On Thursday 27th February 2025, six members of the Applied Optics Group travelled to Sandwich, Kent for the University of Kent & Discovery Park 2nd Joint Innovation Showcase Event, held in Pfizer’s former R&D facilities, now home to numerous Life Science start-ups and business incubation services.
After presentations and panel discussions around in-house growing companies and University research achievements, Dr Mike Hughes – Senior Lecturer in the School of Physics and Astronomy and a member of the Applied Optics Group – gave an outstanding presentation on the innovative OCT development that stemmed from his holography research and hand-held low-cost imaging.
Julien Camard and Adrian Fernandez Uceda presented a poster about their work on developing OCT instruments for the assessment of cellular samples, which led to fruitful discussions with academic and industry participants during the poster session at lunchtime. Towards the end of the program, attendees participated in a speed-dating networking session where discussions centred around collaboration between academia and industry.
Prof. Adrian Podoleanu, Dr Manuel Marques, Adrián Uceda and Julien Camard then had the chance to visit the cell research facility led by Dr. Cornelia Wilson, collaborator on the current grant on imaging organoids with OCT.
Overall, the event was a great reminder, and for some a discovery, that such innovation and assistance for business development is available in such close proximity to the University!
