Lancaster helps develop revolutionary rapid blood-testing technology

New blood-testing technology that promises to improve healthcare treatments for cancer patients, post-operative care and monitor the health of babies in the womb is being developed by Lancaster academics.

The new small-scale technology, called ‘EBio-LacSens’, would rapidly measure blood characteristics to monitor for sepsis or toxins. It would be a good indicator of the success of treatments following operations and it could ensure the early detection of sepsis in chemotherapy patients. In addition it could help evaluate the status of foetuses.

Michael Mumford, from eBiogen, said: “This project passed its feasibility stage and it is now progressing well in its prototype stage with encouraging results. We are starting the human blood testing soon before proceeding to market. Lancaster University has enabled us to develop a rich and supportive expert network.”

Dr Mukesh Kumar, the project Research Fellow, said: “Although the existing point-of-care testing kits have resolved a few conventional problems, they have not had a great impact in most clinical testing. The new technology would circumvent many current problems through miniaturisation, enabling an economical, portable analyser to be used ‘by the bedside’. The prospect of being able to significantly reduce the time between taking a sample and the delivery of the analysis is exciting and rewarding.”

Professor Peter Fielden, Head of Chemistry at Lancaster University, said: “Working with eBiogen has given us a great opportunity to develop our academic ideas through technology transfer into real devices that will have significant impact in healthcare.”

The researchers are also exploring additional future potential applications for the technology. These could include environmental monitoring and food security.

The £50,000 project was part-funded with £25,000 from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council through its Impact Acceleration Account. This funding was matched by eBiogen and has been used to pay for research time, prototype development and sample testing. The collaboration has also received support from the Lancaster Health Hub. The Impact Acceleration Account is £900,000 funding from the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council to finance a range of activities designed to foster greater collaboration with industry, and bridge the gap between the lab and the marketplace.