From Side Project to Global Health Tool: How IAA Funding Catalysed a Non‑Invasive Blood Testing Device

This transformation from speculative idea to substantial programme was made possible in large part by University of Oxford’s EPSRC IAA funding, which provided early, higher‑risk support at a moment when few other funders were willing to take a chance on two early‑career researchers without an established track record.

Background: A Cross‑Disciplinary Collaboration

Winok Lapidaire is a neuroscientist by background, who moved into cardiovascular science and medicine around eight years ago when she joined the University of Oxford. Her work increasingly brought her into contact with clinicians and patients, while Elliot’s expertise lay in building advanced imaging devices and instrumentation in the Physics department.

Together, they began exploring whether it was possible to build a non‑invasive microvascular imaging tool capable of extracting meaningful clinical information from small blood vessels at or near the skin surface. Over time, as the technology and algorithms evolved, that imaging concept has begun to converge towards a non‑invasive blood testing tool – one that could, in principle, substitute for, or complement, some traditional blood tests.

At the outset, however, this was very much a side project. “We both were quite early‑career researchers… It was a bit of a side project until it turned into more.”

The project started just as the pandemic hit, disrupting labs and clinics. Yet, paradoxically, this timing also highlighted the importance of rapid, low‑burden diagnostics and helped sharpen the team’s long‑term vision.

It was during this time that Winok chose to participate in the EPSRC IAA-funded RisingWISE programme for Oxbridge women researchers in STEM, and this turned out to be quite a catalyst for the VITA project, as she explains: “RisingWISE helped me to get really clear on the next steps both for me personally and for the tool I was involved in developing. It provided a unique environment for us to reflect on current challenges and help one another to identify our goals and next steps.”

The Role of IAA Funding: Backing High‑Potential, High‑Risk Work

The first major turning point came with a round of IAA funding from EPSRC, awarded in 2021. A more recent follow‑on award in 2025 has allowed the team to continue refining and re‑focusing the device.

The funding opportunity came to the team via the Physics grants office, which was more closely attuned to EPSRC and IAA schemes than the typical routes used in the medical division. This cross‑departmental awareness was crucial: without it, the project might have struggled to find an obvious funding home.

From the team’s view, “the IAA had a higher tolerance for risk and uncertainty, and the way that it’s run at Oxford, the IAA was also able to fund their project despite the team’s lack of a long track record in this specific area.”

For early‑stage technical work that needs a first functional device, proof‑of‑concept data, and basic partnerships between technical and clinical teams, there is often a gap at the very beginning. Clinical funders typically expect clearer evidence and pathways, while traditional discovery science grants may not prioritise translational, device‑focused work.

IAA funding helped bridge exactly this gap. It supported building initial prototypes, testing devices in clinical contexts, and strengthening the collaboration between physics and medical sciences.

“As two early‑career researchers, we really struggled in the beginning to get people to believe that we could produce something of value... EPSRC IAA was willing to step in and provide this crucial early support.”

From Side Project to Core Programme

Winok notes that the IAA awards marked a shift from tentative experimentation to a serious, sustained programme of work.

“It was one of the funding pots that marked the transition from ‘oh, it’s just a side project’ to ‘this could actually work’. Now it’s all of Elliot’s time and over half my time.”

The team now operates with a much clearer sense of direction: The original microvascular imaging concept has evolved into a broader non‑invasive blood testing platform. The work now spans device development, clinical studies, algorithm development, and user engagement. The researchers have a far stronger basis for seeking larger grants and potential commercial partners, underpinned by real‑world data and stakeholder input.

Building Capacity: Jobs, Skills and Interdisciplinary Training

One immediate, tangible benefit of the funding has been job creation and skills development. The team has employed two research assistants on their grants, and hosted multiple interns, including medical students and other students undertaking research projects.

They brought together roles that blend technical and clinical expertise, by hiring clinically‑focused staff (e.g. with medical backgrounds) and supporting them to learn about devices and algorithms, and recruiting engineers to take on clinical study tasks while contributing to algorithm development. This bidirectional training not only benefits the individuals involved, but also creates a small but growing cadre of researchers comfortable working at the interface of engineering, medicine and global health – as their cornerstone to translate their technology into practice.

Designing for Global Health and Equity

From early on, the team made a deliberate choice not to optimise the device purely for high‑end, high‑income settings. Technically, they could have designed a complex, high‑performance imaging system that might be easier to validate in well‑resourced hospitals. Instead, they set strict design constraints to keep the device non‑invasive, simple to use, free from consumable cartridges and independent of cold storage, complex lab analysers, or advanced infrastructure.

“You could make this really complex, high‑quality imaging device that’s much easier to collect validation data for. But we’ve always been very keen to keep the key idea as simple as possible. We didn’t want something really niche that can only be used in tertiary hospitals in the UK and other Western countries.”

This simplicity opens up a wide range of potential global health applications, particularly in settings where access to standard blood tests is limited. The team has considered use cases including: Children with anaemia, pregnant women with anaemia or at risk of preeclampsia, who need to be triaged to appropriate levels of care. People living with sickle cell disease, where rapid identification of patients in crisis could be critical. Cardiovascular disease monitoring and triage, especially in resource‑constrained environments.

As Winok explains: “We want to reach as many people as possible – and the people who need it the most.” Balancing this equity‑driven mission with commercial viability is a live challenge. The team is clear that, for the device to reach global scale, it must make commercial sense. But they remain focused on ensuring that its core design and target indications do not drift exclusively towards a small number of high‑value diseases in well‑resourced markets.

Listening to Users: Engagement in Oxford and South Africa

To ensure they are designing the “right” device - not just a technically impressive one - the team has actively engaged with users and stakeholders.

Activities have included a field visit to South Africa, where they asked clinicians and potential users how they would use the device, and what features and constraints mattered most. Workshops in Oxford focused on paediatric care, bringing together clinicians, parents, and teenagers to discuss how such a device might be used, what would make it acceptable and useful, and what concerns families might have.

“For all of the different use cases, we’ve done some engagement with stakeholders or people it would be used on.”

Alongside common‑sense design choices (“don’t make the device too complex”), these engagements are helping the team to sanity‑check assumptions, prioritise features, and keep the project grounded in real‑world clinical and community needs.

Looking Ahead

The project is still in development, but the trajectory is clear: The team is working towards a clinically deployable non‑invasive blood testing device suitable for use in diverse settings, including those with limited infrastructure. The team continues to refine the technology, expand their data, and explore the regulatory and commercial pathways required for real‑world deployment.

Across this journey, IAA funding has played a pivotal catalytic role. It has enabled the early, high‑risk technical work that otherwise struggled to find support; it has transformed a side project into a central research programme; it has created jobs and interdisciplinary training opportunities; and it has ultimately underpinned the creation of a device with significant potential for global health impact.

“IAA awards were among the few sources of funding that believed two early‑career investigators could produce something of value - and that crucially, gave them the means to prove it.”