Accessing External Facilities and Expertise

Thanks to all that attended the meeting on Monday the 20th of June. It was a great afternoon with a trio of excellent speakers and interesting discussions around funding, technology and innovation.

The day started at 11am with a talk from John Pillmoor. John outlined the function of the Technology Facility (TF), the expertise to be found within and the opportunities for collaboration. He also spoke of current interactions with businesses, which range from SMEs to multinationals, all of which engage with the experts, find the arrangement hugely valuable and continue using and collaborating with the TF as a whole. The TF can offer access to facilities, expertise, collaboration, working space and training on the latest equipment. Due to the proximity of the laboratories and the tight-knit group they can be reactive to challenges and being close to the University acaedmics can also access expertise there. They are also useful as equipment manufacturer contacts as they have close ties with the companies providing the kit.

After John, Chris Thompson of ViaDynamics gave his talk on innovation. You may have heard lots on Open Innovation (OI), Chris maintains that OI is a subset of innovation which has been happening for a long time. His talk covered the fundamentals of Innovation, how it is used and where it often leads as well as what is required for a successful outcome. Chris has an excellent grounding in this field as Via has worked with many global companies to define strategies for innovation. A point that struck me was that innovation required three partners; a creator/inventor, a sponsor/editor and an implementer/executor. In other words the ideas person, the money person and the driver person.

Tours around the facility followed and then a welcome lunch followed by Merlin Goldman from the TSB. Merlin covered the TSB's role in innovative technology development and the TSB methods of funding, including KTP, SBRI, Grant for R&D and the collaborative R&D grants. Merlin was engaging and passionate with a great sense of humour and gave the attendees an insight into the thinking behind the TSB's strategy. It was apparent that the people at the TSB are keen to help companies and researchers to win funding.

The final speaker was Graham Lappin, CSO of Xceleron, a company that can measure radioisotopes at levels which aren't considered radioactive. Measuring at this level enables radioisotope tests on things like in vivo drug persistence without all the regulatory issues surrounding typical radioactive work. Xceleron has worked in close association with the TF for a while and developed tests and samples for use in their business. Graham gave a great talk, interspersed with historical and scientific references. The passion with which Graham gave that talk and how he advocated the use of external collaborators gave a feeling for the possibilities available through engaging with experts who are willing to help.

The significant other activity was the challenge forums. These tested the laboratory heads with five prearranged challenges. These were real problems, faced by the businesses and by the TF. Over 40 minutes, the five problems were broken down and the methods of attack considered. The challenges ranged from characterising glycosylation of expressed proteins to identifying and quantifying two optically similar compounds in a solution. We covered proteomics, genomics, protein production, molecular interactions and cytometry and it was fascinating to hear the solutions.

At the end of the day we came together to chat and explore collaborations. I know of two avenues that are being explored in terms of working more closely and hope that everyone came away from the day with as much as I did.

A final note: What do people think about repeating the challenge forum on a small scale? We could collect challenges and when a critical mass is reached and get together after work (with cake and wine!?) to discuss. I would welcome a chance to get my teeth into more problem solving at a technical level! Let me know!