mrc

Deep brain stimulation is a growing technique used in the treatment of tremor and dystonia and associated neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. It requires the stimulation of specific neural centres within the brain which must be placed accurately to have therapeutic effect and avoid potentially damage side effects. Methods are required to minimize the amount of surgery required in deep brain stimulation procedures and improve the therapeutic efficacy of the technique. MRC Scientists have developed a novel patented technique to allow unambiguous identification of neural centres in one surgical step. Opportunity 284

Scientists at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratories of Human Nutrition Research in Cambridge have developed novel oxygen sensors for use in product packaging for storing products under oxygen free conditions. Opportunity 440

Wound healing is a complex and dynamic process and there is an increasing requirement for medicaments that promote wound healing particularly in chronic wounds. The proposed therapeutic would have applications in both chronic wounds and in healing serious acute wounds such as post-operative healing and burns. The intervention and medicament is defined based on the combination of GMCSF (such as Sargramostim) and PGE, or an agonist thereof (such as dinoprostone), which has not been previously suggested as a therapy. The inventor has demonstrated that this combination has a synergistic effect and results in quicker wound healing. The proposed therapy has particular effect in early stages of wound healing. An in vivo model demonstrated a significant difference in wound healing which was improved by day three compared to either compound alone or no treatment. This has been shown to result from the increased expression of chemokines, induced by the combination therapy, that are known to be involved in later stages of wound healing. This combination therapy would be amenable to application both in topical formulations and incorporation into dressing, bandaging and sealants. Opportunity 331

MRC-funded scientists in the Babylab at the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development in London have developed novel computer-based games for use in cognitive training for babies and toddlers. In controlled tests, a short training period led to significant improvements in infants’ concentration skills. Opportunity 467

A modular platform of stacking rotatable wheels with multiple slots for high-throughput independent imaging of live specimens Opportunity 484

A novel paraxial charge compensator that overcomes or mitigates problems associated with beam-induced positive charge build up and specimen degradation in order to improve the quality of TEM images. Opportunity 263

A robust and simple PCR-based method for measuring gene copy number. Genetic copy number variations (CNV) are often associated with genetic disorders, degenerative diseases and cancer, and the method has applications in personalised treatment of cancer, diagnosis of genetic disease and fertility treatment. Opportunity 245