Warwick Ventures at Biotrinity 2012

Warwick Ventures will be representing the University of Warwick’s latest licensing and partnering opportunities at one of Europe’s largest investment conferences this week.

The conference, held on April 24-26 at Newbury Racecourse, in Berkshire, brings together big Pharma, R&D organisations and biomedical investors. Warwick Ventures Business Development Managers, Dr Sam Gallagher and Dr Suzanne Evans, are at the conference discussing technologies developed within the University. Warwick has a strong research interest in biotechnology, particularly with respect to drug discovery, natural products, diagnostics, assays and discovery platforms.

Opportunity 1 – Prof David Evans of the School of Life Sciences. http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/lifesci/people/devans

Development of a new drug target for Hepatitis C. Patent pending.

Professor Evans is an RNA virologist with interests in fundamental and applied aspects of virology. He has worked on hepatitis C virus for almost a decade, with particular interest in the function of structured RNA elements in the replication of the virus. Professor Evans’ other research interests include the mechanism of recombination in human enteroviruses and the interaction of viruses with the innate immune system of humans, insects (honeybees) and plants.

Opportunity 2 – Dr Adrian Lloyd of the School of Life Sciences. http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/lifesci/people/alloyd

Peptidoglycan biosynthesis for the design and development of novel anti-infective compounds. Patent pending.

Dr Lloyd, is a Science City Senior Research Fellow in the School of Life Sciences. Dr Lloyd is also a key member of theUK Bacterial Cell Wall Biosynthesis Network, a collaborative organisation founded to promote further understanding of the biology of bacterial cell way biosynthesis.

Opportunity 3 - Dr Matthew Gibson of the Department of Chemistry. http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/chemistry/research/gibson/

Cryopreservation of cells. Patent pending.

A Science City Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Chemistry, Dr Gibson’s research is in the broad area of studying how advanced materials interact with biological systems to address real healthcare needs. This includes the design of tools to study host-pathogen interactions, novel inhibitors of viral/bacterial infection, smart materials which change in response to biological signals and the use of polymers in the preservation of cells.

For more information about these opportunities, contact Dr Sam Gallagher, tel:(0) 24 7657 5485; email: s.a.m.gallagher@warwick.ac.uk