Cutting edge projects to tackle infectious diseases share £1.5m in funding

The Liverpool-based Infection Innovation Consortium (iiCON) has invested in 11 new projects, sharing £1.5m in funding from UKRI as part of its work to support innovative ways of tackling infections.

The investments in the projects, focused on combating infectious diseases, followed sandpit events in Liverpool and London earlier this year, and coincide with World AMR Awareness Week this week. 

The call attracted successful applications from private and public sector organisations and stimulated new multidisciplinary collaboration. 

The successful projects received network funding of up to £50,000 or proof of concept funding of up to £150,000 and are to be completed over the next six to nine months. The aim is to encourage the development of disruptive technologies and methodologies in infectious disease research.

The sandpit events were attended by more than 200 multi-sector stakeholders who collaborated to identify fruitful areas for exploration, including the integration of AI and machine learning into infection R&D, improving access to interventions in low socio-economic groups, and advancing innovative approaches to infection prevention.

Prof Janet Hemingway, founding director of iiCON, said: “Combatting the transmission of infection is one of the most significant health challenges of our time, and its urgency continues to escalate. We are thrilled to announce the 11 successful innovative projects dedicated to addressing this issue. It is essential that we harness novel, disruptive technologies to advance our efforts in tackling the spread of infection.

“We eagerly anticipate this exciting programme, which will foster the creation of new cross-disciplinary networks and empower the winning projects to help shape the future of our response to infection transmission.

“Together, we will explore new concepts and approaches that may hold the key to resolving this critical challenge,” said Prof Hemingway, who was named Liverpool City Region Leader of the Year, and overall North West Leader of the Year at the 2023 TheBusinessDesk.com Leadership Awards.

The 11 successful projects are:

• Development of a scalable blood test to determine heterosubtypic immunity to avian influenza
• Use of novel technologies to tackle infections: a one stop sputum-free diagnosis for Tuberculosis
• An open innovation network to drive the commercialisation of microbiome research
• Improving knowledge of antibiotic use and antimicrobial resistance in migrant, refugee, and asylum seeker populations in Liverpool through community-based participatory research
• InfectiScan: Pioneering rapid diagnosis of antimicrobial resistance in bodily fluid samples – A feasibility pilot study
• From Theory to Practice: Mathematical approaches to disrupt infectious disease transmission
• Developing a robust self-disinfecting coating to reduce transmission of pathogens via touch surfaces in hospitals and beyond
• Rational engineering of inorganic crystals as novel therapeutics to induce antimicrobial activity in host cells
• Efficacy of nitric oxide releasing coatings and fibres against the monkeypox virus
• The comprehensive understanding of disease and AI research (CURE) project
• Infection model based on multi-layer vascularised skin-on-a-chip for the evaluation of antibacterial products