A fluorescent tattoo which would glow when an animal contracted foot and mouth disease has won two creative young Oxford scientists a place in the finals of a national competition.

The Biotechnology Young Entrepreneurs Scheme aims to raise awareness of the commercialisation of bioscience ideas.

Fluoromed, founded by anthropologist Tamasin Graham and Radha Nair, a student in Oxford University's zoology department, devised an imaginary virus-sensing tattoo, VirAlert.

The tattoo would give a diagnosis, using a handheld optical device.

Ms Nair said: "A diagnosis can be made in seconds, on the farm, abolishing the delay associated with sending samples away for lengthy laboratory tests."

A second idea -- a sunscreen which would change colour when someone has spent too long in the sun -- is the brainchild of Rakesh Khakhar, Caroline Jenkins, Kwok Lee, Steven Suchting and Hocine Mankouri.

As U Vision Peptides, all five are members of the department of molecular oncology at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

Mr Khakhar said: "We felt there was a gap in the market for a sunscreen that changes colour to tell you when to get out of the sun. "

Fluoromed and U Vision Peptides will compete with teams from York, Glasgow, and Rothamsted Research in the final in London on Monday, December 9.

U Vision Peptides, from the department of molecular oncology at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, was run by Rakesh Khakhar, Caroline Jenkins, Kwok Lee, Steven Suchting and Hocine Mankouri.

Mr Khakhar said: "We felt there was a gap in the market for a sunscreen that changes colour to tell you when to get out of the sun.

"At the moment people's only indicator is when they get burnt, when it is too late."

The Biotechnology Young Entrepreneurs Scheme was designed to raise awareness of the commercialisation of bioscience ideas.

A sunscreen which changes colour when people have been in the sun too long was another winning idea in the Biotechnology Young Entrepreneurs Scheme designed to raise awareness of the commercialisation of bioscience ideas.

Both the southern region finalists were from Oxford University, beating off competition from Cambridge, Oxford Brookes University, Reading, Warwick and King's College, London.

Each team drew up a business plan for an imaginary company, helped by leading figures in the biotech industry.

The tattoo company,

famous for teaching Betty the Crow to make a wire tool to find food.

They decided a rapid diagnosis was needed for foot and mouth disease before symptoms appear -- something which experts say could prevent future epidemics. Their imaginary virus-sensing tattoo, called VirAlert, would allow a virtually instant diagnosis using a handheld optical device.

Ms Nair said: "With VirAlert, a diagnosis can be made in seconds, directly on the farm, abolishing the delay associated with sending samples away for lengthy laboratory tests."

The other pretend company, U Vision Peptides, from the department of molecular oncology at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, was run by Rakesh Khakhar, Caroline Jenkins, Kwok Lee, Steven Suchting and Hocine Mankouri.

Mr Khakhar said: "We felt there was a gap in the market for a sunscreen that changes colour to tell you to get out of the sun.

"At the moment people's only indicator is when they get burnt, when it is too late."

Fluoromed and U Vision Peptides will now compete with teams from York, Glasgow, and Rothamsted Research in the final in London on December 9.