Dr Michele Barbour (Bristol Dental School) and her company Pertinax Pharma Ltd are developing Pertinax™ - a patented, sustained release technology for the common antiseptic, chlorhexidine, for use in biomaterials, topical agents and coatings for medical devices. It protects against infection for longer and is less toxic to cells than traditional formulations, which dissipate faster and need more frequent applications.

Dr Massimo Antognozzi and Dr Charlotte Bermingham (School of Physics) have recently launched Vitamica Ltd to exploit their patented technology to rapidly detect antibiotic resistant and susceptible bacteria in patients' clinical samples. This will enable physicians to prescribe the correct antibiotic quickly, benefiting the patient and helping to curb the use of 'last resort' broad spectrum antibiotics and preserve those for when they are really needed.