Dialysis innovation winners revealed

Three innovative projects focused on improving dialysis have triumphed in our MedTech competition this year.

The winners will receive £25,000 each in funding from Kidney Research UK. They are also enrolled into a bespoke academy programme designed to help research teams understand intellectual property and marketing, giving their products the best chance of reaching patients.

Researchers at Keele University and the University of Bristol will develop training and other resources to support decision making processes for patients who may struggle to do so independently. Meanwhile, a team at Queen Mary University will develop wearable technology designed to monitor the condition of patients’ fistulas (the access points made by surgeons to create a large, robust blood vessel to connect to the haemodialysis machine).

And Edinburgh based company Javelo Health will create new safety lines for children on dialysis to protect the connection between the blood vessels and the dialysis machine, preventing them from being dislodged.

Kirsty Frearson, dialysis programme manager at Kidney Research UK said: “The projects we have chosen to fund will be highly beneficial and help drive forward our mission to transform treatments for all kidney patients.”