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UCL celebrates the achievements of its innovative and enterprising community

5 June 2019

Winners of the UCL Awards for Innovation and Enterprise 2019 were announced at a ceremony last night.

UCL Innovation and Enterprise Awards 2019

Exceptional staff, students and alumni from across the UCL community were recognised for their outstanding range of innovative work, spanning drug discovery and regenerative medicine through to virtual reality exploration of arts and culture.

The awards capped off a hugely successful 12 months for innovation and enterprise activities at UCL, including £438 million of investment in UCL gene therapy spinouts. 

Award winners include the Small Molecule Therapeutic Innovation Network (TIN), led by Prof Bart Vanhaesebroeck (Professor of Cell Signalling, Research Department of Oncology, UCL Cancer Institute) and Dr Richard Angell (Head, Drug Discovery Group, Translational Research Office, UCL School of Pharmacy). The network comprises scientists, engineers, clinicians, translational and commercial experts from across UCL who are focused on achieving high quality drug discovery in an academic setting.

"Recently, there has been a strong emphasis on biologics and gene targeting for the treatment for disease. The mainstay of drug treatments continues to depend on small molecules. We believe that progress in biological insight and chemistry technologies will allow UCL to exploit its unique access to disease models and expert clinical translation in the next wave of small molecule development which the SM-TIN Is looking to facilitate, at all levels," said Professor Vanhaesebroeck. 

The Small Molecule TIN was selected for an award in recognition of its leading role in engaging UCL departments and faculties with drug discovery partners including major pharmaceutical companies such as GSK, AstraZeneca and Merck. The focus is on developing networks that enable the development of small molecule therapeutics at UCL, converting exciting UCL science into drugs for unmet medical needs. Successful initiatives have included a drug discovery ‘Dragons’ Den’ with strong industry and academia participation. 


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