Siloton's Dr Alasdair Price and Dr Euan Allen awarded 2023 Institute of Physics Clifford Paterson Medal

Dr Euan Allen (L) and Dr Alasdair Price (R), recipients of the 2023 Institute of Physics’ Clifford Paterson Medal.

The Clifford Paterson Medal, named after Sir Clifford Paterson, an English scientist and electrical engineer who rose to become director of the General Electric Company. He was also deeply involved in creating a national framework for science and engineering and served as president of the Institute of Physics from 1937 to 1939.

17 October 2023

Dr Alasdair Price and Dr Euan Allen from QTIC member Siloton Limited have been awarded the 2023 Institute of Physics Clifford Paterson Medal, recognising “exceptional early-career contributions to the application of physics in an industrial or commercial context”.

Drs Price and Allen have received the award “for developing and commercialising a world-leading integrated photonics platform for optical coherence tomography, and designing a personal eye scanner around it to prevent sight loss from age-related macular degeneration”. This is the core technology upon which Siloton has been built.

Dr Alasdair Price said:

“Being awarded such a prestigious medal is real validation of the technology that we have developed and the potential that it has to improve people’s lives.”

Dr Euan Allen added:

“We are very happy to be recognised by the Institute of Physics and would like to give a big thank you to all the engineers, suppliers, and partners that we have worked with over the past 18 months to make this possible.”

Institute of Physics President, Professor Sir Keith Burnett FRS said:

“On behalf of the Institute of Physics, I want to congratulate all of this year’s award winners. Each one has made a significant and positive impact in their profession, whether as a researcher, teacher, industrialist, technician or apprentice and I hope they are incredibly proud of their achievements.

There is so much focus today on the opportunities generated by a career in physics and the potential our science has to transform our society and economy and I hope the stories of our winners will help to inspire future generations of scientists.”

The Institute of Physics (IOP) is the professional body and learned society for physics, and the leading body for practising physicists, in the UK and Ireland.

Its annual awards proudly reflect the wide variety of people, places, organisations and achievements that make physics such an exciting discipline.

The IOP Awards celebrate physicists at every stage of their career; from those just starting out through to physicists at the peak of their careers, and those with a distinguished career behind them.

They also recognise and celebrate companies which are successful in the application of physics and innovation, as well as employers who demonstrate their commitment and contribution to scientific and engineering apprenticeship schemes.

About Siloton

Siloton is developing an at-home monitoring service for the 25% of over 60’s with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of sight loss in the developed world. By combining a personal optical coherence tomography (OCT) system with cloud-based digital health tools, this will create a paradigm shift in the way patients are cared for, ensuring they receive treatment when they need it, not just when they happen to be able to access an OCT in the hospital.

The effects will be threefold. Patient wellbeing will improve, as they will retain their sight for longer, pressure on overstretched outpatient clinics will be alleviated, and the NHS will save half a billion pounds per annum, even if at-home monitoring is only made available to patients with late-stage AMD.

Siloton closed its first investment round in March 2022, raising c. £485k to fund the design, fabrication and testing of Akepa, as well as its integration into a binocular form factor. Siloton’s next round will soon be closing. Any interested parties still outstanding are invited to get in touch via investors@siloton.com.