News
A Queen’s University Belfast team which is developing a range of novel medical diagnostic tests has been named the overall winner of the 25k Awards 2013.
In addition to being named overall winner Queen’s also won three out of the four individual categories on the night.
The prestigious annual 25k awards, which are sponsored by Bank of Ireland, are made under the NISP CONNECT entrepreneurship programme, which is based at the Northern Ireland Science Park in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter.
The Queen’s University team, ProAx-SiS, won the overall 25k award for the development of their test which will enable routine monitoring of patients with chronic conditions such as cystic fibrosis, either within the clinic or at home.
ProAx-SiS has developed small molecule, peptide-based inhibitors (Protease-Tags), which serve both as a means to trap active proteases and to provide a visual readout of their presence in biological samples, with applications to protease biomarker identification.
Category winners in the Bank of Ireland UK sponsored 25k Awards, were:
- Bio Tech: ProAx-SiS, Queen’s University, sponsored by Warner Chilcott.
- Clean Tech: ADFerTech, Queen’s University, sponsored by Dow.
- Software & Digital Media: Liopa, Queen’s University, sponsored by Intel.
- Hi-Tech: Eye-C-3D, University of Ulster, sponsored by IBM.
The awards, were presented last night at a packed VIP gala ceremony in the iconic Titanic Belfast building, next to Northern Ireland Science Park in the city’s Titanic Quarter.
Scott Rutherford, Director of Research and Enterprise at Queen’s University Belfast, said: “We work closely with our partners in the region, including the NISP Connect team, to support the commercialisation of our world-leading research and to deliver impact within Northern Ireland and beyond. Once again, I am delighted with the number of teams from Queen’s who secured places in the 2013 finals and to have secured our third winner in a row at these prestigious awards. It illustrates clearly that Queen’s has huge breadth and depth in its research base and I offer my warm congratulations to the ProAx-SiS team in securing the top honours”.
Steve Orr, Director of NISP CONNECT, said: “Congratulations to ProAx-SiS for an innovation which shows great commercial potential - this is an exciting time for the team, and for all the category winners and finalists.
“The £25k Awards offer a showcase for regional research talent to display world-class innovations, as well as providing a valuable training and development process as they move beyond the initial stages of business development.
“NISP CONNECT programmes are designed to inspire, encourage and nurture local technology entrepreneurs during conception, growth and improvement stages, and to continue that process to help them reach their goals.”
Ciaran McGivern, Head of Business Banking Northern Ireland, Bank of Ireland UK, added: “Developing innovative ideas that have market potential is at the core of Northern Ireland’s mission to create a more vibrant private sector.
“If we are to make this mission a reality we not only need academia and industry to collaborate but we need commerciality to be part of the equation - to ensure that ideas with real potential can be developed into success stories.
“Bank of Ireland UK is proud and delighted to support the NISP Connect 25k Awards again this year. We wish this year’s winner, ProAx-sis and all the finalists every success in the future and look forward to working with them all closely.”
Other finalists in the 25k Award included: Jenarron Therapeutics (University of Ulster); Digitease (University of Ulster), Inkintelligent (Queen’s University), Columbus (Queen’s University), Xpress LF (Queen’s University), Nite Rider (University of Ulster).
Media inquiries to Claire O’Callaghan, Queen’s Communications Office. Tel: +44 (0)28 9097 5391 or email c.ocallaghan@qub.ac.uk
