OPPORTUNITY

With limitations in radio frequency spectrum and technologies increasingly representing a bottleneck for the expansion of wireless communication networks, OWC has attracted significant interest due to its potential advantages such as high data rate, and licence-free spectrum – both in terms of outdoor Free Space Optics (FSO) and indoor Visible Light Communication (VLC). The nature of OWC means that signals may vary significantly including to very low levels which would be below the threshold of conventional optical receivers (e.g. due to adverse weather conditions in FSO or blockage / dimming in VLC). There remains an unmet need for effective OWC receivers which can operate consistently across such an extended dynamic range.

TECHNOLOGY

Edinburgh researchers have developed a hybrid OWC receiver that is capable of transitioning from sensitivity levels of classical (e.g., thousand photons per bit) to near-quantum regimes (e.g., ten photons per bit). This is achieved by combining the capabilities of an array of single photon avalanche photodiodes (SPADs) and conventional photodetectors operating in linear mode (LPD), e.g., pin diode. Notably, the technology incorporates an approach to overcome the inherent operating gap that exists between SPAD array detectors and LPDs in high-speed applications, resulting in a system which provides reliable and smooth operation over a very large dynamic range of incident light intensity.

BENEFITS

• Hybrid sensitivity spanning large dynamic range
• Effective for high speed optical communication
• Continuous operation under low and variable signal levels

PUBLICATION

• Huang and M. Safari, “Hybrid SPAD/PD Receiver for Reliable Free-Space Optical Communication,” IEEE Open Journal of the Communications 10.1109/OJCOMS.2020.3023009.

Please note, the header image is purely illustrative.

Contact

Angus Stewart-Liddon
Edinburgh Innovations Ltd
The University of Edinburgh

+44 (0)131 650 9090
angus.stewart-liddon@ei.ed.ac.uk

OPPORTUNITY

Advances in reading, writing and editing DNA are helping to drive the synthetic biology industry. Beyond gene editing, CRISPR-Cas systems have been developed for targeted and programmable gene regulation. However, until now, the limitation of existing techniques in bacteria have prevented useful products to be made cost effectively and efficiently. This novel system is therefore a powerful and versatile synthetic biology tool for diverse research and industrial applications

TECHNOLOGY

Edinburgh researchers have designed, constructed and characterised a CRISPRa system based on a eukaryote-like activation mechanism in bacteria, which shows strong activity, superior dynamic range and good tolerance to a wide range of UAS locations (at least 40 bp).

The system allows a multi-gene expression profile screening platform engineering approach; only one pathway circuit needs to be constructed to generate multiple expression profiles, overcoming the bottle-neck of conventional library construction approaches.

BENEFITS

• Overcomes low dynamic ranges of activation output seen in existing CRISPRi and CRISPRa approaches to mediate gene regulation. Levels of gene activation >100-fold higher.
• System supports multi-input activation
• Device works in E.coli and other species of bacteria
• Device can activate multiple wild type σ⁵⁴-dependent promoters (P_pspA, P_hrpL, P_nifH and P_nifJ promoters)
• Tuneable gene expression; ability to scale the global expression level of all target genes proportionally by tuning the activator induction level
• Reusable metabolic pathway screening tool; multi-gene expression profile diversities stored on a universally applicable library.

PUBLICATION

• Engineered CRISPRa enables programmable eukaryote-like gene activation in bacteria. Liu et al, Nature Communications 2019, 10: 3693

Please note, the header image is purely illustrative. Source: Unsplash

Graphs: source

OPPORTUNITY

African Trypanosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by 2 subspecies Trypanosoma brucei gambiense  and Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense. It develops in 2 distinct stages with the 1st, body stage, resulting in cold-like symptoms and the 2nd, central nervous system stage, characterised by severe neurological symptoms. It is fatal if left untreated. It is most prevalent in economically disadvantaged rural communities in Africa which have little health infrastructure. Existing treatments are only available intravenously or are subspecies specific. Moreover, they often have severe side effects, long treatment duration, drug resistance and are expensive.  There is therefore an urgent need for new effective and easily administered drugs.

TECHNOLOGY

Phosphofructokinase (PFK) is an enzyme in the glycolytic pathway which converts fructose 6-monophosphate to fructose 1, 6-biphosphate on the cascade of converting glucose to pyruvate and ATP. Glycolysis is the sole source of ATP for the bloodstream form of the parasite and blocking it has been shown to kill the parasite much faster than any other drug mechanism. These compounds target the allosteric binding site on the parasite PFK which locks the enzyme in an inactive state. This allosteric pocket is unique to parasite PFK, therefore human phosphofructokinase is completely unaffected by the compounds minimising side effects. The drugs have been extensively characterised both in vitro and in vivo in terms of selectivity, potency and pharmacokinetics and show very favourable properties. Moreover, Trypanosoma brucei’s phosphofructokinase enzyme – compounds interaction have been very well studied by numerous crystal structures which would allow them to be easily modified to further improve properties.

BENEFITS

• Novel validated target, well characterised mechanism of action and excellent structure-activity relationship
• Compounds effective against both subspecies of the parasite and both stages of the disease
• Orally bioavailable and able to cross the blood brain barrier in favourable proportions
• Safe and effective in a mouse model with very short treatment duration (1-2 days)
• Very fast time to completely kill the parasite (minutes vs days for other drug classes)
• Can be used in combination with current medicines as they have a different mechanism of action

PUBLICATION

• ACS Med. Chem. Lett. 2014, 5, 12−17
• Biophys J 2015, 109, 1149-1156

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Source: image wiki-commons