Summary of the impact

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.

Summary of the impact

Research by the University of Southampton has helped transform the understanding and treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), the most common leukaemia, affecting around 2,400 patients each year in the UK and 17,000 in the USA. Southampton's widely cited studies revealing the existence of two subsets of CLL have been crucial in giving clinicians and patients in the UK and overseas a much clearer indication of the likely disease course. The predictive information is now included in all clinical trials and in international guidelines, delivering greatly improved care. The research has also inspired the development of a new drug given "breakthrough" status by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States.

Summary of the impact

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.

Summary of the impact

Research at the University of Oxford's Glycobiology Institute (OGBI) has led to the development of `state-of-the-art' platform technologies for the analysis of oligosaccharides (sugars) that are linked to proteins and lipids. These enabling technologies have had major impacts worldwide on drug discovery programmes, have enabled robust procedures to be developed for the quality control of biopharmaceutical production, and have been widely adopted by the pharmaceutical industry.

Summary of the impact

BEAA research has impacted positively on commerce in brewing and biotechnology companies worldwide through continuous collaboration with Aber Instruments, an AU spin-out company formed to commercialise university research. Aber Instruments has supplied over 1000 fermentation monitoring systems world-wide for the on-line measurement of viable biomass concentration, providing improvements in speed and accuracy over previous off-line, culture or stain-based procedures. On-line, real-time monitoring of viability during fermentation reduces costs and improves product quality, leading to practitioners in large breweries including Anheuser Busch, SABMiller, Inbev, Coors, Diageo, Heineken, Suntory and San Miguel adopting the Yeast Monitor as part of their standard operating procedures. The new Futura instrument, which utilises the same technology developed from BEAA research, was launched in 2009 and is now used by major biotechnology companies including Genetech, Novo, Biogen Idec, GlaxoSmithKline, Centocor, Sandoz, Eli Lilly and Genzyme to monitor biomass in a much wider range of fermentations.

Summary of the impact

Researchers at the Biomedical Research Network (BRN) at The Open University (OU) have developed two novel technologies:

• Engineered neural tissues that model the central nervous system (CNS)
• A brain endothelial cell line to model the human blood-brain barrier for drug delivery studies.

These patented technologies have been adopted by industrial partners, who have either invested in their further development and the automation of the production process to generate neural tissue model kits or have adopted the technology for their own use following licence transfer and/or temporary industrial contracts.

Summary of the impact

Free and open access (OA) to publicly funded research offers significant benefits, but it also requires complex new systems to underpin it. University of Southampton research has resulted in software products enabling large numbers of research institutions to implement their own digital research repositories. Studies on the viability and impact of OA have steered institutions towards a more cost-effective and impactful model for disseminating research, and UK public policy has been directly influenced by the Southampton team's advocacy work. The research also led to economic benefits through two spin-outs and the development of digital archiving techniques, which have been widely used by broadcast and film institutions.

Summary of the impact

Solid-state dye sensitized solar cell technology has been developed and exploited through the licensing of 11 patents to spin-out company Oxford Photovoltaics Ltd. (Oxford PV). Based on Oxford research, Oxford PV was spun out of the University of Oxford in 2010 and has developed solar cells that are manufactured from cheap and abundant materials and printed directly onto glass. To date, Oxford PV has attracted over £3.3M of investment and has grown to employ 11 people. [text removed for publication]

Summary of the impact

Led from Dundee by Prof Jason Swedlow FRSE, The Open Microscopy Environment (OME) is an international consortium building tools to enable the storage and analysis of biological image data. OME releases Bio-Formats, an image format translation library, and OMERO, software for the visualisation, management and analysis of image data recorded by microscopes and high-content screening systems. OME software is open-source and transforms the way researchers manage the vast amount of image data routinely produced in research laboratories. Glencoe Software is the commercial arm of OME and provides commercial licenses, support, and customisation for OME's software tools to major industrial customers.

Summary of the impact

The supply of electrical energy to centres of demand is an increasingly important issue as our power generation sources decarbonise. Without innovation in our use of high voltage cables, security of supply to our major cities cannot be guaranteed. Our research has:

• Identified how outdated international standards governing the rating of power cables can undermine network performance.
• Developed improved rating methods which will save National Grid £1.2 million annually.
• Informed new international technical guides.
• Designed, in conjunction with major industrial partners, cables that optimise transmission for lower operational costs, minimise the risk of network failure and cut carbon emissions.