6 May 2005

The University of Dundee appoints its first Professor of Biotechnology

Julie Frearson, the Director of Biology at BioFocus plc, Cambridge, has been appointed to the first Chair of Biotechnology in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee.

Professor Frearson has an outstanding reputation in the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical industries for successfully delivering on target screening and drug development projects. Her skills lie in so-called 'high-throughput screening', a process where tens of thousands of molecules are tested as potential drug leads using robots, and the downstream management of drug development programmes.

Professor Frearson will play a central role in boosting so-called 'translational research', i.e., the conversion of basic academic research into new medical treatments for diseases like type-2 diabetes, allergy, cancer, African sleeping sickness and malaria. Her purpose-built laboratory, research team and robots will be based in the University's new £21 million Centre for Interdisciplinary Research (CIR), due for completion in July.

Professor Mike Ferguson, who has played a key role in fundraising and recruiting for the CIR, especially the infrastructure for its new drug development capacity, said: "We are delighted to have recruited a high-flyer from industry to help us set up our Drug Development platform at the University of Dundee. Professor Frearson's appointment is a key part of expanding our activities at the Chemistry/Biology interface. Together with our existing staff and other recent appointments, like that of Ian Gilbert as Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, we will have a set of scientific and technical skills that can take us from basic discoveries through to advanced drug leads ready for clinical trials. This is virtually unheard of in academia and reflects Dundee's continual development and ability to stay at the forefront of Life Sciences research at a national and international level."

Professor Frearson (38), obtained a 1st class BSc in Biological and Biochemical Sciences from the University of Salford in 1989 and a PhD in Biochemistry from Kings College London in 1993. Following postdoctoral research at The Babraham Institute, Cambridge, in 1998, she joined the new start-up biotechnology company, Cambridge Drug Discovery (CDD). Promoted to Principal Scientist in 2001 following the acquisition of CDD by Biofocus plc, she was rapidly promoted to Department Head of the Biology Division in 2002 and then to Director of Biology in 2004, when she assumed the Scientific and Commercial Leadership of the Biology Business within Biofocus. Julie is married with one young son and is also greatly attached to her elderly Labrador dogs and three horses, who will all relocate to Dundee.

By Roddy Isles, Head of Press 01382 344910, out of hours: 07968298585, r.isles@dundee.ac.uk