Dundee's double success

The University has been awarded over a third of a million pounds in the latest round of Proof of Concept Funding for two separate projects which could have an impact on tooth decay and the development of new drugs.

A novel electrical technique which could detect tooth decay without resorting to potentially harmful X-rays has been developed by a team led by dentist Dr Chris Longbottom and receives £139,500 to develop a prototype for testing. If successful it could be in the market place in two years.

Laboratory tests show the device, which measures the electrical resistance of teeth, is twice as accurate as current examination techniques and detects decay in its earliest stages when preventive treatment is still possible.

Known as ACIST - which stands for AC impedance spectroscopy technique - the device has been developed by the Dundee team together with colleagues in St Andrews University. The sensor, which was patented in 1996, is being developed in collaboration with textile specialists at Heriot Watt University.

Meanwhile an award of £199,200 goes to a project led by Professor of developmental biology Jeff Williams to advance a radical process which could lead to the faster and cheaper development of new drugs to treat a range of diseases. The Dundee team are combining three new technologies - genetics, proteomics and genomics - and working with a soil microbe, to develop a genetic screening strategy that is powerful, rapid and generally applicable.

The scientists plan to use the living soil organism, Dictyostelium, as a genetic screen. The single cell organism, has many of the properties of an animal cell but is a microbe that can be analysed genetically using extremely powerful techniques. Using the soil bug as the test organism, they will bombard it with different molecules to determine their target of action. Once vulnerable targets have been identified, the process of designing drugs to match them begins.

Professor Williams: "We are confident that by linking the new technologies we can create a process that will be faster and cheaper than current methods, and offer a highly competitive aid to drug design and development."

Proof of Concept funding supports leading edge technologies in Scotland's academic institutions and aims to help export innovation from the lab into the global market place. The £33 million fund launched in 1999 now supports 82 projects worth £13 million and has created 207 new jobs. Dundee's previous successes in the PoC awards include the development of a new wound healing dressing by Seth and Ana Schor, diagnostic biotechnology by Dr Roy Quinlan; development of cancer treatment by Dr Barbara Spruce; system on a chip projects by Dr Steve Parkes and flat panel display by Dr Mervyn Rose.

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