Dr Shakil Awan Associate Professor in Electronics and Nanotechnology and Zimmer & Peacock

R&D Solutions Fund case study

Point-of-care medical diagnostic sensors for early coronary heart disease detection.

About the project

Enterprise Solutions supported partnership development between Zimmer & Peacock and the University of Plymouth's Dr Shakil Awan to create proof-of-concept sensors for the detection of protein biomarkers of Coronary Heart Disease (CHD). The aim of this technology is to lead to point-of-care diagnostic capabilities for the early detection of CHD. CHD costs the UK economy approximately £29.1 billion per annum, so is a macroeconomic problem as well as having a personal impact on each patient’s health and wellbeing. Building on previous data on the use of graphene sensors, the aim was to reduce the gap between academic research and a commercially focused product, raising the technology from TRL4 to TRL5.

The purpose of this project was to start building a profitable product line for the early diagnosis of CVD, to improve care and outcomes for patients whilst reducing the impact on the UK economy. A modest improvement in care in the UK of just 5% would realise a saving to the UK economy of approximately £1.5 billion per annum.

Outcomes & Impact

The funding allowed graphene sensor development to include the detection of higher concentration levels of Troponin I, to cover a range found in healthy and diseased patient samples. There is a gap between academic research and a commercial product, and so the benefit of the grant was to raise the technology from a TRL4 (capability to produce the technology in a laboratory environment) to TRL5 (capability to produce prototype components in a productionrelevant environment).

The project delivered:

  • New design of graphene sensors & fabrication protocol.

  • A patent covering the new sensors and detection electronics.

  • Publications in high-impact factor journals.

  • Testing of the commercial Z&P sensors and graphene sensors for cTnI using human serum and a report on the outcomes.

  • Development of multiplex electronics to enable scale-up of the outputs of this project.

Enterprise Solutions Enabled

  • New design of graphene sensors and fabrication protocol

  • A patent covering sensors and detection electronics

  • Publication in high-impact journals

  • Funded PhD studentships

  • Research Funding applications of >£2M

Facilities for Fabrication of Graphene Biosensors

Research impact

  • Zimmer & Peacock is a formal project partner for UKRI funding applications

  • Publication of research papers:

  • Shakil, A (2022), “Comparison of commercial Z&P sensors and graphene sensors cTnI using human serum”, University of Plymouth. A WORLD FIRST!

  • Shakil, A (2022), “Use of meta-analytics tools to identify and verify the usefulness of coronary heart disease biomarkers”

  • Patent application

  • Zimmer & Peacock co-funded 2 PhD students

  • Patent application

  • The first trial of Bio-chip of Graphene Sensors to detect cTnI protein biomarker using multiplex electronics

  • MRC strategic equipment funding secured £513K

  • BBSRC Funding secured £225K

  • EPSRC application for £430K - awaiting outcome

Future achievements:

  • Submission of Grant Application to British Heart Foundation (~£300k), BBSRC (~£1M)

  • Post Doc Researcher opportunities

  • Scale-up and 1st Prototype of the Bio-Chip/Multiplex Point-of-Care System

About Zimmer & Peacock

  • Based in: Coventry, UK (ZP HQ)

  • Specialise in the development and manufacturing of electrochemical sensor-based technologies and IVDs

  • Size: Micro (1-10 employees)

  • Invested c.£50k in-kind support to the R&D Solutions Fund project

  • Sponsored 2 PhD Studentships at the University of Plymouth