Boost for Scottish bioscience

It was a good week for Scotland's life sciences sector last week, with two separate developments promising to help turn innovation into financial gain. First, the Scottish Centre for Genomic Technology and Informatics (GTI) launched a £4.5 million project to support the commercialization of scientific breakthroughs, and then the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) established a Scottish office to manage a multimillion-pound investment in drug development research. "We are very interested in stimulating better two-way interaction between the academic and private sector," said Peter Ghazal, Director of GTI, whose initiative is being funded by Scottish Enterprise, the European Regional Development Fund, and The University of Edinburgh.Ghazal himself spent 16 years working in the United States before moving to Scotland 3 years ago. His analysis of the Scottish bioscience sector suggests there are many good scientific initiatives but some need more of a US-style approach to reach their true potential. "What is sometimes lacking [in Scotland] is the frame of mind to realize that things that would be better done commercially really should be tackled in that way," Ghazal told The Scientist. He feels that a tendency to keep good opportunities within the academic community represents a source of untapped potential in Scotland. "This new funding will help bring the commercial and academic sectors together to unleash some of that potential." "We need to help industry to access cutting-edge thinking in life science," Rhona Allison, head of the life sciences group at Scottish Enterprise in Edinburgh and Lothian told The Scientist. She explained that the project would initially use seminars, workshops, and a conference to bring academics, industry, and individual entrepreneurs together. It will then support collaborative research to allow companies in the biosciences to increase their research and development effectiveness.An example of the strategy behind the project is the Edinburgh company Arrayjet, which GTI helped set up to adapt inkjet technology for the delivery of biomolecules onto microarrays. After meeting Peter Ghazal, physicist Howard Manning realized that the inkjet robotics he was experienced in could be applied to a new field.Manning is now Arrayjet's managing director. He explained to The Scientist that none of the staff of Arrayjet have experience in life sciences, yet thanks to the input from GTI, they are developing innovative systems focused on the life science sector. "For us the partnership with GTI has been absolutely essential–I don't think we would have started otherwise," said Manning.GTI is based next to the new Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, at a site that is benefiting from a £200 million project to create a Centre for Biomedical Research as a flagship facility for Scotland's biotechnology activities.This second big life sciences development in Scotland last week was the establishment of an office at the West of Scotland Science Park by KHIDI. On behalf of the South Korean Government, KHIDI plans to invest up to £18 million in Scottish Drug development projects over the next 9 years. This makes Scotland the first country to take full advantage of South Korea's International Collaborative Program for Drug Development. "We know that the nature of life science is so complex that, without international cooperation, Korea can hardly reach the targets specified in its life science and technology development plan," said Kyeong-Ho Lee, president of KHIDI, at the opening of the office on September 2. He added: "I do hope that this program can further enhance the cooperative relation between Scotland and Korea for mutual benefit."The specific Scottish research projects that will receive funding from the collaborative project will be announced in November.Welcoming the development, Martin Togneri, the senior director of Scottish Development International pointed out that the successes of the Korean-Scottish collaborative approach "include the growing South Korean business won by Scottish based companies and universities…"

Boost for Scottish bioscience

Support for commercializing research and links with Korea are strengthened

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