Author: Angela Bywater

Advanced Bio-manufacturing Conference Sheffield: 18-19 May 15

Includes a number of speakers who are leaders in their fields of Protein Engineering/Analytics and Cell Engineering/Synthetic & Systems Biology, as well as international representation from academia and industry. Further details at http://www.sheffieldbiomanufacturing.org/index.php/news-events/event/advanced-biomanufacturing-conference/

AD Network Awards its 3rd Business Interaction Voucher

Our third Business Interaction Voucher has been awarded. These vouchers support collaborations between industrial and academic partners within the Network. Our first two BIVs are well on track to produce some good information for the industrial partners and we have two more in the pipeline. Interested in finding out how we can help fund an academic to help you with a business problem? Take a look at our Information on BIVs.

View from the Lab – Send in your photos!

The BBSRC have a new project called ‘View from the Lab’. They are looking for very short submissions which capture the day in the life of a scientist. If you would like to get involved, all you have to do is take a picture and tell them a little bit about yourself (just a paragraph or two). This is a great opportunity to put your communication skills into action, and gives you the chance to practice explaining what you do to a lay audience.

Here is what you do:

  1. Take a picture. It could be the view from your window or from your desk/bench, and it doesn’t have to be an actual lab if you’re a scientist who does field work or sits in front of a computer. The only guideline is for the photo to be of your view, not you. If you can capture something cool and exciting in your view (such as a piece of equipment used in your research) then even better.
  2.  Tell us about yourself and the picture. Send us your name, email address, country, job title and…

What do you do? Explain in one paragraph, and for a lay audience, what your job entails. Make sure you explain any terms that non-scientists might not understand.

What can I see in the picture you sent? Describe your view in one paragraph

When I’m not doing science, I… Tell us a bit more about yourself in one paragraph

Send your entries to Anisha Chandar – Anisha.Chandar@bbsrc.ac.uk

IB Catalyst Engineering Event – 9 Jun 15

The KTN are holding an IB Catalyst Engineering focused workshop on Tuesday 9th June in Fallowfield, Manchester from 09.30 to 16.00.  Register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ib-catalyst-engineering-focused-workshop-tickets-16629811213

This is a free consortium-building event which aims to present information to Engineering academics and encourage them to apply their skills to IBBE problems and become involved in IB Catalyst proposals. The workshop offers opportunities for engineers to provide new approaches for IB projects and for  biotechnological industries searching to design engineering solutions to their biological processes.

This is a free consortium-building event to stimulate engineering lead projects for the Industrial Biotechnology Catalyst (IB Catalyst). It is designed to help business and researchers develop innovative engineering solutions for different industrial biotechnological applications.

The aim of this workshop is to:

  • Highlight the engineering opportunities within industrial biotechnology;
  • Identify new engineering technologies that could be applied to a range of biological processes: and
  • Learn about national investment in industrial biotechnology through IB Catalyst, NIBBs and Supergen.

Representatives from Innovate UK, EPSRC, BBRSC and KTN will be present to address any queries related to the funding competition.

Who should attend?

 The workshop offers opportunities for:

  • Engineers to provide new approaches for industrial biotechnological projects.
  • Biotechnological industries searching to design engineering solutions to their biological processes.

Workshop Structure

It covers:

  • Scope of the IB Catalyst competition and rules
  • Overview of different opportunities that engineering offers to industrial biotechnology.
  • State-of-the-art engineering technologies for biotech companies.
  • Delegate pitch presentations outlining expertise and chances for collaboration.

About IB Catalyst

In January 2014 Innovate UK, BBRSC and EPSRC invested £40M to support integrated researcher and development projects through the Industrial Biotechnology Catalyst (IB Catalyst). The IB Catalyst provides funding to companies and researchers to work together in priority areas to bring their biotechnology innovations to market and to help cement the UK’s position as a world leading sector.

IB Catalyst programme will accelerate commercialization by supporting the development of new industrial biotechnology products and processes, and enabling their potential to scale-up. It supports R&D for the processing and production of materials, chemicals and bioenergy through the sustainable exploitation of biological resources.

There are five types of award – Early Stage; (1) Translational, and (2) Feasibility studies: (3) Industrial Research: (4) Late Stage; and (5) Experimental Development – and, with the exception of Translation awards that are academic lead, can involve a single business or be collaborative. Total Project Size can range from up to £250k for feasibility studies to up £10m for experimental development.

Scope:

IB Catalyst supports R&D in the process and production of materials, chemicals (including pharmaceutical precursors and biopharmaceuticals) and bioenergy. The biological resources that may be used in these processes include tissues, enzymes, and genes from algae, marine life, fungi, microorganisms and plants.

Projects should address one or more of the following challenges using biological processes, or processes in which biological and chemical approaches are used in combination:

  • Production of fine and speciality chemicals and natural products (for example fragrances, flavours, and pharmaceutical intermediates).
  • Production of commodity, platform and intermediate chemicals and materials (for example plastics, resins and textiles).
  • Production of liquid and gaseous biofuels.
  • Production of peptides and proteins (for example enzymes, antibiotics, and recombinant biologics).
  • Novel or improved upstream or downstream processes to reduce cost or improve efficiency.

The IB Catalyst will not fund research that uses feedstock from material that could be used for human food or animal feed to produce liquid and gaseous fuels (unless they have already fulfilled their food purpose).

Projects involving the production of food and drink are out of scope. However, projects may address the production of fine chemicals for use as food ingredients, for example flavourings and colourings. The IB Catalyst will not support research on natural products aimed at discovering new organisms or searching for new activity, but will support the translation of discoveries into a commercial activity.

 

INVISTA Biotechnology Job Vacancies

A number of roles are available at INVISTA, a biotechnology company currently embarking on a major recruitment exercise. Further details here:

Senior Computational Biology Research Engineer Job Advert Senior Research Engineer – Research Scientist Bioinformatics Computational Biology Job Advert Senior Research Scientist – Principal Engineer job advert Senior Research Engineer – Research Scientist Bioinformatics Computational Biology Job Advert 2 Senior Research Scientist – Molecular Biology Metabolic Engineering Job Advert Research Scientist – Molecular Biology RNA Sequencing Job Advert Research Scientists – Molecular Biology Strain Development Job Advert Research Scientists – x8 Entry roles