Some of the UK’s brightest young scientists will be taking part in the Royal Society of Medicine’s Medical Innovations Summit on Saturday 5 July.

Eighteen-year old twin sisters Ameeta and Aneeta Kumar, winners of the UK Young Scientist of the Year competition, will describe their project to develop a diagnostic tool for identifying cancerous tumours at an early stage of development. Beating off competition from 4,000 other entries, the pair are now both considering a career in medicine.

Also in her teens, Amber McCleary will explain how the anti-bacterial and healing properties of the copper-infused pyjamas she and inventor Paula Ward produced last year quite possibly saved the life of a new mother who had acquired MRSA from a caesarean section wound. Amber will be presenting at the summit with consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist Mr Abdul Sultan who is leading a trial of the effectiveness of copper at Croydon University Hospital.

Also taking part in the day-long summit at the Royal Society of Medicine, will be Andy Puddicombe and Dr David Cox of Headspace, who will describe the latest version of their app which is leading the meditation and mindfulness revolution in the UK.

In all 12 innovations will be presented at the event, including the pioneering work being carried out in the UK by Heptares Therapeutics which discovers and develops new medicines targeting undruggable or challenging GPCRs (G protein-coupled receptors), a super-family of receptors linked to many human diseases. Billy Boyle, co-founder of Cambridge-based Owlstone, will talk about the work he and his colleagues are carrying out in developing technologies that analyse the breath or bodily fluids to detect disease. Ophthalmologist Dr Andrew Bastawrous, research fellow in international eye health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, will describe the PEEK smart-phone based system for comprehensive eye examinations in remote settings, which is currently being trialled in Kenya.

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