9 February 2007

Dundee Life Scientist wins prestigious industry award

Dundee life scientist, Professor Roland Wolf, has been honoured with a Scottish Enterprise Scottish Life Sciences Award for his outstanding contribution to the development of the life sciences sector in Scotland.

Professor Wolf was awarded the prize at the Scottish Enterprise Life Sciences Annual Dinner on 8th February at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre in front of 700 guests active in the Scottish Life Sciences community.

Professor Roland Wolf, director of the Biomedical Research Centre at the University of Dundee, has worked in life sciences in Scotland since 1982. The award recognises his part in the commercialisation of research being carried out at the University of Dundee, including co-founding the hugely successful Dundee company CXR Biosciences five years ago.

Backed by funding from Archangel Informal Investments, CXR works with biotech and pharma companies to use conventional and proprietary technologies to accelerate the drug development process. This involves the development of new models aimed at reducing toxicology problems and drug failure at clinical trial.

The company is now self-sufficient with 40 staff, and in the 2005 financial year reported a significant profit.

As well as his commercial and research interests, Prof Wolf was also responsible for the establishment of four major research consortia with a group of international pharmaceutical companies.

Prof Wolf said: "The results of the Scottish Enterprise Life Science Awards are watched very closely in the sector, so it's a massive honour for me to have been chosen from such a strong field."

"It's taken the combined expertise of a lot of people to get to this point, and it's my hope that the entire life sciences community - and ultimately patient care - will derive real benefit from that."

Prof Wolf was also a key player in bringing about the first collaboration between four of Scotland's leading universities and major US company Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. The collaboration, assisted by Scottish Enterprise combines the research expertise of Scotland's top scientists with the resources and industry experience of Wyeth.

The result is the Translational Medicine Research Collaboration (TMRC) - in which Wyeth has invested $86 million - based around a central core laboratory in Dundee, and working with centres of excellence at the university medical schools in Dundee, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

Prof Wolf is also a member of the Board of Governors of the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research, is a member of several international advisory boards and has been a consultant to multinational pharmaceutical and consumer products companies.

Backed by Scottish Enterprise, the annual Life Sciences Awards recognise groundbreaking developments in healthcare, medical devices and disease prevention within Scotland's life sciences community.

Scottish researchers have long been pioneers of their field with discoveries and innovations as diverse as penicillin and the MRI scanner.

The annual awards recognise the many achievements for both companies and individuals working in this complex field.

The Scottish Enterprise Life Sciences Annual Dinner, hosted by Scottish Enterprise and sponsored by Dundas & Wilson and Highlands & Islands Enterprise, attracts more than 700 people from the life sciences communities across the UK and abroad.

Issued by The BIG Partnership on behalf of Scottish Enterprise.

Photograph: Andy Kerr (Minister for Health & Community Care), Professor Roland Wolf and Laurence Ward, Dundas & Wilson

For more information please contact Marjorie Calder or Eleanor Marshall on 0141 333 9585 or marjorie@bigpartnership.co.uk / eleanor@bigpartnership.co.uk

Alternatively, please contact Neil McInnes at Scottish Enterprise on 0131 313 6196 or neil.mcinnes@scotent.co.uk

Editor's note:

Life Sciences has been recognised as one of Scottish Enterprise's six priority industries where Scotland has existing world class strengths and has the potential to become a world leader. The SE Life Sciences team works closely with industry to help capitalise on these strengths and build critical mass within the sector by encouraging greater collaboration between academics, researchers and companies in Scotland; developing and attracting high quality people to work in the sector, helping companies to access specialised finance or investment, and ensuring there is a range of high quality accommodation available for companies looking to invest in Scotland.

Those short listed for awards at the event were:

Most promising new life science company in Scotland
B1 Medical Ltd, Aberdeen (winner)
Point of Care laboratories Ltd, Arbroath
Antoxis Ltd, Aberdeen

Leading contribution to Life Sciences in Scotland
Vascutek Terumo, Renfrewshire (winner)
ProStrakan, Galashiels
Haemonetics UK Ltd, Bothwell

Leading Individual Contribution to Life Sciences in Scotland
Professor Grahame Bulfield, College of Science & Engineering, University of Edinburgh
Professor Roland Wolf, University of Dundee (winner)
Peter Ghazal, Scottish Centre for Genomic Technology and Informatics, University of Edinburgh

SHIL award for Best Innovation Originating from the NHS
Dr Paul Syme, Melrose
Dr David Keating & Dr Stuart Parks, Glasgow (winner)
Professor Alan Johnstone, Aberdeen

For media enquiries contact:

Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk