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Registration is open for the sixth Milner Symposium! Click the image above to view the programme and register.
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Milner Update: May 2021
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The team are busy planning for the Milner Symposium on June 22nd and hope that attendees will embrace the opportunities for increased interaction through the symposium platform. This year's programme includes fantastic speakers, a panel session on how Cambridge and business can work better together, opportunities to meet with Consortium companies, and even a live band! Register here »
This month saw the announcement of the first collaborative study from the Milner team with a publication in Nature , of a new approach to cancer treatment that targets an RNA modifying enzyme METTL3 from our Director Tony Kouzarides, Academic in Residence Kostas Tzelepis and Affiliated company Storm Therapeutics. Don't miss Tony's visual abstract complete with a very special Director's cut...
In this issue:
- Consortium Spotlight
- Connect: Health Tech Update
- Affiliated Company Spotlight: David Reese, Amgen
- Milner spotlight: Louisa Bellis
- New Affiliated Companies
- Affiliated Company News
- Events
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Consortium Spotlight
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Our Consortium is currently seeking proposals for academic-industry research collaborations that can transform pioneering science into therapies by developing better models of disease and uncovering novel and biologically informed targets. Read more »
Watch this new video to learn more about how the Milner Therapeutics Consortium has brought together ten pharma partners to work with academics at the University of Cambridge, Babraham Institute and Wellcome Sanger Institute.
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Connect: Health Tech Update
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Want to be the first to know when the online platform goes live? Fill in your details here and we'll be in touch!
This key online tool will support interdisciplinary interactions and collaborations between a wide range of health-tech stakeholders from academic and business. The platform will also showcase events from across the University and Cambridge cluster and highlight active funding calls.
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Affiliated Company Spotlight
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David Reese
Executive Vice President, R&D
Amgen
Areas of current interest for Amgen: We focus on six therapeutic areas: cardiovascular disease, oncology, bone health, neuroscience, nephrology, and inflammation. Our approach to R&D is marked by the pursuit of therapies with large effects in serious diseases; the use of genetics to identify and validate drug targets; and continuous innovation in our technology platforms and clinical trial operations.
Key industry challenge for the field: Ensuring that patients can access and actually use the innovative therapies our scientists develop. Historically, this was seen as an issue that the industry’s commercial teams needed to deal with, but the solution has to start with a commitment from R&D groups to expediently deliver medicines that are well-differentiated from existing options and offer clear value to patients, providers, and payers.
Most exciting basic or clinical breakthrough in the past few years: Biotechnology is advancing so rapidly, it’s hard to cite just one breakthrough, so I’d point instead to the astonishing expansion in the amount and types of data that R&D teams can now access. That includes not only genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics etc., but real-world data and patient-level clinical trial data. We’re using these data to improve target validation; predict drug safety; model and simulate clinical trials to design faster, less costly, and more successful studies; and execute these studies flawlessly by identifying study sites and investigators with access to large, diverse patient populations.
Find out more about Amgen by visiting their website. Click here »
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Milner Spotlight
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Louisa Bellis
Business Operations Manager
Milner Therapeutics Institute
What are your main duties at work?: I support our Deputy Director Kathryn Chapman by managing the support services throughout the Institute, which includes developing and implementing HR and admin policy for the Centre for Pathway Analysis, the companies and academics in residence, financial monitoring of grants and other income to report to the Governance Board, as well as oversight of recruitment procedures. Additionally, I ensure there is ongoing compliance within the MTI to the Health & Safety policy, which is especially important right now with the ever-evolving developments with COVID.
What inspires you in your working life?: Being happy. Helping people. Variation. These are the three main priorities when I look for in my career.
I am driven by the fact that you spend the majority of your life at work, so, if you’re lucky enough to have the luxury of choosing what career you can have, you should to choose one that makes you happy!
Variation is also key - I like not knowing each day what my inbox will hold and what I will be asked to do next. It keeps me on my toes and also forces me learn new things, whether that’s a new finance-related process or a previously unknown HR policy. At this stage, you could pretty much test me on my wealth of knowledge of the HR Recruitment Policy… it might be my Mastermind subject.
What would we most likely find you doing on the weekend?: I like to walk my dogs, or let them take me for a drag, which is more accurate. Currently, I customise clothing with slogans/designs and make personalised leather bookmarks and key fobs for friends and family.
Give us one random fact about you: I’ve been on three different TV shows across two of the main channels. My family was very proud!
The Milner team is growing. Find out who's who by visiting our website »
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New Affiliated Companies
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Sai Life Sciences
Based across India, Europe and the USA, Sai Life Sciences delivers advanced discovery, contract development and manufacturing solutions, through a broad suite of expert capabilities across the molecular lifecycle.
If you would like to find out more about becoming affiliated, email our Head of Partnerships and Alliance, Alison Schuldt: a.schuldt@milner.cam.ac.uk
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Affiliated Company News
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Abcam and MEDx Translational Medicine (formerly QIAGEN (Suzhou) Translational Medicine) have extended their strategic partnership, including the co-development and commercialization of key companion and in vitro diagnostic kits. Read more »
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Alloy Therapeutics announced the close of a $75 million Series C financing round. Read more »
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Aptamer Group have initiated a commercial partnership with Mologic, which will include work on Aptamer Group’s AptaDx SARS-CoV-2 lateral flow rapid antigen test for professional use. Read more »
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Benevolent AI has been highlighted by Fierce Medtech in its Fierce 15 2020 list. Read more »
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BioAscent was awarded the Business Leadership Award at Scotland’s Life Sciences Awards. Read more »
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Biomax Informatics have developed a novel knowledge management and database solution NeuroCONNECT for EBRAINS, the digital research infrastructure created by the EU-funded Human Brain Project. Read more »
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Biorelate have announced a new contract with e-therapeutics PLC for Galactic Data around their data-driven discovery platform. Read more »
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Biosceptre has secured £7 million to boost development of its nfP2X7-targeted CAR T program. Read more »
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Bit.bio won Biotech Company of the Year at the Cambridge Independent Science and Technology awards, which also included nominations for Microbiotica and Phoremost. Read more »
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Cell Guidance Systems announced its Polyhedrin Delivery System (PODS) technology modulates macrophage secretion profiles with therapeutic potential. Read more »
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Genedata's Profiler platform is adopted by MacroGenics to accelerate development of immunotherapies and to design smarter clinical trials. Read more »
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Genestack announced that its Omics Data Manager (ODM) product has been licensed and implemented by the Wellcome Sanger Institute. Read more »
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Healx is collaborating with Ataxia UK and FARA to develop novel treatments for the rare neurodegenerative condition Friedreich’s ataxia. Read more »
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Intellegens and Ansys, an engineering simulation company, are collaborating to integrate machine learning methods into Additive Manufacturing (AM) workflows. Read more »
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MedAnnex won three awards at Scotland’s Life Sciences Annual Awards including ‘Investment of the Year’, in recognition of the company’s £11m Series B funding. Read more »
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Microbiotica has finalised its move to purpose-configured facilities at Chesterford Research Park, to accommodate its long-term growth requirements. Read more »
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Obrizum Group are partnering with Capita, as it targets a major overhaul of the corporate learning and development market in 2021. Read more »
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o2h CEO Sunil Shah won the CEO of the Year award at the Cambridge Independent Science and Technology Awards. Read more »
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Pelago Bioscience announced expansion to a new facility in central Stockholm. Read more »
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Phoremost has completed an oversubscribed £33m Series B investment round, which will be used to progress PhoreMost’s preclinical ‘Allosteric PLK1’ collaboration with Sentinel Oncology into the clinic in 2022. Read more »
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Repure Life Science LG Chem's team leader Bong Chan Kim, who contributed to the development of a new drug for diabetes, was awarded a commendation from the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT. Read more »
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Standigm has closed $44.5 million in a final pre-IPO funding round. Read more »
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Events
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LMB Zoominar
25th May, Online
Speaker: Tony Wyss-Coray, D.H Chen Professor II, Stanford University, USA
Title: Systemic regulation of brain aging and function
Read more »
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Milner Seminar Series
27th May, Online
This month our speaker is Benedict Cross from Phoremost. Benedict will deliver a presentation entitled “PROTEINi-based perturbation screening for new target discovery”. Registration is free but essential.
Read more »
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3D Printing of Medicines for Personalised Treatment & Other Applications
9th June, Online
Dr Alvaro Goyanes Goyanes, Co-founder and Director of Development in FabRx Ltd., will talk about the use of 3D printing technology in the development and manufacturing of medicines. Read more »
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CATS-Milner Therapeutic Perspectives Series
10th June, Online
The CATS-Milner Therapeutic Perspectives Series is a new panel event that provides expert opinion and thought-provoking discussion around key challenges in translational research. It is aimed at a mixed academic-industry audience and draws on expert speakers from across academia, industry, medicine, investors, policy and funding.
Our first event will focus on experimental breakthroughs and challenges in research into Alzheimer’s disease, key gaps and how to best create the right environment to support new treatments.
Read more »
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ELRIG: Translating ideas into therapies 2021
28th & 29th June, Online
This meeting aims to bring together the research community working in the field of new medicine creation with interests in developing their translational research ideas and applying novel technologies and means of collaboration to address critical clinical needs. Join scientists from academia, pharma, biotech and CRO’s either in person or online to hear talks given by speakers at the cutting edge of their field and gain strategic insights into solutions for increasing the success of your therapeutic ideas. Read more »
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