The University of Sheffield

Overview:
The University of Sheffield is a world top-100 university renowned for the excellence, impact and distinctiveness of its research-led learning and teaching. The University’s outstanding performance for excellent teaching and research, as part of a genuinely global community, is consistently confirmed by international independent assessments.
The university takes its public and social responsibility seriously. It is committed to making the world a better place. This approach is embedded in everything they do, from partnerships with local and global organisations to their research and teaching.
Research:
The University of Sheffield has a global reputation for world-leading research that makes a difference. It influences policy, changes lives and helps in understanding the world so that we can make it better. The university has over 180 research institutes, centres and groups. They address challenges from finding a cure for motor neurone disease to building a sustainable economic recovery. The research institutes and centres at the university have been created to address global challenges facing society, today and in the future. They are often interdisciplinary, with external collaboration and funding, and have earned international recognition.
The world-class research being undertaken at the University of Sheffield generates a wealth of new knowledge, much of which has the potential for licensing to innovative organisations seeking to augment their current activities or diversify their operations.
Industry Partnerships:
The University of Sheffield is collaborating with partners in the private, public and third sectors to find real-world solutions to real-world problems.
The university partners with organisations large and small, believing that by working together, we can find novel solutions to real-world problems. In their experience, it leads to world-class research and commercial success to businesses around the world. Together, The University of Sheffield shares knowledge, facilities and industry insight to help influence cultural, social, economic and political change.

<h1 id="background">Background</h1>
Neuromuscular diseases can be difficult to diagnose. Electromyography (EMG) is an established technique used to investigate patients for neuromuscular conditions, including motor neurone disease and disorders of muscle (myopathies). It involves the placement of a needle electrode into muscle and the recording of electrical activity (arising from the depolarisation of muscle cells). 
However, in many, if not most, neuromuscular conditions, changes to muscle composition also occur. These might relate to changes in the amount of different muscle proteins and/or fat content, or the infiltration of other cell types into the muscle. EMG is essentially ‘blind’ to these changes. 
As a result, current diagnostic pathways may also include the analysis of muscle tissue obtained via a biopsy. This allows histological assessments and other complex assays to be performed on the tissue which can include structural, compositional and biochemical assessments. As a result muscle biopsy can often distinguish between different types of myopathy, however it is a more invasive procedure and is less widely available. The complex and specialised nature of the assessments means that it can take weeks and sometimes months for results to become available. This leads to poor patient experience and delayed diagnosis. There is therefore the need for improved techniques which can provide a rapid diagnosis of various nerve and muscle pathologies.
<h1 id="technology-overview">Technology Overview</h1>
Researchers at the University of Sheffield have been studying the potential of an optical spectroscopy technique called Raman spectroscopy as a means to obtain molecular information from muscle. They have developed an in vivo preclinical method which accurately identified both ‘neurogenic’ and ‘myopathic’ disease in mouse models (Plesia et al. ACS Chem Sci, 2021. 12(10:1768-1776). Different stages of muscle disease were accurately identified.
No detrimental post-recording effect was seen via sophisticated gait assessments, and high resolution (7T) MRI demonstrated only limited, resolving oedema. 
Subsequent human tissue studies have demonstrated the potential of the technique for the detection of different muscle diseases (Alix et al., J Raman Spectrosc. 2022. 53:172–181; Alix et al., Analyst 2022. 147(11):2533-2540). 
<h3 id="-stage-of-development-">Stage of Development</h3>
The research team have now developed a combined EMG/Raman needle, termed ‘Optical EMG’. This is capable of obtaining both EMG and Raman data during the same needle insertion. The Raman spectra are obtained in just 40 seconds with the potential for point-of-care results.
<h1 id="benefits">Benefits</h1>
<ul>
<li>Combines the benefits of EMG (multiple muscle testing, minimally invasive) with the benefits of muscle biopsy (molecular specificity).</li>
<li>Comprehensive, real-time, bedside assessment of muscle health across a range of neuromuscular conditions.</li>
<li>Ability to distinguish between different types of muscle and nerve pathologies.</li>
<li>Less invasive than traditional muscle biopsy.</li>
<li>Improved patient experience.</li>
<li>As encouraging preclinical research moves into clinical trials the technique can provide the same readout of disease state in both preclinical models and human patients (Alix et al., Muscle Nerve. 2022: 66(3): 362-369).</li>
</ul>
<h1 id="applications">Applications</h1>
<ul>
<li>Clinical care: diagnosis and monitoring the progression of neuromuscular conditions.</li>
<li>Clinical research: monitoring of disease state in neuromuscular conditions.</li>
<li>Preclinical: in vivo identification and monitoring of disease state in preclinical models of human neuromuscular diseases.</li>
</ul>
<h1 id="opportunity">Opportunity</h1>
The University is seeking industrial partners and investors to support the development and clinical testing of the technology. They are open to co-development via collaborative R&amp;D or out-licensing of the intellectual property.