Bio-functionalised Nanomaterials for Ultrasensitive Biosensing

This proposal aims to transform the way that we can currently detect disease through innovations in the design and development of nanomaterials-based systems. The proposed ultrasensitive detection of disease biomarkers in clinical samples is very broad in impact and important for diseases as diverse as cancer and global health applications. The proposed technologies will offer significantly greater sensitivity than current standard tests, and will constitute a significant step-change towards a new generation of sophisticated and high performance point-of-care diagnostic platforms. They will combine the advanced functional properties of custom-engineered nanomaterials with tailored biomolecular recognition chemistries to create sensors capable of rapidly detecting extremely low abundance biomarkers and yielding quantitative information through easily interpretable signalling mechanisms (e.g. simple by eye detection of colour changes). Importantly, the work will be performed in close collaboration with clinical partners to maximise translational potential.

Importance and Strategic Fit

The project outlined herein will constitute an extremely strong contribution to the EPSRC's healthcare technologies challenge theme through several different pathways. The project is highly creative and multidisciplinary by nature, bringing together international researchers from across the physical sciences, engineering and medicine to focus on engineering novel and high impact healthcare technologies. The research associates employed to work on this project will benefit from the opportunity to work in a truly interdisciplinary and high impact research area, and will become leaders in biomedical engineering. Translating research into innovation is a key priority in UK STEM research in the coming years. The research proposed here is not only cutting-edge science but will tackle real world problems in a deliverable manner. The translational aspects of the work and tight-knit interactions with both leading clinicians, industrial partners and Imperial Innovations (for IP) will ensure lasting benefits globally in terms of healthcare, and a lasting societal and economic benefit to the UK. The diseases targeted are of huge international importance, namely cancer (1 in 3 people), malaria (1.2 million deaths/year), tuberculosis (1.5 million deaths/year), sepsis (18 million cases/ year) and HIV (33.3 million people worldwide).

Impact

The challenge in the progression of new drugs and personalised medicine is that pharmaceutical treatments can only be as specific as the tests that determine their necessity and efficacy. Without a new generation of bioassays, there can be no new generation of treatment. Our protein and enzyme assay technologies are uniquely amenable to enabling this advance. The clear beneficiaries of this approach will be the patients who have access to faster and more accurate testing, as well as low-cost point of care testing in global health. Our close collaboration with clinical experts will facilitate the transition of our technology from the lab to the clinic. Our technology will also allow for more accurate screening of drug candidates, saving time and money in drug development. The UK economy will directly benefit from the revenue and job creation associated with commercialisation of these assays as well as from the unique combination of fundamental and practical training offered to the researchers involved. Our publications to date have been of the highest impact (in Science, Nature Materials, Nature Chemistry, Nature Nanotechnology, etc) and I intend to publish our outputs in similar journals. I am passionate about public engagement and communicating science to the public and the results will be disseminated at many leading international conferences such as the ACS, MRS and many others.