Research projects

Investigator: Prof Balachandran

Sponsor: MRC

Status: completed

Summary: The focus of the research activities within this group is genitourinary medicine and antimicrobial resistance, led by Professor Wamadeva Balachandran. The group is creating a new Centre of Excellence for Diagnostic Technologies in Precision Medicine, allowing prompt and appropriate treatment at the point of care (PoC). The centre will bring together academics from Engineering, Design, Life Sciences, Health Economics, Systems Biology and key external clinical collaborators. 

Funder: European Commission

Value: 2.72 million Euros

Status: concluded

Duration: September 2011 - August 2014

Investigators: Prof Balachandran and Dr Abbod

Summary: The main objective of the DEECON project is to create a novel integrated on-board, retrofit, after-treatment unit for ships that combines different sub-units, each of which will be optimized to remove specific primary pollutants (SOx, NOx, PM, VOC and CO) and specifically designed for on-board application to allow an easy and fast installation on existing and new ships. 

Funder: Innovate UK - TSB

Value: £1.3 million

Duration: February 2015 - January 2017 (concluded)

Summary: The main objective of the MAGS project is to create a novel integrated on-board Non-Thermal Plasma Reactor (NTPR) after-treatment unit for ships that combines different sub-units, each of which will be optimized to remove specific primary pollutants (SO2, NOx (NO+NO2), PM, VOC and CO).

Investigator: Prof Balachandran and Dr Nilavalan

Funded Value: £623,603

Funded Period: Apr 1918 - Mar 2021 (ongoing)

Funder: BBSRC

Summary: This project aims to develop and translate to the Philippines a rapid easy to use point of need molecular diagnostic test that can be used at the site of infection and test for the key viral and bacterial pathogens identified which are of current concern I the poultry industry. The testing system will have a total test time under 1 hour (sample to result). It will provide significant impact and economic benefit both from the perspective of poultry farming and from the development, manufacture and sale of test kit which will assist in the economic development of the Philippines.

Investigators: Dr Md Nazmul Huda (PI), Prof Syed Mahfuzul Aziz (Co-I, University of South Australia)

Start and finish dates: November 2018 to July 2019 (Concluded).

Sponsor: Coventry University, UK

Funded Value: £10K

Summary: The research on capsule robots (capsubots) has received attraction in recent years because of their compactness, simple structure and their potential use in medical diagnosis (e.g. capsule endoscopy), treatment and surgical assistance. The medical diagnostic capability of a capsule endoscope - which moves with the aid of visceral peristalsis - in the GI (gastro-intestinal) tract can be improved by adding propulsion to it e.g. legged, magnetic or capsubot-type propulsion

Investigators: Dr Abbod and Dr Darwish

Duration: 1 June 2020 – 31 May2022 (Running)

Sponsor: Innovate UK – KTP

Value: £194k

Summary: OTM is the forerunner in provision of bespoke, innovative, space-constrained, high-performance electromechanical solutions. OTM’s expertise is in mechanical design and system integration, and the products are world-beating. OTM’s vision is to expand its expertise to include motors and drive control electronics, bringing these in-house to enhance its overall offering. The KTP aims to design and manufacture a motor and create the drive power electronics for the motors. This will enable the OTM actuation system to perform to its full capability, to meet stringent specifications and be tuned to specific system requirements

Investigator: Prof Balachandran, Dr Abbod, Dr Nilavalan, Dr Manivannan

Value: £274k

Dates: Jan 2020 – Dec 2022 (ongoing)

Sponsor: PyroCore

Summary: The goal of this project is to carry out a feasibility study to assess the abatement efficiency of SO2, NO, NO2, VOCs and PM<2.5 µm using an integrated system consisting of Dielectric Barrier Non-thermal Plasma (DBD-NTP) in combination with novel chemical called MonoChem with a view to developing a retrofit system for implementation on non-road diesel engine exhaust.