Researchers at the University have collaborated with a Dundee baker to manufacture a new type of flapjack. Their 'recipe' could revolutionise the diagnosis of a symptom that impairs the body's ability to absorb and metabolise medication to treat conditions associated with Diabetes, Irritable Bowel Syndrome and AIDs.
The new flapjack is an original way to diagnose the rate of stomach emptying. Current methods employ radioactive tracers, which make it too expensive and risky for large-scale screening but the Dundee technology is safe, accurate and cheap as well as tasting good - all improvements on existing methods. The flapjack contains naturally occurring stable isotope of carbon (c13) and after the flapjack is consumed, the absorbed c13 can be detected by a breath test that indicates if the person is suffering from delayed stomach emptying.
Dundee baker Alan Clark has manufactured all the flapjacks along with his usual output of bread rolls, pies and birthday cakes in his bakery located close to the University. After two months of testing whether to bake the flapjacks as a sheet and cut into squares, Alan decided that he needed to use a depositer - a piece of equipment that uses the exact amount of cake mix for each flapjack.
He said, "The amounts of tracer in each flapjack had to be so precise that we have to make each one individually. We add a small bottle of tracer to the flapjack mix and have found after testing that this spreads it evenly throughout each flapjack. We have the flapjacks down to a fine art and have an individual wrapping facility and very good labelling equipment which allows us to put all the necessary details, batch number etc on each flapjack. We have been working with researchers from the University of Dundee. I am delighted that our bakery is part of the medical research and discovery for which Dundee is famous. This new Dundee cake embodies all the exciting developments in the City."
Jim Houston, Director of Research and Innovation Services at the University said, "The success of this project is due to the baking skills of Alan Clark and his precision in manufacturing the flapjacks to the exacting standards required by the pharmaceutical sector. The University is in discussion with industry to take this technology into the market place and we are confident that the invention will be of real benefit in the clinic."
This technology was invented by Dr Wolfram Meier-Augenstein while he was at the University of Dundee. The University has a patent pending on the technology.