News
Biosciences staff and businesses to receive major commercial skills training boost
16 April 2009
The biosciences sector is to receive a much needed boost to help it through the recession - thanks to a new business skills training project provided by the London BioScience Innovation Centre (LBIC) and the Royal Veterinary College (RVC).
Today’s (Thursday, April 16) announcement of the ORBIS project (Overcome Recession: Bioscience Investment in Skills) marks the first stage in a programme that will see up to 250 graduate-level individuals in London and the South-East helped. Sixty six-month paid internships will allow recent graduates and unemployed sector specialists to work for bioscience companies. While with them, the interns will bring new technical skills and will take part in a a comprehensive bio-business skills training programme. Participating companies will also be able to enter their scientific employees into a six-month programme of commercial skills training.Â
Project funding of £493,000 comes from the Economic Challenge Investment Fund (ECIF) managed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). The programme aims to promptly respond to the recession by recruiting participating companies and individuals immediately.
The successful project bid was led by Dr Ken Larkin of LBIC and Dr Jim Gazzard of the RVC.
Dr Gazzard said: ”The recession has hit the bioscience sector hard. ORBIS will help the vibrant mix of bioscience companies in London and the surrounding areas to respond to the downturn by training recent graduates and technical sector specialists in business skills and technology enterprise.”
Dr Larkin added: ”LBIC sits at the heart of the London bioscience community and we have first-hand experience of the challenges faced by bioscience companies at the current time. We are delighted that LBIC will be an integral part of the ORBIS bio-business training project and will help life science companies to survive and grow.”
Dr Tony Jones, Director London Biotechnology Network, commented that “ORBIS will address the key area of imparting commercial skills on highly qualified scientists, the combination of which is essential to nurture innovation into wealth creation. With over 130 biotech and pharmaceutical companies in Greater London development of the talent pool in this way is a clear commitment to invest in the future of our nascent life science industry.”
Prof Colin Howard, LBIC’s chief executive and Vice-Principal (Strategic Development) for the Royal Veterinary College, said: ”There is a clear need for an integrated training programme specifically for the biosciences sector to respond to the learning needs of employers, employees and graduates seeking to enter the sector. We believe that ORBIS, including its internship programme, will provide a fresh approach to workplace learning and employer engagement in the sector.”
Bioscience companies (including SMEs and larger companies), unemployed sector specialists and recent graduates can contact orbis@rvc.ac.uk for more information about the project and application details.
Equine stem cell technique to be trialled in human medicine
15 April 2009
A pioneering equine stem cell technique, which is used to successfully return injured horses to top levels of performance, is to be trialled in human medicine. The trials will be conducted by MedCell Bioscience Ltd under the guidance of Dr David Glover, former medical director of Cambridge Antibody Technologies, Professor Nicola Maffulli, one of the most pre-eminent sports medicine and orthopaedic consultants in the UK and Roger Smith, Professor of Equine Orthopaedics at The Royal Veterinary College.
The repair technique was pioneered by surgeons at the Royal Veterinary College, who helped set up MedCell as a spin-out company.