Cambridge Nucleomics addresses UK Parliament on the future of sepsis diagnostics and UK deep tech innovation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WESTMINSTER, UK. Cambridge Nucleomics, a University of Cambridge spinout pioneering fast molecular diagnostics for actionable insights, today presented evidence to the UK Parliament’s Science, Innovation and Technology Committee. The company highlighted the urgent need for breakthrough sepsis diagnostics and called for modernised regulatory frameworks to ensure the UK remains a global leader in the life sciences.
Sepsis is a health emergency responsible for one in five deaths worldwide and claiming 50,000 lives annually in the UK alone, costing the NHS an estimated £2 bn and wider UK £11 bn annually. Survival rates drop sharply with every hour of delay, from 80 % to 25 % after 12 hours. Yet, current diagnostic tests take days leaving doctors scrambling for answers.
To solve this, Cambridge Nucleomics is developing a fully automated, desktop-sized diagnostic device capable of detecting and identifying pathogens directly from whole blood in under one hour.
The underlying innovation: modular soluble nanoarray (MSN) platform technology
Incumbents rely on legacy technologies like culture and sequencing, which require slow, complex chemical workflows. Cambridge Nucleomics' proprietary MSN platform bypasses these bottlenecks. Instead of enzymatic amplification, MSN uses nanotechnology to hybridise molecular detection probes to directly bind target pathogen RNA and DNA.
Sepsis testing is like a searching a needle in a haystack where human material outnumbers pathogens a billion to one. Like a highly specific “molecular magnet”, MSN searches through complex RNA samples to count target molecules with single-molecule accuracy. This fundamental shift from chemical reactions to physical interaction reduces detection times from days to minutes.
Advocating for the UK science ecosystem
Addressing the Committee, Cambridge Nucleomics CEO Dr Hendrik Runge emphasised that while the UK and particularly Cambridge is a world-leading hub for scientific discovery and innovation, structural hurdles remain and delay technology adoption. Translation into societal, health and commercial impact requires competing in a global war for capital and talent.
The company urged Parliament to streamline bureaucratic friction, particularly heavy administrative overhead to access clinical samples while preserving safety and donor dignity; and friction to access capital under the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) under real-world circumstances to fully unlock domestic and overseas capital.
Find the live stream here.
About Cambridge Nucleomics
Cambridge Nucleomics is a diagnostics start-up spun out of the University of Cambridge founded on over a decade of world-leading nanotechnology research at the Cavendish Laboratory. The company is developing ultra-fast, highly sensitive molecular diagnostics in infectious disease and oncology to improve treatment selection and patient outcomes. They developed proprietary single-molecule RNA detection nanoarrays to identify pathogens causing sepsis directly from blood in one hour. The future pipeline includes genetic antimicrobial resistance testing and cancer detection/staging. They have raised £700,000 to date funding their technology validation and rapid advance toward commercialisation. For more information, please visit cambridge-nucleomics.com or contact info@cambridge-nucleomics.com.
