Bioprocess UK KTN covers all aspects of transforming a candidate drug into a biopharmaceutical. It also handles vaccines. Areas of interest include enzyme catalysis, industrial biotechnology, crops, marine, biofuels, and nutraceuticals.

The UK’s North East Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC) is formed by the 200 Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, Specialty, Petrochemical & Commodity Chemical companies in the region. NEPIC - with its 512 companies in the region - has suggested that it could perhaps assist at the UK end.

Sheffield is working on anthelmintics and adjuvants. Sheffield also has a link with Fonterra on colostrum products, and is developing global partnerships in sports-based and reproductive medicine.

Lancaster’s Peter Diggle is a world expert on real time spatial statistics – eg, nightly central logging of GP reports on patients seen and diseases showing.

Newcastle is working on bone repair and scaffolds. Newcastle hospitals have developed much IP on cancer, aging research, human genetics and stem cell work. Newcastle is also working with Roche on rapid sequencing of DNA.

Newcastle’s Antibodies Ltd (diagnostics) might be a possible NZ mission participant. Durham’s Colin Yahoda is looking at stem cells for wound care. 

Newcastle’s Stem Cell Institute has a link with Otago on pathways of type 1 diabetes and other auto-immune disease. Newcastle’s Life Diagnostics might benefit from a link with NZ.

Newcastle has also launched a new Centre of Excellence in biomedical research, working on collaborative research in drug discovery, cancer research, stem cell science, bacteriology and regenerative medicine.

Nottingham’s Professor Ian Hall is working in respiratory diseases. Regentec at Biocity is working on wound care and regenerative scaffolds. Orthogem at Biocity is working on plasma biotech and bone regeneration. Urgo, near Loughborough, is the largest bandage manufacturer in Europe. APS (Advanced Protein Systems) is working on albumen-based products for wounds. Haemostatics Ltd (a Leicester University spin-off) is working on blood platelet replacement. Brightwake/Advancis are working on bandages. Sallis is researching a new wound care product.

Bitecic in Nottingham hosts work in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, proteomics, matrices and scaffolds, stem cells, virtual-tissue computer modelling and biosensors.

Monica Ltd, a spin-off from Nottingham University is working on fœtal monitoring. Cimimod and Dialog Devices check for stress in newborn babies. A smaller company Vectura (turnover in excess of £12 million),  is working on respiratory diseases. 3M Healthcare is involved in drug development.

A promising area of Nottingham research (patents held by GE in the US) is to make and use magnetic gases to image air spaces such as the lung or investigate porous materials within a body. The technique is sensitive enough to make movies of dynamic processes.

Professor David Williams of Loughborough noted that regenerative medicine as an industry is under way in the UK. He gave a talk at the Wellcome Foundation on Disruptive Technologies, on how to incorporate them into health systems.

Scottish Chief Scientist Ann Glover expressed interest in collaborating with NZ on medical imaging via the Aberdeen group. Glasgow houses the British Heart Foundation Centre for Cardiovascular Research.

Synapse Medical Solutions  has developed a micro-electric-current technology, working at a cellular and inter-cellular level, that increases tissue repair and accelerates the closure of wounds.

Intercytex, of Cambridge and Manchester, deals with wound care. ICX-PRO is a topical wound care product designed to actively stimulate wound healing and closure in persistent chronic wounds.

The University of East Anglia has expressed interest in having links with NZ on wound care and bone regeneration. It is also looking at NZ biotechnology work to see if there could be a match.

New Zealand sees possibilities for human health and therapeutics (incl. bone therapeutics). Otago Innovation has formed a number of successful companies including Blis technologies, to market anti-bacterial peptides for the throat. Pacific Edge BioTechnology is developing cancer diagnostics and therapeutic products. Antipodean BioTechnologies is researching silencing cancer genes. Auckland’s Liggins Institute has developed strong links with Cambridge.

Otago’s Paul Davis has a number of lab-based models and assays that are appropriate to wound repair investigations. The majority of them are related to skin regeneration as the wound repairs. Models of wounds in rats can take the form of different sorts of wounds. These can involve normal healthy animals as well as diabetic animals, which are used to simulate the repair of chronic wounds.