A project designed to boost healthcare standards throughout the county has landed a major award.

DIAGNOX, managed by Oxford Innovation, won the prestigious 2001 Biotechnology Exploitation Platform Challenge Award worth £4,000 from the Department of Trade and Industry.

The project was set up to exploit publicly-funded diagnostics research used to identify illnesses or disorders and make it commercially viable.

It supports all stages of technology transfer, from proof of principle during research through to development of a new company.

Membership is open to all those with an interest in the UK diagnostics sector such as researchers, new companies, service providers and professionals. Manager Lisa Mynheer said DIAGNOX will be working with the John Radcliffe Hospital NHS Trust, Oxford Brookes University and Oxford University's ISIS Innovation, which looks to turn research into business.