Strathclyde University has been awarded £853,000 to host a bespoke nationwide facility for testing nanotechnologies for healthcare applications.

The Multiscale Metrology Suite (MMS) for Next-Generation Health Nanotechnologies will provide UK scientists with access to technology for the analysis of materials, supporting discovery of future diagnostics and therapies.

Enabling combined physical and chemical analysis of prototype technologies, the facility has received combined investment from Strathclyde and the EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) worth over £1.6m.

Analysis of nanotechnologies for healthcare applications is currently complex and challenging, requiring multiple technologies which often results in delays in the development of new medicines or failure of products at later clinical trial stages.

As a modular suite combining the latest in detection technologies in a single setup, the MMS aims to push existing limitations through enabling multiple analyses to be performed on the same sample.