13.10.2008

Lyosolutions (www.lyosolutions.co.uk), who carry out bespoke research and development into freeze drying biological materials, especially for pharmaceutical companies, have announced that they have secured a contract to carry out R&D on a 3rd generation vaccine product. Leading this project will by Dr Matthew Brown who has recently joined Lyosolutions from Harvard University where he undertook research on host cell invasion by microbial pathogens. Peter Riggs, Managing Director of Lyosolutions, commented 'I am very pleased to appoint Matthew to lead this project. He is an outstanding scientist with exceptional academic credentials. His in-depth understanding of the mechanisms of microbial pathogenicity, combined with hands-on experience of cell culture and molecular biology, will be invaluable assets to Lyosolutions in the delivery of this very important project.' 18.09.2008

Enigma Diagnostics the decentralised and point-of-care molecular diagnostics company based on the Tetricus Science Park, has announced that it has been awarded a grant of £1.8M from the UK Government's Technology Strategy Board under the 'Technologies for Health' programme. The objective of the programme is to develop a 'gold-standard' portable, rapid, automated DNA analysis (PRADA) molecular test system for the diagnosis of infectious diseases in decentralised and point-of-care settings such as GP surgeries. The focus of the programme will be on sexually transmitted diseases including Chlamydia and healthcare associated infections including MRSA. . Further details on the Enigma web site, www.enigmadiagnostics.com

13.08.2008

More good news from Alaska Food Diagnostics who have attracted new investment funding to accelerate commercial roll-out of revolutionary fastrak™ pathogen detection technology. The investment of over £4.5 million will allow Alaska to accelerate the introduction of its ground-breaking fastrAK™ technology and expand its operations to maximise market penetration. Further details on the Alaska web site, Here



09.07.2008

Tetricus Science Park tenant company, Alaska Food Diagnostics have announced that they have completed an agreement with Intertek, a leading international provider of quality and safety services, to deploy Alaska's rapid, specific pathogen detection systems for some of the Middle East's most prestigious names in hospitality. Through the partnership, Intertek's team of experts will deploy Alaska's range of advanced detection systems on-site for catering teams and departments. The technology provides results in less than 24 hours, as opposed to the standard 3-6 days that comes with conventional methods. For further details see the Alaska web site, Here

11.06.2008

The Bioapproaches Porton Down and Salisbury Showcase will take place on 16 July in Salisbury. There the diverse and significant expertise and facilities at Porton Down will be showcased in a unique event aimed at bringing together research organisations and businesses. The event will be a valuable opportunity to find out more about:
• The work of the Health Protection Agency and its contract manufacturing facilities
• The Tetricus bioincubator
• The HPA cell culture collections
• NHS Innovations SW, who are based in Salisbury, on how they are helping to support innovation in the NHS
• Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) on their innovations and commercial opportunities.
This unique event is an excellent opportunity to find out more about these important organisations and establish some valuable contacts. It will appeal to biotechnology and medical technology companies and researchers alike. Further details Here

07.05.2008

There was a good turnout for the recent Science Park seminar on Monday April 28th when Dr Bryan Bolton, Commercial Manager of the HPA Culture Collections, gave a talk on the HPA Culture Collections. The next seminar is planned for the end of June when Professor Nick Cross, Director of the Wessex National Genetics Reference Laboratory, will give a talk on the work of the WNGRL. If you would like to nominate a speaker to give a seminar to the Science Park (plus Dstl, HPA, NHS and other local scientists) or wish to give a seminar yourself, please contact us in the Tetricus office.


05.04.2008

The next Science Park seminar will be on Monday April 28th in the Conservation Museum, when Dr David Lewis, Head of the HPA Culture Collections will give a talk on the HPA Culture Collections. This will be from 12:30 until around 13:00 to 13:15 followed by light refreshments. All scientists from Dstl, the Science Park, HPA, the Salisbury NHS Trust and local bioscience companies are welcome. We will need to confirm numbers for catering so please book attendance by e-mailing info@tetricus.co.uk or calling 01980 556514 by Monday 21st April.


04.03.2008

Enigma Diagnostics, one of the key life science companies in the Tetricus Science Park at Porton Down has recently announced that it has signed real-time PCR licences with Applera Corporation, the US diagnostics company comprising Applied Biosystems and Celera Genomics. Enigma Diagnostics is developing rapid molecular diagnostics systems and the licenses, signed 6 February 2008, include a Real-Time Instrument Patent License Agreement and an Application Kit License Agreement. These agreements provide Enigma with access under patents owned or controlled by Applera for real-time PCR thermal cyclers and real-time PCR methods and compositions in specific fields.
The Real-Time Instrument Patent License Agreement covers Enigma's current and pipeline instrument platforms of fully automated, real-time thermal cyclers across the commercial market sectors of research and applied markets. This agreement also provides Enigma with an option for a license in clinical diagnostics.

The Application Kit License Agreement covers a portfolio of important patents covering reverse transcription-based methods, real-time PCR detection process and 5' Nuclease assays and compositions, for use in fields excluding human diagnostics.

John McKinley, Chairman of Enigma Diagnostics, said: 'These licenses together with Enigma's extensive portfolio of molecular diagnostic patents and unique instrument platforms confirm Enigma's leading position within the global molecular diagnostics market and underpin the launch of its instruments in 2008.'

16.01.2008

Science Park Seminars.
We had an excellent turn-out to our December Seminar entitled 'Prion Decontamination - New Challenges and Solutions' given by Dr Mark Sutton, Head of the TSE Research Team at HPA CEPR, Porton Down. In fact it was standing room only for late arrivals. The next in our programme of Seminars will be from 12:30 to 13:30 on Friday 29th February, again in the Dstl Conservation Museum, when Dr John Lincoln of Harlin Ltd (http://www.harlinltd.co.uk) will give a business incubation seminar entitled 'Maximising the Value of IP and Finding the Right Market Partner'.
All are welcome, especially those from the Porton Down Science Park, Dstl, HPA, NHS and local bioscience companies. If you are interested in attending please let us know several days beforehand (info @ tetricus.co.uk or 01980 556514) so we can plan refreshments and seating requirements.

13.11.2007

Tetricus tenant, Enigma Diagnostics, To Develop clinical diagnostics platform for UK national chlamydia screening programme.

New DNA-based test produces decisive result within minutes

Enigma Diagnostics, the life sciences company based in the Tetricus bioincubator on the Porton Down Science Park where it is developing rapid molecular diagnostics and detection systems, announces that it has successfully completed a project commissioned by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dtsl). The aim of this was to develop a rapid, point-of-care diagnostic system for screening and diagnosis of Chlamydia infections, the most common treatable sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the UK. The project was designed to meet the needs of the UK National Chlamydia Screening Programme (NCSP), part of the National Strategy for Sexual Health and HIV.

Enigma has developed a specific DNA test (assay), reagents and instrumentation capable of rapidly detecting Chlamydia trachomatis DNA from multiple urine and, uniquely, swab samples at the point of care (PoC), i.e. in a clinic or outreach centre. Feasibility of the assay has been proven in the laboratory and the product specifications have been validated with sexual health professionals.

The new system will be based on Enigma's fully-automated diagnostics platform, which uses real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology to detect bacterial target DNA in samples and provides definitive results in a matter of minutes, enabling immediate treatment as necessary. The system will also be very simple to use, requiring minimal training and experience, and importantly will provide ‘gold standard' laboratory quality results thereby reducing the need for samples to be sent to a laboratory for analysis. Other point of care diagnostics products for Chlamydia are known to give unreliable results.

07.10.2007

Enigma Diagnostics, the life sciences company developing rapid molecular diagnostics and detection systems, has announced a €3 million award from the European Commission Framework 7 programme to the RANGER consortium. The award will fund the development and validation of a fully automated, low cost system for the rapid diagnosis of influenza infections and subtypes. The RANGER consortium, which is coordinated by Enigma Diagnostics, comprises leading technology companies including Applied Biosystems, Sagentia, Tico Europe, Bruhn Newtech Group, Bioplastics BV and PERA who will contribute to the development of the instrument and assays. The consortium also includes the Health Protection Agency, the UK's national reference laboratory for influenza diagnostics, and the Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health who will evaluate and validate the system.

The system will be based on Enigma's proprietary and fully-automated instrumentation technology, which integrates sample preparation with real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect viral RNA in a full range of clinical samples. The simple-to-use, portable system will provide rapid results direct to medical staff in a near-patient or outreach environment in both the developed and developing world.

By providing laboratory standard, high specificity and sensitivity PCR results in a decentralised setting, the system will advance the diagnosis of early stage viral infections and the surveillance of disease outbreaks.

Enigma is also separately developing real-time PCR-based diagnostics systems targeting chlamydia, gonorrhoea and other sexually transmitted infections.

John McKinley, Chairman of Enigma Diagnostics, said: 'The award of this grant and the strength of our consortium partners is a great endorsement of Enigma's technology. It is also a strategically important milestone for the company as it demonstrates the utility of our real time PCR in what is an extremely challenging area of diagnosis. We are confident we will be able to deliver a system that rapidly and simply delivers laboratory quality results at the point of care



24.09.2007

Tetricus runs a series of scientific seminars to bring together scientist from Dstl, HPA, NHS Trusts and companies both from the Science Park and the local area.

The most recent, entitled 'Isolation and Identification of Emerging Campylobacteraceae" was presented by Dr Lucy Rieman from Alaska Food Diagnostics on 11th September 2007.

The next seminar is scheduled for November.



02.07.2007

FASTEST SALMONELLA TEST FOR RAPID PATHOGEN DETECTION

Alaska Food Diagnostics has launched fastrAKâ„¢ Salmonella, a groundbreaking ultra-rapid testing system for food manufacturers that provides results in 18 hours from sample receipt. The availability of results 6 hours earlier than with comparable methods effectively creates a working day advantage that can lead to cost savings on product storage and supply chain logistics.

Based at the UK government's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) at Porton Down, Alaska's team of world class scientists has exploited patented Adenylate Kinase (AK) Phageâ„¢ technology to develop the highly sensitive and specific fastrAKâ„¢ rapid assay system. The system shares the proven core technology of the clinical microbial detection platform just acquired by a high profile blue chip multinational.

fastrAKâ„¢ Salmonella combines novel technology with established culture and immunomagnetic methods, and has been thoroughly tested and validated by leading reference centres. Head of Microbiology R&D Dr Pradip Patel explained: "The time to result for this assay is a real breakthrough, together with its accuracy. We are confident it will make a significant impact in the drive for improved food safety standards'.

Sample pre-enrichment for 16 hours can be initiated throughout the day, ready for testing the next morning. After just two hours, products with known QC results can be shipped in time to meet the rigorous shelf life requirements of the processed, ready-to-eat poultry market. This rapid technique assists food manufacturers with in-process HACCP decisions and allows them to offer greater security and quality assurance to the ‘farm to fork' supply chain.

Contact Alaska:
+ 44 (0)1980 590030

14.12.2006

DRUG COMPANY HARNESSES PAIN HEALING QUALITIES OF CANNABIS

GW Pharmaceuticals (GW) is developing new medicines derived from cannabis to help relieve the suffering of patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and other severe medical conditions.

Based at the Tetricus bio-incubation unit at Porton Down, GW is licensed by the UK Home Office to work with a range of controlled drugs for medical research purposes, including cannabis.

GW's lead product Sativex®, a cannabis-based mouth spray medicine, was approved by Health Canada in April 2005 for the relief of neuropathic pain in MS sufferers and was launched in Canada in June 2005. The product is currently undergoing clinical trials in the UK and US.

GW has assembled a team of more than 100 scientists with extensive experience in developing both plant-based prescription pharmaceutical products and medicines containing controlled substances. The group has also developed secure and tamper-proof means of dispensing such drugs which have the potential for abuse or harm by inappropriate administration.

In addition, GW has established a separate division called the Cannabinoid Research Institute or 'CRI'. The CRI aims to link industry and academia in conducting exploratory research which it is hoped will lead to the identification of new applications for cannabis-based medicines.

Jonathan Laughton GW Pharmaceuticals, said: 'Our aim is to develop cannabis-based medicines that satisfy the standards of modern medical and pharmaceutical practice.

'Having access to specialised laboratory facilities in a secure and supportive environment is therefore crucial to achieving this goal, and this is exactly what Tetricus provides us with.'