ESPRC Grand Challenge award for nanotechnology scientists
10 Dec '09,
GMEC collaborator, Dr Rachel McKendry (University College London), and her colleagues recently received a £2 million Grand Challenge award from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), for the development of multi-marker nanosensors for HIV diagnosis. The award compliments Dr McKendry’s current GMEC collaboration to develop similar novel diagnostics for other infectious diseases.
Dr Rachel McKendry commented that “GMEC funding to promote links between the nanotechnology and infectious disease communities played a key role in catalysing our successful £2 million EPSRC grant to develop Multi-Marker Nansosensors for HIV. This Grand Challenge programme is a large scale multidisciplinary joint venture at the London Centre for Nanotechnology. Our goal is to produce the next generation of multi-marker HIV nanosensors to rapidly diagnose, stage and monitor HIV in resource-limited environments. The development of affordable handheld HIV multiple-biomarker devices will ultimately result in more effective management of HIV, thereby significantly improving the prospects of millions of infected people worldwide”.
The two research programmes both involve multidisciplinary teams of scientists, engineers and healthcare professionals, their innovative collaboration facilitated in part by GMEC.