University wins funding to boost Industry engagement
Our University has received £150K from the Medical Research Council (MRC) in order to develop new academic-industry partnerships.
The University’s College of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology has been awarded the sum from the Proximity to Discovery: Industry Engagement Fund - a new scheme which aims to support early interactions and knowledge exchange between industry and academic researchers.
A total of £3.3m to 17 universities has been awarded.
Professor Philip Baker, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Head of the College of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology, Dean of Medicine who was the lead applicant for this award, said: “It is critically important that the College translates our exciting biomedical discoveries for patient benefit. This award is part of our overall strategy to ensure that we establish robust partnerships with colleagues in the pharmaceutical and life science industries.”
The latest awards contribute to a total of £1M received from the MRC to support translational research.
Dr Ismael Tejero, Business Development Manager of the College of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology and co-applicant, said: “With highly trained staff, state-of-the-art research infrastructure and co-localisation with clinical academics from the University Hospitals of Leicester, our Leicester Drug Discovery and Diagnostics Centre is successfully progressing basic research projects conducted at the University into new medicines and treatments for patients. We already have solid links with many of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies including GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca and this award from MRC will definitely help us to establish more collaborations between external partners and our researchers.”
The MRC is making a total of £23.3m awards of which Leicester has been successful in securing £1M in Confidence in Concept and Proximity to Discovery awards. The MRC is accelerating innovative medical research with funding to take ground-breaking ideas from UK universities into industry and out to patients.