Aberdeen University puts its intellectual property on show

Licensing opportunities

Aberdeen University put its technology on display last week in an intellectual property open day.

Among the products on show was a device for controlling the buoyancy of underwater vehicles, designed at the university’s Oceanlab. The unit enables subsea equipment to be used more efficiently and increases the time available for useful work.

Also on offer was a robotic arm for use in assessing children with a wide range of developmental conditions including autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, general learning disability and developmental coordination disorder. Mark Mon-Williams from the School of Psychology says, “No reliable assessment tool currently exists for these conditions. Our tool is highly portable, economic to produce and its application requires only minimal training.”

Another group at the university is developing a targeted drug delivery system for protein and small molecule drugs based on a semi-synthetic version of a compound first discovered in the Mediterranean sea sponge.

Chemistry professor Marcel Jaspars, “The potential applications of this delivery tool could be far reaching with impact on gene therapy, protein therapeutics and small molecule drugs.”

Another group in the Department of Chemistry is developing a solar-powered water purification system, which generates electricity. Donald Macphee says, “The water industry must move towards more efficient and sustainable processes for treatment of organic pollutants from industrial processes and agricultural activities. We have developed a novel solar-powered water purification technology that into be integrated into the final polishing stage of the water treatment cycle. The Photo- Electrocatalytic Fuel Cell degrades highly persistent organic pollutants and generates small electric currents.”

Meanwhile, scientists at the School of Biological Sciences are developing a natural mosquito and midge repellent. Project leader Jenny Mordue says, “Mosquitoes and midges bite some people more than others, but why? We have discovered that people who are not bitten produce more of certain key chemicals from their skin. Our aim is to discover whether such natural host-masking chemicals can be used as human-derived repellents.”