University of Edinburgh companies triumphed at Scotland’s Life Sciences Awards last night, bringing home three out of the seven awards.
Spinouts Roslin CT and Roslin Tech and Dr Kate Cameron of biotech startup Cytochroma all won in their categories in the annual awards celebrating Scotland’s world-leading life sciences sector.
Picture: L-R - STV weatherman Sean Batty, Dr Kate Cameron and Ivan McKee MSP, Minister for Business, Trade Tourism and Enterprise
Edinburgh alumna Dr Cameron won the Rising Stars: Extraordinary Talent award for her work leading Cytochroma, which uses semi-automated technology to manufacture thousands of mini livers simultaneously, made from ethically sourced stem cells, to predict the safety and toxicity of new drugs.
Picture: Roslin CT accepting the award for Outstanding Skills Development
Regenerative medicine company Roslin Cell Therapies (CT) won the Outstanding Skills Development award, now employing over 100 staff in Edinburgh after spinning out from the Roslin Institute in 2006. The company develops and manufactures cell therapies that can treat cancer, genetic disorders, and other diseases. Led for many years by CEO Janet Downie, it is now a globally recognised player in cell therapy manufacturing.
Picture: Mark Cook, Chair of the Life Sciences Scotland Industry Leadership Group and STV's Sean Batty with Roslin Technologies' John Clinkenbeard and Joe Lee
Roslin Technologies won the Health, Agritech and Agriculture award for their work developing pluripotent animal stem cells with the capacity to self-renew indefinitely and differentiate into desired end-tissues for meat.
Founded in 2017 as a venture between two investment firms and the University of Edinburgh, Roslin Tech was also supported by the University’s in-house venture capital fund, Old College Capital (OCC).
OCC also invested in Roslin CT, which received £100m of investment in 2021 from private equity fund, Global Healthcare Opportunities Capital. Edinburgh Innovations (EI), the University’s commercialisation service, supported the team to spin out.
EI also supported Dr Cameron and Cytochroma, who won the Emerging Innovation award at Inspire Launch Grow 2018, as well as Higgs Edge award at Scottish Edge that year.
Head of business development for the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine at EI, Susan Bodie, said:
EI is very proud to have supported these excellent companies and founders and know they will keep going from strength to strength.
The University of Edinburgh’s research is at the cutting edge of life sciences, particularly in biotechnology and digital health, and here at Edinburgh Innovations we work hard to translate that research into real world benefits for patients and society. ”
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