AMD's Chief Scientific Officer wins prestigious Innovation Prize

A leading Surrey University academic and Chief Scientific Officer of Guildford based Advanced Material Development Ltd has been recognized at the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships Impact Awards at Manchester last week. At the event organised by the UKRI, the government’s public scientific funding body, Dr Izabela Jurewicz was announced winner of the Research and Innovation prize at the Future Leaders Fellowships Awards. These awards recognise the next wave of world-class leaders in academia and business.

This innovative work with her research team at the University of Surrey, on behalf of one of AMD’s global packaging customers, brings improvements to vaccine safety and a reduction of vaccine wastage by offering a novel solution inspired by nature. The products are small stickers that adhere to vaccine vials that change colour if the vaccine is exposed to excessive heat rendering it inactive or even toxic. Having presented the prototype at pharma shows and exhibitions, the innovation has attracted significant interest which is now driving the scale-up activities to increase the maturity of the technology on behalf of an AMD packaging customer.

Izabela said: “Our monitors make it possible to safely distribute vaccines across challenging and ever-growing global supply chains. This innovation has been developed with a view to saving vast wastage and more importantly lives due to wasted and inactive vaccines every year. Like many great inventions, this one is inspired by nature – peacock feathers and butterfly wings, to be precise. The UKRI FLF Impact Award is testament to the devotion of my FLF research team which has helped bring this innovation to fruition. It is a real honour to win this award, given the strength of the field. I am grateful to UKRI for seeing the potential in my research – and excited for it to change the world.”

The key Research Fellow on the work undertaken in Dr Jurewicz’s team at Surrey is Dr Thomas Waters. He adds: “Izabela’s innovation is driven by a clear market demand at a time when key healthcare players such as the World Health Organisation are actively looking for new solutions to improve vaccine supply chains. The development of these smart labels not only focuses on sustainability but also ensures that global populations are protected against inactive vaccines.”

AMD CEO John Lee said: “We are delighted that Izabela’s research is getting the recognition it deserves and we are excited about the opportunities to scale up this invention for the next stage with our leading packaging customer. Most importantly an award of this nature supports AMD’s stated purpose of solving real world problems with nanoscale solutions”.

Dr Jurewicz’s work with AMD at Surrey is focused on the vital UN Sustainable Development Goals 3 (good health and wellbeing) and 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure).

14-February-2024