshave been set following consultation withresearch leaders from the pharmaceutical andbiopharmaceutical industries and they arealigned closely with areas of research wherethe University has an internationally-leadingtrack record. The aim is to find ways of directlymarrying university expertise with industryneeds to solve some of the real and pressingproblems that slow the progress of getting newdrugs to market.

The hub is focusing on a small numberof themes to drive engagement with thepharmaceutical and biopharmaceuticalsectors. A recent workshop brought together30 potential partners to develop two of thesethemes: preventing protein aggregation; andtargeting the delivery of therapeutic agents.A third theme focuses on the inhibition ofprotein-protein interactions – challengingtargets for drug discovery that, nonetheless,are intimately involved in many diseasemechanisms. This third theme is currentlybeing developed through a research council-funded network3, PPI-Net – led by Leeds andImperial College – that involves academics andcompanies from across the UK.

Clearly it is early days for these partnerships,but Professor Nelson believes the hub has thepotential to make a big impact in the areasit is addressing. In five to ten years time it isexpected that this approach will result in therealisation of new tools that streamline the drugdiscovery process.

“What is vital in all these areas is beingable to identify and exploit the researchcapabilities relevant to the pharmaceuticaland biopharmaceutical sectors, irrespective ofwhere they are found in the university,” saysProfessor Nelson. “Traditionally, much researchis carried out within university faculties: whatwe need to do is organise that research in waysthat are meaningful to our external partners, tofind the best ways available of addressing themost pressing issues in drug discovery.”

Traditionally, much research iscarried out within university faculties:what we need to do is organise thatresearch in ways that are meaningfulto our external partners, to find thebest ways available of addressing themost pressing issues in drug discovery.

Professor Adam Nelson

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THE PHARMACEUTICAL AND BIOPHARMACEUTICAL SECTOR HUB IN ACTIONThe kinds of relationships that the hub isdesigned to foster can be seen in a currentcollaboration set up between the Universityand the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline(GSK).

Funded by a £533,000 grant from theEngineering and Physical Sciences ResearchCouncil (EPSRC), the project, on which GSKis a named partner, will look at developingnew methods for preparing diverse lead-like molecules. These molecules have theproperties that would represent good startingpoints for drug discovery programmes.“Close engagement with GSK has allowedus to design a project that will address aspecific problem facing large pharmaceuticalcompanies,” says Professor Nelson.

“It really allowed us to develop a strongcase to obtain the resources necessary toundertake the project. For their part, GSK willbe contributing specialist expertise, for examplein computational chemistry, that will allow us todeliver.”

Ian Churcher, leader of the GSK screeningcollection enhancement chemistry group,stresses the importance of the work and thepartnership with the University: “It is extremelydifficult to identify and acquire large numbersof quality, lead-like molecules from currentsources. Worryingly, GSK’s comprehensiveanalyses of recent synthetic chemistry papersshows that few contemporary syntheticmethods can yield a wide range of these lead-like molecules so valued as starting points fordrug research.

However, Professor Nelson has developed arange of novel approaches with real potential toaddress this problem and deliver benefits to theentire drug discovery process.”

Impact 7 On the voyage of drug discovery

1. B Munos, Nature reviews. Drug discovery, 2009, 8, 959-68.2. S M Paul, D S Mytelka, C T Dunwiddie, C C Persinger, B H Munos, S R Lindborg, and A L Schacht,

Nature reviews. Drug discovery, 2010, 9, 203-14.3. Funded by Engineering and Physcial Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Biotechnology and Biological

Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), and the Medical Research Council (MRC).

RESEARCH INNOVATIONENTERPRISE NEWS


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UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS SIGNS £3MRESEARCH PARTNERSHIP WITH SINOCHEMGROUPThe University of Leeds has signed a £3mcollaborative research agreement withSinochem Group.

The money will be used to fund six newresearch projects in colour science,semiconductor research, polymer developmentand plant science covering transgenictechnology, new materials and anti-counterfeittechnologies. The research will be carried outin the Faculty of Mathematics and PhysicalSciences and the Faculty of BiologicalSciences.

Sinochem’s core businesses span over energy,agriculture, chemical, real estate and financialservices. It is one of China’s four state oilcompanies, the country’s biggest agriculturalinput company (fertilizer, seed and pesticide)and the leading chemical service company.

Professor Mike Wilson, Dean of the Faculty ofMathematics and Physical Sciences, wherefive of the research projects will be based,said: “This is a significant commitment tocollaborative research and personnel trainingin science and technology from a state-backedChinese company to a British higher educationinstitution. We are honoured that science atLeeds is held in such high regard.”

Sinochem were represented at the signingby a team of delegates led by Vice PresidentProfessor Li Bin. Professor Li commented: “Ibelieve that through the concerted efforts ofboth Sinochem and Leeds, we will be able toachieve our objectives of the development ofadvanced, commercialisable technologies.At the same time, through the Sinochem-Leedscollaboration platform, we will also be able toestablish a team of leading scientists as well asa team of strong researchers.”

The University were represented by Vice-Chancellor Professor Michael Arthur, ProfessorMike Wilson and Deputy Vice-ChancellorProfessor John Fisher.

Professor Fisher said: “This deal demonstratesjust how much Leeds is seen around the worldas an institution with significant researchcapability and significant research relevance.At Leeds we are proud to work proactively withbusinesses and governments, these long-termcollaborations are of tremendous benefit to ourstaff and students.”

Long Lin, Professor of Colour and PolymerScience at Leeds, who has helped foster therelationship since its inception, said: “Thisdeal will also help create closer relationshipswith highly-respected colleagues in Chineseresearch institutes such as the SinochemShenyang Research Institute of ChemicalIndustry and Sinochem Zhejiang ResearchInstitute of Chemical Industry.”

ENERGY BUILDING OFFICIALLY OPENSThe new £12.5m Energy Building has beenofficially opened. The launch was attendedby industry and regional governmentrepresentatives, alumni, sponsors andUniversity staff.

The Energy Building brings together under oneroof the re-branded Energy Research Institute,the new Centre for Integrated Energy Research,the Energy Technology and Innovation Initiativeand the Doctoral Training Centre in Low CarbonTechnologies. It will serve as a physical hub forcollaboration in energy research and innovationextending beyond the campus.

The Building houses 150 staff and studentsfrom the Faculty of Engineering and providesa space for collaboration between the Schoolsof Engineering, Earth and Environment, theInstitute for Transport Studies, and otherschools.

SPECIALIST FUNDS LAUNCHED TOSUPPORT NOVEL REGENERATIVETHERAPIESExclusive funding for regenerative medicineprojects with academic and industrycollaborators launched at a special conferencein June 2012.

The event, organised by Regener8 andthe Medical Technologies Innovation andKnowledge Centre (IKC) at the University ofLeeds, launched a call for five Proof of Concept(PoC) awards of up to £100K each.

The scheme aims to encourage Expressionsof Interest (EoI) in hard and soft tissueapplications, particularly in the specialistfields of Cardiovascular and Musculoskeletalmedicine.

The funding is being provided by theMedical Technologies IKC, supported bythe Engineering and Physical SciencesResearch Council (EPSRC), the Biotechnologyand Biological Sciences Research Council(BBSRC), and the Technology Strategy Boardto accelerate innovation between academicand industry collaborators in key projects thatdemonstrate significant commercial potential.

Speaking at the launch, Iain Gray, ChiefExecutive of the Technology Strategy Boardcommented: “This funding is a fine exampleof the way in which Regener8, the MedicalTechnologies IKC and the N8 ResearchPartnership work together to foster innovationand encourage vital collaboration betweenindustry and leading research-intensiveuniversities here in the North of England.Regenerative medicine is a key focus of ourextensive programme of activity to supportinnovation in the UK’s healthcare sector and weare delighted to support this initiative.”

John Fisher, Executive Director of Regener8and Director of the Institute for Medical andBiological Engineering at the University ofLeeds commented: “By providing this fundingwe hope to encourage collaboration betweenthe world leading research strengths of the N8universities and the outstanding regenerativemedicine companies in the North of Englandand in the UK in general. We have a wealth ofexpertise in regenerative technologies at ourfingertips, and this new scheme will furtherencourage these experts to work together inorder to create commercially viable therapies.”

The N8 PoC Funding call opened on 20June 2012. There is no closing date but earlyapplication is advised as funds will be allocatedup to a maximum of 5 PoC projects. For furtherinformation please visitwww.regener8.ac.uk

We are honoured that science atLeeds is held in such high regard.‘‘

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100More than 100 University of Leeds alumniwork at Arup.

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The University’s relationship with Arupgoes back several decades and has grownorganically over the years. The company, whichis responsible for some of the most iconicstructures in the world, including the SydneyOpera House and the Centre Pompidou inParis, has long standing relationships withacademics across the University of Leedscampus. The recent signing of a Memorandumof Understanding will enable a more strategicapproach to the partnership between the twoorganisations.

“Over the years, Arup has built relationshipswith academics in a number of our faculties,”explains the University’s Strategic PartnershipsManager, Richard Keegan. “The Memorandumof Understanding will enable us to map allthese relationships and then start workingtogether in a more strategic sense, aligningprojects so they meet both organisations’objectives.”

The agreement means that as well asincreasing research collaborations, the twoorganisations will increase information sharingand will proactively seek opportunities towork jointly with businesses and public sectororganisations in the UK and internationally,both on research projects and in developingknowledge transfer opportunities, drawing onintellectual property (IP) created by Arup andthe University.

For both parties, having a more formalrelationship will deliver significant benefits.Professor Denise Bower is the academic leadfor the partnership within the University. Shesays: “Through this new relationship, we’llbenefit from greater access to knowledge andinnovation within Arup, which in turn helps todevelop our staff, informs our teaching andenables us to be much more proactive at policylevel.”

It will also have a direct impact on individuals.The areas of the agreement dealing withcollaborations with business and educationprovide a commitment to developing talent,leadership and vision, plus the developmentof curricula and courses at postgraduate andpost-experience levels.

People have formed the backbone of thegrowing relationship between Arup and theUniversity. More than 100 University of Leedsalumni work at Arup, further strengthening thatrelationship. Rachel Sandham, who works inthe Rivers & Coastal team at Arup, is herselfan alumnus and, along with colleague NigelFoster, is a key facilitator of the relationshipbetween the company and the University. Shehas extensive experience of working with theUniversity following her Masters degree andsays: “The University is seen as a pool of talent,both for accessing expertise and for recruitingthe right people.

As an organisation we allow people to grow anddevelop their own career, which is not dissimilarto how universities work.”

The projects that the two organisations workon together span a whole range of disciplines,with Arup tapping into energy, water,engineering, design and business expertiseacross the campus. Increasingly, research anddevelopment projects are multidisciplinary innature, and both parties are keen to see theseaddressing crucial issues facing the worldtoday.

Professor Bower explains: “We have sharedinterests in issues such as energy supply andresilient infrastructure, in innovative transportand asset management systems and haveworked together on numerous projects in theseareas.”

In fact, Arup and the University – through theSchool of Civil Engineering and the Socio-Technical Centre based at Leeds UniversityBusiness School – are currently working on aproject which takes a holistic approach to assetmanagement. The project is investigating anddefining intelligent asset management, anddevising a new approach which brings togetherthe management of physical resources, withthe management of people, organisationalculture and business processes.

A long-running partnership betweenthe University of Leeds and design

consultancy Arup has been formalisedthis year, paving the way for increased

strategic collaborations in research,innovation and education.

The Sydney Opera House, one of Arup’smost iconic projects.

DESIGNINGDESIGNINGA BETTERA BETTERFUTURE

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Impact 7 Designing a better future

Both parties also have an equally keen interestin the resilience of infrastructures and urbansystems. Migration to our cities from ruralareas is increasing on an ongoing basis,putting pressure on our transport systems, thesupply of utilities and on the built environment.Through working together, specifically with theUniversity’s Institute for Resilient Infrastructurewhich is based in Civil Engineering,opportunities to develop tangible solutions tothese issues provides a significant opportunityto develop projects that have long term impact,both in the UK and internationally.

“Another area of mutual interest is the recoveryof resources, including energy, from wastewater,” says Professor Bower. “For example, ifwe can develop methods of promoting growth,extracting and treating algae economically fromwaste water flows we can produce biodiesels,fertilizers and other high value chemicals.”

What really lies at the heart of the strategicalliance is the desire of both organisations tomake a strong and lasting impact externally,and there’s recognition that the sum of the twoorganisations working together will be muchgreater than its individual parts working inisolation.

Rachel Sandham says: “Strategic alliancessuch as this one are really important to Arup.As a company, we’re known as being at thecutting edge of design and construction andit’s important that we work with organisationsthat are at the forefront of discovery andinnovation.”

Professor Denise Bower meets withRachel Sandham, Associate, and Jody Harris,Senior Consultant at Arup

The University is seen as a pool oftalent, both for accessing expertiseand for recruiting the right people.As an organisation we allow peopleto grow and develop their owncareer, which is not dissimilar to howuniversities work.

Rachel Sandham, Arup

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PROCESSPERFECTWhen start-up company JooMo®

wanted to turn their newformulation for a natural face washinto a marketable product, Leeds’Institute of Process Research andDevelopment (iPRD) had the exactmix of expertise, industry nous andenthusiasm they were looking for.

Impact 7 Process perfect

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Although many research institutes claim tobridge the gap between academia and industry,the iPRD really makes it happen. Its focus isclear: improving manufacturing processes inchemical-based industries, to increase qualityand productivity and reduce cost, waste andenergy usage.

As soon as entrepreneur Nick Wallen called theiPRD and spoke to Professor John Blacker, heknew he’d come to the right place. He and hisbusiness partner, Linda Russell, had workedwith universities before, so it was natural forthem to turn to academia for help in gettingtheir latest venture, the first 100 percent naturalface wash, into the marketplace.

“Commercial producers are so often set in theirways, so we wanted to work with academicresearchers who were willing to try somethingnew” says Nick. “We got exactly the reactionwe wanted from Professor Blacker. He wasenthusiastic and understood straight awaywhat we needed. The iPRD clearly had thenecessary technical expertise, but what madethe difference was their go-ahead attitude.”JooMo® needed help to create a sufficientquantity of their product for market testing. Inthe process, the iPRD helped them to generatea scalable manufacturing procedure, whichwould set them up for the product’s officiallaunch.

Some of the support was provided undera £4.85 million project funded through theEuropean Regional Development Fund andYorkshire Forward. This enables the iPRDto offer two days’ free consultancy to smallcompanies in the region, carrying out smallprojects at cost, to help solve problems or tryout new ideas. Essentially, this means the iPRDcan act as the company’s own R&D facility.

The iPRD has also used the funding to create alab with full scale up facilities.

“Most university labs have one litre, or at most,five litre reactors, but our facilities are at thesame scale you’ll find in a typical industrialR&D lab facility,” says the iPRD’s ProfessorSteve Marsden. “If a process can be scaledup to 20 litres, it can be made to work atcommercial manufacturing scale. This meansour facilities are ideal for piloting test batches inpreparation for full commercial production, butalso for final manufacture where 20 litres maybe all that’s required.”

But 50 litres is still a considerable investmentin raw materials and so there was plenty ofpreparatory work that had to be done withJooMo® before manufacture could begin.

The iPRD’s Professor Frans Muller andthe iPRD team sat down with JooMo®

and completed a scale-up risk evaluation,identifying potential problems that could arisefrom scaling up the formulation process bya factor of 100. They then agreed a processdevelopment plan, laying out the steps theywould follow and points where they could calla halt if required, to minimise the risk involved.The team devised experiments to iron outproduction issues and to help determine theexact process required for a robust, efficientand consistent manufacture.

“The iPRD were really methodical, anticipatingpotential problems in advance and workingthem through with us,” says Nick. “We couldn’thave asked for more.”

The development phase lasted three months,during which time the company were ableto get other parts of the launch underway,such as design and production of the productpackaging. Within six months of the firstcontact, the two pilot batches of new JooMo®

face wash were ready. This allowed thecompany to test the product with their targetmarket – teenagers – and the media.

In addition, the iPRD gave JooMo® a new‘recipe’ for their product, detailing themanufacturing specification and procedures,ready to take to a commercial company forlarge scale production. The face wash wasdue to be officially launched as Impact went toprint.

Although the work with JooMo® is a greatexample of how the institute can practicallyhelp small businesses, it’s only part of thepicture. iPRD members are equally at homeworking with major corporations, carryingout fundamental or applied research, doingindividual consultancy or leading majorEuropean industrial and academic consortia.Funding is as likely to come from the publicsector – including the EU, the TechnologyStrategy Board or UK research councils – as itis from the private.

Set up in 2008, the institute was the brainchildof Professor Blacker, who, during his manyyears in the pharmaceutical industry, had beenfrustrated by the amount of commercially-funded research that never made it out ofacademia. His vision was for a researchinstitute which would bridge the gap betweenacademic proof of concept and a practicalapplication in the commercial world.

Although the iPRD assumed most of its workwould be with the pharmaceutical industry,it has in fact been far broader. Projectshave covered recycled building materials,photovoltaics, personal care products like theJooMo® facewash and mineral processing.

In addition to batch processes, the iPRD is alsodeveloping expertise in continous processing,which is still fairly new in the chemicalindustries. As it involves small reactionvolumes, continuous processing can reducepotential hazards and offer more control,dramatically reducing the impact of somethinggoing wrong.

The iPRD were really methodical,anticipating potential problems inadvance and working them throughwith us. We couldn’t have asked formore.

Nick Wallen, JooMo

‘‘18


The expertise we have at the iPRDcan provide the precompetitiveinnovation which otherwise theseindustries would struggle to finance.We can provide the extra spaceto allow companies to ask thatimportant question: ‘what if?’.

Professor Steve Marsden, iPRD

‘‘

“In continuous processing mixing andtemperature are much better controlled,allowing one to safely run processes that cannotbe run in batch equipment.” explains ProfessorMuller. “We’ve also been looking at how tointegrate the ‘work up’ phase, where productsare purified and turned into the required form,into the continuous process.”

Innovations like these are becomingincreasingly important, according to ProfessorMarsden. The pharmaceutical, agrochemicaland fine chemical industries are one of theUK’s remaining manufacturing success stories,but if they are to continue to thrive, they needto adapt and change.

“These industries are under continuingpressure to reduce their environmentalfootprint and adhere to new regulations andthis means looking at new ways to process andmanufacture their products,” he says. “Butin the current financial climate, they are alsoretrenching R&D facilitites to focus only ongetting new products through to market. Theexpertise we have at the iPRD can provide theprecompetitive innovation which otherwisethese industries would struggle to finance.We can provide the extra space to allowcompanies to ask that important question:‘what if’?”

For more information on iPRD visitwww.iprd.leeds.ac.uk

For more information on JooMo® Ltd visitwww.JooMo.coop

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Process perfect

• Agrochemicals• Construction• Dyes & pigments (inkjet applications)• Personal care• Mineral processing• Fine and speciality chemicals• Pharmaceuticals• Waste treatment• Solar energy• Renewable/sustainable materials• Scientific instrumentation

40Since 2008, the iPRD has worked withover 40 companies on more than 30projects including:EXPERTISE WITHIN THE iPRD

INCLUDES:• Chemical synthesis• Catalysis• Particle science and processing at

different scales• Reaction and reactor engineering, micro

fluidics and multi-phase systems, designand testing of reactors and separation

• Formulation• Multi-scale modelling• On-line measurement and process

control• Process integration & optimisation

iPRD facilities and expertise have beenapplied to a range of collaborative projects,from facewash to photovoltaics.

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Impact 7 Uni

A team led by University of Leedssedimentologist Professor Jeff Peakall werecommissioned by Speedo’s global researchand development facility, Aqualab, to developa methodology using lasers and flume tankscontained in a giant black box to accuratelymeasure the speed of fabric through water.

Professor Peakall and colleagues ProfessorDan Parsons (now at the University of Hull),Dr Gareth Keevil and Russ Dixon, spent 18months testing levels of “fabric drag” - themeasure of how efficiently fabric moves throughwater, in order to develop the suit, which is partof Speedo’s Fastskin® Racing System collectionof products.

The project saw Professor Peakall andProfessor Parsons work in conjunction withAqualab, with elite level athletes and coaches,sports scientists, global hydrodynamics expertsand optical engineers around the world alsocontributing to engineer a world first for thesport of swimming which sees caps, gogglesand suits work together to form one cohesiveRacing System.

Professor Peakall said: “We’re really excitedbecause I think we’ve found out that someof the materials are appreciably faster thananything we’ve seen before, and I’m absolutelyconfident that this is going to be of great benefitto competitive swimmers.”

The scientists used a powerful recirculatingflume to move a large body of water throughabout 50 fabric samples to simulate the speedof an internationally competitive swimmer.

At the same time, they operated a lasermachine - similar to a police speed trap - tomeasure hundreds of velocity points aroundeach piece of fabric, to detect how the waterflow changed over the material.

Professor Peakall said: “The interaction ofwater with a material is surprisingly complexand ideally you want water to move over itas smoothly as possible, rather than in achaotic manner where the water is mixing andgenerating lots of swirls in the flow.”

Computer Generated Imagery (CGI), the same3D scanning technology used in Hollywoodfilms, was then used by Speedo to test how thefabrics behaved when worn by people.

The scientists also examined how fabricchanges over time in order to identify a materialthat has low fabric drag even after a long periodin the water - key for longer distance swimmers.

The team tested the fabric at the University ofLeeds’ Sorby Environmental Fluid DynamicsLaboratory, the national centre for research intoenvironmental fluid dynamics.

Professor Jeff Peakall is a Reader in ProcessSedimentology at the School of Earth andEnvironment. He specialises in researchinto fluids and particles in the deep sea withrelevance to oil companies and nuclear wastemanagement. He recently won an Institute ofChemical Engineering award for his work withSellafield Ltd.

The School of Earth and Environment (SEE)was ranked second nationally in terms ofresearch power in earth and environmentalsciences in the 2008 Research AssessmentExercise. The school is at the forefront intackling global issues such as climate change,energy, water and sustainable development. Itsresearch is organised across four institutes andtwo national research centres.www.see.leeds.ac.uk

ABOUT SPEEDO®

The world’s leading swimwear brand,Speedo® is passionate about life in andaround the water, creating revolutionarynew technologies, designs and innovationsand supporting swimming from grass-roots through to elite level, including thephenomenal Michael Phelps. In the 1920sSpeedo® made history with the Racerback:the world’s first non-wool suit. In 2008Speedo® redefined swimwear again withFastskin® LZR RACER® - the fastest andmost technologically advanced swimsuit evercreated. 2011 saw Speedo® unveil anotherworld first with the Fastskin Racing System®

- a cap, goggle and suit designed to worktogether as one.

Speedo® is owned by Speedo Holdings B.V anddistributed in over 170 countries around theworld; to find out more visitwww.speedo.com

SPEEDO, the ARROW device, FASTSKIN,AQUALAB and LZR RACER are registeredtrademarks of Speedo Holdings B.V. RacingSystem is a trademark of Speedo Holdings B.V.The LZR RACER suit has worldwide designrights and patents. The FASTSKIN3 cap, goggleand suit has worldwide design rights andpatents pending.

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Fabric used to make the pioneering Speedo® Fastskin3 Super EliteSwimsuit was tested by Leeds researchers who simulated conditions closeto those experienced by elite swimmers.

FLUMESAND LASERSTEST ELITESPORTWEAR

Flumes and lasers test elite sportswear

22

As excitement continues to build, final preparations are underway forthe greatest sporting event in the world. Thirteen of the University’salumni and current students will be competing across a variety of eventsincluding Athletics, Rowing, Water Polo, Weightlifting and Hockey.Medal hopes include Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee, both taking part inthe Triathlon and swimmer Claire Cashmore.

At Leeds, our activities provide support to potential Olympians as well as opportunities for staffand students to get involved. The University’s Olympic Programme brings together partners inthe city and region to maximise opportunities related to London hosting the 2012 Olympic &Paralympic Games. The University is also using the Games to help establish and strengthensustainable international relationships with world class partners.


13of the University’s alumni and current studentswill be competing across a variety of events.

65University of Leeds students volunteers arebeing recruited by Leeds City Council tohelp Chinese athletes and officials during thetraining camp. The majority of those will beeither native Mandarin speakers or ChineseStudies students with excellent Mandarinspeaking skills.

University of Leeds Alumni andTeam GB Triathlon medal hopesAlistair and Jonny Brownlee.

THE GAMESCELEBRATING

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The University has put together a comprehensiveprogramme of events celebrating the Games, as wellas students and alumni who are competing and theChinese and Canadian training camps based in Leeds:

The BBC’s Chinese Service filmed a bilingualshow China in Leeds at the University’sRefectory in February, celebrating Chinese NewYear and China’s training camp. The show wasco-hosted by third year Chinese Studies studentMarie Tulloch and watched by a live audienceof 500 people (including former Olympic diverLi Na – a graduate of the University andsupporter of the training camp) and streamedto millions of online viewers.

From January-March 2012 the University helda series of Olympic-themed lectures, hosted bysuch sporting stars as Kriss Akabusi and LeedsAlumnus and Paralympic swimmer, ClaireCashmore.

University of Leeds students designed anOlympic Countdown Clock, which resides inThe Edge Sports Centre. The design of theclock is based on the Olympic logo and theUnion Jack flag. Once the Olympic countdownhas finished, the clock will revert back to realtime and will stand as a permanent memento ofthe University’s involvement in the Games.

One hundred and fifty volunteers are beingrecruited by Leeds City Council to help Chineseathletes and officials during the training camp– of which, 65 will be University of Leedsstudents. The majority of those will be eithernative Mandarin speakers or Chinese Studiesstudents with excellent Mandarin speakingskills. They will be involved in many aspects ofthe camp, including acting as team attachésand training camp hosts.

The University’s Leeds for Life Foundation ispart-funding several students chosen by UKOlympic and Paralympic officials to have official“Gamesmakers” volunteer roles in London,including assisting athletes and performing atthe opening and closing ceremonies.

The University set up a pop-up ‘Olympics’athletics track outside Leeds UniversityUnion for the community. Vice ChancellorProfessor Michael Arthur took part, racingon the temporary 75m track alongside localschoolchildren, as did two of the University’sdesignated Olympic torchbearers. Pupils werealso given the chance to try out other eventsincluding volleyball and long jump. Staff andstudents at the University were invited to joinin during the afternoon ‘Give-it-a-go’ session aspart of Healthy Week.

Celebrating the Games

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CHINA COMES TO LEEDSLeading Chinese athletes from eight sports willbe based in Leeds in July and August to trainfor the London 2012 Olympic Games. Workingin partnership with Leeds City Council, theUniversity is taking a leading role in hostingthese very special guests.

Approximately 220 athletes, coaches andsupport staff will stay in the University’s StormJameson Court accommodation from earlyJuly, as the China teams complete their finalpreparations before competing in London.Teams staying in Leeds are table tennis;taekwondo; fencing; swimming; track and field;boxing; and women’s field hockey. Three teamswill train on campus at The Edge: table tennis,taekwondo and fencing, and the remainingteams will train in the wider Leeds city region.

The University has created a trainingenvironment which replicates the Olympicexperience as closely as possible; all equipmentis the same brand or nearly identical to thatused during the Olympics. In addition, theUniversity has worked closely with the ChineseOlympic Committee to develop menus to suit allathletes, provide the correct nutritional mix andhelp them acclimatise to life in the UK.

The most highprofile among the Chineseathletes coming to the University will betheir table tennis stars, who enjoy near-totaldominance over the rest of the world. Suchis their stranglehold at the top of the sportthat China currently boasts the leading fiveplayers in both the men’s and women’s worldrankings, while they have also swept the boardby winning every available title at the individualWorld Table Tennis Championships since 2003.

CHINESE CONNECTIONSDepartment of East Asian Studies:Chinese StudiesChinese Studies is home to world-classresearch. When it was established in 1963 itwas the UK’s first, and for many years only,university department to focus on modernChina. Since then it has gone from strengthto strength, maintaining a dynamic scholarlycommunity.

Brotherton Library Special Collections:The University of Leeds’s Special Collectionsholds one of the UK’s most outstandingcollections of rare books and manuscripts. TheChinese collection in the Brotherton Libraryincludes books and periodicals dating from1677 through to the present day. The collectioncovers many aspects of Chinese languageand culture, and the works are principally inChinese. Earlier books deal with such subjectsas Chinese philosophy and ethics.

Global Community at the University of LeedsThe Global Community organises eventscelebrating the University’s cultural diversity.There are thousands of international studentsfrom all over the world on campus, including alarge and active Chinese community of around1,000 Chinese students and 100 Chinese staff.


220Approximately 220 athletes, coaches andsupport staff will stay in the University’sStorm Jameson Court accommodation fromearly July, as the China teams completetheir final preparations before competing inLondon.

1,000There are thousands of international studentsfrom all over the world on campus, includinga large and active Chinese community ofaround 1000 Chinese students and 100Chinese staff.

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CANADIAN WHEELCHAIR RUGBY TEAMIn August the University will again welcome theCanadian Wheelchair Rugby team for their pre-Parlaympic Games training camp.

The 17-strong team, including members ofthe side made famous in Academy Awardnominated film Murderball, is amongstthe frontrunners to win gold at this year’sParalympic Games. The team were in Leeds fora six day stay in April, involving high-intensitytraining sessions, regulated recovery periodsand strictly controlled meals to prepare theteam for tournament competition.

The returning team will hold an identicaltraining camp before the serious business ofLondon 2012 begins. Having taken bronze atBeijing 2008, losing to Australia by just onepoint in a gripping semi-final, the squad arehungrier than ever to claim gold.

Andy Van Neutegem, Canadian HighPerformance Director, said: “This is animportant time for our athletes to primethemselves for the intensity of competition inSeptember, and the University of Leeds hasprovided us with the perfect atmosphere tomake our team as successful as it can be.We look forward to returning for our finalpreparations for London 2012.”

To find out more about the University’s Olympicprogramme please visit:www.leeds.ac.uk/celebratingthegames

Celebrating the Games

1. World number 1 and current holder of the singlesWorld Cup and World Championship titles ZhangJike in training at The Edge, the University’s sportscomplex. This is his first Olympic Games andexpectations are high.2. The Chinese Olympic Committee met withVice-Chancellor Professor Michael Arthur andrepresentatives from Leeds City Council and LeedsMetropolitan University to cement the relationshipbetween Leeds and the COC.3. Triple Olympic medalist Kriss Akabusi MBE gavea lecture at the University about his life and careeras part of the Celebrating the Games free lectureseries.4. Former world champion and Olympic medalistSteve Cram was another popular guest speaker atthe University.5. Canada’s wheelchair rugby team have held twotraining camps at the University and they will returnin August ahead of the start of the ParalympicGames.6. University of Leeds Gamesmakers pictured withdouble Olympic champion Lord Sebastian Coe.Lord Coe was also Chairman of the London 2012bid company.7. Student Gamesmakers from the Universityof Leeds and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for StudentEducation Professor Viv Jones. Pictured on campusat The Edge, in front of the Olympics Countdownclock - designed by students from the School ofMechanical Engineering.

1

2 5

3 6

4 7

This partnership is a great example ofwhat we wanted to achieve with thePre-Games Training Camp process.China will have use of some fantasticfacilities and in turn Leeds has thehonour of hosting one of the world’sbest sporting nations.

Sebastian Coe, Chair of the London OrganisingCommittee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG)

‘‘

26

FILLING

WITHOUTDRILLING

Many people put off therecommended twice-yearly dentalinspection in case it reveals aproblem requiring injections andfillings. But this attitude could beset to change, thanks to technologydeveloped by researchers at theUniversity of Leeds.


Dubbed ‘filling without drilling’, this newregenerative therapy for treatment of earlyenamel decay has developed out of multi-disciplinary research. It will enable dentists toheal the dental tissue at the first signs of caries(decay) by painting on a peptide solution,eliminating the need to drill and fill the tooth.Professor Jennifer Kirkham, Professor ofOral Biology, Leeds Dental Institute, and DrAmalia Aggeli, Senior Lecturer, Departmentof Chemistry, are behind the new technology.Over several years, the pair collaborated usingknowledge about the way in which mineralisedtissues form, combined with an understandingof the drivers behind peptide self-assembly,to address clinical challenges in mineralisedtissue repair and regeneration.

Dental decay is one of the most common of alldiseases, affecting one in ten of the populationof the western world, yet the principles oftreatment for dental decay have remainedunchanged for almost a century. When theearliest sign of tooth decay – known as the‘white spot’ lesion – is found on the toothsurface, the conventional treatment process isto first monitor the progress of the lesion then,if necessary, excavate by drilling the area tocreate a cavity to accommodate a restorativefilling.

“It’s the drilling process – the noise, sensation,pain and recovery time – that’s feared bysome patients, deterring them from visitingthe dentist and reducing the chance of earlydecay diagnosis and treatment,” says ProfessorKirkham.

The technology provides a simple and cost-effective alternative to current treatments. Italso allows the dentist to ‘heal’ rather than‘repair’ dental decay, meaning that the patientreceives a pain-free treatment that regeneratesthe natural tooth tissue. The application ofthe self-assembling peptides is an aqueoussolution that is painted onto the tooth surface.The solution infiltrates the lesion’s micropores,where the local environment within the lesiontriggers the peptide self-assembly mechanism.This leads to the formation of a bioactivescaffold which encourages natural repair andrecapitulates the normal enamel developmentprocess.

In order to make this idea a reality, the ‘fillingwithout drilling’ technology was licensed toSwiss spin-out company, credentis ag, in2010. The company’s CEO, Dr Dominik Lysek,is a chemist by training and has a PhD inBiophysics. He was working in clinical researchfor a biomaterials company in Switzerlandwhen he first came across Professor Kirkham’sresearch. “I immediately saw the potentialfor its application in dentistry,” he says. “Theconcept had so many possibilities that I got intouch with Jennifer to discuss how we couldwork together to bring this research to market.”credentis ag was formed in 2010 specificallyto commercialise the Leeds technology andwas recognised as being among the top Swissspin-outs in the ‘Die Besten Schweizer Spinouts2011 Top 100’ ranking. The company nowemploys four people and has recently openedan office in Leeds, reflecting the continuingclose collaboration with the University.

Securing a 2.5 CHF million investment(approximately £1.75m) in early 2011 enabledthe continued development of the technologyand meant that Dr Lysek could devote histime solely to credentis ag and advancing the

A more recent boost to the company hascome in the form of a further substantialinvestment which will push the technology onto the next stage. In May 2012, the EPSRC-

supported Medical Technologies Innovationand Knowledge Centre (IKC) at the

University of Leeds secured £1mto support the project. MedicalTechnologies IKC will assign aTechnology Innovation Manager toensure that development milestonesare met for the market delivery ofthe commercial application for thetechnology.

“Half of the investment comes from credentisag in terms of providing personnel to managethe project and clinical trial materials to makesure that the product, now called Curodont™,can be brought to market,” says Dr Lysek. “Weplan to launch the product in Switzerland in2013 and globally in 2014. Before that canhappen, we will consult with opinion leadersin the dental health industry and carry outmore clinical trials to prove the efficacy ofCurodont™. The investment will permit us tobroaden the product range for the companyand expand the potential applications of thetechnology.”

credentis ag is well aware of the importanceof managing the public perception ofCurodont™’s potential. “The technology doesnot mean that people will visit their dentist lessoften if Curodont™ is made readily available,”explains Dr Lysek. “In fact, they need to makesure that regular visits are maintained as theearly detection of caries is essential to theeffectiveness of the treatment. Teeth can beregenerated by its use, but that is dependenton timely screening. By removing the mainobstacle to dentist visits – fear of the drill –more people will be encouraged to attendtheir routine inspections and that’s a win-winsituation.”

Professor Kirkham, who has a self-confessedfear of the dentist despite being an oralbiologist, agrees. “This research is a stepchange in the treatment of early enamelcaries,” she says. “The initial ‘first in man’trials have been completed successfully andCurodont™ has received a CE-label for use byclinicians in Europe. The new funding enablesus – the University of Leeds and credentisag – to develop more products, with potentialapplications in the treatment of root caries,dental erosion and hypersensitivity.”

2727

Filling without drilling

Leeds researchers Dr Amalia Aggeli (left)and Professor Jennifer Kirkham (right)are behind the new technology.

£1MIn May 2012, the EPSRC-supported MedicalTechnologies Innovation and KnowledgeCentre (IKC) at the University of Leedssecured £1m to support the project.

Securing a 2.5 CHF million investment(approximately £1.75m) in early 2011 enabledthe continued development of the technologyand meant that Dr Lysek could devote histime solely to credentis ag and advancing theproduct.

A more recent boost to the company hascome in the form of a further substantialinvestment which will push the technology onto the next stage. In May 2012, the EPSRC-

supported Medical Technologies Innovationand Knowledge Centre (IKC) at the

University of Leeds secured £1mto support the project. MedicalTechnologies IKC will assign aTechnology Innovation Manager toensure that development milestonesare met for the market delivery ofthe commercial application for thetechnology.

28


ON TIME ANDON TRACK

Leeds spin-out company Tracsis has been profitable since it was set upin 2004 and now, just eight years on, has a projected turnover of £7m.The key to its success? – having the solution to an otherwise intractableproblem in its target sector and, of course, excellent timing.

Exciting times: Professor Raymond Kwanof the School of Computing at the Universityof Leeds and Tracsis.

29

Maths can solve problems up to acertain size, but the crew schedulingfor trains was just too large,heuristics allows you to derive a setof compacted instances from theproblem, which the maths can thenhandle so you can get a result.

Dr Raymond Kwan, School of Computing

‘‘

30

Timing is central to Tracsis. Spun out fromresearch in the University’s School ofComputing, the company went to market witha software package that could enable trainoperating companies to plan work schedulesfor their crews and drivers, ensuring (as far aspossible) they and their trains would be at theright place at the right time.

It sounds a straightforward problem – but itisn’t. Crew scheduling needs to take accountof multiple issues, such as working hours,allotted breaks, health and safety issues, unionagreements – to name but a few.

The UK has one of the densest rail networksin the world and one of the busiest in Europe.If a crew isn’t on hand to start their shift or adriver has no time to get across platforms andstart the train’s engine before departure time,the knock on delays across the network can bedevastating.

Train crew scheduling has traditionally beendone manually – it still is called ‘diagramming’,based on its history as, literally, a diagram on asheet of paper. The result has generally beeninefficient schedules with staff costs up to 10percent higher when companies got it wrongand were forced to bring in extra people tocover the gaps.

Researchers at the University’s School ofComputing had long been working on softwareto schedule crews efficiently – but mainlyfor bus operators where travel distances areshorter, working practices simpler and skill setsrequired on crews less stringent. Applying thisto the train network was incredibly difficult, butseen as critical to ensuring an efficient andcost-effective UK rail service.

With funding from the Engineering andPhysical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC),Dr Raymond Kwan and his colleagues inComputing had been working on a numberof research projects since the 1990s, lookingspecifically at train crew scheduling. One of themajor steps forward came when heuristics wascombined with the traditional mathematicalapproach that worked for simpler schedules.

“Maths can solve problems up to a certain size,but the crew scheduling for trains was just toolarge,” explains Dr Kwan. “Heuristics allows youto derive a set of compacted instances from theproblem, which the maths can then handle soyou can get a result.”

The addition of heuristics made the algorithmsdeveloped to date viable for use with the trainnetwork. Again, the timing was excellent. AsDr Kwan was developing the software into amarketable product with the support of theUniversity’s technology transfer company,Techtran, the UK rail network was privatisedand rail travel had begun the expansion whichcontinues today, creating a stronger and morediverse market for the technology.

Tracsis was spun out in 2004 after thesoftware – now called TrainTRACS – gained itsfirst customer, ScotRail. Because the systemworked so well, the company was soon able tosign up other rail operators, as Chief ExecutiveJohn McArthur, who joined Tracsis fromTechtran in 2005, recalls:

“The train operators were initially sceptical,partly because there had been earliertechnology trialled in the industry that hadn’tworked,” he says. “ But we would take awaytheir data, run it through the TrainTRACSsoftware and then come back in a few weekswith a solution. People were soon convinced.The challenge then was to turn that into sales.”

Tracsis have proved themselves successful atthat side of the business as well: the softwareis now used by 14 of the 20 train operatingcompanies. It has also been used overseas,for example to plan train timetables andscheduling around the Rugby Union WorldCup in New Zealand. A growing market iswith companies bidding for the UK operatingfranchises and the majority of these are due tocome up for re-tender in the next few years.

Dr Raymond Kwan: “Companies use oursoftware to demonstrate to the Department forTransport that they have carefully thought aboutthe resources they need and that the promisesthey make are realistic.

“To submit crew schedules at the bid stageis optional, but many do the calculations fortheir own purposes anyway and include it todemonstrate robustness. What we’ve foundin the past is that if the winner has usedTrainTRACS to put together the bid, they’ll mostlikely continue to use it if they win the contract.”

Although the TrainTRACS software is still coreto the business, the company has come a longway from its early start-up days. Its portfolioalso includes crew rostering software, and inthe last four years Tracsis has acquired fourmore companies to help broaden the servicesit offers. These now include consultancy,passenger counting and diagnostics,performance management tools and hardwarefor remote monitoring of the tracks.

Dr Kwan continues as Tracsis’ Chief TechnicalOfficer, while retaining an academic role atthe University and is currently developing newmethods for optimising the use of rolling stock.

“When we first came to market eight yearsago, we were really a one-trick pony,” saysJohn McArthur. “Although we are now a fullyfledged and well balanced PLC, we still staytrue to our initial ethos. The work we do is verymuch focused on real needs, identified by thecustomer, and we only develop new productson that basis.”

Tracsis now has 45 full-time staff and threeoffices, two in Derby and one still in Leeds. Andfor John McArthur, despite the distance Tracsishas travelled, those roots are very important.

“We’ll always be a spin-out company, it’s ourhistory, it’s where we came from and we’revery proud of that,” he says. “Lots of spin-outs,once they grow beyond a certain size, lose theirlinks to their founding university, but for us theconnection is still very real, with the Universityremaining a key shareholder. We’re proud to bea Leeds success story and hope that one day, ifthe University chooses to sell those shares, oursuccess will give them a good reward.”

Impact 7 On time and on track

70%The software is now used by 14 of the 20train operating companies. It has also beenused overseas, for example to plan traintimetables and scheduling around the RugbyUnion World Cup in New Zealand.

45Tracsis now has 45 full-time staff and threeoffices, two in Derby and one still in Leeds.

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Impact 7 Material gains

MATERIALGAINSFrom blood filters to tea bags, University of Leeds spin-out company,NIRI Ltd provides world-leading expertise in nonwoven fabric innovationsto companies and organisations across the globe. The company hasgrown year on year since its formation in 2005, and there are excitingtimes ahead.

Research at NIRI is helping to shape theagenda in nonwoven fabric engineering.

The NIRI story begins with Professor StephenRussell, who, after joining the University inthe mid-1990s, looked to shape the researchagenda in nonwoven fabric engineering aroundthe needs of industry with a view to addressingthe key issues, questions and requirementsof the sector. It was at this time that greaterattention was focused on nonwovens andengineered textile fabrics as an alternative tomore traditional woven and knitted textiles.“The sector was growing, as increasinglydifferent industry sectors were calling for moreinnovative, functional fabrics with which towork,” says Professor Russell. “We workedextremely hard to ensure our research wasdirectly relevant to a range of industry sectorsthat require continual innovation – whetherthat’s for improving product performance or to

improve quality, environmental sustainability orcost-effectiveness.”

The range of sectors to which Professor Russellrefers is wide ranging. Nonwoven materialsare widely used in healthcare, for dressingsand incontinence products, as well as inmedical applications such as blood filters andtissue scaffolds. On the other hand, they’realso important to consumer and industrialengineering markets including the automotive,construction, cosmetics and filtration sectors.It’s because of the breadth of these sectors,and the opportunities they provided, thatProfessor Russell believed there was acommercial opportunity.

“We began forming collaborations with industrypartners, we were building up a strong portfolio

of intellectual property and a number ofcompanies were asking for our help to developnew products,” explains Professor Russell.“It was clear that companies really valuedour input, and we realised there would be anopportunity for a spin-out company whichcould combine specialist technical expertisewith commercial nous.”

And so the idea for NIRI (NonwovensInnovation & Research Institute) Ltd was born.Professor Russell was clear from the outsetthat the company needed strong commercialleadership. “I felt it was important to work withpeople who understood industrial productdevelopment across different market sectorsand who had proven business and financialacumen,” he says.

Having presented to the Yorkshire Associationof Business Angels, an organisation thatrepresents private investors in Yorkshire,Professor Russell was put in touch with NIRI’snow-MD, Chris Fowler, who ticked all theboxes. With a background in working withlarge global organisations such as Smith &Nephew and Baxter Healthcare, Mr Fowlerwas looking for a new challenge closer to hishome in York. “When I met Steve (ProfessorRussell), I could see the potential of thecompany he was proposing to set up,” says MrFowler. “In addition, and equally importantlywe interacted very well personally and havegreat complimentary skills.” Mr Fowler andanother business angel, Mike Rogers, who hassubsequently become NIRI’s Financial Director,invested in the business during its start-upphase.

The rest, as they say, is history. Since thecompany was formed in 2005, it has gone fromstrength to strength, and now employs 20 staffand its latest financial year has seen turnoverof around £1m. Company profits are reinvestedeach year to fund its growth and impressively,more than 75 per cent of its business is repeatbusiness or recommendations from satisfiedcustomers.

NIRI has three main models of working.The first is technical consultancy, where acommercial partner requires an effectivesolution to an issue or needs help in newproduct development. At any one time, NIRI isworking on around 20 consultancy projects andeven provides an ‘embedded scientist’ service,where a member of staff from NIRI will becomepart of an organisation’s product developmentteam.

Joint ventures are now providing the companywith some exciting opportunities. “We identifynew product concepts with commercialpartners such as manufacturing companiesand work together to finance and develop theidea subject to a joint development agreement,”says Professor Russell.

These ventures, which are jointly funded, havethe potential to eventually become separatecompanies, vehicles that will be used to exploitthe jointly created intellectual property. “Longerterm, we’re looking to license this IP to largeglobal organisations that have the commercialsector experience and infrastructure to applyour novel technologies to different productsand gain rapid market penetration,” says ChrisFowler.

For example, one such joint venture withEdinburgh-based XeroShield has resulted in aninsecticide-free mosquito net which is effectiveagainst chemical-resistant mosquitoes. Anotherhas resulted in a compression activatedliquid delivery composite material calledSurfaceSkinsTM, developed with Zelo Creativeto tackle the transmission of hospital acquiredinfections. Integrated into door-plates, doorhandles and to cover bedrails, SurfaceSkinsTM

delivers an antibacterial or viricidal liquid,ensuring that the surface to which it is attachedis self-cleaning. Having already received thethumbs up, in terms of demonstrating Proof ofConcept tested within a NHS lab, NIRI is nowconsulting with commercialisation partners totake these technologies to market.

Further down the commercialisation pipeline isRollastopTM a thin and flexible slash-proof fabricbeing evaluated by retailers such as Co-opand Superdrug to protect goods and propertywithout the need for metal shutters.“Our core remit is to develop novel orenhanced products and technologies whichhave a positive impact and are commerciallyviable.” says Chris Fowler. “ By working witha commercial partner through a joint ventureor with our own IP we ensure that there isimportant knowledge exchange throughout thedevelopment process, which results in a moremarket-ready product”.

Whilst these joint ventures provide their ownopportunities, so too does the IP generatedsolely by the company. Probably the strongestexample of this is HydrospaceTM technology,an economical method of adding additionalfunctionality to fabrics. HydrospaceTM fabricscontain internal cavities injected with powders,granules, waxes or gels that can be configuredto either store or deliver the contents in acontrolled manner. The patented technology isalready being commercially developed in bloodfilters and protective body armour and NIRIare now seeking licensees in the cosmetics,femcare and baby product markets to namebut a few.

“Our HydrospaceTM technology could beused in a broad range of sectors: from theindustrial sector through to healthcare andonto the consumer goods sector,” says ChrisFowler. “Hydrospace is ideal for many productapplications where increased functionalitywould be beneficial. For example, deliveringpharmaceuticals within a wound dressing, orincreasing the thermal and acoustic propertiesof building materials.”

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Our HydrospaceTM technology couldbe used in a broad range of sectors:from the industrial sector through tohealthcare and onto the consumergoods sector,” says Chris Fowler.“Hydrospace is ideal for manyproduct applications where increasedfunctionality would be beneficial. Forexample, delivering pharmaceuticalswithin a wound dressing, orincreasing the thermal and acousticproperties of building materials.

Chris Fowler, Managing Director, NIRI Ltd

‘‘

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Whilst clearly the technical development andcommercial health of NIRI is strong, what isit that Chris Fowler and Professor Russell feelmakes it so? “Fundamentally, the companyblends strong scientific, marketing and financialexpertise in a highly specialised industrialfield. We’ve always been prepared to adaptour strategy to accommodate the needs of theindustry.” says Professor Russell.

Additionally, being based at a University withstrong research in the fields of engineering,chemistry, regenerative medicine, materialsscience and biological science provides NIRIwith a pool of expertise it can draw on wherenecessary. NIRI’s own team of technical andproject managers are selected carefully. “Manyof our staff have undertaken PhDs and thenworked in industry for several years, so theyhave both the scientific knowledge, but alsoa commercial perspective. That’s incrediblyvaluable to us and to the companies we workwith,” says Professor Russell.

More than this, there’s a valuable elementof trust between NIRI and its clients.“Confidentiality is of paramount importanceto us,” says Mr Fowler. “It’s important to usthat our clients know that the work we do forthem – which is often commercially sensitive– remains confidential and we ensure that itdoes. We believe that this has led to a high levelof trust between us and our partners and that’ssomething we’re very careful to preserve.”

The next stage for the company is launching itsown products to market. In the pipeline are newmaterials for food preservation – a fabric thatwhen incorporated within packaging prolongsthe life of salads and other perishables, and awater-activated skin cleansing wipe based onNIRI’s HydrospaceTM technology.

It’s clear from the outset that Professor Russelland Chris Fowler are extremely enthusiasticabout NIRI and the work they do. “It’s alwaysbeen really important to me that my researchwork addresses real-world problems and NIRIprovides the opportunity to make that happenin a variety of different ways,” says ProfessorRussell.www.nonwovens-innovation.com

Our core remit is to develop novel orenhanced products and technologieswhich have a positive impact andare commercially viable. By workingwith a commercial partner througha joint venture or with our own IPwe ensure that there is importantknowledge exchange throughout thedevelopment process, which results ina more market ready product.

Chris Fowler, Managing Director, NIRI Ltd

‘‘ Some of the real world technologies andapplications to emerge from NIRI’s workinclude Rollastop and SurfaceSkins.

Material gains

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Working in partnership:L-R: Professor Nigel Lockett, Ayelet Melman,Matthew Stanford and Kairen Skelley.

Image location (Admiral House, Rose Wharf,Leeds) by kind permission of Jim Dyson, CaddickDevelopment Ltd. and Sanderson Weatherall LLP,Managing Agent.

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AND FOR THATREASON...I’M INInspiring enterprising individuals, creating entrepreneurs

Ever since the first series of Dragon’s Den, interest in starting a businesshas been visibly on the increase across the UK. The student population isno different. Where once graduates expected to find work with a suitableemployer, today a greater number than ever before are thinking aboutgoing it alone.

Inspiring enterprising individuals, creating entrepreneurs

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This increase in interest in self-employmentand business start-up was recognised by theUniversity of Leeds a number of years ago,prompting the growth of a well developed andhighly respected business start-up service,SPARK, which is the first port of call for aspiringentrepreneurs at the University.

These student entrepreneurs come fromall over the University – no one faculty ordepartment stands out. Business start-upexpert and head of SPARK, Kairen Skelley,says: “We see students and graduates fromall sorts of academic backgrounds – it’snot just business studies students as manypeople assume. Their business ideas are alsoincredibly varied.”

SPARK provides students and graduates witha place where they can bring their ideas,discuss them and gain valuable businessknowledge and skills. The service providesone-to-one advice, a range of workshops andassistance in business planning. “I may oneday be speaking to a student with the seed ofan idea and the next discussing a full businessplan,” says Kairen Skelley. “We can help atevery stage. Many students don’t have thepractical business knowledge – or enough ofit – to really drive their idea forward. Throughour workshops and one-to-one sessions wecan work with a student or graduate to reallydevelop the idea and the business plan, so theycan start their business with confidence.”

One such business is Wireless Medical Ltd,winners of this year’s SPARK Business PlanCompetition, which provides £2000 to thewinning company for business development.The Wireless Medical Ltd story starts backin 2010, when four medical students wereput into a group to develop a business ideato solve an unmet need in the NHS, througha taught enterprise module called SocialEntrepreneurs in Medicine; Making Changes,Being Enterprising. The quartet came up withan idea for a wireless heart monitor and in2011, entered the Business Plan Competition.Although they came fourth, the experienceproved the catalyst for them to try and realisethe potential of their idea.

“The advice we received after the 2011Business Plan Competition was soencouraging,” says third year Medicineundergraduate Ayelet Melman, one of the fourstudents behind the company. “It was clear theUniversity believed we had an idea that couldbecome a reality.”

The next step for the group was to apply forone of the University’s pioneering EnterpriseScholarships, which were first introduced in2008. Funded by University of Leeds alumni,these scholarships provide both financial andpractical support to students who are looking tostart their own businesses.

Part of the Scholarships programme of supportis a week-long business boot camp. Thespecialist support from individuals drawn fromthe professional services community, plusinspiring talks from past students who’d ‘beenthere and done that’, provided the group withenough knowledge and confidence to enter– and win – the 2012 Spark Business Plancompetition. “Kairen Skelley has given us somuch advice and we know that the professionalservices contacts that she’s put us in touchwith can be trusted. If there’s any problem oranything we need guidance on, the SPARKteam there to help – they’re friendly and theresources they have access to are great,” saysAyelet.

Dr Sarah Underwood, Director of StudentEducation for the Leeds Enterprise Centre, whofacilitates the module says: “The module wedo for the second and third year medics is areally good illustration of how entrepreneurshipcan start in unexpected places. Ayelet and theWireless Medical team are a great example ofstudents developing enterprise skills and usingthese to address real issues.”

Kairen Skelley and her team at SPARK have anextensive network of professionals from outsidethe University. “We believe it’s important forstudents to learn from – and have exposureto – people who are already in business,” saysKairen. “And we also draw on our network toprovide specialist sessions in areas such asfinance, the law and marketing.”

The Wireless Medical Ltd team, ScottMurgatroyd, Matthew Stanford and HelenWhitwood, along with Ayelet Melman, is nowworking on a prototype of their device.

The team aims, once the prototype is fullydeveloped in the Summer of 2012, to look fora licensee to carry out the necessary testing,clinical trials and manufacture of the device.“We hope that, within the next few years, ourdevice will be improving patient experience inthe NHS,” says Ayelet.

The support provided by Leeds through itsEnterprise Scholarships, SPARK and the LeedsEnterprise Centre, which is a focal point forenterprise education on campus, are providingan additional draw to the University. KairenSkelley says the number of enquiries fromindividuals considering Leeds as their universitydestination is on the increase at much the samerate as the number of students on campusconsidering starting a business. “Over the pastfour years we’ve seen a year on year increase instudents and graduates coming to SPARK forassistance,” she says. “This has been matchedby an increase in calls to find out more aboutour business start-up facilities beforeprospective students even apply to Leeds.”http://www.careerweb.leeds.ac.uk

Impact 7 Inspiring enterprising individuals, creating entrepreneurs

LEEDS IS PROVIDING ENTERPRISE EDUCATION TO ALL ITS STUDENTS, FROM ENGINEERS THROUGH TO FINE ARTISTS…The Leeds Enterprise Centre provides studentsfrom all disciplines with the opportunity toundertake taught modules aimed at raisingawareness of enterprise and developingtransferable skills.

“We’ve added five additional modules thisyear,” says Professor Nigel Lockett, Chair ofEnterprise and Director of Leeds EnterpriseCentre. “Demand is rising for these modulesyear on year. Whilst in part this is due to anincreased awareness of what the LEC offers, itcan also be attributed to a growing recognition

within our student community as to their value,particularly in the current economic climate.”

All modules offered at the Leeds EnterpriseCentre provide credits towards anundergraduate degree and their subjects arewide ranging: from laying the foundations ofknowledge around social enterprise, innovation,entrepreneurship and leadership through tomore practical modules which address socialnetworking, finance and corporate socialresponsibility. There’s also a well-definedprovision of modules that address social

enterprise, the role of enterprise in society andvolunteering.

For some disciplines, the Leeds EnterpriseCentre provide shorter, more intensiveenterprise modules. A key example of this is thetwo-week elective enterprise module for secondyear medical students in which the founders ofWireless Medical Ltd participated.

Over the past four years we’ve seena year on year increase in studentsand graduates coming to SPARK forassistance,” she says. “This has beenmatched by an increase in calls to findout more about our business start-upfacilities before prospective studentseven apply to Leeds.

Kairen Skelley, Business start-up expert andhead of SPARK

‘‘

RESEARCH INNOVATIONENTERPRISE NEWS


UNIVERSITIES OFFER FREE ‘TECH CHECK’TO BOOST LOCAL BUSINESSNanofactory, a consortium of Yorkshire’sleading universities, is offering local companiesfree access to their expertise to help developnew products or improve processes.

The aim of the ‘Tech Check’ scheme is toprovide a boost to small and medium sizedcompanies and the Yorkshire economy.

Nanofactory brings together scientists andengineers from the universities of Leeds,Bradford, Huddersfield, Sheffield, SheffieldHallam and York. Companies with technicalchallenges are being offered Tech Checks togive their products an edge through introducingnew technologies, such as nanotechnology.

New product developmentNanofactory Director Professor Simon Biggs,who is based at the University of Leeds,commented: “In the current economic climate,many companies are looking to introduce newproducts to remain competitive, especiallycompared with foreign firms. We really want towork in partnership with our local companies todevelop new R&D and to get new technologiesout of the region’s universities and intoproduction in our local companies.”

“In the last three years more than 60,000manufacturing jobs have been lost inYorkshire”, continues Professor Biggs.“We wantto help companies develop new opportunities tohelp rebuild the local economy.”

About NanofactoryThe Nanofactory project is part-funded by a£2.5m investment from the European RegionalDevelopment Fund as part of the Yorkshireand Humber ERDF Programme that ismaking substantial investments over the next3 years to create jobs and increase businesscompetitiveness in the region.

Find out moreCompanies interested in taking a Tech Checkshould contact Sean Kelly [email protected] 343 2402www.nanofactory.org.uk

PROFESSOR JOHN FISHER APPOINTED TOBOARD OF MARKETING LEEDSDeputy Vice-Chancellor Professor John Fisherhas been appointed a Non-Executive Directorof Marketing Leeds.

It is part of a major move to refocus andprovide strategic leadership to MarketingLeeds as it moves forward with a broader roleto attract inward investment and tourism.

Professor Fisher is a world-leading researcherin Medical Engineering. He is a Fellow of theRoyal Academy of Engineering and receiveda CBE for services to Biomedical Engineeringin 2011. He leads the Institute for Medicaland Biological Engineering (iMBE), which wasrecently awarded the Queen’s AnniversaryPrize.

A total of nine Non-Executive Directors havebeen appointed, including Nigel Foster,Director of Arup and University Councilmember.

They will join Chairman Andy Clarke, DeputyChairman Roger Marsh and Chief ExecutiveLurene Joseph.

The Board will oversee a series of programmesand initiatives as Marketing Leeds widens itsfocus to drive economic growth in the city andensure Leeds achieves its ambition to be thebest city in the UK.www.marketingleeds.com

LEEDS LAUNCHES ONLINE SOFTWAREREPOSITORYThe University of Leeds Digital TechnologiesInnovation Hub has launched an innovativeonline software repository in a bid to maximisethe impact of the stream of innovative softwaredeveloped by the University’s researchers.

One of 14 new industry facing Hubs at theUniversity, the Digital Technologies Hubencompasses leading research groupsworking across several disciplines, all of whomare involved in developing hardware andsoftware, either as products themselves, or asenabling digital and electronic technologies forother products or services. One of theHub’sprimary aims is to get research code out of thelaboratory and into companies or other endusers, to maximise impact.

Hub researchers are constantly developingnew software applications and demonstrators.Much of this software has now been madeavailable at no charge for non-commercial usevia the repository. In addition the repositoryhosts demos of potentially commercialsoftware, which should appeal to potentialpartners looking to develop some of theseideas for a particular market. The initialrange of software online includes a novelvisualisation package for interacting with largedatasets, tools for viewing and processing3D digital pathology slides and a simulationpackage for crystallisation processes.

Lee Mason,Hub Manager said: “The softwarerepository is a fully browseable, searchablestore of both free and commercial softwarewhich will help us achieve our aim of takingresearch from laboratory to companiesand other end users in the most efficientmanner possible. We’ve already seen severalsuccessful collaborations, with companiessuch as Perkin Elmer and Prozone, as well asthe NHS, and we’re confident that with criticalmass of content the repository can encouragemany more”.

Visit the software repository atwww.digital.leeds.ac.uk/software

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Fantastically detailed images ofhuman tissue samples producedusing techniques developed atthe University of Leeds are givingresearchers unprecedented insightinto how our bodies work.The system, which has been called a “3Dmicroscope”, combines high resolution virtualslide images and software designed at theUniversity of Leeds to produce high resolution,3D images of samples. The images are multi-coloured, and can be rotated and viewed fromany angle.

This new technology marks a step change inthe quality of imaging techniques available inthe field of histopathology – the study of tissuein relation to disease. Although the field hasbecome increasingly digitised in recent years,the images available until now have been lowresolution, 2D images, which are extremelytime consuming to prepare.

Developed by a cross-disciplinary teaminvolving experts in pathology and computergraphics, the new technique will enableresearchers to understand more about the 3Dmicroscopic structure of diseases, such ascancer, in the human body.

It could have applications in many differentareas of medicine, for example, it could showa biologist the structure of developing organs,or a liver specialist the damage caused byhepatitis C, or a cancer researcher the vascularstructure of a tumour.

Lead researcher Darren Treanor, a consultantpathologist based at Leeds Teaching HospitalsTrust and Leeds Institute of MolecularMedicine, explains: “Understanding tissue in3D is valuable to many researchers, but theprocess of preparing pathological specimensfor 3D study is traditionally a laborious one:tissue samples must be mounted onto slides forphotography with a microscope one at a time.

To do a 3D analysis, users would have tophotograph hundreds of different 2D sections –a time-consuming and expensive process.

“The software we have developed allowsbatches of these slides to be scanned viaan automated system using our virtual slidescanners. The images are then aligneddigitally to create virtual 3D blocks of tissue forresearchers to examine.”

Dr Derek Magee, from the University of Leeds’School of Computing, developed the software.“Having a 3D view can often make a realdifference,” he says. “For instance, if youwant to understand how a system of bloodvessels supplying a tumour connects up, youreally need to see that in 3D, not as a series ofseparate 2D sections.”

A key advantage of the system is the speedat which samples can be scanned. Whereas,previously, it could take many weeks to imageand reconstruct a series of several hundredslides from a tissue sample, using the 3Dscanning technology this can be achieved injust a couple of days, most of which time istaken up by the computer aligning the hugeimages.

This ability to scan samples in such highresolution also gives the technique anadvantage over other types of scanning thatproduce images in 3D, such as MRI or PETscans. These techniques can show details suchas the position and spread of disease, but can’tshow the particular shape and structure of cellsat high resolution.

Developed by the team over more than fouryears, the staff and equipment on the projecthave been funded by a number of bodies,including the National Cancer ResearchInstitute Informatics Initiative, Leeds TeachingHospital Trust Research and DevelopmentDepartment, National Institute for HealthResearch, West Yorkshire Comprehensive LocalResearch Network, UK Department of Health,and was partially funded through WELMEC, aCentre of Excellence in Medical Engineeringfunded by the Wellcome Trust and EPSRC.

Already researchers at the University ofLeeds and elsewhere are starting to put thetechnology to the test in a range of differentresearch projects. Dr Ruth Wilcox, a Reader inBioengineering, and Dr. Nagitha Wijayathungain Leeds’ School of Mechanical Engineering,have a particular interest in computationalmodelling of the spine and using computationalmethods to develop and analyse new clinicaltreatments. They are using the techniqueto study particular problems with spinaldiscs. Using the 3D microscope they areable to reconstruct sections of discs to betterunderstand the causes and possible treatmentsof back pain.

A second collaborative project involvesProfessor Neil Shephard, ConsultantHistopathologist at Gloucestershire RoyalHospital, who is using the 3D pathology systemto study pre-cancerous polyps of the colon.

“As people start to use the system, more andmore research uses for it are emerging,” saysDr Treanor. “We hope to continue to buildon this and we’re also investigating how thesoftware we have developed can be adaptedfor use on a specialised high performancecomputer, which will allow us to view theseimages at much higher resolution. Additionally,we’re looking at looking at whether the systemcan be commercialised, to make it even morewidely available to researchers.”


Having a 3D view can often make areal difference. For instance, if youwant to understand how a systemof blood vessels supplying a tumourconnects up, you really need to seethat in 3D, not as a series of separate2D sections.

Dr Derek Magee, School of Computing

‘‘

3D Images include:L: Mouse embryo segmentationR: Colorectal carcinoma

SEEINGTHEBIGPICTURE

The new technique will enable researchersto understand more about the 3D microscopicstructure of diseases.

University of LeedsLeeds, United Kingdom

LS2 9JTTel. 0113 243 1751

www.leeds.ac.uk/impact

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University of Leeds - Impact Magazine - Issue 7