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Published: 31 January 2019
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Data Scientists from University of Southampton will contribute to the CLEOPATRA project alongside scientists from across Europe.

Researchers from the University of Southampton will help train AI algorithms to extract meaning from text in different languages as part of a multimillion pound project uniting scientists across Europe.

Data scientists from Southampton’s School of Electronics and Computer Science will scale crowdsourcing techniques that feed novel natural language processing models as part of the Cross-lingual Event-centric Open Analytics Research Academy (CLEOPATRA).

The four-year CLEOPATRA project, part of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, will develop frameworks and tools that explore massive digital coverage generated by the intense disruption in the continent over the past decade – including appalling terrorist incidents and the dramatic movement of refugees and economic migrants.

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network is funding 15 early-career researchers across eight European universities and research institutes to develop advanced techniques for cross-lingual processing of text and other media, which will be showcased in applications such as digital humanities. A particular focus will be on the user experience of the solutions, proposing concepts and guidelines to improve accessibility and interaction with multi-lingual resources.

Southampton researchers will contribute to the network by proposing crowdsourcing approaches that use the wisdom of crowds to produce the data needed to train and validate the AI algorithms in a scalable, ethical and fair way.

Professor Elena Simperl, Southampton’s CLEOPATRA lead, explains: “Text processing questions can increasingly be automated through the latest AI methods, but all algorithms need to be trained. Crowdsourcing techniques can deliver examples that these algorithms can learn from, but the challenge arises when scaling the process to manage thousands of people in parallel while still producing outcomes that provide additionality. Our researchers will be investigating how to plan and manage this process.â€?

Advances in the collaborative research will deliver an important step toward augmented intelligence systems that can understand, summarise and translate vast quantities of text. The CLEOPATRA project is led by the L3S Research Center at the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität in Hannover, Germany, and also includes researchers from the University of London, the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität and German National Library of Science and Technology in Germany, the Institut Jozef Stefan in Slovenia, the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands and University of Zagreb in Croatia.

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Published: 30 January 2019
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Centre for Health Technologies co-directors Dr Adriane Chapman and Prof. Neil White with Prof. Peter Smith, Director of the Institute of Life Sciences, at the FortisNet event

Academics and health professionals are uniting to solve challenging clinical problems through a new Centre for Health Technologies (CHT) at the University of Southampton.

The multidisciplinary centre, based in the School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS), will enable new collaborations that inspire healthcare, wellbeing and rehabilitation technologies.

Researchers formally launched the CHT on Thursday at the third annual meeting of the Institute for Life Sciences’ (IfLS) FortisNet hub.

Dr Adriane Chapman, CHT co-director, says: “ECS has a strong track record of major achievements in health-related projects and continues to host a number of research grants in this domain. This research requires an active partnership with health practitioners who can assess the problem statement and solution evaluation, but this currently rests on individual relationships and navigating complex organisation structures.

“The new CHT will help overcome these hurdles and spark new innovative and pioneering research that will make a difference to people’s lives. I look forward to working closely with health practitioners, industry professionals and policy makers to address national and global challenges.â€?

The CHT is addressing four Centre Themes of optimising treatment and behaviours, novel medical devices and systems, community health and wellness, and AI and health. It is co-directed by Age and Professor Neil White, with support from an advisory committee that includes expertise from senior practising clinicians and staff from the IfLS and faculties of Medicine and Health Sciences.

In 2019, the Centre plans to create a first health-based project that draws upon several ECS research strengths, prepare for student-led Group Design Projects that explore initial relationships and host a joint event with ECS’s Centre for Machine Intelligence.

The CHT draws together researchers involved in health-based research from the Agents, Interaction and Complexity; Biomedical Electronics; Cyber Security; Smart Electronic Materials and Systems; Sustainable Electronic Technologies; Vision, Learning and Control; and Web and Internet Science groups.

Current collaborative research projects within the groups include Wearable Movement Sensor Development for Rehabilitation Technologies and Personalised Long-Term Follow-up of Cochlear Implant Patients Using Remote Care.

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Published: 28 January 2019
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VivoPlex, a spinout company from University of Southampton, have raised £3m to advance a biosensor to help couples with fertility problems.

Interdisciplinary researchers from Electronics and Computer Science (ECS), the Institute for Life Sciences (IfLS), and Medicine are celebrating a £3m fundraising round by University of Southampton spin-out company Vivoplex. The funding will be used to advance a biosensor to help couples with fertility problems.

Vivoplex Group Ltd was set up in 2015 to continue development of the small, implantable, batteryless sensor that can help understand and improve fertility.

The financing round was led by existing investors with support from some new high net worth individuals and family offices. The proceeds will be used in the clinical development of the VivoPlex product, CE marking and development of a finalised production-ready device.

Vivoplex, a leader in real time and accurate intra-uterine monitoring, has also announced the appointment of experienced life sciences executive Joanna Smart as the company’s new CEO. Joanna, formerly the company’s COO, will lead the organisation as it takes its intra-uterine monitor through the next stages of product, clinical and regulatory development.

VivoPlex’s product is a wireless, battery-free sensor that monitors three influential factors in the uterine environment - pH, temperature and oxygen level - for the optimisation of fertility treatment and uterine health. It is the first insertable wireless device (no bigger than an intra-uterine device or coil) for the measurement of these parameters in vivo, and is expected to have a significant impact on low IVF success rates which currently stand at 25-30%. A wearable, in the form of washable, discreet briefs, provides wireless power to the device and transmits data to proprietary software for use by the fertility specialist. It has generated positive results in early studies, and has potential in a range of other applications.

The company brings together a multidisciplinary team of clinical fertility experts and world-class biosensor and digital technology engineers - led by the University’s Professor Hywel Morgan (Deputy Director of the IfLS and a Professor of Bioelectronics in ECS), and Professor Ying Cheong (Professor of Reproductive Medicine) - with experienced corporate and business development executives.

A future 30-patient clinical pilot study is being supported by the UK NIHR’s i4i Programme through funding to the University of Southampton in a joint project with VivoPlex.

Joanna Smart has worked with VivoPlex since 2016 and has played a key role in operational, product and corporate development. She has over 15 years’ experience in the healthcare sector in Europe and the US, at investment bank Nomura International and with senior business development roles at US biotechnology companies Onyx Pharmaceuticals and Chiron Corporation. Joanna has also worked with several companies as an independent consultant.

Dr Chris Dickson, Chairman of VivoPlex, said: “VivoPlex is pleased to have closed its Series A, which provides the funding to take our innovative intra-uterine monitor through its important next stages of development. I’d like to thank existing and new investors for their support and look forward to working with them as we take the company forward.

“Joanna has played a significant role in the evolution of VivoPlex and its intra-uterine monitor to this stage. Her background and experience make her the ideal leader of VivoPlex as it grows and develops, and I am pleased to welcome her to the CEO role.â€?

To find out more visit www.vivoplex.com

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Telephone:
+442380592792
Email:
jsw@orc.soton.ac.uk

 CEng, FIET, FInstP, FIEEE

Zepler Institute; Management Board, Deputy Head of School (Resources)

Zepler Institute; Chair of Cleanroom Operations Finance Subcommittee

Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences; Member of Infrastructure and Resources Committee

University of Southampton, TRAC Steering Group and Technician Commitment Steering Group

University of Southampton, Chair of Estates Programme Advisory Board, Medicine and Health Research Building

James S. Wilkinson joined the University of Southampton in 1985 and is Professor of Optoelectronics in Electronics & Computer Science, and in the Optoelectronics Research Centre of which he is a founder-member. He took his BSc and PhD, both in electronic engineering, from University College London in 1977 and 1985. He conducted research into optical fibre transmission systems at the GEC Hirst Research Centre, London, from 1977 – 1979, and into optical monitoring and control for haemodialysis procedures at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, between 1983 and 1985. His research focusses on optical materials and devices for sensing and telecommunications including integrated fluorescence multisensors, waveguide Raman biosensors and mid-IR waveguide spectroscopy for environmental monitoring and point-of-care medical diagnostics, and rare-earth-doped waveguide amplifiers and lasers. James is a Fellow of the IEEE, IET and the IoP, was a member of the Royal Society Working Group on the Detection and Decontamination of Chemical Weapons (2003/4) and has an h-index of 40. He was a cofounder of UoS spin-out Mesophotonics Ltd, which first commercialised Klarite SERS chips. James recently completed a €3M ERC Advanced Investigator Grant on “Wideband Integrated Photonics for Accessible Biomedical Diagnostics”, and is Co-I on a £6M Programme Grant on Silicon Photonics for Future Systems. From 2014-2018 he was Associate Dean, Planning and Strategy, for the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering.

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Integrated Photonics, Lasers, Point-of-Care Diagnostics, Materials and Devices for Lab-on-a-Chip and Optical Telecommunications. Specific interests in on-chip Raman spectroscopy for rapid detection of infectious diseases, mid-IR chips for cancer diagnostics, nonlinear interactions in high-k dielectric materials and thulium-doped waveguide lasers and amplifiers on silicon.

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Electromagnetism, Photonics, Optical Fibres, Integrated Photonics, Optical Materials

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Published: 22 January 2019
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Findings from the collaborative research has been published in Dalton Transactions.

Scientists at the University of Southampton have developed a molecular reagent for a highly functional chemical compound used in phase change memory units and thermoelectric generators.

The chemical reagent can deposit thin films of germanium telluride (GeTe) with high purity and good functional properties, making it attractive for future technological applications.

Findings from the collaborative research, which has included expertise from the Schools of Chemistry and Electronics and Computer Science (ECS), has been published in Dalton Transactions.

The scientists’ method devised a single source reagent containing both the germanium and tellurium atoms required for the target GeTe material, bypassing the conventional need for compatible substances for each element where the molar ratio can be more difficult to control.

“GeTe is a very useful material so we are pleased to have made this significant advance,â€? Research Fellow Dr Ruomeng Huang explains. “This provides us with the potential of applying these films into functional devices to produce better performance. Our next step will be to conduct thorough functional characterisation of the deposited GeTe thin films and benchmark them with the state-of-art performance.â€?

The GeTe compound is often used in the field of phase change memory, a non-volatile memory technique used in place of flash memory in electronic devices. It can also be found in thermoelectric generators, an energy harvesting technique that coverts waste heat into electricity.

The work continued a long-standing collaboration between the Functional Inorganic, Materials and Supramolecular Chemistry group, led by Professor Gill Reid, and the Sustainable Electronics Technologies group in ECS, led by Professor Kees De Groot.

Further to the current work on GeTe, the interdisciplinary team has developed a range of other functional semiconducting materials such as SnSe2, Bi2Te3, Sb2Te3 and jointly authored over 10 publications in international journals.

Previous projects have demonstrated molecular reagents with unique behaviours during deposition, such as selectively growing materials onto specific areas on a patterned substrate. “These areas can be in dimensions from hundreds of micrometres to tens of nanometres,â€? Ruomeng explains. “This unique selective deposition behaviour will greatly simplify the fabrication process for any functional device and if a similar behaviour can be achieved using our GeTe reagent it will represent another important breakthrough.â€?

Several specialist research facilities were used during this latest project including multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis. The substrates for the deposition were fabricated in the University’s state-of-art Southampton Nanofabrication Centre.

Scientists also collaborated with Dr Gavin Stenning and Dr Marek Jura from the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxford, operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).

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