Multi-Million Deal Boosts Prospects in Ayrshire
On March 8th, Scottish Secretary David Mundell was joined by council leaders and the Scottish Government’s Cabinet Secretary for transport, infrastructure and connectivity, Michael Matheson, to sign a transformational growth deal for Ayrshire.
Both the UK and Scottish Governments will invest £103 million into the region over the next 15 years, which will be bolstered with further investment from regional partners bringing the total to more than £250 million.
Ayrshire comprises the three local authority areas of East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire and South Ayrshire and is home to approximately 370,000 people. The growth deal will invest in growing sectors including aerospace, energy and life sciences as well as building on Ayrshire’s existing strengths in food and drink, manufacturing and engineering.
Some of the projects, which are all subject to approval of fi nal business cases, include:
£80 million investment to position Ayrshire as one of the UK’s leading centres of aerospace
£23 million to build on Ayrshire’s proud history of manufacturing £24 million to help harness the potential of local energy generation
A further £18 million to create a Centre for Research into low carbon energy at the Hunterston industrial hub
£14 million investment in improving the region’s digital connectivity and infrastructure
Scottish Secretary David Mundell said: “It’s fantastic news that the UK Government is to invest more than £100 million to grow Ayrshire’s economy, create jobs and boost prosperity. This investment will transform the Ayrshire economy over the coming 15 years.
“We are investing in a raft of exciting and ambitious projects right across Ayrshire. Initiatives include an aerospace development at Prestwick, a low carbon energy scheme at Hunterston, a local electricity supply project in Cumnock, a manufacturing corridor in Kilmarnock, and a digital subsea cable to dramatically improve connectivity.
“The Ayrshire growth deal brings UK Government investment in growth deals in Scotland to £1.3 billion, a huge commitment to growing Scotland’s economy.”
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Rapid Diagnostic Method Receives Major Funding Boost
Innovate UK has announced £1.5 million funding for a University of Glasgow spinout bringing to market a fast method for disease diagnosis. Requiring a matching subcomponent of 30% from the private sector, this grant will support emerging biological sample analysis and point of care diagnostic company SAW Dx with the development of its low-cost sample preparation system over the next two years. The funding follows successful completion of a £1.1 million award from the UK Government’s Biomedical Catalyst fund.
SAW Dx is built on unique acoustic-fl ow technology developed at the University of Glasgow’s School of Engineering. Samples of patients’ blood, swabs or urine are placed on a disposable chip. The interaction between the sound waves and the chip enables the release of DNA and its amplifi cation, enabling test results in as little as 10 minutes.
Dr Julien Reboud, a co-founder and one of the inventors of SAW Dx said: “This new award will help the company secure its foothold in the growing point of care diagnostic market, whilst also opening up other potential research applications. Point of care testing provides near-immediate results, which allows the clinician to optimise treatment decisions while the patient is still in the clinic, rather than prescribing unnecessary antibiotics, which is often the case today.”
Targeting markets including sexual health screening and hospital- acquired infections, in the respiratory health context, SAW is currently developing rapid tests for fl u, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and strep A, which collectively affect 750 million people each year and are associated with expensive in-patient isolation for vulnerable patients (fl u) and/or severe over-prescription of antibiotics (Strep A).
Professor Jon Cooper, director and academic founder of SAW Dx, said: “We’re extremely pleased to have won additional support from Innovate UK. Initial clinical tests of early prototypes of SAW Dx with NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde have produced excellent results.
“We’re particularly excited to offer a technology with the potential to transform infectious disease care, whilst contributing to enhanced antimicrobial stewardship. For example, we note that recent publications in the Sexual Health fi eld suggest the potential for point-of-care testing to reduce unnecessary prescriptions by an order of magnitude.”
The new Innovate UK award is timely, coming on the back of the updated antimicrobial resistance (AMR) strategy released on 24 January, outlining the UK Government’s plan to tackle AMR over the next 5 and 20 years – in which the development of, and access to, effective diagnostics were key objectives.
In addition to support from Innovate UK, SAW Dx successfully closed a seed investment round in 2017 with IP Group, a developer of intellectual property-based businesses, and the Scottish Investment Bank, the investment arm of Scottish Enterprise. The company is currently seeking additional investment. In early 2018, the company recruited Dr Iain Miller, who brings extensive diagnostic industry experience, as CEO. Iain is leading the current fundraising round.
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PREP 2019: 32nd International Symposium and Exhibit on Preparative and Process Chromatography
PREP2019, the Preparative & Process Chromatography Conference which will be showcasing the latest in scientifi c advances will take place at the Hyatt Regency, Baltimore Inner Harbour, MD, USA, on 7-10 July.
The PREP series of symposia, said to be the longest running, most
recognised international conference and exposition
driving the fi eld of preparative and process chromatography, is organised by expert scientists and engineers for the separation science practitioner. Scientists from around the world will deliver cutting edge presentations addressing the latest developments and hottest topics in all areas of preparative and process chromatography. The focus of the conference will highlight the discovery, development and production aspects covering a broad range of topics. The program will be packed with papers on biochromatography, downstream processing, QbD, monoclonal antibodies, plasmids, enzymes, vaccines, viral vectors for gene delivery, VLPs and other biopharmaceuticals, chiral molecules, SFC, fi ne chemicals, peptides, proteins, oligonucleotides, APIs, natural products, batch, multicolumn and continuous SMB processes, column technology and equipment, monoliths, new and improved stationary phases, membrane chromatography, regulatory aspects, and more.
www.PREPsymposium.org 48677pr@reply-direct.com Inner Harbour, Baltimore
ISPPP 2019, 39th International Symposium and Exhibit on the Separation, Purification and Characterisation of Biologically Important Molecules
Get ready for the premier conference of the year where scientists from around the world will
deliver cutting-edge presentations
covering the world of biological separations and analysis. ISPPP 2019 will take place at the Hyatt Regency, Baltimore Inner Harbour, MD, USA from 10-12 July. The organisers are pleased to invite you to attend 3 days of exciting separation science at the longest running international symposium on biological separations, run by practitioners, for practitioners. World renowned scientists will address key developments and applications, productivity and fi nancial challenges, and novel approaches related to biological molecule separations and analysis. The focus will be on the latest innovations in technologies that are critical in clinical and biopharmaceutical research and are requirements in the manufacturing and quality control of new biotherapies and diagnostics. It’s an exciting time for the separation science of biological molecules. The fi eld continues to grow and adapt, enjoy better materials, instruments and methods
and a seeming never-ending list of interesting molecules to work on. More information online:
ilmt.co/PL/PGyJ
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