Spin Up Science team up with Kidney Research UK to improve the quality of life of patients on dialysis
We have teamed up with Kidney Research UK and In-PART for the second year running, this time to focus on innovative technologies to transform dialysis procedures.
In the UK, there are 30,000 people suffering from chronic kidney disease who rely on haemodialysis as their only treatment option to stay alive. Requiring multiple dialysis procedures per week, the treatment regimen is often described as gruelling, severely affecting patient quality of life with no other treatment options available. Hence, making the journey through dialysis treatment kinder on patients is a key focus area for Kidney Research UK.
The MedTech competition was designed to help researchers learn the necessary steps to get their products from concept to patients. Following the success of last year’s competition, we have come together with Kidney Research UK and In-PART to focus on transformative technologies for patients living on dialysis. The winning projects were awarded £30,000 funding, as well as place on our Academy programme.
The winning projects looked at training and resources to support the patient decision-making process in dialysis, a device to monitor blood flow of fistulas and Kidney Research UK’s first startup awardee, Javelo Health, developing a patient-worn device to improve the safety and comfort of bloodlines in haemodialysis.
Over the last few months, we have closely with the winners of the competition, supporting them to build their ideas into commercial propositions. Our Academy programme explored the business fundamentals, as well as developing practical knowledge of how to launch a company, covering subjects from how to build a founding team to raising investment, pulling in our network of founders, investors and professional services to deliver specialist workshops.
The Academy culminated in a final 5-day bootcamp in Manchester with immersive training on launching and leading a technology company, where the teams worked on a real life client company and gained first-hand experience in pitching to investors. It was a fantastic opportunity to get the teams together in-person and develop their newly learned skills in practise.
“It’s been a pleasure to work with such a fantastic organisation [Kidney Research UK] who put a strong emphasis on supporting the translation of world-class research into real benefits to patients. We’ve loved working with the MedTech academy winners and look forward to supporting future programmes to accelerate the development of these life-changing technologies”
Kidney Research UK are the leading kidney research charity in the UK who are on an urgent mission to end kidney disease. Kidney disease is on the rise, affecting three million people in the UK, where currently there is no cure and treatment can be gruelling. The purpose of Kidney Research UK is to find ways to prevent kidney disease, protect people from reaching kidney failure and transform current treatment options.
Find out more about the cutting edge research into kidney disease on the Kidney Research UK website.
To find out more about our Academy Programme and explore opportunities for collaboration, contact hello@spin-up.science.