Kidney Research UK and Spin Up Science Deliver MedTech Academy
This month marked the conclusion of the Kidney Research MedTech Academy, delivered by Spin Up Science in collaboration with Kidney Research UK and IN-PART.
The MedTech Competition launched by Kidney Research UK, delivered by Spin Up Science, aimed to accelerate the development of transformational technologies addressing the crucial challenges in kidney disease. Seven innovative projects were awarded a prize worth £30,000, including £25,000 funding to accelerate research, as well as place on our Academy Programme.
The winning projects spanned a variety of disciplines, all aligned in the goal to improve the lives of those living with kidney disease. The winners of the competition were:
Dr Sergei Krivov and Dr Stefan Auer, University of Leeds - Incorporation of AI into routine blood tests to improve early diagnosis of acute kidney injury.
Professor Rukshana Shroff, University College London Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health - Central venous lines tailored to patient-specific characteristics to reduce complications associated with dialysis.
Dr Laura Denby, University of Edinburgh - A novel ultrasound technology to monitor kidney health.
Dr Tim Bowen, Cardiff University - MicroRNA probe to detect delayed graft function in urine post-kidney transplant.
Professor Alan Salama, University College London - A micro-sampling device for remote kidney health monitoring.
Professor Neeraj (Bean) Dhaun, University of Edinburgh - A method to detect kidney disease during routine NHS eye tests.
Professor Maria Grazia De Angelis, University of Edinburgh - Water recycling technology for a wearable haemodialysis machine.
MedTech Competition Winners, Spin Up Science, and Katherine Forbes of KRUK
Over the past 6 months, Spin Up Science worked alongside two members from each team through our Academy Programme, guiding teams through developing their research projects into market facing solutions. We covered the practical knowledge of how to translate research into innovation, how to identify and strength test commercial opportunities, and what's needed to launch knowledge intense startups and spinouts from Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The Academy culminated in an intensive 5 day bootcamp in launching and leading a technology company. It was a fantastic opportunity to get the teams together in a room to work on a real life client company, providing them with the opportunity to get first-hand experience of applying their new skills in practise.
“It’s fantastic working with an organisation clearly seeing the big picture, supporting world class research, but also enhancing the skillsets of researcher and so building a pathway to deliver the results to society.”
The programme concluded with a dinner, together with the participants, Katherine Forbes, the Director of Innovation and Enterprise at KRUK, and members of the Spin Up Science team to congratulate the cohort on their successes during the competition.
Dr Ben Miles, CEO and founder of Spin Up Science said: “It has been a pleasure working with Kidney Research UK and with the MedTech Winners over the last 6 months, developing their skills and helping them formulate their next steps to accelerate life-changing innovations to tackle kidney disease. It’s fantastic working with an organisation clearly seeing the big picture, supporting world class research, but also enhancing the skillsets of researcher and so building a pathway to deliver the results to society.”
Kidney Research UK are the leading kidney research charity in the UK who are on an urgent mission to end kidney disease. Kidney disease is on the rise, affecting three million people in the UK, where currently there is no cure and treatment can be gruelling. The purpose of Kidney Research UK is to find ways to prevent kidney disease, protect people from reaching kidney failure and transform current treatment options.
Katherine Forbes, Kidney Research UK Director of Innovation and Enterprise said: ‘The Academy Programme, led by Spin Up Science, has provided both invaluable insight and practical working knowledge to the MedTech competition winners in developing their entrepreneurial mindset and know-how, in turn enabling them to consider the commercialisation potential of their research and accelerate innovations which will prevent kidney disease from occurring, protect kidney health, drive early detection and diagnosis and develop transformational treatments. Through programmes like this, we will achieve our goal at Kidney Research UK and end the disease for good.”
James Culy, Kidney Research UK Innovation and Development Manager said: “We have been impressed with the professionalism and depth of knowledge from Spin Up Science. The information and guidance they have provided has been incredibly valuable to the projects funded through the Kidney Research UK MedTech competition and we hope that as a result, some of these projects will turn into products that will benefit kidney patients in the UK and further afield.”
Find out more about the cutting edge research into kidney disease on the Kidney Research UK website.
To find out more about our Academy Programme and explore opportunities for collaboration, contact hello@spin-up.science.