UCL DEPARTMENT OF BIOCHEMICAL ENGINEERING

bioProcessUK, has today presented Dr Stephen Taylor, Business Director of Avecia Biologics, with ‘The Peter Dunnill Award for Outstanding Contribution to UK Bioprocessing’.

The annual award was established following the death of Professor Peter Dunnill, earlier this year, to mark his lifetime contribution to bioprocessing. Professor Dunnill was instrumental in establishing UCL as a global leader in biochemical engineering. He served on the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Office of Science and Technology's foresight panel on health and life sciences and the Bioscience Innovation and Growth Team. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Institution of Chemical Engineers and the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Dr Stephen Taylor has been pivotal in driving the bioprocessing agenda in the UK. He was responsible for ensuring bioprocessing was a priority area in the 2003 Bioscience Innovation and Growth Team report, Bioscience 2015, which ultimately led to the creation of bioProcessUK. Stephen has been Chair of the bioProcessUK Strategic Steering Group and is a past Chair of the BioIndustry Association’s Manufacturing Advisory Committee.

Tony Bradshaw, Co-Director of the HealthTech and Medicines KTN, said:

“I am delighted that bioProcessUK can honour Professor Dunnill, whose work at UCL has contributed not only greater understanding of bioprocessing technology for our sector, but also has helped to train many of those employed in this sector.

“Dr Taylor is passionate about the importance of bioprocessing, innovation and skills in ensuring that the UK remains competitive in developing and making biological medicines.”

Dr Stephen Taylor, said:

“I am deeply honoured to receive this award and to be given such recognition by my many talented friends and colleagues in all parts of our industry. Peter Dunnill was a towering and inspirational figure who was instrumental in bringing to the attention of so many key people, the importance to the UK of actually making biotech medicines.

“The ongoing success of bioProcessUK, and fact that development and manufacturing are now firmly on the national agenda, are an enduring legacy. It has been a privilege for me to continue his work and I can’t thank enough all those people who have joined and helped me on our journey.”

Professor Nigel Titchener-Hooker, Head of Department and Director of the Advanced Centre for Biochemical Engineering at University College London, said:

“At the time of Peter’s death I commented that we needed to mark his legacy to global bioproccessing and in particular to the way he pioneered the discipline and forged the landscape in the UK. The bioProcessUK award is a highly appropriate way to recognise in part what Peter achieved and what those who worked with him and learned from him will continue to do in the future.

“I am sure Peter would be characteristically dismissive of having an award named after him but would have endorsed wholeheartedly the choice of Steve Taylor as the first recipient of the accolade. Steve has been a driving force for the sector and an ardent supporter of crucial strategic developments which place the UK in a strong position for the future.”