The NanoKTN Announces CASE Awards Winners

The Nanotechnology Knowledge Transfer Network (NanoKTN) has announced the University of Hertfordshire and the University of Nottingham as winners of its Industrial Collaborative Awards in Science and Engineering (CASE) for 2009. Worth over £65,000, the Industrial CASE Awards were allocated to the NanoKTN by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to provide funding for two PhD studentships.

The Industrial CASE Awards are a way of linking academic research with industrial need. The awards provide funding for PhD studentships where businesses take the lead in arranging projects with a chosen academic
partner and offer funding and support to students alongside their already secured EPSRC funding.

2009 Industrial CASE Awards winner, Dr Woei Ping Cheng at the University of Hertfordshire,  will be working alongside Professor Marc Brown at Medpharm Ltd. Together they aim to develop a combination technology by
incorporating nano-formulations into gel forming polymers. They hope to develop and optimise such systems to treat diseases of the interior eye segment such as mucular edema, age-related mucular degeneration (AMD) and proliferative diabetic retinopathy via a noninvasive route.

Dr Ed Lester from the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of Nottingham will be heading another winning project alongside Dr Sandy Gordon at Promethean Particles Ltd. Lester
and Gordon will be investigating the use of porous nano-hydroxyapatite for the manufacture of complex multifunctional nanocomposites. (Hydroxyapatite is the main inorganic constituent in bones and teeth and has diverse applications in biomedical implants, bone regeneration, hard tissue engineering and drug delivery.)

The project will carry out three work packages, each involving strategic investigations into the mechanisms that govern the production and use of hydroxyapatite (HA). Lester hopes the project will enable him to answer key questions to begin to develop the full potential of these HA nano-materials, which will open doors to further projects in specific technology fields.

“The NanoKTN is pleased to yet again be able to offer funding in such worthwhile projects that will hopefully result in some interesting finds and developments in the nano - technology market. The EPSRC Industrial CASE Awards present an excellent opportunity to both academia and industry and we are pleased to be supporting companies that carry out research in areas that align with the NanoKTN’s priorities,” said Director Dr Alec Reader.