A Camberwell-based woman, who found a way to track viruses early through sewage, has received £50,000 to carry on her work.
Claire Trant, who lives in Lambeth, Co-founder & CEO of Untap, has developed a device that detects viral infection rates within communities without the need for lateral flow testing.
The device uses PCR technology to test wastewater for viruses like COVID-19, influenza and Norovirus and can be used anywhere from schools to hospitals and workplaces for early detection.
“Since covid, which is what we started with, immunity rates are low and Southwark has had some bad cases of norovirus in particular,” Claire said.
Claire is one of fifty other women who have won Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation Awards – which is set up to award those who are developing novel solutions to major social, environmental and economic challenges.
Each winner will benefit from a £50,000 grant, one-to-one business coaching, and a suite of networking, role modelling, and training opportunities.
For Claire’s company, which is based in Camberwell, this money is funding their ‘biggest project yet.’
“The money we have received will fund two 3-month pilots in Southwark,” she said.
“The project will involve daily testing of collective sewage for flu and norovirus.
“We want to find care homes or offices in the area that have had high rates of flu and norovirus.”
She said surveilling sewage can act to show early warning signs for illness.
So what’s next for this venture?
“Our future is any virus. There’s a lot of fear when it comes to viruses out there. By showing people the early warning signs for viruses, we can either reassure people they have no virus or catch it early – which we hope will put people’s minds at ease,” Claire explained.
She added that finding viruses early could also lead to smarter ways of preventing outbreaks.
As well as calling out for people to take part in the upcoming study – set to take place in June, Claire said they are always keen to recruit women – “there is a lack of women in the field,” she said.
“I’ve been working with women in STEM for a long time. The bottom line is: sewage tech is not sexy. But it’s so important. We’re really trying to recruit women.”
The flagship Women in Innovation Awards is a key part of Innovate UK’s commitment to boosting the number of women entrepreneurs.
Now in its sixth year, the competition drew a record number of 920 applications from women business leaders, 10% up from last year, reflecting the growing number of women-led businesses in the UK (according to the Rose Review Progress Report 2023, 20% of all UK businesses are now led by all-women teams).
Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation programme continues to support high-potential women business leaders from diverse backgrounds. With a passion to support underrepresented innovation talent, 22% of the winners are Black, Asian, or from another ethnic minority group and 12% have identified as disabled.
Indro Mukerjee, CEO of Innovate UK, said, “The Innovate UK Women in Innovation programme is an important part of our many activities to make a real difference to the talent and skills pipeline for UK business innovation by inspiring, involving and investing in greater diversity. I warmly congratulate all the Women in Innovation Award winners and look forward to keeping in touch as they progress.”
Details on all 50 women innovators can be found here.
If you’re an aspiring woman innovator, check out how Innovate UK could support you here.
To find out more about Untap click here.