Edinburgh – Confidence in Concept 2019
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Edinburgh
Department Name: UNLISTED
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Technical Summary
The Confidence in Concept (CIC) scheme is a key part of MRC’s translational research strategy and provides annual awards to institutions to flexibly support a portfolio of early stage translational research projects. CIC is designed to accelerate the transition from discovery research to viable translational projects by supporting preliminary studies to establish proof-of-concept so that the approach will then become competitive for more substantial translational funding.
Organisations
- University of Edinburgh (Lead Research Organisation)
- UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM (Collaboration)
- GUY'S AND ST THOMAS' NHS FOUNDATION TRUST (Collaboration)
- BEATSON INSTITUTE FOR CANCER RESEARCH (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF BATH (Collaboration)
- roche pharmaceuticals (Collaboration)
- HERIOT-WATT UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG (Collaboration)
- Bio-Techne Ltd (Collaboration)
- Epidarex (Collaboration)
- Innovate UK (Collaboration)
- Amazon.com (Collaboration)
People |
ORCID iD |
| Charles Ffrench-Constant (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Ferreira-Gonzalez S
(2022)
Senolytic treatment preserves biliary regenerative capacity lost through cellular senescence during cold storage
in Science Translational Medicine
McLean KA
(2023)
Evaluation of remote digital postoperative wound monitoring in routine surgical practice.
in NPJ digital medicine
McLean KA
(2023)
Readiness for implementation of novel digital health interventions for postoperative monitoring: a systematic review and clinical innovation network analysis.
in The Lancet. Digital health
McLean K
(2024)
Implementation of digital remote postoperative monitoring in routine practice: a qualitative study of barriers and facilitators
in BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making
| Description | INROADE study |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Impact | This form of wound monitoring has been found to have 4 main benefits for patients in NHS Lothian within the context of a randomised control trial of approximately 500 patients: Wound infections were diagnosed earlier - more patients with infections were diagnosed in the first 7 days after surgery, compared to routine care (67% [n=14/21] vs 35% [n=7/20]). Fewer people needed to use healthcare services - GP attendances were almost halved (11% [n=25/223] vs 18% [n=49/269]), without increasing hospital attendances (3% [n=7/223] vs 4% [n=11/269]). More people who needed readmission attended emergency hospital services - for those who attended emergency services, 71% (n=5/7) needed re-admission, compared to 27% (n=3/11) in routine care. Patients reported more a positive experience - overall they found it easier (58% [n=65] vs 43% [n=48]) and faster (60% [n=54] vs 40% [n=36]) to access care, and felt they got better-quality advice (58% [n=77] vs 42% [n=55]). |
| URL | https://transform.england.nhs.uk/key-tools-and-info/digital-playbooks/perioperative-digital-playbook... |
| Description | Implementing remote monitoring of surgical wounds using smartphones |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
| URL | https://transform.england.nhs.uk/key-tools-and-info/digital-playbooks/perioperative-digital-playbook... |
| Description | Remote digital surgical wound monitoring and surveillance using smartphones |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Description | SSI Surveillance: Promoting a seamless patient journey from surgery to community |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| URL | https://woundsinternational.com/best-practice-statements/ssi-surveillance-promoting-a-seamless-patie... |
| Description | Artificial Intelligence For The Diagnosis Of Acute Pulmonary Embolism In The Emergency Department |
| Amount | £99,650 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | MC_PC_19035 (project funded as part of an institutional grant) |
| Organisation | Medical Research Council (MRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2025 |
| End | 03/2026 |
| Description | Artificial Intelligence to Guide the Diagnosis of Acute Heart Failure using the CoDE-HF Algorithm |
| Amount | £265,622 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | TA/F/22/210039 |
| Organisation | British Heart Foundation (BHF) |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2022 |
| End | 03/2024 |
| Description | Artificial intelligence to improve the diagnosis of acute cardiovascular condition |
| Amount | £343,663 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | PG/24/12136 |
| Organisation | British Heart Foundation (BHF) |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2025 |
| End | 12/2027 |
| Description | Establishment of a cryo-bank of lineage-committed neural progenitor cells produced from engineered human pluripotent stem cells |
| Amount | £202,407 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | NC/X002144/1 |
| Organisation | National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2023 |
| End | 02/2025 |
| Description | Golem: A disruptive platform to access and interactively analyse genetic data |
| Amount | £288,694 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 10001080 |
| Organisation | Innovate UK |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2021 |
| End | 09/2022 |
| Description | Grant for marketing content |
| Amount | £23,250 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Scottish Enterprise |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | |
| Description | Metabolic photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy of brain cancer. |
| Amount | £600,137 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/W015706/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2022 |
| End | 02/2025 |
| Description | Non-invasive monitoring of human pluripotent stem cell differentiation into midbrain dopaminergic neural cells |
| Amount | £633,616 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | MR/V00560X/1 |
| Organisation | Medical Research Council (MRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2020 |
| End | 10/2023 |
| Description | Old College Capital (Canela Xandri) |
| Amount | £15,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | |
| Description | PhD studentship |
| Amount | € 55,000 (EUR) |
| Organisation | European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT) |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | |
| Description | PhD studentship |
| Amount | £60,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Cancer Research UK |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2022 |
| Description | Research Excellence (round 3) |
| Amount | £3,000,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | RE/18/5/34216 |
| Organisation | British Heart Foundation (BHF) |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2019 |
| End | 03/2024 |
| Description | Research Excellence and Acceleration Award (REA) Institutional grant |
| Amount | £24,741 (GBP) |
| Organisation | British Heart Foundation (BHF) |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2022 |
| End | 03/2023 |
| Description | Robertson Trust Fellowship |
| Amount | £60,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2022 |
| End | 03/2023 |
| Description | Scottish Enterprise High Growth funding (Ferreira Gonzalez) |
| Amount | £90,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | PS7305102C |
| Organisation | Scottish Enterprise |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2022 |
| End | 12/2022 |
| Description | Sequencing grant |
| Amount | £3,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Medical Research Council (MRC) |
| Department | MRC Human Genetics Unit |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | |
| Description | Wellcome Turing PhD Fellowship |
| Amount | £60,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Health Data Research UK |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | |
| Description | iCURE phase 1 (Canela Xandri) |
| Amount | £29,022 (GBP) |
| Organisation | ICURE Pharm |
| Sector | Private |
| Country | Korea, Republic of |
| Start | |
| Description | iCURE phase 2 (Canela Xandri) |
| Amount | £20,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | ICURE Pharm |
| Sector | Private |
| Country | Korea, Republic of |
| Start | |
| Title | HepaRG cells (TST) |
| Description | HepaRG cells stably over-expressing TST have been generated as a research tool that can be utilised going forward to investigate the role of TST on cellular lipid metabolism and energetics |
| Type Of Material | Cell line |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | NA |
| Title | Novel functionalisation protocol |
| Description | Developed a novel functionalisation protocol requiring a two-step blocking with ehtanolomine and BSA to prevent unspecific protein binding. |
| Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Further validation required before considering IP route. |
| Title | OCT-based elastography method to measure differences between healthy and fibrotic tissue |
| Description | We have demonstrated the use of an OCT-based elastography method, developed in our lab, to measure differences between healthy and fibrotic tissue. This has open the path towards novel in vitro, ex-vivo applications, and pilot data to fund a device for in vivo measurements. |
| Type Of Material | Biological samples |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Nothing to report yet. |
| Title | Clinical innovation network analysis (CINA) |
| Description | A novel technique of "clinical innovation network analysis" (CINA) was developed to examine networks of innovation. This was based on: (i) Co-authorship, where each point (node) is a unique author with lines (edges) indicating co-authorship; and (ii) citations, where each point (node) is a publication and each arrow (edge) directs to another publication cited. This allowed examination of collaboration and progression within the field according to the stage of innovation (IDEAL stage). References to directly related work (previous clinical assessments of the same intervention) and references to work on clinical assessment of other interventions in the field were considered separately. |
| Type Of Material | Data analysis technique |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | NA |
| Title | INROADE study - wound dataset |
| Description | A fully annotated, sequential dataset of wound images, also linked to relevant patient characteristics and patient-reported outcomes related to SSI. The INROADE study has provided over 7 times the data originally held in this dataset (400 to 3000 wound images). This is the largest sequential dataset of surgical wound images available for research purposes. Not published or publicly available. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Not published yet |
| Title | Method to recruit consecutive patients |
| Description | Developed a method to recruit consecutive patients from the electronic medical record, retrieve surplus serum material and link primary and secondary care data from the electronic patient record. This method enables the development of well characterised prospective patient cohorts with a serum biobank to facilitate future biomarker and algorithm research and development. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | NA |
| Title | SSI Diagnosis algorithm |
| Description | A refined and clinically relevant machine learning algorithm for identification of wounds at risk of SSI, developed through use of a convolutional neural network (CNN) model. The initial model developed based on wound images demonstrates high specificity but low sensitivity, so may have a role to "rule out" infection. Further work is ongoing to refine and externally validate the model. Not published or publicly available. |
| Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Not published yet. |
| Title | WHO Framework for monitoring and evaluating DHIs |
| Description | WHO framework for monitoring and evaluating DHIs: This is the first time to our knowledge that the WHO framework has been used to identify and address gaps in the literature and a specific research study, serving as an important example for future work from ourselves and others. This encompassed several domains: (1) Technological readiness: whether the technology be used for the intended purpose, in terms of the functionality and the feasibility of the intervention; (2) Usability: the quality of the interaction between the user and the technology, in terms of the adherence, acceptance and accessibly among patients or staff; (3). Healthcare impact: whether the technology improves patient outcomes or healthcare service delivery, in terms of the clinical efficacy and the cost, efficacy, quality or utilisation of healthcare. |
| Type Of Material | Data analysis technique |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Not published. |
| Description | Amazon (Canela Xandri) |
| Organisation | Amazon.com |
| Department | Amazon UK |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Research and project idea |
| Collaborator Contribution | Unknown |
| Impact | No outcomes to date |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | CoDE-HF algorithm (Roche) |
| Organisation | F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG |
| Department | Roche Diagnostics |
| Country | Global |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We have signed an evaluation license with Roche Diagnostics to allow their data scientists to evaluate the CoDE-HF algorithm code. In parallel, we are currently negotiating a potential commercial license with Roche Diagnostics to integrate CoDE-HF with their algorithm platform which will facilitate implementation of CoDE-HF more widely. |
| Collaborator Contribution | We have signed an evaluation license with Roche Diagnostics to allow their data scientists to evaluate the CoDE-HF algorithm code. In parallel, we are currently negotiating a potential commercial license with Roche Diagnostics to integrate CoDE-HF with their algorithm platform which will facilitate implementation of CoDE-HF more widely. |
| Impact | NA |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Epidarex Capital - Investment in Kynos Therapeutics |
| Organisation | Epidarex |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | UoE founders of Kynos Therapeutics - Damian Mole and Scott Webster |
| Collaborator Contribution | Investment into Kynos Therapeutics |
| Impact | Company is building executive and management team. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Heriot Watt University |
| Organisation | Heriot-Watt University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Research idea |
| Collaborator Contribution | Expertise |
| Impact | Nothing to report |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Innovate UK funding into Kynos |
| Organisation | Innovate UK |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Spin out company from UoE researchers/founders |
| Collaborator Contribution | Investment into spin out company, Kynos Therapeutics |
| Impact | Building executive and management team |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Roche Research Evaluation Agreement |
| Organisation | Roche Pharmaceuticals |
| Country | Global |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | CoDE-HF project |
| Collaborator Contribution | A Research Evaluation Agreement between UoE and Roche is set up to enable Roche Data Scientists to evaluate the potential of CoDE-HF as a companion AI clinical decision support tool to their NT-proBNP assay. This could represent a potential future licensing opportunity with Roche taking on regulatory approval and marketing of CoDE-HF. |
| Impact | No outcomes to date - agreement newly signed |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Scaling a smartphone-delivered surgical wound assessment tool to production |
| Organisation | Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Intellectual property (online form for INROADE intervention developed) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Further evidence for the clinical usage of the INROADE intervention |
| Impact | Opportunities in future for comparison of data / collaboration in multicentre studies |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Torcis collaboration |
| Organisation | Bio-Techne Ltd |
| Department | Tocris |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Project idea/reagents |
| Collaborator Contribution | Tocris acquired non-exclusive license for commercialisation of lab reagents |
| Impact | No impact to date |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | University of Bath |
| Organisation | University of Bath |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Research project |
| Collaborator Contribution | Expertise |
| Impact | No outcomes to report as yet |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | University of Nottingham - RfPB collaboration (Harrison) |
| Organisation | University of Nottingham |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Application to Research for Patient Benefit Programme No 51 'To validate remote digital image-based surgical wound monitoring as a method to diagnose surgical site infections (DIAMOND)' Research idea |
| Collaborator Contribution | Application to Research for Patient Benefit Programme No 51 'To validate remote digital image-based surgical wound monitoring as a method to diagnose surgical site infections (DIAMOND)' Collaborating on research |
| Impact | Outcome of application in process - £500k, Stage 2 application under review |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | mTOR Pathway Project (Unciti Broceta) |
| Organisation | Beatson Institute for Cancer Research |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Research idea |
| Collaborator Contribution | Expertise |
| Impact | NA |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Title | ASSAY METHOD |
| Description | There is provided a method, systems and device to provide an indication of the probability of acute heart failure in a subject / individual. Suitably a device, systems and methods to determine a likelihood score based upon the concentration of natriuretic peptides in blood and at least two other clinical parameters. The method of determining acute heart failure can comprise the steps of combining the level of natriuretic peptide in a sample from an individual with at least two other clinical parameters from the individual in a statistical model to compute the probability of acute heart failure for the individual patient wherein the level of natriuretic peptide is provided as a continuous variable in the model. |
| IP Reference | WO2021250433 |
| Protection | Patent / Patent application |
| Year Protection Granted | 2021 |
| Licensed | No |
| Impact | NA |
| Title | SMALL MOLECULE PHOTOSENSITIZERS FOR PHOTODYNAMIC THERAPY |
| Description | The invention relates to small photosensitizers, their process of preparation and uses of the compounds in optical imaging and photodynamic therapy. The invention provides a compound of formula (I), a derivative or a salt thereof Wherein R1 is selected from the group consisting of amines, anilines, phenols, thiophenols, selenols and aryl groups; R2 and R3 independently are H or halogen; R4 is selected from the group consisting of H, nitre and cyano: and R5 and R6 independently are either absent or oxygen or methyl. |
| IP Reference | WO2020187913 |
| Protection | Patent / Patent application |
| Year Protection Granted | 2020 |
| Licensed | No |
| Impact | Non exclusive license to Torcis for photosensitizers developed during this project to commerialise as research reagents Funding approved for filing in EU and US. |
| Company Name | Kynos Therapeutics |
| Description | Kynos Therapeutics develops pharmaceuticals designed to treat patients with uncontrolled inflammation. |
| Year Established | 2020 |
| Impact | There has been £12.5m investment in the company including £2.5m from Innovate UK. First in human Phase 1 study underway |
| Website | https://www.kynostx.com/ |
| Company Name | Omecu |
| Description | Omecu develops a cloud-based platform for the analysis of large-scale genetic and epidemiologic datasets, with the aim of democratising genome data. |
| Year Established | 2021 |
| Impact | Company is new and no impacts to date |
| Website | http://omecu.com |
| Description | Artificial Intelligence in Heart Failure conference presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Delivered a presentation on Artificial Intelligence in Heart Failure at a "Hot Topics" session at the British Cardiovascular Society Annual Conference in June 2023. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.bacpr.org/conference-and-events/community-calendar/tools/events/bcs-annual-conference-20... |
| Description | Invited lectures at Imperial College London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 2022-2023. Invited lectures in 'IACE: Industrial Applications of Cellular Engineering'. Faculty of Engineering, Department of Bioengineering Imperial College London, UK |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Project presented at Cameron Prize Symposium |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Project presented at the Cameron Prize Symposium |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |