PhD student Nathan Wu has been awarded first prize in the Industry Doctorate Poster Competition held by the Scottish Research Partnership in Engineering (SRPe) as part of their Annual Conference 2023.

The goal of Nathan’s PhD is to develop a new tool for helping clinicians to monitor how cancer patients are responding to treatment. His approach is based on the use of tiny devices made from biological molecules, which recognise ‘circulating tumour DNA’, as found in blood samples from cancer patients. The amount and type of circulating tumour DNA can provide valuable information on how the disease is progressing.

To date, Nathan’s results are promising, and further work is needed to lay the foundations for this method to be used at the point of care.

Nathan’s PhD is co-funded by SRPe and the Center for Innovation and Translational Research Europe (CITRE), a Bristol Myers Squibb company. His primary academic supervisor is Dr Katherine Dunn from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Engineering, and he is also supported by CITRE scientists Dr Ines Gonzalez Garcia and Dr Remco Loos, as well as second academic supervisor Dr Bin Zhi Qian of the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Reproductive Health.

The Industry Doctorate Poster Prize was presented at SRPe’s conference in Glasgow on 31st October. Nathan received a certificate and £300 of vouchers.

Nathan said, ‘I was delighted to find out that I was awarded first prize in the SRPe poster competition. It has been a pleasure working with everyone at Edinburgh and BMS and I’m grateful for the opportunity to work in this emerging field.’

Dr Katherine Dunn said, ‘Nathan’s PhD project is very exciting and I’m very proud that he has won the SRPe poster prize. It’s been a pleasure to work with him and the other members of the team on the development of this technology.’