Bioscience lab opens up in Cambridge
pharmafile | January 20, 2015 | News story | Research and Development | AstraZeneca, BIA, Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge, Menelas Pangalos
The UK Bennet Building bioscience laboratory doors have been opened during a ceremony at the Babraham Research Campus in Cambridge this week.
This new test centre was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), as part of its £44 million development programme for the expansion of the South Cambridgeshire site.
The funding was initially awarded to the UK council by the government in 2011 to help support its drive for bioscience innovation, and was part of extra infrastructure investment for UK science as part of the budget.
During the formal opening of the building Pharmafile spoke to Dr Celia Caulcott, who is the executive director for Innovation and Skills at the BBSRC, who said: “This is a research and innovation campus and attracted to it are a series of companies.
“What we have here is phenomenal research capacity and facilities, and many small companies are coming here because they want access – they want to meet the scientists, and they want to be in a great location.”
Recently appointed to the board of directors of the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA), Caulcott adds that the life sciences campus will benefit the economy, new companies and create jobs.
“In a sense you want to do more than see great research going on, you want to see it making a difference. That’s what the Babraham Research Campus is all about, it’s about getting the outputs of research and driving it to make a real difference.
The new facility is home to state-of-the-art molecular laboratories and office space. Two companies that have already moved in are Eagle Genomics, a firm who provide bio-informatics services and antibody medicine developer, and antibody development outfit Kymab.
The Bennet Building was officially opened by AstraZeneca’s early development executive vice president, Menelas Pangalos. He told Pharmafocus that the importance of the ‘fantastic new dynamic building’ for the area of Cambridge is to create opportunities for new biotech companies.
“Having a space like this available to small companies who are starting out and giving them that space in an area where its vibrant with access to great scientists, where it’s easy to recruit and is an attractive site is incredibly important. It makes it much easier to get start-ups off the ground.”
AZ revealed that it is planning to move its own facilities to the area of Cambridge, as Pangalos explained, “Cambridge in its own right if you stack it up, the quality, breadth and depth here is phenomenal. Your scientists are rubbing shoulders with some of the best scientists and institutions around the world.
“Building these networks and collaborations now, today, is what will sustain us two, three, four, five, 10 years down the road, but the whole point has really been very closely linked to networking with the academic community and the biotech community, which is what will happen here,” he concluded.
Tom Robinson
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