A joint proposal from the Universities of Glasgow and Dundee in collaboration with Shell Global Solutions has beaten off strong competition to become one of this year's exhibits at the annual Summer Science Exhibition organised by the Royal Society.

The Glasgow expertise in gas detection that they developed with Shell Global Solutions is now being combined with clinical expertise from Dundee in pursuit of a reliable, easy to use, early screening technique for a variety of diseases.

This aspect of their collaborative work secured a Proof of Concept award in the recent round of funding grants and will be acknowledged at today's Awards ceremony (Monday 9 June 2003).

Professor Miles Padgett from the University of Glasgow team explains, 'Our project hopes to demonstrate that ultra-sensitive gas detection in exhaled breath can be applied to the wide scale screening programme for diseases such as lung cancer and cardiovascular disease. This gas detection technique has been proven in the oil and gas industry but not yet for medical screening.

We want to look into the feasibility of producing an instrument capable of being operated by non-specialist staff. This would enable routine examination of thousands of breath samples and allow this new diagnosis tool to be included as part of the test sequence used by respiratory clinics.'

In the UK, lung cancer is diagnosed in over 30,000 patients a year. There are no early symptoms and late diagnosis is the main reason that less than 7% of patients survive for 5 years. An effective early screening technique has the potential to significantly increase this survival rate.

Professor Padgett continued, 'Although our research is still very much in its infancy, I think there could be significant potential in an early screening technique that would be quite simple to use.'

Dr Chris Longbottom, of Dundee University's Dental School and Centre for Clinical Innovations, added, 'We hope to involve both dentists and doctors in the collection of samples. This will help to determine if this technique will be of value as a screening tool for apparently healthy individuals and/or a specific diagnostic tool for patients with symptoms'.

Media Relations Office (media@gla.ac.uk)

About The Proof of Concept Fund

The Proof of Concept Fund supports leading-edge technologies in Scotland's academic institutions, and aims to help export innovation from the lab into the global marketplace.

The ?33m Fund launched in 1999 now supports 120 ground-breaking projects worth over ?19 million and has created 290 new jobs. It concentrates on early-stage ideas which have typically reached patent level and could lead to the creation of new businesses, or licensing innovative technologies. Successful bidders must demonstrate that their ideas have originality and true commercial potential.

The projects supported via the Fund are high risk and will generally take several years to become commercially viable investments.

The objectives of the Fund are:

To improve the level and quality of commercialisation through the provision of funding for early stage development activity within Scotland?s universities, research institutes and NHS trusts.

To contribute to the development of Scotland?s clusters by facilitating the exploitation of enabling technologies from within the fundamental and strategic research base.

To contribute to the longer-term development of a strong, knowledge-based economy in Scotland.

Further details on the PoC Fund, the projects that are currently supported and the application process can be found at: www.scottish-enterprise.com/proofofconceptfund

About Scottish Enterprise

Scottish Enterprise is the main economic development agency for Scotland covering 93% of the population from Grampian to the Borders. The Scottish Enterprise Network consists of Scottish Enterprise and 12 Local Enterprise Companies. Working in partnership with the private and public sectors the Network aims to build more and better businesses, to develop the skills and knowledge of Scottish people, and to encourage innovation to make Scottish business internationally competitive.

A cluster is a group of related industries and organisations. They can be each other?s customers, competitors, partners, suppliers or research and development sources. Partners in a cluster continue to compete, but they also begin to share the benefits of innovative ideas and practices that each contributes. This makes them more competitive. An example of a successful cluster is the Biotechnology industry in Dundee. The cluster approach in Scotland, pioneered by Scottish Enterprise, aims to ensure that Scotland?s small, open economy thrives in an increasingly competitive global economy.

Judith Hodgson, Press Officer, University of Glasgow, 0141 330 3535 email: j.hodgson@admin.gla.ac.uk

Jenny Marra, University of Dundee, 01382 344 021 email: j.m.marra@dundee.ac.uk

Professor Miles Padgett
m.padgett@physics.gla.ac.uk 0141 330 4707

Don Whiteford
d.whiteford@enterprise.gla.ac.uk 0141 330 2728

The Summer Science Exhibition takes place from 1-3 July 2003, at the Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG. For more information, visit www.royalsoc.ac.uk or www.sc1.ac.uk

First published: 9 June 2003