By Heather Hobbs BRINGING YOU THE LATEST RESEARCH & EVENTS NEWS FROM THE SCIENCE INDUSTRY Global Interest in International Food Safety Training Initiative


and The Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera), aims to improve compliance with EU food import standards.


Following a successful launch in January, the Fera International Food Safety Training Laboratory (IFSTL) has welcomed its first cohort of candidates. This major new international food safety training facility, a partnership between analytical equipment manufacturer Waters®


The first trainees to benefit from the new facility, based in York, England, comprised analysts from the United States, Great Britain & Northern Ireland, attending an intensive five day course in Pesticide Residue Analysis, led by Fera’s team of experts in this critical area of food safety.


Topics covered ranged from sample preparation and extraction to LC-MS/MS and GC-MS/MS practical and data processing. Quality control and EU regulations were also addressed. Early feedback from participants has already indicated the value and balance of the classroom and lab-based sessions.


Having successfully completed the course, David Sanderson, from the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI), Belfast commented, “As someone who has worked in pesticide residues analysis for several years I found the course interesting and the lectures were a helpful refresher. The course gave me an opportunity to witness first-hand techniques I am not ‘aux-fait’ with, and on matrices I don’t normally analyse.”


Following on from this was a 10-day training programme on Veterinary Drug Residues in Foods, attracting registrations from Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Tanzania and the UK.


Taking place in May, the next Fera IFSTL course will focus on Illegal Dyes.


More information on this and the current timetable of courses is available from www.defra.gov.uk/fera/ifstl or enquiries can be directed to the Fera IFSTL Manager, Imogen Foster, email ifstl@fera.gsi.gov.uk


Food safety training at Fera. Picture courtesy of The Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera), Crown Copyright. Find out more info. 7 Shire Wins


Novel Treatment Award from LDN


The Lysosomal Disease Network (LDN) presented Shire Human Genetic Therapies (HGT) with its first ever Novel Treatment Award for VPRIV during its 9th Annual World Symposium held on February 14th.


This new award will now be presented annually in recognition of new drugs or therapies that have made a considerable contribution in the area of lysosomal diseases.


“Shire has demonstrated its commitment to developing new therapies for the treatment of rare genetic diseases. We wanted to recognise the contribution of VPRIV for treatment of type 1 Gaucher disease by awarding Shire the first ever Novel Treatment Award,” said Chester Whitley, University of Minnesota and Principal Investigator, LDN.


“As new treatments are developed, we want to be sure that these huge efforts and accomplishments are recognised in the hope of inspiring other young investigators and corporate developers. We hope that this award is a way of demonstrating this.”


VPRIV, an enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) used for the long-term treatment of patients with type 1 Gaucher disease, has been assessed in more than 100 patients at 24 sites in 10 countries, representing the largest and most comprehensive clinical data set to support registration for an ERT for type 1 Gaucher disease, according to the company.


“This award embodies the spirit of our organisation – every employee at Shire is dedicated to developing and bringing forward new products, services and support offerings which can make a positive impact on patients’ lives.


“Shire is proud to provide Gaucher patients with an effective treatment option and continues to build upon a solid foundation, established by our lysosomal enzyme replacement therapies, to further support rare disease patients around the world,” said Dr Philip J. Vickers, Global Head of Research and Development, Shire HGT.


Find out more info. 9 Professor L’Huillier


Recognition for Swedish-French Scientist in the Field of Attosecond Physics


The winner of this year's Carl Zeiss Research Award, Professor Anne L’Huillier, is being honoured for her pioneering work in the field of high harmonic generation which has laid the foundation for the generation of atto-second impulses and enabled key advances in attosecond physics.


"Professor L’Huillier not only described the theory of attosecond technology, but also verified it experimentally”, stated the jury in announcing its decision. Her work enables further development and application of this technology.


Attosecond impulses can be used, for example, to observe the movement of electrons in atoms or molecules in real-time. This plays a key role in understanding general physical phenomena or chemical reactions at the atomic level.


The promise of attosecond technology is to record ultrashort time-lapse movies from the inside of atoms and molecules.


The Carl Zeiss Research Award, which has a value of €25,000 is conferred every two years for experimental and theoretical work in the field of optics.


The Award will be presented to Professor L’Huillier on Wednesday, 19 June 2013.


Find out more info. 8


Discovery STAR Award to Support Early Academic Drug Discovery


Domainex Ltd, specialists in drug discovery solutions and translational research support, has announced that it is launching its Discovery STAR Award to support academic groups at the early stages of drug discovery. The award scheme will provide successful applicants with virtual hit screening using the company’s LeadBuilder platform and/or drug discovery consultancy services. The aim will be to bridge a current ‘funding gap’ for these activities, thereby allowing projects to progress to an inflection point that is suitable for larger external grant-funding schemes such as the TSB/MRC Biomedical Catalyst Fund, The Wellcome Trust’s SDDI scheme, European Union FP7, and MRC DPFS.


Translational research is the conversion of early-stage discoveries into new health products. As a leader in the support of academic translational research, Domainex has secured funding with numerous groups at the forefront of drug target research. Once


funding is in place, and in full collaboration with the academic partner, Domainex will then deployed its own capabilities in medicinal and computational chemistry, biochemistry and DMPK testing to progress hit compounds through to the identification of clinical candidate drugs.


Company Chief Executive Officer of Domainex, said: “Domainex has successfully supported numerous academic groups across Europe and UK to apply for drug discovery funding from a range of sources – these include The Institute of Cancer Research; St. George’s, University of London; and the University of Manchester. However, small-molecule hits are typically required before funding can be secured, and the application process can be challenging for those without a commercial background. Domainex’s Discovery STAR Award will enable this gap to be filled for the selected recipients.”


Find out more info. 10


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