The BRC supported a successful UCL bid as part of a major push to work in partnership with industry to make sure our biomedical discoveries are developed into products.
The award, part of the £50m Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) Catalyst Fund to increase innovation in higher education, means UCL will be able to collaborate with Cambridge University and their NIHR Biomedical Research Centre to develop a collaborative research base that brings together the skills, expertise and facilities of the commercial sector with the scientific expertise and clinical research capabilities of UCL and Cambridge.
UCL will work with Cambridge and occupy space in laboratories of the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst to fast track home grown drug development.
The Bioscience Catalyst is supported by and located adjacent to GlaxoSmithKline and is the UK’s first open innovation bioscience campus, driving early stage life science developments. GSK is a major strategic partner for UCL in both discovery and biomanufacturing research with active collaborations at July 2012 valued at up to £11m including a £1m UCL-GSK Centre of Excellence in Bioprocessing.
Researchers will also have access to drug discovery and development expertise, screening and compound profiling technologies, journals, lab equipment, meeting rooms and facilities. Tenancy at the Bioscience Catalyst will also facilitate productive interactions between other researchers, SMEs and start-up biotech.
In addition, this will allow for greater links with GSK, from drug discovery to clinical trials manufacture. Training opportunities for UCL researchers are inherent to each UCL project that passes through the pipeline and the Bioscience Catalyst delivers tailored training courses as required.
The project will bring together an innovative partnership of universities and the Trust Strategy Board Catapult Centres (Cell Therapy and High-Value Manufacturing).
Professor Bryan Williams, BRC Director said: “This is an outstanding example of how we can leverage the world class science at UCL and the outstanding research capabilities within the NHS and the NIHR University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre to deliver new treatments to our patients.”
Professor Stephen Caddick, Vice-Provost for Enterprise at UCL added: “UCL has been working closely with other institutions for some time to speed up the process of taking medical innovations produced by university research from lab bench to bedside. We are delighted that our leading position has been recognised by this new funding and that, through our project in Stevenage, we will contribute to growing the British economy and creating jobs.”
The HEFCE Catalyst Fund aims to drive innovation in higher education by funding initiatives which support economic growth or lead to step-changes in priority areas such as student engagement and success, and learning and teaching. This replaced the Strategic Development Fund as the route for discretionary investment to support the objectives of the HEFCE.
