Ulster University bio-lab research helps break new ground

A promising new cancer treatment being developed in collaboration with a leading Irish food company and a natural sweetener 300 times sweeter than sugar are just two examples of the ground-breaking research being undertaken at Ulster University’s Biomedical Sciences Research Institute.

The institute is quite unusual in the way it actively engages with commercial and other research partners. In addition to conducting its own pioneering research, the BMSRI provides its partners with a range of state-of-the-art equipment, specialist laboratories and infrastructure to carry out research projects. This research infrastructure is offered to industry partners through cost-effective Core Facility Units dedicated to bioimaging, genomics, metabolomics and proteomics, and nutritional status and health assessment.

The development of these top-class facilities dates back more than a decade, according to BMSRI business development manager Dr Le Roy Dowey. "You can't have good quality research without high quality labs and people," he says. "Slowly but surely, we found ourselves putting together these core facilities. We currently hold £11 million worth of equipment in the units and SMEs just would not be able to afford that in normal circumstances – particularly as they might only need it for a month for their project. We have also appointed scientific assistants and officers to each of the units. Instead of just providing technical support we have a team of officers who develop relationships with our commercial partners."

Expertise

Companies throughout Ireland utilise the facilities either by availing of Enterprise Ireland or InvestNI innovation vouchers or through the InterTradeIreland Fusion programme. Companies can also approach BMSRI directly with a research project in mind, or even just to discuss an issue they have encountered that might be resolved through a project.

“It could be that a company comes in just for a chat to see if there is anything we can do for them and we are very happy to discuss that with them,” says Dowey. “Each time a company comes into us they sit down with a research officer who designs a project with the company’s needs in mind. The core facilities are based on this engagement. We have the scientific and research expertise within the institute to deliver successful research projects at a competitive cost and within tight timeframes.”

Dowey and his team have worked with a wide range of companies from small SMEs and start-ups through to some of the world’s largest food companies. Projects have including pre-clinical trials for new pharmaceutical products, taste testing for foods, human trials for nutritional products, and links between satiety and immune response.

"Our research work is quite far-reaching," says Dowey. "Each year we go out to the US with InvestNI to help attract FDI to Northern Ireland. There is quite an interesting challenge now with Brexit coming up. The interface between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is going to become even more important in that context."

In-house

He describes the institute’s approach to research contracts as “sensible”. “We don’t go out and say to a firm that they have to pay for a PhD student for a year to do a study. We use our expert staff to figure out exactly what a company needs. Because we have experts in-house already we are able to design contract and carry out contract research projects very quickly. We pride ourselves in our ability to turn around projects very, very quickly.”

That speed is very important for companies who need to get new products to market as quickly as possible. That often means that firms will eschew the funding supports available to them. “A lot of the time companies find that the bureaucracy involved in the funding takes too long and they will fund the project themselves.”

Scale is no barrier. “No research project is too small for us and we have yet to encounter one that is too large.”

One company which has benefited from BMSRI's expertise and facilities is Modern Nature. Founded by Vanessa Rollins in 2013, the firm manufactures a natural liquid stevia sweetener which contains no calories and is 300 times sweeter than sugar. Other stevia products on the market contained artificial ingredients and had a characteristic bitter after-taste. Rollins worked with the team at BMSRI to deal with these issues and developed a completely natural product as a result.

“We also worked with them on shelf-life testing,” says Dowey. “This is a great example of a small company which benefited from our core facility units as well as our research expertise.”

http://biomed.science.ulster.ac.uk/research-institute/core-facility-units/