Professor Mathew Horrocks and Dr Doug Gibson have received funding from the Scottish Government to help support the process of turning their ground-breaking research into products and services. Proof of concept funding accelerates various aspects of the commercialisation process, from developing prototype products to undertaking market analysis and pitching to investors, working towards a spinout company or a licensed technology. Professor Mathew Horrocks’s project was awarded funding to develop a groundbreaking drug screening platform for Parkinson's disease. The technology enables high-throughput screening of compounds that target the small, soluble forms of misfolded proteins believed to drive neurodegeneration. Until now, these species have been impossible to measure at the scale required for drug discovery. The platform will also be adaptable to Alzheimer's disease, Motor Neuron Disease, and other protein-aggregation conditions. This funding allows us to take a technology that works in a specialised optics lab and prove it can operate at industrial scale. This will enable us to screen thousands of compounds per day, seeing if any of them can remove the species that cause damage in Parkinson’s disease. Professor Mathew Horrocks Group Leader at IRR and School of Chemistry A scientist at work in Professor Mathew Horrocks' lab at the IRR Dr Doug Gibson’s project was also funded that will develop a rapid diagnosic test of endometriosis using patient hormone profiling. This vital funding will allow us to further develop our approach to endometriosis diagnosis by finding out if the hormone signature we have identified can be consistently measured in samples from people with endometriosis at different ages. This will allow us to refine our test to ensure readiness for real-world application, providing a diagnostic solution that benefits a wider population. Dr Doug Gibson IRR Group Leader Commercialisation of research is a clear route to economic and social impact, turning ideas into products and services that help meet the world’s most pressing challenges. But it’s not quick or easy, and proof of concept is a vital part of the funding mix in the early stages, to help validate the technology and de-risk it for investors and partners who can then carry it forward, bringing benefits for all. Dr Andrea Taylor CEO of EI Related linksHorrocks research groupGibson research group Tags CIR CRH This article was published on Tuesday 6 October 2026
