University of Reading

Substantial world class research expertise in the areas of:

Cardiovascular and metabolic research
-    Obesity, insulin and cell signalling
-    Immune function, inflammation and atherogenesis
-    Thrombosis and haemostasis
-    Cardiac physiology, stem cells and repair
-    Diet composition and cardiovascular disease
-    Genetics and cardiovascular health
-    Vascular function and pathophysiology

Integrative neuroscience and neurodynamics:
-    Genetics, genomics and metabolomics of cognition and behaviour
-    Infant and child development
-    Diet, aging and cognition
-    Neural basis of social and affective function
-    Language development, bilingualism and language impairment
-    Neurodegenerative diseases
-    Visual perception and control of actions
-    Multimodal imaging
-    Analytic techniques and computational modelling

Infectious diseases
-    Infection & immunity
-    Bacterial biology: host pathogen interaction, iron haemostasis, and protein secretion
-    Virus and viral protein structure and function

Pharmacology and pharmacy
-    Therapeutic targets and mechanisms of action affecting synaptic transmission, the cardiovascular system and therapeutic use of stem cells
-    Medicinal chemistry: synthesis and analysis of a variety of drug classes including carbohydrate-based drugs, pro-drugs for melanoma, bivalent ligands for symmetric targets, novel metal based agents for cancer and malaria
-    Synthetic chemistry: natural product synthesis, discovery routes to bioactive molecules and organometallic compounds, clean synthesis via photochemical and catalytic processes.
-    Delivery and formulation: transdermal drug delivery, formulation of agents with poor water solubility, formulation of peptides genes and proteins, use of polymers hydrogels and dendrimers

Applied statistics
-    Population, evolutionary and statistical genetics: finding disease gene locations
-    Medical statistics, epidemiology and biostatistical modelling: design of trials, model fitting and model checking, methodology for sequential trials, techniques for meta-analysis, capture-recapture methods, mixture modelling and dose finding studies.

Telecare
-    Developing technologies to assist older people to live independently in their own homes
-    Telerobotics for stroke rehabilitation/ brain injury
-    Mobile technologies for patient support
-    Technology access for older adults and people with disabilities
-    Virtual reality for healthcare applications
-    Integration of support services into wearable devices, enabling fall detection, prevention and activity monitoring, environmental control, and location services both inside and outside of the home
-    Software engineering and distributed system design such as for the design of telecare systems across the home and clinic
 
Biocentre: genomic and post-genomic facilities and services
-    Protein production: microbial fermentation and downstream processing
-    Protein separation: 1D & 2D gel electrophoresis and imaging (DIGE), automated spot picking, liquid chromatography
-    Molecular mass determination: protein identification and profiling, small molecule characterisation
-    Molecular interaction: Biacore 3000 surface plasmon resonance
-    Transcriptomics: DNA analysis and microarrays
-    Protein purification: customised recombinant protein purification services
-    Protein structure biology: x-ray crystallography and structure modelling

Advanced microscopy:
-    Scanning electron microscopy
-    Scanning probe microscopy
-    Transmission electron microscopy
-    Raman microscopy
-    Infra-red microscopy
-    Visible light microscopy
-    Sample preparation laboratory
-    User training and workshops

Chemical & pharmaceutics analysis:
-    Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectrometry: 700MHz, 500MHz, and 400MHz
-    Thermal analysis: differential scanning calorimetry, thermo-gravimetric analysis, isothermal titration calorimetry
-    Molecular spectroscopy: Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Fourier transform Raman analysis, Fluorescence and UV spectrometers
-    X-ray analysis: small angle scattering and x-ray powder diffraction
-    Mass spectroscopy: isotope ratio mass spec and accurate mass-mass

Neuroscience
-    Siemens 3T whole body fMRI scanner and full range of coils
-    MRI-compatible EEG and EMG recording equipment
-    Full range of expertise in structural and functional imaging
-    Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
-    Eye-tracking

Human nutritional intervention study unit:
-    6 beds, 2 blood taking stations
-    Anthropometry including Tanita body composition
-    Blood pressure: standard and 24 hour ambulatory monitoring
-    Vascular reactivity monitoring
-    Dynamic and surrogate markers of insulin sensitivity
-    Cognitive performance tests
-    Biochemical responses to nutrients and diets
-    Food analysis and nutrient bioavailability

Drug formulation:
-    Small scale manufacturing: tablet press, granulator, spray dryer

Telecare:
-    Suite of virtual reality and data visualisation facilities (e.g. CAVE, head-mounted displays)
-    Robotic rehabilitation equipment
-    Novel human-machine interfaces including haptic devices and datagloves
-    Computer vision analysis systems
 
The University offers consultancy, technical services, and collaborative R&D across all areas of expertise and facilities.

The University has a range of accommodation facilities for early stage and developing companies in a flexible combinsation of incubator units and grow-on space.