By Professor John Holloway
Links between researchers and life science companies continue to be fostered by staff from Medicine collaborating with colleagues in the University Industrial Sector Team (UIST) in Health Pharma and building on work started by my predecessor Professor Richard Oreffo. Dr Brigitte Lavoie has joined the UIST team as co-ordinator and we are now mapping the skills and experience of our researchers in order to show case them to potential research partners. An external advisory group has been established with members from leading companies including GSK, Astra Zeneca and Oxford Gene Technology. UIST Health Pharma is also working with the Wessex Life Sciences Alliance on a bid to the South Wilshire Local Economic Partnership (LEP) on a bid to identify potential for bioscience clusters in the area.
Colleagues have been busy on international visits encouraging joint research initiatives and recruiting postgraduate researchers to join us in Southampton. Dr Sylvia Pender led a team to Singapore and Malaysia, including the University of Malaya and International Medical University Kuala Lumpur. Dr Jane Cleal and Dr Lucy Green have also visited IMU following the World Congress on Developmental Origins of Health and Disease in Singapore. Professor David Wilson has visited South America to on a recruitment mission to graduate fairs and universities in Columbia and Brazil, rasing the profile of the faculty as a destination for students seeking to undertake a PhD overseas funded by national governmental scolarships.
I would like to encourage all researchers to explore oppurtunites for external collaboration with industry. Commercialising the results of our work and partnering with industry is becoming an accepted way of life within the sector and brings advantages for academics, not least income that provides freedom to pursue your own research interests. The team at Research and Innovation Services at the University (R&IS) work closely with major companies such as GSK, Pfizer, Siemens and Amgen and can advise on issues of intellectual property etc. The Enterprise Fellows funded by the Health Pharma UIST will be happy to engage with academics to understand their areas of expertise and to identify potential research partners.
Professor Mark Cragg has considerable experience with working with external organisations. He is involved with both small and large biotech companies through CASE studentships which bring us postgraduate researchers who undertake placements in industry as part of their PhD research. Mark also carries out contract research, by facilitating industry access to unique reagents and model systems. Alongside commercialising reagents such as monoclonal antibodies this brings money into the department to support further academic endeavours.
Finally, well done to students who organised the first National Undergraduate Neuroanatomy Competition at Southampton last March which was shortlisted for a student enterprise award. Plans are now well advanced for the next one in April.