GLASGOW scientists are bidding for a £1 million grant to develop a method of tackling a deadly flesh-eating bug that affects 12 million people across the world.

Physicist Dr Gail McConnell and immunologist Dr Owain Millington, colleagues at Strathclyde University’s Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, believe the cash would enable them to produce a new type of vaccination device that attacks the leishmania parasite using beams of light instead of drugs.

Initial research, funded by a £65,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has proved successful in attacking the parasite that was named in 1903 after the Scottish pathologist William Boog Leishman.

Leishmaniasis, which is found in 88 countries, has so far defied conventional treatments. In its worst form, the disease – transmitted by the bite of an infected sand fly – ravages internal organs such as the liver and spleen, and causes skin ulcers and lesions.

Dr McConnell, an expert in biophotonics who has helped build a range of cutting-edge microscopes for the institute, teamed up with Dr Millington – a researcher in leishmaniasis – with the aim of developing an “optical vaccination” technique using the laboratory’s CARS microscope.

The device uses chemically-sensitive laser beams to pick up particular types of molecule present in a cell, enabling the scientists to distinguish the parasite’s “unique chemical signature”. They can then tailor the light wavelengths to target the parasites’ cells but not the human cells.

The pair have spent the past 18 months honing the technique to locate the microscopic parasites within petri dishes and then use the laser to immobilise them and disrupt their immune function.

Experiments have so far proved successful in demonstrating the technique’s feasibility. Now Dr McConnell and Dr Millington are on the verge of applying for a grant to advance their research into the creation of a practical optical vaccination device.

Dr McConnell estimates they would need around £1m for this stage.

She said: “Phase two would be trying to push towards a more practical device that can go into the field. At the moment, what we have is far from portable.”

Dr McConnell hopes that, once successfully created, the device could also be adapted to treat other illnesses.