The UK has a strong genetics research base: but to date, academics have found it difficult to progress gene therapy research into clinical trials and beyond. The Sheffield Gene Therapy Innovation and Manufacturing Centre (GTIMC) is one of three new hubs, announced this month, that will tackle these challenges.
The investment in the three ‘cutting-edge hubs’ totals £18m ($24.9m), with the sites dedicated to advancing the clinical development of new genetic treatments.
The Sheffield hub will also include a GMP (good manufacturing practice) facility that will support gene therapy projects emerging from universities across the UK. As well as manufacturing clinical grade adeno-associated viruses (AVV), it will also be ready to investigate ways to ‘radically increase yields and reduce productivity barriers in future years’.
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The FINANCIAL Nine new partnerships bring together world-class expertise from a range of UK businesses and academia to develop technologies of the future and create new jobs, UK Research and Innovation notes.
The transformative technology they aim to develop includes ‘objects’ made up of soundwaves that could replace touchscreens in car and personalised media platforms, which adapt to the preferences of viewers.
Transformative technology
Many of the partnerships will also help to achieve the UK’s net zero target. Examples include creating renewable new materials from sources including carbon capture for use in household products such as laundry detergents.
START-UP enterprises, small to medium-sized firms (SMEs) and larger companies are to share a combined package of £2.8 million in funding for green biotechnology skills. The Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC) has awarded 15 new grants to fund PhD projects at biotech companies, thus marking a commitment of more than £11m since its inception seven years ago. Its industry-led PhD programme focuses on giving students commercial and industrial experience alongside academic research to help them succeed in industry. The funding – from IBioIC and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) – will allow pioneering research projects to employ the skills of PhD students over a four-year study programme.
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Scientists across Norwich Research Park institutes are part of a major integrated UK research-industry programme led by The Alan Turing Institute, seeking out the best talent in AI and data science, developing bioscience leaders and supporting the UK economy.
The £600,000 Fellowship programme is funding six fellows to support life science researchers from the Earlham Institute, the John Innes Centre, Quadram Institute and The Sainsbury Laboratory. Each fellow has been paired with a project that could benefit from data science approaches.
The esteemed fellowships are funded through The Alan Turing Institute s AI for Science and Government Strategic Priorities Fund award and a strategic award from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (UKRI-BBSRC) to the Earlham Institute and John Innes Centre.
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