Public Funding for The Bio Nano Centre Unlimited

no public description

extension for impact

Sustainable Development Goal 6 – to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all – has been the impetus for development of new technologies and strategies for reduction of water wastage in many parts of the world. However, Brazil still has major inequalities in access to clean water with five million people without access to safe water and 25 million without proper sanitation. Experts agree that the smart reuse of water from showers, wash basins and laundry for non-drinking uses such as toilet-flushing and irrigation can reduce fresh-water requirements by up to 40%, leading to increased access to water and reduced water bills. This project will design and optimize a water-reuse network for Curitiba city in Brazil using our advanced software-based water-reuse network (WReN) methodology. The 2 key outputs from this project will be 1.) A robust methodology and an advanced software for socio-economic assessment of water reuse networks. 2.) An integrated smart monitoring system for pipes used in water reuse networks. Our WReN system has the potential to reduce requirements for fresh water, encourage fairer water pricing and drive down costs for the end-users. Indeed, by preventing the wastage/loss of treated water, utility companies can make significant saving from the cost of water treatment. Our engagement with end users can increase their environmental awareness and prompt them to be more resource-efficient in their daily life. Also, the cheaper reuse water for toilet flushing will improve the accessibility to decent public toilets, improving the quality of life of over 50 million Brazilians. This will in turn impact positively on the general health and wellbeing of all parts of the population as well as providing significant benefits to the environment.

Acrylamide is a toxic chemical that forms in starchy food products and in coffee during high temperature cooking, including baking, frying and industrial processing. Acrylamide is a Class 2a carcinogen, is neurotoxic and has been linked to male infertility. The acrylamide metabolite glycidamide appears to be the major carcinogen found in laboratory tests carried out on rodents. In humans, epidemiological studies have presented evidence suggesting a link between AA and the incidence of pancreatic cancer, Hodgkin's disease, and cancers in the brain, central nervous system \[Mendel, J.Agri&Food.Chem., 2003\]. Recent publication of 20-Nov-2017, EU COMMISSION REGULATION (EU 2017/2158) that establishes mitigation measures and benchmark levels for the reduction of acrylamide in food, requires business operators to follow those procedures necessary to meet targets set to achieve the objectives of the Regulation. To confirm compliance with benchmark levels, the effectiveness of mitigation measures by industry will have to be verified through sampling, testing and analysis. The Maillard Reaction between free asparagine (ASN) and reducing sugars present in food causes the acrylamide to form; it is the same reaction that 'browns' food and produces the flavours and aromas associated with fried baked and roasted foods. In wheat and coffee this reaction is limited by the amount of free asparagine. Therefore, to implement an acrylamide reduction strategy, it is vital not only to measure acrylamide, but also free asparagine. This project will develop ASNInstaTest, an innovative at-the-gate, rapid and easy-to-use test for asparagine in flour (with later applications in coffee and potato) to meet this need and allow the cereal industry to respond to regulatory bench mark levels."

The WHO has estimated that 140 million people globally drink water containing arsenic above safe levels. Arsenic is a toxic naturally-occurring contaminant that enters aquifers from natural sources in the bedrock and also from human activity such as industrial manufacturing and mining. Arsenic is toxic even at extremely low levels (WHO recommended levels are 10 parts per billion) with long-term exposure leading to fatal internal cancers among 10% of those exposed. Because arsenic is tasteless, odourless and gives no acute symptoms such as fever or pain until after prolonged exposure, arsenic poisoning has been justifiably coined the ‘silent killer’, causing a public health crisis. Water testing is key to arsenic mitigation and management, where the adage ‘what you cannot measure you cannot manage’ is pertinent. Because current tests for measuring arsenic contamination in drinking water are only semi-quantitative, time-consuming and require trained personnel, there is a need for improved tests that are rapid, affordable, accurate and easy-to-use. In this project the teams will develop an innovative handheld sensor for arsenic that will then be integrated into a novel arsenic filter.

The smart reuse of "greywater" from showers, wash basins and laundry for non-drinking uses such as toilet-flushing and irrigation in the garden has been shown to reduce water bills by up to 40%. Consequently, there is much interest in this technology, especially in highly-populated urban areas. Singapore is one such area. Bio Nano Consulting has recently developed a software program called WReN which helps urban designers calculate the cost/benefit ratio of proposed greywater recycling systems – this is the first such software program that provides this level of detailed analysis. In this project we will meet with experts in Singapore to understand the specific issues with water reuse there and will find a suitable industrial park or housing complex which will act as a testbed for a follow-up study to demonstrate the WReN system in a real-world setting with actual data. This will help speed the development of new water reuse systems in Singapore and help that country save one of its precious and limited resources.

Affecting one in three people over the course of their lifetimes, cancer represents a significant burden to healthcare systems around the world, costing the UK economy £11 billion annually. Oxford MediStress, an Oxford University spinout company, has recently developed a new fingerprick blood test that allows the quantitative assessment of a key component of the immune system by evaluating the vitality of white blood cells in a rapid, easy-to-use format. The Company believes this technology holds considerable promise to provide an early indication of cancer, given the way it measures immune function. It also has the potential to become an important new tool with which doctors can monitor cancer progression. However, a key optical component in the system is quite costly, meaning the system is too expensive to be marketed to the general public currently. In this project the team will evaluate alternative optical components that promise to the job just as well at a fraction of the cost. A key output of the project will be demonstration of a prototype that can perform the test at a substantially lower cost.

According to a report published in 2012 by NHS Kidney Care, kidney disease costs the NHS over £1.4 billion, more than breast, lung, colon and skin cancers combined. Using a unique proprietary technology capable of quantifying protein in urine, this project innovatively modifies the technology contained in familiar pregnancy tests to deliver a quantitative test of kidney disease that can be used at near-patient settings. This device could be used by clinicians to diagnose and stage chronic kidney disease or by patients at home for selfmonitoring. Moreover, the digital readout of the test enables the automatic and accurate collation of kidney function readings into a central database using mobile technology.

It is estimated by the WHO that 130 million people globally drink water containing arsenic above safe levels. Because current tests for measuring arsenic contamination in drinking water are semiquantitative, time-consuming and require trained personnel, there is a need for a portable, rapid, inexpensive, accurate and easy-to-use new environmental sensor for use in both developed and developing countries. Arsenic is a toxic naturally-occurring contaminant that enters aquifers from the dissolution of arsenic-containing minerals in bedrock and also from human activity such as industrial manufacturing and mining. Arsenic is toxic even at extremely low levels (WHO recommended levels are 10 ppb) with short term exposure causing skin lesions, skin cancer and harm to the nervous system, while long term exposure leads to fatal internal cancers among 10% of those exposed. Because arsenic is tasteless, odourless and gives no acute symptoms such as fever or pain until after prolonged exposure, arsenic poisoning has been justifiably coined the ‘silent killer’, causing a public health crisis. Water testing is key to arsenic mitigation and management, where the adage ‘what you cannot measure you cannot manage’ is pertinent. Current arsenic tests suffer from cost, accuracy, precision, and usability issues which limit the effectiveness and scope of mitigation programs. In fact, ‘field test’ is a misnomer for many products that more closely resemble field laboratories requiring trained personal to perform delicate chemical reactions in the field. Using a unique proprietary enzyme, this project innovatively modifies the technology contained in familiar glucose home tests manufactured in the billions each year, to create a step-change improvement in arsenic testing by solving customer usability, cost and accuracy needs. Millions of users have demonstrated the ease-of-use of glucose tests; now similar technology can be used to transform arsenic testing. This project

Millennium Development Goal 7c - to reduce by half the 4 billion people without sustainable access to safe drinking water - has acted as an impetus for the rapid growth in water quality field-testing in developing countries, where the adage ‘what you cannot measure, you cannot manage’ is apt. The WHO/UNICEF Monitoring Programme requires the testing of arsenic as one of the five core chemicals to be tested, as it is naturally found in aquifers on a global scale and is toxic even at extremely low levels (10 parts per billion). Using a unique enzyme, this project innovatively modifies the technology contained in familiar glucose home tests manufactured in the billions each year, to create a step-change improvement in arsenic testing by solving customer usability, cost and accuracy needs. Millions of users have demonstrated the ease-of-use of glucose tests; now similar technology can be used to transform arsenic testing, resulting in a significant benefit.

Decentralised Greywater Network modelling system would provide a methodolgy and tools to design and evaluate the optimum network configuration of a grey water reuse network for our cities and towns.

Awaiting Public Summary