Applications of Systems Biology in the Biopharmaceuticals and Bioprocessing Industries

The aim of the fellowship is to focus on the application of modern bioscience to the production of biological medicines, a rapidly growing segment of the pharmaceuticals industry based on recent advances in molecular biology. The application to the development of new drugs produced by biotechnology to treatment of diseases such as cancer will be a key area. The research will reduce the costs of manufacturing these drugs and reduce the time taken to complete the development work needed to show their clinical efficacy and safety. The Industrial Impact Fellow will be based at a new Centre of Excellence in Biopharmaceuticals (COEBP) within the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Manchester. The University of Manchester and regional network Bionow are investing £4.6million in new staff and equipment to enable the new Centre to be set up. The fellow is an industry veteran with over 35 years experience in the Biopharmaceutical industry. His knowledge of biopharmaceutical companies and their research specialisations and his contacts within the companies will enable him to identify BBSRC-funded research that has potential applications in industry, and to connect the researchers with the right company and with a relevant company collaborator. The long-term relationships between industry and academic researchers created will accelerate the translation of academic research outputs into new technologies and product candidates of commercial impact, through academic-industry research collaborations, followed by licensing deals or spin-out companies. The companies will then exploit the research and create economic value for the industry and supply patients with treatments for diseases that are currently untreatable.

The aim of the fellowship is to focus academic research in Manchester on the application of modern bioscience to the production of biological medicines, such as recombinant proteins, antibodies and vaccines. This is the most rapidly growing segment of the pharmaceuticals industry. The Industrial Impact Fellow will be based at a new Centre of Excellence in Biopharmaceuticals (COEBP) within the School of Life Sciences at the University of Manchester. The University of Manchester and regional network Bionow are investing £4.6million in the new staff and equipment to enable the new Centre to be set up. The fellow is an industry veteran with over 35 years experience in the Biopharmaceutical industry. His knowledge of biopharmaceutical companies and their research specialisations and his contacts within the companies will enable him to identify BBSRC funded research that has potential applications in industry, and to connect the researchers with the right company and with a relevant company collaborator. The long-term relationships between industry and academic researchers created will accelerate the translation of academic research outputs into new technologies and product candidates of commercial impact, through academic-industry research collaborations, followed by licensing deals or spin-out companies. The companies will then exploit the research and create economic value for the industry and supply patients with treatments for diseases that are currently untreatable. The University of Manchester has enormous expertise in Systems Biology and Protein Sciences, Analytical methods and Pharmaceutics which can be applied to fundamental questions underlying the production of these new medicines. The research will reduce the costs of manufacturing these drugs and reduce the time taken to complete the development work needed to show their clinical efficacy and safety.

From his extensive background, and continued involvement with the UK sector, Dr Rhodes has one of the largest networks of industrial contacts and will provide a unique ingress for development of, and extension beyond current, industrial links. In addition to development of commercial interactions, we envisage that Dr Rhodes will facilitate greater engagement between industrial scientists and the general public, either through connections made with our already extensive public engagement activities (eg Beacon for Public Engagement Project) or specifically through activities with the Institute for Science Ethics and Innovation (Prof Sir John Sulston and Prof John Harris) or via our entrepreneurial activities promoted at all levels of the University through the University Technology Transfer sector (UMIP) and the Manchester Enterprise Centre. The breadth of activities at the University of Manchester offers the opportunity to generated a multi-facetted approach towards clear demonstration of how our culture can make an impact at the levels of scientific developments and awareness of the value of our scientific work. This is a reflected in our commitment to the BBSRC Excellence with Impact Competition in which the Faculty of Life Sciences is one of the short-listed participants. UK businesses will benefit from more efficient development and manufacturing of breakthrough drugs treating previously untreatable diseases. The UK economy will benefit from a more successful Pharmaceutical Industry, and a healthier population. A role of the fellow would be to develop the COEBP industrial strategy and also assist with its implementation, setting up permanent structures and processes and attracting world class industry advisers and collaborators to its advisory groups. Seventeen UK Biopharmaceutical companies are already members of BBSRC BRIC and the fellow would seek to assist the translation to these companies of BRIC research from Manchester in collaboration with other BRIC Universities where possible. The economic impact of the proposed fellowship will take some time to become clear, because of the long lead times of biopharmaceutical research and development. In addition, licensee companies may not reveal the financial impact of the new technologies which reduce the cost of manufacture or speed progress to the clinic. The success fo the fellowship will therefore be judged by intermediate milestones, and the collection of case studies. Early success will be evidenced by the increasing number of academic scientists working in collaboration with company scientists through research council or Technology Strategy Board funded scheme, such as the extended BBSRC BRIC club. Some of these may mature into longer term relationships such as broader research programmes, mainly funded by the company, consultancies, membership of advisory boards etc. Later on, company uptake of technologies through Materials Transfer Agreements and research collaboration agreements for direct industry funded work will be monitored. Finally licensing agreements and spin-out company formation may be achieved. The economic impact of company exploitation can potentially be seen in royalty payments for technology licensed or capital raised for spin-out companies