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Research by Smales has led to IP that protects novel technologies for mammalian recombinant cell line development. Based upon mass spectrometry and in silico modelling approaches, the technology has permitted the development of highly efficient cell lines for monoclonal antibody production in the commercial environment at Lonza Biologics. This IP has three important benefits to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries:
(a) It allows key biopharmaceuticals to be made using substantially less resource and with an overall higher efficiency.
(b) It reduces the time from transfection to production of cell banks.
(c) It accelerates bioreactor evaluation and the ability to predict cell line performance at the bioreactor scale early in cell line construction.
Cancer research at the University of Salford focuses on developing new and improved treatments for cancer, particularly for children with cancer, demonstrating the following impact:
UCL spin-out company BioVex was launched in 1999 to exploit research undertaken by David Latchman at the UCL Medical Molecular Biology Unit, Department of Biochemistry. (This department is now part of the Department of Structural and Molecular Biology, UCL/Birkbeck and Latchman is now Master of Birkbeck.) Biovex worked to develop inactivated herpes simplex viruses as therapies, and a promising dual-action oncolytic vaccine for solid tumours, OncoVEXGM-CSF, was taken into successful Phase II trials. In 2011 the company was bought out by Amgen for $1 billion — still the largest ever cash sale of a UK biotech — and Amgen has now taken this virus into a Phase III trial with promising initial results.
Impact on the economy and on commerce Using novel technology developed with UoE researchers to isolate and culture cambial meristematic cells (CMCs), Korean biotech company Unhwa Corp tripled their production of CMCs and have brought sixteen skincare products and three nutritional products to a global market. The impact of this technology on the South Korean economy has been recognised by the Korea Ministry of Knowledge Economy.
Beneficiaries: Korean Biotech company Unhwa Corp, and international consumers of their nutrition and cosmetic products.
Significance and Reach: The technology provides a platform for the cost-effective, environ- mentally friendly and sustainable production of plant stem cells. The business strategy and operations of Unhwa Corp changed as a direct result of the research: Unhwa invested [text removed for publication] in 2011-13 to construct a base in Jeojuni, Korea for a new production facility. Products arising from this are sold world-wide (Unhwa has subsidiaries on 5 continents) and have generated [text removed for publication] profit, with a doubling of company turnover since the key research was carried out.
Attribution: Professor Gary Loake, UoE, led the research in collaboration with Unhwa Corp, from 2006 to 2010 and ongoing.
Edinburgh Napier University is internationally recognised for its research into the mechanisms that drive the adverse health effects of inhaled particles. Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) required early understanding of the likelihood that inhaled drug particulates, used in the treatment of asthma, would evoke an adverse biological response, thus compromising the development of any novel drug. Through collaboration, via a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP), we were able to develop improved in vitro methodologies to study toxicity and, thus, predict pathologies reported in vivo with the aim of reducing both the use of animals and pre-clinical drug attrition.
We were the first to show that human stem cells could be used to create functional organ replacements in patients. These transplants, first performed to save the life of an adult in 2008, and then repeated to save a child in 2010, have changed the way the world views stem cell therapies. We have opened the door to a future where conventional transplantation, with all its technical, toxicity and ethical problems, can be replaced and increased in range by a family of customised organ replacements, populated by cells derived from autologous stem cells. This has altered worldview, changed clinical practice and had key influences on UK policy.
Research by Professor Parmjit Jat (first at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, then part of UCL; later at the UCL Institute of Neurology) established and applied the critically important scientific concept of conditional immortalisation to a wide variety of cell lines, enabling cells to be grown indefinitely in vitro but differentiate upon altering the growth conditions. Two companies were established in partnership with Jat to exploit this research, ReNeuron (now worth £63.5m and publicly traded on the London AIM market) and XCellSyz (now part of Lonza AG). More than 20 patents based on Professor Jat's work have been issued. Reagents based on his research have been evaluated, licensed and used by 17 companies worldwide: Amgen, Amylin, Boehringer Mannheim, Cell Genesys, Chiron, Eli Lilly, Genentech Inc., Genetics Institute, Immunex, Johnson & Johnson, Medarex, Novartis, Ortho Pharm., Pfizer Inc., Regeneron, ReNeuron, Takeda, EMD Serono, and XCellSyZ/Cambrex Bioscience/Lonza.
Bacteria of the Clostridium genus are of pathogenic, medical and industrial importance. Development by University of Nottingham School of Life Science researchers of three patented methods for genetic manipulation of clostridial species has led to licensing agreements for commercial exploitation of the methodology to enhance strains for chemical commodity and biofuel production and for targeted cancer therapy. These methods are providing significant world-wide impact by facilitating commercial R&D investment and technology developments in fields ranging from healthcare, through chemicals manufacture, to the environment.
Mouse disease models provide an invaluable tool to the medical sciences, underpinning the understanding of disease mechanisms and the development of therapeutic interventions. A new cultivation protocol for deriving mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells was developed by Dr Nichols between 2006 and 2009. This has facilitated the production of ES cells from disease model mice that can be manipulated in vitro and used to establish modified transgenic mice with the required genetic profile, in a single generation. This method reduces the number of mice needed, as well as associated costs and staff time, by 90%. Dr Nichols has trained industry delegates from international transgenics companies and transgenic facility managers in the new technology. As a consequence, a minimum of 26820 fewer mice have been used in experiments, and a minimum of £536k have been saved since 2009.
Seven patients with avascular necrosis of the femoral head and bone cysts have been treated successfully with skeletal stem cell therapy, developed by Southampton researchers, resulting in an improved quality of life. This unique multi-disciplinary approach linking nano-bioengineering and stem cell research could revolutionise treatment for the 4,000 patients requiring surgery each year in the UK and reduce a huge financial burden on the NHS. The work has been granted three patents and the team are in discussions on development of the next generation of orthopaedic implants with industry.