University of Edinburgh 2021 Flexible Talent Mobility Account

Lead Research Organisation: University of Edinburgh
Department Name: Sch of Clinical Sciences

Abstract

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Publications

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Description The FTMA award is predominantly to do with enabling academic-industry interactions and providing opportunities for early career researchers from both academia and industry to understand what doing science is like in the alternative setting rather than specific project outcomes. For the first time, however, this FTMA award chose to also enable skills development, professional development and professional accreditation for technical staff - this has been very well received. The overall award has been an excellent scheme for academic-industry relationship building and enabling University technical staff to upskill in both techniques and applications which are both used and sought in a commercial setting. More details of the projects undertaken and technical research skills/tools acquired are in the narrative impact section.
Exploitation Route The industrial relationship involving TY has progressed as a result of the award and has led to him being approached for a piece of consultancy work by another partner. The award thus enabled him to advance his reputation in the field as an expert in the area. The initial consultancy work has completed and TY has been approached by the same partner to provide a further piece of consultancy in the same field. This award has also resulted in the acquisition of a new research tool/technique by UoE and the skills development of five technical staff who are now each fully trained on the equipment and procedure. The team identified a discrepancy in the results analysis from the enhanced 'live cell' training versus the standard 'barcoded bead' training programme and are currently still working with Berkeley Lights to optimise the analysis process. Once optimised, this service will be marketed and advertised broadly to internal and external clients at UoE. It is envisaged that this will also result in a more streamlined deployment of the tool/technique from Berkeley Lights to future clients. The award has also facilitated the hiring of Michela Barbato into UoE onto BB/W014610/1 to help shape the creation and deployment of the UoE iPSC progenitor bank. The bank intends to supply high quality neural progenitors to the global research community to enable groups, who otherwise do not have re-programming capabilities or associated culture experience, to conduct their research in patient derived cells.
Sectors Healthcare,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology
 
Description Tom Youdale's FTMA funded project secured continued engagement from the Industry collaborator to further progress the findings. Tom was additionally approached by Baillie Gifford for a piece of consultancy work which completed in 2022 and has subsequently been re-approached by the same partner to provide a further piece of consultancy - this activity is ongoing. Gaynor Campbell (GC), Peter Vegh (VG), Sophie Donovan (SD) and Rennos Fragkoudis (RF) were collectively awarded FTMA funds for skills development as a technical staff cohort. The award facilitated the groups training on Berkeley Lights "OPTOSEQ single cell 3' mRNA workflow" and the associated data analysis. The award supported the secondment of Jonathan Didier (Berkeley Lights) into UoE to provide enhanced training for the group on the technique and process using live CHO cells as opposed to the standard 'barcoded bead' training. As a direct result, anomalies were identified in the analysis process and the group are still collectively working with Berkeley lights to optimise the analysis before it is offered as a service to both internal and external clients. Once deployed, the combined system will enable technical staff within the Edinburgh Genome Foundry with the capability to perform single cell analysis on a variety of different cell-types on the Beacon platform; including those used for antibody and AAV production. Matching of single cell phenotypes to genomic information, will enable the provision of additional services including: cell population studies, transcriptomics and single cell sequencing. This expanded tool-kit will facilitate further automation of the entire process of screening, selection, genomic analysis and design, for faster optimisation of productive cell lines, which is attractive to internal (UoE) and external clients (additional Universities and commercial clients). Michela Barbato was seconded into UoE for two months to conduct a sector analysis and identify the potential commercial clients for the UoE iPSC progenitor cell bank funded as part of BB/W014610/1. The analysis included identifying competitors in the same space and summarising feedback on the performance of their products. This information will help shape the iPSC progenitor bank and Michela has now secured the research position within BB/W014610/1 to progress the development and construction of the bank at Edinburgh.
First Year Of Impact 2022
Sector Healthcare,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology
 
Title OPTOSEQ single cell 3' mRNA workflow 
Description The OPTOSEQ single cell 3' mRNA workflow will endow UoE's Berkley Lights Beacon system with the capability to perform single cell analysis on a variety of different cell-types; including those used for antibody and AAV production. Matching of single cell phenotypes to genomic information, will enable the provision of additional services, to both internal research clients and external commercial partners, including: cell population studies, transcriptomics and single cell sequencing. This expanded tool-kit will facilitate further automation of the entire process of screening, selection, genomic analysis and design, for faster optimisation of productive cell lines. 
Type Of Material Technology assay or reagent 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact While the research tool and method are available from Berkeley Lights, the OPTOSEQ single cell 3' mRNA workflow has not yet been offered as a service to internal or external clients at UoE due to an anomaly being found with the analysis process. The technical team within the Edinburgh Genome Foundry are currently still working with Berkeley Lights to optimise the analysis and ensure this part of the process is both robust and accurate. Once concluded, the optimised analysis process will enable Berkeley Lights to robustly deploy this tool/technique to future clients and the OPTOSEQ single cell 3' mRNA workflow will be widely advertised to UoE's internal and external client networks for engagement. On a staff development level, all four members of the Edinburgh Genome Foundry team who have been trained on the workflow now have direct hands on experience of the technique and process, which is more widely used in commercial settings. 
URL https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/berkeley-lights-expands-its-platform-and-introduces-the-opt...