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UCL’s Accelerate Team Challenge 2025 winners announced
26 June 2025
UCL’s ACCELERATE Team Challenge 2025 celebrates four bold innovations addressing real-world health challenges, empowering researchers to turn ideas into impact through expert training, funding and mentorship.
UCL’s ACCELERATE Team Challenge has once again proven to be a launchpad for innovation, with four interdisciplinary teams presenting bold, early-stage solutions to pressing healthcare challenges.
Part of UCL’s ACCELERATE translational research training portfolio, the programme offers participants practical training in healthcare innovation, pitching and grant writing. Teams benefit from expert mentorship, peer support and the opportunity to secure up to £5,000 in seed funding to develop their ideas.
Delivered by UCL’s Academic Careers Office (ACO) and supported by the Translational Research Office (TRO) and Therapeutic Innovation Networks (TINs), the Challenge empowers early-career researchers to translate ideas into real-world impact. Across four cohorts, the programme has awarded a total of over £80,000/almost £90,000 to support innovative translational research.
“The essence of the programme is to nurture both the product and talent pipelines to foster healthcare innovation,” said Dr Carmel Reilly, Head of Business and Innovation at the TRO. “It’s been fascinating to see these projects develop with the understanding of investor mindsets and a focus on solving real-world problems. Each team is addressing something meaningful. The skills and insights they’ve gained will undoubtedly open doors to future opportunities.”
The Challenge culminated in a final pitch event, where teams competed for £5,000 in seed funding. Following a rigorous selection process, Team SonoMentor was awarded the top prize for their outstanding innovation, clarity of vision and potential for real-world impact.
Meet the 2025 winner and finalists (in no particular order):
SonoMentor
An AI-powered assistant guiding clinicians during transvaginal ultrasound to improve diagnostic accuracy in women’s health.
Team members: Dr. Jiaqi Zhu (Faculty of Engineering, Department of Medical Physics & Biomedical Engineering ), Dr. Lakshya Sharma (Royal Free Hospital)
StrongBone
OsteoSense™, a novel enzyme activity test for early osteoporosis detection, combined with machine learning for personalised bone health insights to reduce fracture risk and incidence.
Team members: Dr Joanne Ng (Faculty of Brain Sciences, Institute of Neurology), Adrianna Radu (Faculty of Medical Sciences, Division of Surgery & Interventional Sciences), Dr Amy Li (Faculty of Medical Sciences, Division of Surgery & Interventional Sciences)
DermaSense by Healigent
An integrated wound care solution combining a bioactive scaffold, biosensor, and app to monitor infection and accelerate healing.
Team members: Gayatri Ranjan (Faculty of Medical Sciences, Division of Surgery & Interventional Sciences), Emmeline Brown (Faculty of Medical Sciences, Department of Imaging), Mingyu Zhou (Faculty of Mathematical & Physical Sciences, Department of Chemistry), Ye Chan Oh (Faculty of Life Sciences, School of Pharmacy)
Meddility
A predictive model using blood biomarkers to detect depression relapse early, helping clinicians prioritise care and reduce NHS strain.
Team members: Dr Joanna Bartkiewicz (Faculty of Brain Sciences, Institute of Neurology), Stefania Pirosca (Faculty of Population Health Sciences, GOS Institute of Child Health), Gabrielle Grey (Faculty of Brain Sciences, Division of Psychology & Language Sciences)
At the award ceremony, panellists and the training manager reflected on the high calibre of the cohort.
“It was a very challenging decision,” said Warrick Harniess, Facilitator: “It came down to the scope of the projects and how well teams communicated their ideas. The quality was so high that having just one winner felt almost unfair.”
Dr Mario Moustras, Facilitator and Chartered Scientist and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, added: “It’s great to see these projects continue in some form. All the ideas are early stage, but they’re worth pursuing. The goal is to support participants to keep going.”
Nasema Uddin, Translational Training Manager: ‘’The quality of projects produced from the Team Challenge training programme over the four cohorts have been outstanding, each iteration of the programme has yielded excellent innovative concepts. This year’s winners SonoMentor, excelled in presenting their innovative idea and product viability’.
About the Programme
The ACCELERATE Innovation Team Challenge is an annual thirteen-week training initiative delivered by UCL’s Academic Careers Office (ACO) and supported by UCL’s Translational Research Office (TRO). The programme encourages interdisciplinary collaboration and helps UCL’s biomedical research community build skills in translational research. The programme is open to healthcare researchers from across UCL and its three Biomedical Research Centres, starting from first-year postdoctoral level.
Enquiries
For ACCELERATE training:
Nasema Uddin, Translational Training Manager, Academic Careers Office
nasema.uddin@ucl.ac.uk
For Therapeutic Innovation Networks and translational research support:
tins@ucl.ac.uk
Photos 1a to d:
Dr Carmel Reilly (2nd left), Dr Mario Moustras (1st left), Nasema Uddin (2nd right), and Warrick Harniess (1st right) presented certificates to the teams for completing the ACCELERATE Innovation Team Challenge.
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