CRT is unique amongst technology transfer organisations in having access to its own Discovery Laboratories (DL), with expertise in molecular and cellular biology, drug discovery, early pharmacology and medicinal chemistry. The laboratories play a key role within CRT in adding value to a scientist’s initial invention, enhancing its potential for commercialisation and advancing cancer discoveries.
The primary objective is to establish proof of principle efficacy that correlates with biomarker readouts.
The DL has recruited the majority of its 85 strong team from pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and runs along industry lines, with strong emphasis on timely decision making and having the strongest portfolio possible sourced from the wealth of project options coming out of the investment in understanding cancer biology.
Cancer Research UK, through its Development Fund, sponsors the majority of the laboratory’s work, with the balance being directly funded by CRT or undertaken in partnership with pharmaceutical companies or other research partners.
Projects are actively managed to meet agreed development milestones by CRT's Senior Scientists with support from our Scientific Advisory Board, and the laboratory is capable of producing and documenting data to regulatory standards on projects as diverse as drug discovery, biological therapeutics, gene therapy and DNA-based diagnostics.
The DL has the capacity to bring in up to 6-8 new projects per annum.
© Cancer Research Technology 2012