University research shortlisted in Times Higher Education Awards 2012
L-R: Professor Mark Sims, Professor Paul Monks, Tom Geliot and Professor Tim Coats.
University of Leicester research has been shortlisted for the Times Higher Education Awards 2012 in the ‘Outstanding Contribution to Innovation and Technology’ category. The Awards, which single out those who uphold, and exceed, the standard of excellence, have focused on the university’s ‘Star Trek Bed’; a multidisciplinary project resulting from a fusion of ideas and technologies originally developed for space and reinterpreted to address real-time medical problems.
Headed by Professors Mark Sims, Tim Coats and Paul Monks, the £1m-plus facility brings significant clinical benefit allowing diagnosis without the use of invasive probes, blood tests, or other time-consuming and uncomfortable procedures. University of Leicester researchers from space research, emergency medicine and Chemistry, worked with colleagues in Cardiovascular Sciences, Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, Physics and Astronomy, Engineering, IT Services and the Leicester Royal Infirmary to create the Diagnostics Development Unit (DDU).
The DDU uses three different types of cutting-edge technology – developed and used at the University of Leicester - to detect the ‘sight, smell and feel’ of diseases. Having had over 40 applications to date, the DDU could mean big things for the future of medical diagnosis. Winning the award would be the second win in a row for University of Leicester in the category, having impressed at the awards show in 2011 with a revolutionary blood pressure device. The awards dinner and ceremony will take place on Thursday 29 November at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London.
