Issue 5, January 2012

Contents ….

Focus On... Metabolomics Meeting Agilent & COEBP

Biopharmaceutical Analytical Group Meeting

Profile: Dr Neil Dixon

News Sector

Funding Opportunities : BRIC Project Call 2012

Forthcoming Events & Seminars

http://www.coebp.ls.manchester.ac.uk

Agilent Technologies & COEBP Joint Workshop Agilent Technologies & COEBP Joint Workshop

Centre of Excellence in Centre of Excellence in

Biopharmaceuticals Biopharmaceuticals

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Manchester Centre for Integrative Manchester Centre for Integrative

Systems Biology SymposiumSystems Biology Symposium

Recent Advances and Fture Directions in Applied Me-Recent Advances and Fture Directions in Applied Me-

tabolomicstabolomics

Registration for meeting can be found here HERE and programme details can be found HERE.

WEDNESDAY 1st February 2011 (10.00 WEDNESDAY 1st February 2011 (10.00 –– 16.30)16.30)

MICHAEL SMITH BUILDING,MICHAEL SMITH BUILDING,

UNIVERSITY OF MANCHEUNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER, UKSTER, UK

To registration for meeting click HERE. Programme details can be found HERE.

2nd

Biopharmaceutical Analytical Group Meeting Tuesday, 21

st February 2012

Lonza Biologics, Slough

The HealthTech and Medicines KTN Biopharmaceutical Analytical Group meeting hosted by Lonza Biologics will take place on February 21st 2012.. The event will provide an invaluable chance to network with your peers in industry and academia, hear about the latest innovations in biopharmaceu-tical analysis and participate in discussions on challenges in this area. The day’s agenda will feature the opportunity for speed networking followed by case study presentations on hot topics and a panel session on challenges for this sector. For further information click here. Registration now open – here

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Profile: Dr Neil Dixon

Technology Enterprise Neil Dixon and colleagues in the MIB have developed a novel bacterial gene expression control technology – RiboTite, which has commercial applications in the R&D kits market and for the production of human therapeutic proteins. This technology was developed from within the laboratory of Prof Jason Micklefield from BBSRC and EPSRC funded projects.

Neil was subsequently awarded a BBSRC Enterprise Fellowship to commercially exploit this gene expression control technology and to engage with industry. The team has most recently been successful in securing a BBSRC Follow on Fund grant to further demonstrate the utility of the technology with support from a number of industrial partners. In December 2011, Neil was also nominated and shortlisted for the “Promising Biomedical Technologist of the Year” at the annual BioNow Awards.

The RiboTite technology was derived from naturally occurring regulatory elements located in the 5’UTR of bacterial mRNAs [Dixon et al PNAS 2010] [GB1107768.2]. These so-called riboswitches operate via a translational mechanism, where expression is initi-ated upon the addition of a small molecule inducer to the growth media. Unlike currently available inducible expression systems in bacteria the RiboTite system allows for tuneable control of gene expression, very tight control of basal expression, and for the simultaneous and differential co-expression of multiple proteins within the same cell.

Neil reflects on his Enterprise journey:

“Being shortlisted for the recent Bionow award, and then securing the BBSRC Follow on Funding at the end of 2011 was fantastic reward for all the hard work that myself and the team have put in to get this commercialization project off the ground.”

“Receiving the Enterprise fellowship was a real step-change and took me from being the technical lead scientist on the project, to really coming to grasps with project management and securing the essential development funding. The Enterprise fellowship is a great scheme and helps equip you with the commercial awareness and skill set required to take your project forward. The fellowship also permitted the opportunity “

to engage with industry to help guide technology development, and build an extensive network of contacts and potential customers. I would highly recommend this scheme to those wishing to commercialize products, technologies or services arising from their research.

What Enterprise support mechanisms are available in Manchester?

We’ve been working closely with UMIP throughout this process and they’ve helped with commercial direction, IP filing and legal support. In addition to UMIP, various mechanisms are available for support in Manchester these include the FLS Enterprise Forum, the CoEBP and Malcolm Rhodes a BBSRC Industrial Impact Fellow based at the University. There is a real synergy of interests in Manchester in the biopharmaceuticals area and the CoEBP draws these together into one portal for industry to interact with. What’s next for the technology?

“We are still at the beginning of a potentially long story, and we have some way to go before we see the adoption of this technology in the GMP bioprocess setting. First off we need to demonstrate the technology with a range of clinical products under industrial conditions. I’m really excited about bringing this technology through from blue skies research, to translating it into the commercial environment.“ What’s next for you?

“In addition to the RiboTite technology under development I also have a pipeline of projects and proposals that I hope to be able bring online in the near future, when the right opportunity presents itself.” For those interested in the RiboTite technology or the challenges of getting commercialization projects off the g r o u n d p l e a s e f e e l f r e e t o c o n t a c t neil.dixon@manchester.ac.uk

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News Sector

2011 Bionow Annual Awards Bionow, the northwest biomedical cluster group, has announced the winning companies, projects and individuals of the 2011 Bionow Annual Awards Dinner. This prestigious event took place on Thursday 24th November at The Mere Golf & Country Club. Two winners are University of Manchester spin outs: Biomedical Project of the Year - Sponsored by Semple Fraser MycAssay series of real-time PCR products, Myconstica Ltd Emerging Biomedical Technology Project of the Year—Sponsored by Waters Corporation Conformetrix, Conformetrix Ltd

Building Effective Industrial – Academic Research Teams: Addressing Key Challenges in Targeted Molecular Delivery and Protein Aggregation & Interactions The Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology is hosting a “sandpit”-style workshop event on 17th January 2012 at The Astbury Centre, Leeds to obtain industry input and engagement. The Centre would like to invite the UK Industrial biopharmaceutical and bioprocessing community to attend this sandpit event. This format of this interactive workshop has been designed to drive lateral thinking and plan radical approaches to address specific research challenges in targeted molecular delivery and protein aggregation & interactions. For further information please contact Daniel Smith and to register go here

The 8th Annual bioProcess UK Conference took place on the 30th Nov and 1st Dec, 2011 at the Glasgow Science Centre. This years meeting focused on ’Advancing Next Generation Therapies’ and the commonalaties in developing complex therapies whether they are biopharmaceuticals or cell therapies. The programme included a variety of presentations plus masterclasses showcasing best practise in aspects of successful production of biological medicines.

The meeting was attended by more than 250 and the key areas of focus were :

Understanding how companies drive innovation to improve their global competitivenesss

Addressing the challenges of effective global supply chains

Sharing common experiences between biopharmaceuticals and ATMP’s

Observe case studies on cutting edge tools and techniques in bioprocessing.

The Peter Dunhill Award Annual Lecture given by Professor Mike Hoare from University College London and was entitled ‘Changing the routes to bioprocessing discovery’. This presentation gave a vary interesting view on the creation and use of ultra sale-down technologies now becoming available from a range of industry university partnerships made possible through novel UK funding structures and where next these structures to deliver for the future of UK bioprocessing?

COEBP & MCISB Joint Symposium

The Centre of Excellence in Biopharmaceuticals (COEBP) and the Manchester Centre for integrative Mammalian Biology (MCSIB) recently held on November 3rd, 2011, the second in a series of topic related meetings at the Manchester Interdiscipli-nary Biocentre at the University of Manchester. The focus was on the ‘Application of Systems Approaches to Biologicals and their Production’ and the aim of the symposium was to aid in the development of industrial/ academic awareness of, and training

in, these approaches.

The event was attended by more than 100 individuals from industrial and academic sectors who were keen to learn more about the present and future challenges, opportu-nities and innovative technologies within the field. There were presentations from

Medimmune, Lonza Biologics, Life Technologies, the BBSRC and the Universities’ Faculties of Life Sciences and School of Chemi-cal Engineering. Overall, the meeting provided an excellent perspective in this field and the sessions covered topics including automation of cell-based assays and production platforms, large data set generation associated with automation and the processing, integration and interpretation of multiple, high-quality data sets. Feedback from those who attended said they ‘enjoyed the format and found the event useful for meeting new contacts and discussing potential collaborations with partners’. The COEBP is planning to host more topic related meetings throughout 2012, the first of which is Metabolomics event high-lighted on the front page of this newsletter.

The 22nd Annual ESACT UK Scientific Meeting (UK Society for Cell Culture biotechnology) will take place on 11-12th January 2012 at Loughborough University’s Imago Conference Centre. This year the meeting will consist of keynote speakers, oral presentations, poster sessions and a trade exhibition. There will also be a workshop on "Intelligent Sensors" run by Hamilton Lab & Sensors. Throughout the meeting, networking opportunities will be available around the poster and seminar area. Registration and programme details can be found HERE.

Dr Annes Lambert (COEBP, senior experimental officer ) went to Merck in North Wales, Pennsylvania, USA for a knowledge exchange visit in November 2011. While she was there Annes gave a presentation entitled ‘Using Automation at COEBP to Enable Cell Line Development Research’ highlighting the capabilities of the COEBP’s Automation Partnership (TAP) Sonata robotics platform.

Prof Alan Dickson was invited to give a presentation at North East of England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC) Innovation Day in Durham on November 15th, 2011 to showcase UK excellence and opportunity. Alan’s presentation ‘entitled ‘The Centre of Excellence in biopharmaceuticals’ was part of the ‘Specialities, Pharmaceuticals and Polymers’ session.

The Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Manchester is hosting open day in late April 2012 with the aim of widening industrial partner-ships in the biomedical sciences. The main focus of the event will be Immunology, Infection & Inflammation with the purpose of bringing new industrial partners to the University for the first time. For further informa-tion contact victoria.hand@manchester.ac.uk

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Funding Opportunities

National regenerative medicine programme: Enabling Science and Technology Platform The MRC, in collaboration with the Engineering and Physical Sciences R e s e a r c h C o u n c i l a n d t h e Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, has announced a new jointly funded national programme in regenerative medicine which aims to ensure that the UK operates as a single, globally competitive cluster addressing both commercial and clinical need in this area. A total of £25 million will be invested over five years — including £10 million from the MRC — in a managed project which wi l l address the grand challenges, knowledge gaps and obstacles in areas where more development is needed to support the pull-through of cutting edge biomedical science and engineering for the delivery of regenerative medicine. This industry-led activity will help support the development and commercialisation of therapeutics as well as underpinning technologies for manufacturing, quality control and addressing safety and efficacy challenges for new cell-based treatments. More information will made available following the pub-lication of the cross-council/TSB UK regenerative medicine strategy, expected next year Further information HERE

Groundbreaking collaboration with AsteraZeneca In a landmark collaboration between the MRC and AstraZeneca, 22 clinical compounds will be made available free of charge to UK scientists. The first step in making new medicines available to patients is the development of chemical compounds, which have the potential to treat or prevent a specific disease. Many compounds undergo early trials but are then put on hold for a variety of reasons. However, some of these compounds are invaluable for research that ultimately aims to benefit patients. As part of this collaboration, scientists will be able to access a wide range of compounds developed by AstraZeneca. This extensive privately funded R&D portfolio is worth many millions of pounds. Through MRC funding, researchers will use the compounds in studies to better understand what drives a broad range of human diseases. The MRC will judge and select the best scientific proposals, with total funding of up to £10 million. The call for applications is now open. A two-stage process will be used to identify projects that are feasible, do not duplicate existing studies, and do not directly contribute to AstraZeneca development programmes. Research proposals that are led by commercial entities are not eligible. However, applications may include collaborations with third commercial parties under the relevant agreements. Agreements will need to be in

place prior to submission of full applications. Deadline for initial applications is Feb 2nd, 2011 and further nformation is available on

the MRC website: http://www.mrc.ac.uk/Fundingopportunities/Calls/ MoD/MRC008389

Sustainable Manufacturing for the process industry The Technology Strategy Board is to invest up to £5m in feasibility projects and collaborative research and development to encourage the development and commercia l isat ion of innovat ive approaches to sustainable manufacturing in the process industry. Innovation in sustainability is vital for the continued success and growth of the UK process industry, including for the bulk and fine chemical, pharmaceutical and biotech, agrochemical, coatings and lubricant, food and drink, home and personal care, mining, water, construction materials, and oil and fuel sectors. We aim to encourage innovation in manufacturing steps that improve economic performance, benefit the environment and have a positive social impact. Up to £4.6m is available for collaborative R&D projects, which must be business-led and include an end user. Up to £400k is available for feasibility projects, which must be business-led and may be collaborative or led by single companies. Collaborative R&D projects should last one to three years and will atract up to 50% public funding. Feasibility projects should last six to nine months and will attract up to 75% public funding. There is a two-stage process for collaborative R&D funding. The competition opens on 27 February 2012 and the deadline for applications for feasibility funding is at noon on 25 April 2012. Further information can be obtained from HERE BRIC Doctoral Programme Deadline Reminder

The BRIC Doctoral Programme is in response to this recommendation and will complement the EPSRC-funded Doctoral Training Centres at Newcastle and UCL that are relevant to the bioprocessing sector and other EPSRC studentship investments, by supporting training with a biosciences focus

You can download the full call text, including details of the industrial participation and assessment criteria, from the downloads section.

Application deadline: 25 January 2012

http://www.coebp.ls.manchester.ac.uk

THE BRIC2/2 PROJECT GRANTS DEADLINE 8TH FEB, 2012.

The BRIC2/2 call for proposals for academic research projects is now open. A budget of up to £6M is available and outline applications may be submitted until February 8th, 2012. After assessment by the BRIC Steering Group selected applicants who have submitted Outline applications will be invited to submit Full

applications and funding can be up to 5 years. Further information, including a

description of the application process, is available here

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World Drug Delivery and Formulation 2012 16th-17th January 2012, Berlin, Germany http://www.ddfevent.com/

Cell Culture 2012 2nd-3rd February 2012, San Diego, CA, USA www.eurostemcell.org/event/cell-culture-2012

Stem Cells 2012 2nd-3rd February 2012, San Diego, CA, USA http://www.selectbiosciences.com/conferences/SC2012/

Circulating Tumor Cells 2012 2nd-3rd February 2012, San Diego, CA, USA http://www.eurostemcell.org/event/circulating-tumor-cells

SLAS 2012 (Society for Laboratory Automation and Screen-ing) Feb 4th – 8th 2012, San Diego, CA, USA http://slas2012.org/conference/index.cfm

Nanotechnology: Delivering Innovation 6th February 2012, Mercure Hotel, Sheffield www.iom3.org/events/nanotechnology-delivering-innovation?c=2803

1st Biotechnology World Congress 14th-15th February 2012, Dubai, UAE biotechworldcongress.com/index.htm

The 2012 London Regenerative Medicine Event 16th February 2012, London http://lifescienceevents.com/archives/675

International Conference & Exhibition on Metabolomics & Systems Biology 2012 20th-22nd February 2012, San Francisco, CA, USA http://www.allconferences.com/conferences/2011/20110706042023/ Discovery Chemistry Congress 13th - 14th March 2012, Munich, Germany www.selectbiosciences.com/conferences/DCC2012

ADME & Predictive Toxicology 13th - 14th March 2012, Munich, Germany http://www.selectbiosciences.com/conferences/ADMEPT2012/

2nd International Conference of the Flow Chemistry Society 13th - 14th March 2012, Munich, Germany http://www.allconferences.com/conferences/2011/20111209090001/

Advances in Microarray Technology 28th - 29th March 2012, Edinburgh, UK http://events.hellotrade.com/conferences/advances-in-microarray-technology/ Single Cell Analysis Europe 28th - 29th March 2012, Edinburgh, UK http://www.allconferences.com/conferences/2011/20111209093831/

Events & Seminars

http://www.coebp.ls.manchester.ac.uk

Advances in Biodetection & Biosensors 28th - 29th March 2012, Edinburgh, UK http://www.conferencealerts.com/seeconf.mv?q=ca1s3xa0

Genomics Research 2012 19th - 20th April 2012, Boston, MA, USA http://www.epigenie.com/Conferences/Genomics-Research-Epigenetics-2012.html

Flow Chemistry Congress 23rd - 24th April 2012, Boston, MA, USA http://events.hellotrade.com/conferences/flow-chemistry-congress/

ELRIG Companion Diagnostics from Early Drug Discovery to Clinical Application 1st May, 2012, The Oxford Belfry www.elrig.org

IBC 15th Annual Well Characterised Biologics & 2nd Annual Process2Product Conference 30th October - 1st November, 2012, Washington DC http://www.ibclifesciences.com/WCB/overview.xml

University of Manchester Seminars (12.00—13.00)

Professor Cay Kielty (University of Manchester) Regulation of Mesenchymal stem cell fate. 12th Jan, Michael Smith Building, University of Manchester

Professor Karl Tryggavason (Karolinska Institute) Lamanins—Extracellular modulators of stem cells and cell lineages 26th Jan, Michael Smith Building, University of Manchester

Professor Dr. Ernst Stelzer (Institute of Cell Biology and Neuro-science, Goethe University Frankfurt) Light Sheet-based Flourescence Microscopy (SPIM, DSLM, LSFM) 29th Feb, Michael Smith Building, University of Manchester

Sally Lowell (University of Edinburgh) Unpredictability and variability during embryonic stem cell differen-tiation 2pm - 18th April, Michael Smith Building, University of Manchester