Scots Boffin Invents Revolutionary Technique

By Alexander Lawrie

A SCOTS medical inventor has won a coveted national award – with a little help from a car battery bought from B&Q.

Dr Frank Prior was honoured at the 2008 Medical Futures Innovation Awards for his revolutionary invention which cleans surgical instruments.

The process known as ‘Electro-elution’ cleans and sterilises medical instruments of prion proteins which are highly resistant to normal cleaning, leading to most instruments being thrown away after use.

And Dr Prior’s new cleaning process could now mean a saving of thousands of pounds for the NHS.

The boffin is now in talks with a major medical manufacturer who want to distribute his process worldwide.

The outbreak of ‘mad cow disease’ in the 1990’s had highlighted the fact that certain proteins, namely prion proteins, can be highly infectious.

Medical research showed the prion proteins are highly resistant to the normal cleaning and sterilisation processes carried out today.

As a result, instruments used on a patient with an infection are routinely isolated and then carefully destroyed

Dr Prior, from Longniddry, East Lothian, was discussing the problem with two doctors from the Neuropathogenesis Unit at Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary when he remembered an incident while he was a young pharmacist at Guy’s Hospital in London.

A nurse had broken a mercury thermometer and the mercury had instantly micro-plated her gold wedding ring.

But Dr Prior worked out a method of removing the mercury and turning it back to gold.

He then realised if the mercury could ‘cold electroplate’, it might be possible for prion protein to do the same.

So, the freelance medical inventor and his colleague Bob Smith jumped into his car and headed straight to his nearest B&Q store.

He bought a 12-volt car battery, six foot of wire and other equipment and started to construct a reverse electrolysis unit.

The intrepid duo’s first experiment went badly when the blood turned into a charred black mass on the electrode.

Thinking the process would not work, they tried one more time but this time switched the wires around.

The next experiment saw the boffins conduct the fastest cleaning process they had ever seen, as the alcohol-fixed blood was blown off the medical instrument in around 45 seconds.

‘Electro-elution’ has now been developed into a working, full-sized prototype, the process has been patented and the Scots inventors are now in talks with a major, global manufacturer.

Dr Prior said: “It’s great to see an East Lothian person getting UK recognition. I’m just surprised it’s me.

“Electro-elution offers a method of rapidly, effectively and safely removing blood and ME7 prion protein from metal surgical instruments.

“Further testing needs to be done, but the results to date are looking positive.”

“Wacky” baker sends invention celebrity chefs

By Michael MacLeod

A SCOTTISH cake maker is hoping to mix it with millionaires with a “revolutionary” take on the wooden spoon – which he insists is NOT a spatula.

But Dragon’s Den won’t be seeing an appearance from “Spon” inventor Neal Robertson – he’s worried they’d laugh at him for being “too wacky.”

Instead, the 51-year-old Fife tearoom owner is sending his double-backed spoons to celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsay and Nigella Lawson in a bid for the baking big time.

“Proud as punch” with his creation, Neal said: “It took me 12 years of making cakes to come up with this – I’m just annoyed I didn’t think of it sooner.

“It’s heavier than a spatula, so it’s not a spatula, neither is it a spoon – it’s a Spon.

“Scotland gets enough wooden spoons in sport – I’m just doing something useful with them.”

Fed up scraping cake mix out of wooden spoons, Neal’s Eureka moment came two years ago.

The Spon has two flat sides, and as well as solving the problem of clogged up cake mixture, its inventor says produces a smoother mix resulting in lighter cakes.

Now he’s got it patented and manufactured in China, and has 18,000 to shift.

He said: “Cakes look and taste a million times more professional when you use a Spon.

“Now sieving flour is history – just chuck everything into the bowl at once and you can mix it all in one go.”

Ikea’s quirkily named products inspired the Spon’s name, and it’s already proven popular with customers.

He took his first delivery on Monday and already has 120 advance orders – most of which are for bulk batches of Spons, selling at £5 each.

So far his customers have mostly been “women’s rural types,” but the Tannochbrae Tearoom owner hopes to win over a younger market.

He added: “When you tell people they can cut down on washing up, they perk up.

“You can use it on anything from browning mince to porridge, soup and scrambled eggs, and none of it will get stuck in the spoon.”

Fame isn’t Neal’s game though, saying he’s happy to leave that to celebrity chefs.

“As long as they use my Spon I don’t care if I make a million from this or not.

“There was a while where I wondered if the idea was a bit too wacky and I thought Dragon’s Den guys would probably laugh at the idea.

“But now I think it’s a brilliant idea, because it could revolutionise the way we bake, cook and wash.

“I’ll send some to Nigella, Nick Nairn, Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver and see what happens.

“I’ll make my investment back with these orders, so anything else is a bonus.”