New healthcare technology development project launched to improve patient outcome and the success rate of haematopoietic stem cell transplants (HSCT)

€3.5 million research and development programme is launched today to improve the success rate of stem cell transplants, including bone marrow transplants for Leukaemia patients. Professor Anne Dickinson, Haematological Sciences, Newcastle University, leads the programme in partnership with a consortium of 13 leading European clinical research institutes and biotech firms.

Known as StemDiagnostics, the consortium will aim to identify new bio-markers (indicators of transplant rejection and clinical complications) and develop medical diagnostic tests that will help practitioners to improve the success rate of allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplants (HSCT), treatments for life threatening medical conditions and cancers such as leukaemia, lymphoma and inherited immune disorders.

Around 7,000 such transplants take place throughout Europe each year, but the survival rate is low (40 – 60 per cent) and decreases rapidly with patient age. The application of HSCT therapy is also hampered by the lack of suitable matched donors: only 25 –30 per cent of patients find a compatible sibling donor.

Such transplants involve the use of bone marrow, peripheral blood stem cells and umbilical cord blood as stem cell sources. The project, which follows 3 year’s research by Professor Dickinson and the Consortium, aims to develop tests with the use of the latest bionano and lab-on-a-chip techniques provided by SMEs such as Orla Protein Technologies, also based in North East England. Cenamps, a Newcastle-based centre for emerging umbilical cord blood as stem cell sources. The project, which follows 3 year’s research by Professor Dickinson and the Consortium, aims to develop tests with the use of the latest bionano and lab-on-a-chip techniques provided by SMEs such as Orla Protein Technologies, also based in North East England. Cenamps, a Newcastle-based centre for emerging technologies, will handle commercialisation aspects of the project’s outcomes.

Professor Anne Dickinson, commented: “The project is the first of its kind to bring together research looking at a variety of different biomarkers – or indicators of post transplant complications. These include DNA and proteins. From this work, we hope to be able to develop new diagnostic tools using genomics, proteomics, in vitro bioassays and biochips, to aid in earlier clinical intervention by predicting any complications which may arise in our bone marrow transplant patients.”

StemDiagnostics will develop new proteomic, biological and genomic tests for predicting patient response prior to transplant and subsequently for monitoring of patient response to novel therapeutics for the most severe complication of HSCT – graft versus host disease (GvHD). The consortium aims to bring to the clinic the next generation of diagnostics tests for use in HSCT.
To meet this challenge, StemDiagnostics brings together five of European’s leading small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with expertise in genomic and proteomic testing, diagnostic assay development and biochips, with clinical partners selected for their world-leading research in HSCT and access to clinical samples and patient groups. The SMEs include Mosaiques Diagnostics, Multimmune, IMGM Laboratories, Apotech and Orla Protein Technologies.

Shak Gohir, Business & Programme Manager at Cenamps, added: “We’re extremely excited to see such a life enhancing and life saving research being led from here - the North East of England. StemDiagnostics very much aligns with Cenamps’ core objectives to stimulate and connect research conducted in some Europe’s leading universities and research institutions to resolve issues and challenges that clearly address the real and wider needs of society.”

The programme is funded by the European Commission to the tune of €2.5M over next three years, through the EU Sixth Framework Programme under the Life Sciences and Health theme. The consortium provides for the remaining investment.

Shak Gohir
Business & Programme Manager

Check out the European Stats on Innovation

The changing map of Europe, showing member states and would be member states. The information below was release by the European Commission during January 2007:

• In 2005 the EU27 spent just over 200 billion euro on Research & Development (R&D)

• R&D intensity (i.e. expenditure as a percentage of GDP) in the EU27 stood at 1.84%, the same as in 2004. R&D intensity remained significantly lower in the EU27 than in other major economies. In 2004, R&D expenditure was 2.68% of GDP in the United States, 3.18% in Japan, while it has reached 1.34% in China in 2005.

• R&D expenditure in the EU27 rose by 1.5% in real terms on average per year between 2001 and 2005, compared to 1.7% in the United States and 2.0% in Japan between 2001 and 2004.

• Check out all the states here.
  

Shak Gohir

The World's Top Innovators

Globalisation and global challenges has puched innovation to the top of the agenda for governments. In today's global and connected economy countries have to respond to global challenges to ensure that their national and regional economies remain competitive. All economies are interdependent and interconnected.

Innovation is going to the single most important driver in determining any nation's success in the 21st century. Where once competitive organisations made improvements to optimise efficiency, operations and quality, now whole nations must optimise our entire society and economy for innovation.

Simply doing the same as before is no longer an option for governments and companies. Commercial and economic prosperity urgently demands that businesses shift to creating fresh value from new products and services. INSEAD, one of the world's leading business school based in Europe, and World Business have jointly established a Global Innovation Index or GII, ranking counties by their innovation capabilities.

GII is caluculated from combining scores for a nation's Institutions and policies, human capacity, infrastructure, technological sophistication, business markets and capital, knowledge, competitveness and wealth. What the GII ranking shows is that pressure for nations to remain innovative is already changing the our planet. The 20 innovator:

• 1 US 5.80
• 2 Germany 4.89
• 3 UK 4.81
• 4 Japan 4.48
• 5 France 4.32
• 6 Switzerland 4.16
• 7 Singapore 4.10
• 8 Canada 4.06
• 9 Netherlands 3.99
• 10 Hong Kong 3.97
• 11 Denmark 3.95
• 12 Sweden 3.90
• 13 Finland 3.85
• 14 UAE 3.81
• 15 Belgium 3.77
• 16 Luxembourg 3.72
• 17 Australia 3.71
• 18 Israel 3.68
• 19 South Korea 3.67
• 20 Iceland 3.66

The UK is ranked in third place just behind Germany as a global leader. What analysis of the top 100 shows is that developing countries including India, China and African nations are also using technological innovation as a springboard for improving their economies. Since the early 1990s China has boosted R&D invest by 50% and is now aiming to get R&D to a level of 2.5% of its GDP.

Read more....

Shak Gohir
Business & Programme Manager

EU research budget 2007 - 2013, FP7

The Europe Union is finalising its budget for Framework Programme Seven. So its time to check the figures.

To those who are not in the know, FP7 is the programme through which the European Commission will manage the allocation of its budget for R&D in scientific research and technology development - with the strategic aim to strengthen the European economy and global competitive position. Aligning R&D investment with societal, business, global and economic needs and challenges sits at the heart of the Commissions objectives for FP7.

Today Cordis released a news article indicating that the Commission will be adopting "an amended proposal for the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), which seeks to incorporate amendments made by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers in their first readings"

FP7 will run for a period of 7 years, from 2007 to 2013. During 2005 the Commission's proposed budget was around 72 billion euro. The budget for FP7 now stands near 48 billion euro, as indicated by EARTO in their news release during May 2006.

The budget for FP6 was 16.3 billion euros and ran over a five year period from 2002 to 2006, for 15 member states. FP7 will be running over 7 years with 25 member states all seeking to participate and access to their share of the funds.

If you have been following the progress of FP7, you will already know that it includes the establishment of a European Reseach Council (ERC) . The ERC will focus on leading edge frontier reseach, with its activities been very much independent of the themes segmented in "Cooperation". ERC will have the ability to conduct its own strategic studies to help direct its operations and activities.

When the Commission initially put forward its proposal for FP7 during April 2005, it requested 11,826 billion euros. Since then the figure has been reduced significantly to 7,460 billion euro.

MEPs have requested a review of the ERC during 2008. The Commission requires more time before a viable review is possible. Janez Potocnik, the EU Commissioner for Science and Research has agreed with the European Parliment that the ERC review will be no later than 2010.

Shak Gohir

Business & Programme Manager