MANUFACTURING BIOELECTRONIC DEVICES VIA MULTIPHOTON FABRICATION

Electromagnetic fields affect a variety of tissues (e.g. bone, muscle, nerve and skin) and play important roles in biological processes (e.g. nerve sprouting, prenatal development and wound healing). This has inspired the development of electrically conducting devices for medical applications (e.g. cardiac pacemakers, neural electrodes/neuromodulation) that are manufactured from inorganic metals/alloys and are suited for long term application. Dr Hardy is an expert in the development of bioelectronic materials (particularly conducting polymers) for medical applications (drug delivery, neuromodulation and tissue regeneration) and seeks to use multiphoton fabrication (a high tech 3D printing technique) to print an emerging technology for healthcare applications (drug delivery devices that respond to electrical stimuli) feeding into both the materials- and healthcare-related industries which have multibillion pound turnovers and employ millions of people. Importantly, the project has the support of Manchester-based Kratos Analytical Ltd., is aligned with the oncoming Industry 4.0 revolution and supports the Northern Powerhouse.

Fundamental and applied research underpins the economy (financial, healthcare, intellectual, knowledge, legal and people) and secures society.
Bioelectronics is an emerging area of technology that promises broad impact in healthcare (as biosensors, drug delivery devices, scaffolds for tissue engineering and electrodes for recording or stimulating neural activity), the potential market for which is worth many billions of pounds (£).The 12 month project described here aims to demonstrate the capability of multiphoton fabrication to manufacture 3D biodegradable bioelectronic materials that have potential to be used as drug delivery devices and tissue scaffolds for regenerative medicine, which are new product developments in a key emerging industry, demonstrating unique world leading research activity (by employing a niche capability). In the medium term (2-5 years) it is likely that the scope of the innovative processes we develop will be investigated in further depth for their potential to manufacture a variety of bioelectronic devices by UK-based industry (e.g. GSK, AstraZeneca), involving investment from industry in higher education, training the workforce, and highlighting the UK's capabilities in various strategically relevant scientific and technological domains. The proposal is thematically aligned with the EPSRCs strategic interest in "Manufacturing the Future" (EPSRC theme funding ca. £474M), employing multiphoton fabrication as a manufacturing technology (EPSRC funding ca. £167M) for the manufacture of biomaterials (EPSRC funding ca. £5M) that will be employed as "Healthcare Technologies" (EPSRC theme funding ca. £325M). This bridges two of the eight great technologies that the government has identified that will propel the economy (i.e. advanced materials and regenerative medicine), and feeds into both the materials-related and healthcare-related industries which have turnovers of £100s of billions per annum and employ millions of people. Moreover, the project is aligned with the Industry 4.0 revolution and supports the Northern Powerhouse.
The direct involvement of a UK-based manufacturer of High Tech instrumentation for surface analysis (Kratos Analytical Ltd in Manchester) who offer to analyse samples generated throughout the project via X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) will be mutually beneficial for both parties. For JGH the partnership offers a source of high quality data offering insight into structure-function relationships for the samples, whereas for Kratos the samples may help to optimise their hardware/software applications for a new and growing market.
JGH interacts with the Business Partnerships and Enterprise (BPE) team at the university, both within the Faculty of Science and Technology (FST, particularly Dr Mike Entwistle and Dr Martin Gilmore) and the Faculty of Health and Medicine (FHM, particularly Dr Mandy Dixon and Dr Steve Milan), who assist with building and maintaining relationships with businesses and potential end users (e.g. the NHS). The BPE teams are instrumental with all of JGH's interactions with industry, and fruitful examples include: Armatrex, GVS and NGPOD. JGH also interacts with the Intellectual Property (IP) team at Lancaster who facilitated submission of a patent application in JGH's first year at Lancaster, and together the BPE/IP teams will enable further interactions which should shorten the route to translation and/or eventual clinical adoption of technologies developed over the course of the project, yielding health impacts.