Babraham Research Campus wins EEDA Capital Equipment Grant to accelerate drug discovery

Babraham Bioscience Technologies (BBT) has won a grant of £321,763 from the East of England Development Agency’s (EEDA) capital equipment competition to provide equipment that will support drug discovery and biomedical innovation in the region. Bioscience organisations across the East of England will have access to the equipment, which will be a valuable addition to the existing expertise and capability within Babraham’s Technology Development Lab (TDL) established at the BBSRC-funded Babraham Institute. The funds will be used to purchase a Biacore T100, a new screening instrument to exploit therapeutic and diagnostic targets that will be particularly useful for the development of biological therapeutics as well as for discovering new drugs. The equipment will be maintained in BBT’s TDL, an open access facility that fast tracks early-stage concepts and technologies into viable commercial propositions and provides a comprehensive range of services to the drug discovery community. Partners supporting BBT’s bid to secure and maximise the use of this new equipment for regional SMEs were Antitope Limited, ERBI Limited and Senexis Limited, all residents of Babraham’s Bioincubator. Mark Treherne of Senexis, the consortium’s Chairman, commented, ‘We believe that that this new, state-of-the-art device will unlock untapped potential from within the companies that use it. We all now look forward to being able exploit this new device to accelerate the discovery of novel drugs, antibodies and diagnostics towards commercialisation.’ Derek Jones, Chief Executive of BBT said, ‘We are delighted that we have been able to secure this funding from EEDA and this will further enhance the Technology Development Laboratory resources we have available to support bioscience enterprise and innovation in the East of England. The principle of scientific and commercial collaboration at the Babraham Research Campus is exemplified by this initiative where campus companies, led by BBT, united as a consortium to bring about the acquisition and management of equipment that will benefit early-stage companies in the region.’ Tuesday, 23rd February 2010