Minister for Universities Science and Cities, Greg Clark visits the Hybrid Biodevices lab at the Institute for Life Sciences

Published: 20 November 2014

The Minister for Universities, Science and Cities, the Rt Hon Greg Clark MP today visited the world-leading Centre for Hybrid Biodevices at the Institute for Life Sciences. The visit was part of an invitation by the Research Council Chief Executives to showcase the excellent research in Life Sciences at the University of Southampton. The tour also coincided with the Minister opening the new Advanced Composite Materials Facility within Chemistry department.

Professor Peter Smith led the tour of Institute for Life Sciences (IfLS), dicussing with the Minister the mission of the IfLS and the recent step change to the four grand challenges, a significant result of the high impact, growing interdisciplinary collaborations within the IfLS. The visit ended with a tour of the Centre for Hybrid Biodevices hosted by Professor Hywel Morgan, who discussed bioelectronics and lab-on-chip technology. The minister spent considerable time discussing the potential impact of this technology on society and how the research will develop further.

The Rt Hon Greg Clark MP also attended a Life Sciences Research Council Showcase Poster Session with the other esteemed visitors Professor Phil Nelson, CEO EPSRC, Professor Jackie Hunter, CEO BBSRC and Professor Duncan Wingham, CEO, NERC where many of our key academics working at the Life Sciences interface showcased their research, including Dr Gavin Foster, Professor Rachel Mills, Dr Tom Bibby and Dr Racheal James from Ocean and Earth Science.

Other areas of the university were also represented including Professor Rob Eason from the Zepler Institute, Professor Maria Evandrou from Complexity, Dr Patrick James from Energy and and Environement, Professor Phil Bartlett from Chemistry, Professor Graeme Earl, lead in the Portus Project in Humanities, Professor Hazel Inskip from Medicine and the Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit and Professor Chris Sachrajda, Physics and Astronomy.