��Ī - ��Ī Enterprise

Handheld device could transform heart disease screening

sc604 — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 08:10:47 +0000

The researchers, from the ��Ī, developed a device that makes it easy for people with or without medical training to record heart sounds accurately. Unlike a stethoscope, the device works well even if it’s not placed precisely on the chest: its larger, flexible sensing area helps capture clearer heart sounds than traditional stethoscopes.

The device can also be used over clothing, making it more comfortable for patients – especially women – during routine check-ups or community heart health screening programmes.

The heart sound recordings can be saved on the device, which can then be used to detect signs of heart valve disease. The researchers are also developing a machine learning algorithm which can detect signs of valve disease automatically. The results are reported in the IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics.

Heart valve disease (valvular heart disease or VHD) has been called the ‘next cardiac epidemic,’ with a prognosis worse than many forms of cancer. Up to 50% of patients with significant VHD remain undiagnosed, and many patients only see their doctor when the disease has advanced and they are experiencing significant complications.

In the UK, the NHS and NICE have identified early detection of heart valve disease as a key goal, both to improve quality of life for patients, and to decrease costs.

An examination with a stethoscope, or auscultation, is the way that most diagnoses of heart valve disease are made. However, just 38% of patients who present to their GP with symptoms of valve disease receive an examination with a stethoscope.

“The symptoms of VHD can be easily confused with certain respiratory conditions, which is why so many patients don’t receive a stethoscope examination,” said Professor Anurag Agarwal from ��Ī’s Department of Engineering, who led the research. “However, the accuracy of stethoscope examination for diagnosing heart valve disease is fairly poor, and it requires a GP to conduct the examination.”

In addition, a stethoscope examination requires patients to partially undress, which is both time consuming in short GP appointments, and can be uncomfortable for patients, particularly for female patients in routine screening programmes.

The ‘gold standard’ for diagnosing heart valve disease is an echocardiogram, but this can only be done in a hospital and NHS waiting lists are extremely long – between six to nine months at many hospitals.

“To help get waiting lists down, and to make sure we’re diagnosing heart valve disease early enough that simple interventions can improve quality of life, we wanted to develop an alternative to a stethoscope that is easy to use as a screening tool,” said Agarwal.

Agarwal and his colleagues have developed a handheld device, about the diameter of a drinks coaster, that could be a solution. Their device can be used by any health professional to accurately record heart sounds, and can be used over clothes.

While a regular or electronic stethoscope has a single sensor, the ��Ī-developed device has six, meaning it is easier for the doctor or nurse – or even someone without any medical training – to get an accurate reading, simply because the surface area is so much bigger.

The device contains materials that can transmit vibration so that it can be used over clothes, which is particularly important when conducting community screening programmes to protect patient privacy. Between each of the six sensors is a gel that absorbs vibration, so the sensors don’t interfere with each other.

The researchers tested the device on healthy participants with different body shapes and sizes and recorded their heart sounds. Their next steps will be to test the device in a clinical setting on a variety of patients, against results from an echocardiogram.

In parallel with the development of the device, the researchers have developed a machine learning algorithm that can use the recorded heart sounds to detect signs of valve disease automatically. Early tests of the algorithm suggest that it outperforms GPs in detecting heart valve disease.

“If successful, this device could become an affordable and scalable solution for heart health screening, especially in areas with limited medical resources,” said Agarwal.

The researchers say that the device could be a useful tool to triage patients who are waiting for an echocardiogram, so that those with signs of valve disease can be seen in a hospital sooner.

A patent has been filed on the device by ��Ī Enterprise, the University’s commercialisation arm. Anurag Agarwal is a Fellow of Emmanuel College, ��Ī.

Reference:
Andrew McDonald et al. ‘A flexible multi-sensor device enabling handheld sensing of heart sounds by untrained users.’ IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics (2025). DOI: 10.1109/JBHI.2025.3551882

Researchers have developed a handheld device that could potentially replace stethoscopes as a tool for detecting certain types of heart disease.

This device could become an affordable and scalable solution for heart health screening, especially in areas with limited medical resources

Anurag Agarwal

Acoustics Lab

Person demonstrating use of a handheld device for heart disease screening

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Yes

Emissions-free flying takes off at ��Ī Climate Challenge

plc32 — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 09:11:42 +0000

A biology PhD candidate and an early career aerospace engineer researcher won the 2025 ��Ī Zero Climate Challenge for turning waste into sustainable jet fuel

10 ��Ī AI spinouts

skbf2 — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 15:20:09 +0000

Meet 10 ��Ī spinouts, all hoping to harness the potential of AI for the good of the planet and its people.

��Ī leads top three universities for number of new spinouts

skbf2 — Sun, 23 Mar 2025 17:57:53 +0000

The Spotlight on Spinouts 2025 report, produced by the Royal Academy of Engineering in collaboration with Beauhurst, analyses annual trends in UK spinouts. The ��Ī ranks second to Oxford for the number of spinouts created since 2011, with Imperial in third. However, in the last year, ��Ī has spun out 26 new companies, showing the largest increase in the number of spinouts among the top three.

According to the report, East of England spinouts secured 35.0% of total investment, leading all regions. The area hosted two of the top five spinout fundraisings in 2024, including a £450 million raise by ��Ī spinout, Bicycle Therapeutics. The South ��Īshire-based company develops cancer treatments, with the investment aimed at supporting its R&D efforts.

Dr Jim Glasheen, Chief Executive of ��Ī Enterprise, the University’s innovation arm, said: “This rapid increase in the number of spinouts coming out of ��Ī reflects our continued focus on accelerating ��Ī innovations as well as the impact of our newer initiatives, such as the Founders at the ��Ī programme and the Technology Investment Fund.”

Dr Diarmuid O’Brien, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Innovation at the ��Ī added: “It’s heartening to see the growth in spinouts from ��Ī and across the sector as a whole. University entrepreneurship has an increasingly vital role to play in driving UK economic growth and addressing some of our most pressing societal challenges. As one of the world’s top science and tech clusters, ��Ī has a responsibility to deliver innovation-led economic growth for the UK and we have ambitious plans to further strengthen our capabilities in this regard.”

Read more about ��Ī spinouts in ��Ī Enterprise's Annual Review 2025

Of the UK’s top three universities for spinouts – Oxford, ��Ī and Imperial - ��Ī saw the most growth in 2024, according to a new report on trends in UK academic spinouts.

Yes

��Ī Enterprise reports on continued growth and ambitious plans for the ��Ī Cluster

skbf2 — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 12:55:32 +0000

25 new spinouts were formed in 2023-24, taking ��Ī Enterprise’s total portfolio to 174 companies. In the same period, it has helped with the submission of more than 450 patent applications and more than 750 approvals for commercial and research licences.

New initiatives designed to further boost the number of high-potential spinouts emerging from the University, include the Technology Investment Fund (TIF) which during its first 9 months has invested more than £2 million across 20 projects.

Founders at the ��Ī, a ��Ī Enterprise initiative to support University entrepreneurs, launched 2 new programmes, START 1.0 and SYNC in 2023-24. START 1.0 is an accelerator programme for very early-stage founders. Its first cohort included 11 companies, working to address global challenges ranging from climate change to healthcare with 7 securing further funding within 6 months. SYNC is a new co-founder matching programme that will support, accelerate and scale new founders and companies from the University.

Dr Jim Glasheen, Chief Executive, ��Ī Enterprise, said: “��Ī Enterprise remains committed to ensuring the innovations that spring from the University achieve their broader positive impact on society, and to our vital role in activating and enhancing the globally recognised ��Ī innovation ecosystem.”

Dr Diarmuid O’Brien, the University’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Innovation, added: “��Ī Enterprise is crucial in translating the University’s research into positive social and economic change. From the full spectrum of innovation services that it provides for the University to its critical role in enabling transformational impact from University research, ��Ī Enterprise sets the standard for university innovation.”

Reflecting on the success of ��Ī Enterprise's innovation activities, its Chair, Ajay Chowdhury, said: “��Ī Enterprise is in an incredibly strong position, with consultancy and research tools revenues at an all-time high, new initiatives to accelerate innovation and spinout formation, record levels of venture investment and great achievements for our portfolio companies.”

In partnership with the University and ��Ī Innovation Capital, ��Ī Enterprise leads Innovate ��Ī, an inclusive, ambitious innovation roadmap for ��Ī to encourage collaboration and action to help ��Ī realise its potential as a globally leading cluster. In October 2024, a ten-year plan for the city and region was unveiled at the Innovate ��Ī Summit, attended by over 400 leaders.

Read ��Ī Enterprise's Annual Review 2024

In its 2024 Annual Review, ��Ī Enterprise, the University’s innovation arm, reports significant growth across a wide range of activities supporting the translation of University research into societal benefit and helping ��Ī realise its potential as a globally leading cluster.

��Ī Enterprise is crucial in translating the University’s research into positive social and economic change.

Dr Diarmuid O’Brien, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Innovation, ��Ī

University building

Yes

Solar-powered device captures carbon dioxide from air to make sustainable fuel

sc604 — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:00:00 +0000

The researchers, from the ��Ī, say their solar-powered reactor could be used to make fuel to power cars and planes, or the many chemicals and pharmaceuticals products we rely on. It could also be used to generate fuel in remote or off-grid locations.

Unlike most carbon capture technologies, the reactor developed by the ��Ī researchers does not require fossil-fuel-based power, or the transport and storage of carbon dioxide, but instead converts atmospheric CO2 into something useful using sunlight. The results are reported in the journal Nature Energy.

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has been touted as a possible solution to the climate crisis, and has recently received £22bn in funding from the UK government. However, CCS is energy-intensive and there are concerns about the long-term safety of storing pressurised CO2 deep underground, although safety studies are currently being carried out.

“Aside from the expense and the energy intensity, CCS provides an excuse to carry on burning fossil fuels, which is what caused the climate crisis in the first place,” said Professor Erwin Reisner, who led the research. “CCS is also a non-circular process, since the pressurised CO2 is, at best, stored underground indefinitely, where it’s of no use to anyone.”

“What if instead of pumping the carbon dioxide underground, we made something useful from it?” said first author Dr Sayan Kar from ��Ī’s Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry. “CO2 is a harmful greenhouse gas, but it can also be turned into useful chemicals without contributing to global warming.”

The focus of Reisner’s research group is the development of devices that convert waste, water and air into practical fuels and chemicals. These devices take their inspiration from photosynthesis: the process by which plants convert sunlight into food. The devices don’t use any outside power: no cables, no batteries – all they need is the power of the sun.

The team’s newest system takes CO2 directly from the air and converts it into syngas: a key intermediate in the production of many chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The researchers say their approach, which does not require any transportation or storage, is much easier to scale up than earlier solar-powered devices.

The device, a solar-powered flow reactor, uses specialised filters to grab CO2 from the air at night, like how a sponge soaks up water. When the sun comes out, the sunlight heats up the captured CO2, absorbing infrared radiation and a semiconductor powder absorbs the ultraviolet radiation to start a chemical reaction that converts the captured CO2 into solar syngas. A mirror on the reactor concentrates the sunlight, making the process more efficient.

The researchers are currently working on converting the solar syngas into liquid fuels, which could be used to power cars, planes and more – without adding more CO2 to the atmosphere.

“If we made these devices at scale, they could solve two problems at once: removing CO2 from the atmosphere and creating a clean alternative to fossil fuels,” said Kar. “CO2 is seen as a harmful waste product, but it is also an opportunity.”

The researchers say that a particularly promising opportunity is in the chemical and pharmaceutical sector, where syngas can be converted into many of the products we rely on every day, without contributing to climate change. They are building a larger scale version of the reactor and hope to begin tests in the spring.

If scaled up, the researchers say their reactor could be used in a decentralised way, so that individuals could theoretically generate their own fuel, which would be useful in remote or off-grid locations.

“Instead of continuing to dig up and burn fossil fuels to produce the products we have come to rely on, we can get all the CO2 we need directly from the air and reuse it,” said Reisner. “We can build a circular, sustainable economy – if we have the political will to do it.”

The technology is being commercialised with the support of ��Ī Enterprise, the University’s commercialisation arm. The research was supported in part by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the European Research Council, the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the ��Ī Trust. Erwin Reisner is a Fellow of St John’s College, ��Ī.

Reference:
Sayan Kar et al. ‘Direct air capture of CO2 for solar fuels production in flow.’ Nature Energy (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41560-025-01714-y

For more information on energy-related research in ��Ī, please visit the Energy IRC, which brings together ��Ī’s research knowledge and expertise, in collaboration with global partners, to create solutions for a sustainable and resilient energy landscape for generations to come.

Researchers have developed a reactor that pulls carbon dioxide directly from the air and converts it into sustainable fuel, using sunlight as the power source.

We can build a circular, sustainable economy – if we have the political will to do it

Erwin Reisner

Sayan Kar

Solar-powered flow reactor

Yes

10 ��Ī spinouts forging a future for our planet

skbf2 — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 10:07:50 +0000

10 companies taking ��Ī ideas out of the lab and into the real world to address the climate emergency.

10 ��Ī spinouts changing the story of cancer

skbf2 — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 12:57:43 +0000

10 ��Ī spinouts on putting their research into practice to improve outcomes for cancer patients - and why ��Ī is a great place to do this.

�������������Ī - �������������Ī Enterprise

Handheld device could transform heart disease screening

Emissions-free flying takes off at �������������Ī Climate Challenge

10 �������������Ī AI spinouts

�������������Ī leads top three universities for number of new spinouts

�������������Ī Enterprise reports on continued growth and ambitious plans for the �������������Ī Cluster