The transporting of organs for donation is a tricky business involving strict time frames and preservation methods as they wing their way to a recipient.
As a result, research is ongoing for ways that organs can be transported to patients in ways that are either faster or keep the organ in good condition for longer.
While Gooch & Housego PLC (LON:GHH), a firm mainly concerned with making lenses, may not be the first company that jumps to mind when thinking of organ transport research, its shares were lifted 7.2% higher this week to 1,275p after it inked a deal to help develop metra, a device that could change the way organs are transported.
Designed by a company called OrganOx, a spin-out from Oxford University, metra is designed to store and transport human livers while keeping them at body temperature and supplying the organ with oxygenated blood.
This is a departure from the traditional method, which normally involves keeping the organ in an ice-cold solution to help stop it from degrading, although this is often severely time limited when getting the organ from the donor and into a patient.
According to Gooch, metra could help “significantly reduce” the number of livers that are discarded due to the cold storage and a lack of oxygen during transport, and therefore potentially save more lives.
The system is already garnering attention on both sides of the Atlantic, having received marketing approval in Europe and is in late-stage clinical trials with patients in the US.
Overall the AIM All-Share had a decent week, rising 0.9% to 912.9, albeit underperforming the FTSE 100 which was up 1.7% to 7,225.
Among the risers, shares in Isle of Man mobile and internet group Manx Telecom PLC (LON:MANX) shot 16% higher to 215p after a takeover offer from investment firm Basalt Infrastructure Partners that valued the firm at around £256mln.
A contract win gave some buoyancy to water treatment group Modern Water PLC (LON:MWG), with shares rising 2% to 6.4p after it clinched a deal to supply a brine concentration plant to a chemical company.
It was a comeback story for IT services company IDE Group Holdings PLC (LON:IDE), which saw its shares jump 8% to 1.4p after predicting a sharply reduced loss for 2018 and a much-improved performance in 2019 as a result of severe cuts to its cost base.
Recruitment firm Staffline Group PLC (LON:STAF) also got a little boost after its shares were restored to AIM on Tuesday following a suspension, rising 1% to 869p.
The group had been suspended amid concerns over its invoicing and payroll practices, although the additional charge to resolve the issues did not affect its trading performance.
Elsewhere, shares in insulation maker Autins Group PLC (LON:AUTG) surged 38% to 32.5p after its chief executive and a non-executive director bought more shares.
But on the downside, shares in Red Emperor Resources (LON:RMP) were on life support this week, plunging 86% to 0.7p after its Winx-1 well in Alaska was plugged and abandoned following disappointing drilling results.
Construction consultant Driver Group PLC (LON:DRV), meanwhile, went into reverse with its shares falling 18% to 56.5p on the back of a trading update that predicted lower full-year profits as a result of slower client conversion.
Video editing firm Forbidden Technologies PLC (LON:FBT) was hoping to rewind the week too after its shares fell 3.7% to 7.25p following a wider loss for 2018.
And software tools firm Stilo International Plc (LON:STL) also came under pressure after it posted a 94% drop in 2018 profits due to a decline in revenues from a major customer, sending the shares tumbling 9% to 2.6p.