New Imperial-based company unites business and academia.
Matt Brown
London Genetics brings together the genetics expertise of seven universities to build partnerships with industry. The new company was announced at the Genesis biotech conference in December 2006, and the website launched last week. Chief Executive Officer Prof. Nick Lench discusses the new venture.
Why was London Genetics created?
It all came out of a study by the London Development Agency (LDA) about two and a half years ago. An independent consultant concluded that London could become a premier biotech cluster like Cambridge or Oxford if our world-class institutions could find ways to work together instead of competing. London Genetics was set up with money from the Department of Trade and Industry to address this.
How des it work?
We act as the sole contact point between one or more of the academic partners and an industry client, handling negotiations and contracts. This could be through a ‘bottom up’ approach – we define our academic and clinical resources and expertise in a certain area, and present this as a package to industry. Or it could be a ‘top down’ approach. Here, a company might be looking to validate a technology through access to appropriate samples or a multicentre cohort study, which the academic and clinical partners could provide. London Genetics sits in the middle to manage these interactions.
Why are you focussing on London in particular?
London is so diffuse, with no central point of focus. Everyone is entrenched in their own institutions. The LDA are very keen to see London develop as a biocluster. To do so, we need better coordination. Similar institutions exist elsewhere in the UK, such as BioNoW in the north-west, but we need more activity in the capital.
And why the emphasis on genetics?
It’s an exciting time for genetics and genomics to transform medicine. All the promise genomics held a few years ago should finally come to fruition over the next five to ten years. There has been a drive to bring genetics expertise together across the country, through a genetics white paper and the establishment of genetics knowledge parks. London has many groundbreaking research projects and biobanks underway, so it seems sensible to make the most of them by collaborating with industry.
What makes you the best man for the job?
It’s the right combination of skills. I have 15 years academic experience, working in human genetics and have built up the network and contacts. I also bring knowledge of industry to the table, having worked at [biotech firm] Oxagen. Latterly, I was Director of the Wales Genetic Knowledge Park, which served a similar role for Wales as London Genetics aims to do for London. I understand the nuances of collaboration between industry and academia.
Are you likely to host networking events?
I think we would, yes. I’d particularly like to see an annual ‘Industry Club’. Large companies would find attractive a one-day meeting to showcase all our partners’ activities in one focused area – for example, breast and ovarian cancer.
The partner universities which comprise London Genetics are King’s College, UCL, Imperial, Queen Mary, St George’s, University of London, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Institute of Cancer Research.