Archive for category: UoL

The National Biofilms Innovation Centre (NBIC), which the University of Liverpool co-directs, is to benefit from a Phase 2 funding package totalling £23.4 million.

The NBIC is a UK Innovation and Knowledge Centre which exists to create a fusion of world-class interdisciplinary research and industry partnerships to deliver breakthrough science and technologies to control and exploit biofilms.

The University of Liverpool is one of NBIC’s four lead research institutions and its involvement is through the Open Innovation Hub for Antimicrobial Surfaces, a multi-disciplinary initiative to develop new processes and technologies to tackle biofilm and antimicrobial resistance, which is led by Professor Rasmita Raval.

The new funding package will build upon NBIC’s collective strength as the UK’s national centre and support the continued expansion of world-class research and innovation.

The NBIC was launched in 2017 and is led by four Co-Directors including Professor Raval alongside Professors Cait MacPhee, Miguel Cámara and Jeremy Webb respectively. Since its inception, the centre has expanded partnerships with 59 research institutions and more than 150 companies across the UK.

Biofilms are central to our most important global challenges, from antimicrobial resistance and food safety to water security. They also provide a significant contribution to both the UK and global economy. In May 2022, a study carried out by NBIC estimated that the value of the markets in which biofilms are involved is worth £45 billion in the UK and $4 trillion globally.

To date, NBIC has collaborated with over 150 industrial, research and public partners in the UK and overseas to develop joint-industry programmes that are tackling major economic and societal issues affecting the world today.

The latest funding will support NBIC’s vision to deliver a global innovation hub by building on its collective strengths to prevent, detect, manage and engineer biofilms. It will enable NBIC to drive the adoption of innovative solutions across industry sectors to address major global challenges including climate change, water safety and improved healthcare. It will also drive step-changes in standards and regulation for novel biofilm solutions that support international trade.

Phase 2 will also see NBIC deliver a diverse training programme to equip the biofilm innovation ecosystem with the skills they need both now and, in the future, while also nurturing the talent of tomorrow.

NBIC University of Liverpool Co-Director, Professor Rasmita Raval said:

“Liverpool is proud to be a core partner of NBIC. The next phase of NBIC is critical for the UK to consolidate its global leadership in biofilms science, standards, innovation and skills training. NBIC also plays an important role in Liverpool’s growth agenda, as our city region sets its ambitious targets for the coming decade. I am strongly committed to our ethos of academia and industry collaborating together, bringing our collective knowledge, strengths and talents to address some of society’s most pressing problems.”

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said:

“Our area is already home to some of the world’s leading clusters of innovation, with unparalleled strengths in AI, infection control and materials chemistry right on our doorstep. I want to harness these strengths – and potential – and turn them into profitable businesses, creating better, greener jobs and bringing greater prosperity to local people.

“Locally, we’re putting our money where our mouth is, with plans to invest 5% of GVA into R&D and plans that could create around 44,000 highly-skilled jobs for local people and add £42bn to the local economy.

“The University of Liverpool has a massive role to play in helping us to achieve that ambition – and this latest investment in the National Biofilm Innovation Centre is testament to the incredible impact it has made – and I cannot wait to see what opportunities arise on this next chapter in its journey.”

This funding comes at the same time as NBIC announces its new CEO, Professor Jo Slater-Jefferies. Professor Slater-Jefferies joined NBIC in April 2018 and brings a wealth of experience and leadership in knowledge exchange, academic and industry collaboration and strategic research programmes to the role.

The University of Liverpool’s Open Innovation Hub for Antimicrobial Surfaces combines interdisciplinary surface and materials science expertise with advanced imaging techniques across the physical and life sciences. The pivotal role of surfaces in biofilm formation is studied with precision – often at the nanoscale and single-cell level- enabling structure-property relationships that govern microbial adhesion, biofilm development and antimicrobial action to be established. The Hub creates seamless interactions between researchers, industry and clinicians, enabling science and innovation to progress together.

The new £23.4 million investment consists of a £7.5 million award from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and Innovate UK alongside a further £9.5m from its four lead universities (Liverpool, Edinburgh, Nottingham and Southampton) in addition to £6.4m industrial support.

Find out more about NBIC’s achievements to date and future plans for the Phase 2 roll out in their 2022 Annual Report.

The University of Liverpool’s Materials Innovation Factory has been awarded funding from Research England to develop the Low Carbon Chemistry Lab of the Future.

A new University of Liverpool spin out company, CageCapture, has secured £300k funding from Innovate UK to take forward technology to remove toxic pollutants from the air.

CageCapture has been formed to commercialise a new cage-based material invented by Dr Ming Liu and Professor Andrew Cooper at the University’s Materials Innovation Factory. They designed and synthesised new cage molecule solids that act like a ‘cage prison’ and can capture low concentration pollutants using a combination of chemical and physical adsorption.

The patented technology has been proven to efficiently capture the most common indoor air pollutant, formaldehyde, at both high and low levels and even in humid conditions. Formaldehyde is often released as a pollutant from building materials such as paint and plasterboard, as well as many other household products. It is believed to cause various health problems and is classified as a Group 1 human carcinogen by WHO.

The Innovate UK funding will be used to develop an in-house formaldehyde testing facility to validate the new technology and to explore other applications for the new technology including different pollutants.

Dr Ming Liu said: “CageCapture is an exciting new spin out company which has been created to commercialise new cage materials which were developed through our research.

“Our technology has been proven in the lab to be more effective at capturing formaldehyde than current methods and this new funding will help us to take this forward and actively pursue collaborators to scale-up manufacturing of the new material.”

Professor Anthony Hollander, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Impact at the University of Liverpool, said: “The University’s Materials Innovation Factory is known for its world-class research in advanced materials and CageCapture is an excellent example of how leading academic research can be translated into commercial ventures, contributing to economic growth and creating an impact.”

CageCapture has been awarded a total of £298,754 funding via Innovate UK with matched funding from the University’s Enterprise Investment Fund, through the Innovation to Commercialisation of University Research (ICURe) ‘follow on funding’ competition.