Quick DNA test wins EPO inventor's award

Toumazou, whose latest venture, a DNA-based personalised skincare manufacturer, is set to open in London next month, was chosen ahead of the inventors of implantable fuel cells which generate electricity from blood glucose and a technique to ‘switch off’ faulty genes to treat diseases.

Toumazou’s technique uses solid state electronics to subject tiny samples of DNA from a tissue sample to a sequence of tests which reveal the sequence of nuceotides – the organic molecules which link the two strands of DNA – in the sample. The test takes about 20 minutes, costs very little, requires very small quantities of chemicals and provides easily-interpretable results. One important application for the technique is to determine how well an individual patient would respond to particular drugs, allowing doctors to devise treatment regimens with the best chance of working.

Toumazou left school with no qualifications, but gained a degree in electrical engineering and focused on developing low-power microchips for mobile phone, being made a full professor at Imperial at the age of 33. Spurred on by his son’s diagnosis with a genetic kidney disease, he then started combining electronics with biochemistry to develop technologies for early diagnosis and effective monitoring of chronic diseases.