
Birmingham firm secures £1 million to develop STI rapid test
Birmingham-based Linear Diagnostics has secured £1 million in funding to develop the technology, which could deliver results in less than 20 minutes.
The funding comes from the NIHR Invention for Innovation programme and will support a three-year project to finalise the test and prepare it for clinical trials.
Dr Jean-Louis Duprey, head of research and development at Linear Diagnostics, said: "We are developing a near patient device that will overcome this conundrum."
The company is working with the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre and the North East Innovation Lab to deliver the project.
Dr Jana Suklan, senior methodologist at the HRC, said: "The NIHR HRC in Diagnostic and Technology Evaluation is delighted to be collaborating with the North East Innovation Lab to support Linear Diagnostics with their exciting technology.
"Our research involves analysing unmet needs, examining current practice and identifying the most promising point in the patient pathway for implementing the technology."
The test uses Linear's Exponential Amplification (EXPAR) technology, which detects bacterial DNA within minutes.
The company has focused on STIs such as Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia trachomatis, where rapid diagnosis is essential to prevent further transmission and begin treatment immediately.
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The Independent
32 minutes ago
- The Independent
Exhibition of prehistoric Giants to make UK debut
An exhibition of giant prehistoric animals will make its UK debut this year. Giants, developed by the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and toured by Nomad Exhibitions, will open at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery on August 2. It will then move to the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh in January 2026. The exhibition focuses on creatures such as the woolly mammoth, which roamed the Earth after the extinction of the dinosaurs. Giants spans a period of 66 million years to the present day, and highlights the need to protect existing giant species such as elephants and whales. It features life-sized 3D models and nearly complete skeletons, including giant shark Otodus megalodon; the Mammuthus primigenius or woolly mammoth, which weighed between six and eight tonnes; and Gigantopithecus blacki, an Asian primate the size of three orangutans. Visitors of all ages are encouraged to step into the shoes of palaeontologists and biologists, using interactive resources and engaging with the scientific processes behind fossil discovery and reconstruction. Immersive projections recreate the natural habitats of previous giant species, providing context to their existence and extinction. The exhibition also warns of the threat of extinction posed to elephants, rhinoceroses and whales and the 'urgent need' to protect endangered species. The announcement coincides with World Environment Day on Thursday, which this year is focused on ending plastic pollution. Zak Mensah and Sara Wajid, co-chief executives of Birmingham Museums Trust, said: 'We are delighted to welcome the Giants exhibition to Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. 'This inspiring installation not only captures the imagination with its monumental scale but also delivers a vital message about sustainability and our shared responsibility to protect the planet. 'Birmingham Museums is committed to using storytelling to engage communities with the challenges of our time and Giants does exactly that in a powerful and accessible way.' Dr Nick Fraser, keeper of Natural Sciences at National Museums Scotland, said: 'We're really looking forward to bringing Giants to Scotland next year. 'Popular attention on prehistoric life tends to focus either on dinosaurs or on our own earliest human ancestors, which leaves a relatively neglected gap of around 60 million years of natural history. 'Giants is a striking invitation to us all to think about that period, to see how nature adapts over time, and also to reflect on the ways in which current human activity is denying that time to today's endangered giants.'


The Herald Scotland
5 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Former Kilmarnock player tackling jungles and deserts to help daughter
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'Ordinarily I would have never have done the events I've done. Subconsciously I think it also became a substitute for me for the loss of football as well. I played for 21 years and from the age of 22, I started to train every day as if I was contesting a World Cup final.' He retired from playing for St Mirren in 2006 and found coaching an unfulfilling experience. Managing two Subway stores in Coatbridge and Bellshill failed to fill the void left by professional football. In 2008 the credit crunch came along and swallowed up the profits. A neighbour flagged up a recruitment drive by Police Scotland and, after 15 years on the thin blue line, he accepted a role with a London-based charity supporting survivors of human trafficking. His work provides a constant reminder that everyone has their crosses to bear. 'Dionne was 11 months old and there was no sign of crawling or walking before she started refluxing and being sick 20 or 30 times a day,' he recalls of the period when he realised his daughter was ill. Regular visits to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow and Wishaw General failed to come up with a conclusive diagnosis. A breakthrough came, unexpectedly, during a family holiday in Florida when he googled neurologists and found one 30 minutes away. Costing £800, tests and blood samples came back showing that Dionne had a rare genetic neurological and developmental disorder which affects the way the brain develops. Primarily found in females Rett Syndrome causes a progressive loss of motor skills and language. Reverse Rett is a research organisation focussed on delivering treatment to sufferers. While they can do little for Dionne in the here and now, Reilly's quest for a future breakthrough has brought some startling and unexpected life experiences. 'Originally I started doing the events to raise awareness for the charity and for Dionne,' Reilly explains. 'But through that I discovered that I was getting something from it as well. 'You can never replace the adrenaline of playing on a Saturday, but the illness gave me a purpose and incentive to keep fit and healthy and switch from a team event to seeing how far I could push myself.' He began modestly with a Glasgow 10k in 2012 before moving on to the Three Peaks Challenge, spanning Ben Nevis, Scaffel Pike in the Lake District and Snowdon in Wales over the course of 24 hours. A formidable challenge to even the toughest of mortals, Reilly was convinced to go higher, harder. Read more: Malky Mackay on Hibs' £5m chance, training-ground plan and the Black Knights Stephen McGowan: Is Dermot Desmond absentee landlord or Celtic mastermind? Incorporating a 2.4-mile swim in open water, 112 miles on a bike, then a marathon, Iron Man events offered an immediate challenge. He couldn't swim and hadn't cycled since the age of 10. Signing up to a swimming club and purchasing an aluminium bike for £500, he completed two Iron Man events before setting his sights on the legendary Marathon des Sables, a 160-mile ultramarathon held every year in the Sahara Desert. 'There was a freak heatwave and the temperatures were almost 60 degrees centigrade every day,' he recalled. 'A French competitor died on day two and one of my tent mates suffered a cardiac arrest. He was dead for two minutes before they managed to bring him back.' Even a brutal test of endurance failed to tick off all the boxes on the bucket list to end them all. Last year he ran 230 kilometres through the Amazon Jungle in Peru and finished third. 'Prior to the year I did it, only 15 per cent of the competitors finished it,' Reilly explains. 'Day two we hit the jungle and day three was incredible. We went through a protected area where less than 50 westerners had ever ventured. 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Gathering dust in the attic, he gifted his Scottish Cup jersey and medal away to a diehard Kilmarnock fan and gave a Kaiserslautern jersey acquired after a UEFA Cup defeat in 1999 to a roofer working on his home. 'The experience and the memories sustain me more than souvenirs,' he explains. 'Going down John Finnie Street with the cup and seeing people happy is what I think of. 'Kilmarnock still ask me to do the in-house TV channel and the truth is that I barely know the players. I loved my career and gave it everything and I don't know if subconsciously this is just the way I cope with the loss of that, but I couldn't tell you the last live game I was at or the last 90 minutes I watched on TV. 'I love my boxing now and if you gave me the choice now of watching the Champions League final or a big title fight, I'd watch the boxing.' Mark Reilly will complete the Ultra Scotland race today (Saturday 7 June 2025). To support his fund-raising efforts for Rett Syndrome research visit


BBC News
6 hours ago
- BBC News
Birmingham prehistoric giants exhibition set for summer opening
An exhibition featuring life-sized 3D models and partial skeletons of giant prehistoric animals will open this developed by the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, will display animals that roamed the Earth after the extinction of the dinosaurs 66m years them will be the Otodus megalodon, known as the mightiest shark of all time, the woolly mammoth, and the Gigantopithecus blacki – an Asian primate the size of about three exhibition will open at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery on 2 August before travelling to the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh in January. Visitors will be able to learn about the processes behind palaeontology, including the methods around fossil discovery and said there would also be immersive projections to transport audiences the natural habitat of the colossal lifeforms. 'Inspiring installation' They said the exhibition served as a "poignant reminder of nature's fragility" and the urgent need to protect Mensah and Sara Wajid, co-chief executives of Birmingham Museums Trust, said the "inspiring installation" captured the imagination with its "monumental scale" and delivered a vital message about Nick Fraser, keeper of natural sciences at National Museums Scotland, said the exhibition helped to shine a light on creatures which existed in the "relatively neglected" period since the dinosaurs' extinction. Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.