Project
The METRC Centre combines the expertise of 8 universities in the area of soft nanotechnology research and applies this to industry. This is in a range of markets, including home and personal care, medicine and energy. Since 2007, METRC have generated over £10 million of research income and worked with over 80 business, including QuantuMDx.
Partners
Delivery
QuantuMDx (QMDx) is developing handheld diagnostic devices for disease detection and DNA sequencing. METRC introduced QMDx to the academic expertise in the universities of the N8 and the company was so impressed that it decided to relocate key overseas operations to Newcastle with the anticipated creation of over 30 scientific jobs.
Impact
In 2010 METRC and QuantuMDx invested in short term research projects with the universities of Newcastle and Sheffield to enable the company to accelerate the development of new products. These projects have led to long lasting partnerships between QMDx and the two universities.
Success
METRC has helped the partnership (QuantuMDx and the two universities) to gain close to £2M of further grant funding. This has resulted in the partnership winning prestigious industry awards and helped the company to secure an exclusive worldwide licence with a major US-based nanotech company.
Testimonial
“The development of QuantuMDx’s new products was accelerated after we received help from researchers at a number of N8 universities. This was crucial in persuading us to move to the North, where there is the research expertise and willingness to support our product development. The work carried out between the Universities of Sheffield and Newcastle has enabled us to shorten our development timescales considerably and gain access to some of the best academics in the world in a variety of technical disciplines.”
Elaine Warburton, CEO, QuantuMDx Group
“By combining our design, prototyping and manufacturing expertise with the ideas and technologies of QMDx, we are able to support the lifecycle of a product from initial concept through to market entry. INEX is the largest Microsystems and Nanotechnology facility in the UK with microfabrication clean rooms, packaging & test facilities, analytical and bioscience laboratories for specialist electronic devices, microsystems and nanotechnology (MNT).”
Dr Angela Silmon, INEX, Newcastle University