Dr Maïwenn Kersaudy-Kerhoas wins prestigious EPSRC award
Dr Maïwenn Kersaudy-Kerhoas, honorary fellow at the Division of Infection and Pathway Medicine, and Associate Professor at Heriot-Watt University has received one of eight prestigious Awards from the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC).
Dr Maïwenn Kersaudy-Kerhoas, honorary fellow at the Division of Infection and Pathway Medicine, and Associate Professor at Heriot-Watt University has received a prestigious Award from the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC). Eight of these awards (totally more than £8 million of funding) were given this year for the second Healthcare Technologies Challenge Awards call, to researchers who address long-term health challenges through the development of innovative healthcare technologies.
The awards will provide support to a new generation of research leaders to develop personal programmes of high quality, creative and multidisciplinary research, as well as supporting and growing their research groups. They will collaborate with clinicians, healthcare professionals and industrial partners to inform, develop and translate their research through to application.
Dr Kersaudy-Kerhoas’ project aims to develop sustainable new solutions to reduce the overall cost of sample preparation and increase the robustness and reliability of circulating biomarkers such as cell-free circulating nucleic acids. Cell-free nucleic acids (cfNAs) can be used for rapid diagnosis and prognosis as biomarkers in blood sampling for cancer monitoring or infectious disease diagnosis but are not implemented clinically in daily practice due to a number of barriers. Novel advanced materials will be integrated in fluidic cartridges to allow instant preservation of the sample until analysis.
EPSRC’s Healthcare Technologies Challenge Awards are designed to equip the next generation of research leaders with the tools they need to tackle current and emerging health challenges facing society. These awards will help them to develop novel therapies that enhance efficiency and reduce risks to patients; create prostheses and other devices to restore normal function; produce minimally-invasive physical interventions to repair damage or remove disease; and optimise treatment for the individual, improving health outcomes.