MAPS 2023 Undergraduate (MSci) Innovation & Enterprise Competition Prize Winner Announced
31 August 2023
Many congratulations to Romain Lotthe and Andrei-Gabriel Pavel winners of the 2023 MAPS Faculty Undergraduate (MSci) Innovation and Enterprise Prize Competition.

Undergraduate (MSci) Innovation and Enterprise Prize Competition
The Undergraduate (MSci) Innovation and Enterprise prize was awarded to Romain Lotthe (UCL Chemistry) and Andrei-Gabriel Pavel (UCL Physics and Astronomy). Their projects were deemed to have an outstanding innovative aspect and a potential economic and societal impact. The competition aimed to motivate entrepreneurial spirit among the students.
Romain Lotthe - UCL Chemistry
"LIGHT-ACTIVATED ANTIBODY-ANTISENSE OLIGONUCLEOTIDES"
Romain's supervisor Dr Michael Booth said:
"I am absolutely delighted that Romain has won a MAPS Innovation and Enterprise Prize for his final year research project, which he carried out in my group. Romain’s project was on developing controllable antibody-oligonucleotide conjugates, which are fast becoming an important clinical avenue for the application of DNA/RNA therapies. These types of therapies have the potential to revolutionise medicine, through using the gene sequence to personalise medicine.
Romain’s dedication and input was crucial in seeing this project come to fruition. He is a technically gifted scientist and was able to lead this project as a collaboration with multiple other groups."
In his response to being awarded the prize, Romain stated:

Andrei-Gabriel Pavel - UCL Physics & Astronomy
"DESIGN OF A SMALL SATELLITE FOR UV SOLAR PHYSICS"
Andrei's supervisor Professor Giorgio Savini said:
"Supervising Andrei has been a pleasure and eye-opening. What was initially an academic goal in defining the scientific aspects and optimal components for a very small solar spectroscopy "shoebox" satellite (cubesat) became, with Andrei's initiative, an investigation in the combined design and its commercial optimization by analyzing the range of existing off the shelf components for each subsystem.
The Faculty Innovation and Entrepreneurship prize is a great way to highlight to students and faculty alike how some projects can be taken to another level through commercialization while enhancing the impact they can have in society."
In his response to being awarded the prize, Andrei stated:

Taking part in the MAPS Innovation and Enterprise Student Prize Competition was a highly rewarding experience for me, as it helped me think beyond the immediate aspects of my project and towards its potential impact on our society. It also gave me some ideas that I would like to pursue in the future. I strongly believe that space exploration is a vital area for our evolution and ultimately our survival, and making it more accessible is the natural way going forward."