By Dave Tudor, Chairman, Life Sciences Scotland
OVER the centuries, Scotland has played a significant role in medical advancements and scientific innovations. But these aren’t confined to the past; this is our future through the work and growth of our life sciences sector. The world is facing many challenges, which science and innovation need to address. Scotland’s life sciences sector is helping to accelerate growth, drive forward innovation and address emerging global trends in areas such as antibiotic resistance and food security. If Scotland can be at the forefront of emerging global trends, find solutions, create new markets and opportunities, then our life sciences sector will grow and provide a significant contribution to the economy.
Scotland is a unique position as a small country with a working ecosystem that makes collaboration between academia and commercial companies in the life sciences sector manageable and successful.
We are a leader in precision medicine, developing a more data driven and personalised approach to healthcare. Stratified Medicine Scotland Innovation Centre with its co-ordinated Precision Medicine Ecosystem, has established itself as a perfect location for the development and clinical trials of novel treatments and therapies through access to its unique clinical infrastructure and patient data. SMS-IC’s mission is to find the right drug for the right patient at the right time. The centre is a unique collaboration of life sciences, bringing together leading experts from industry, the National Health Service and academia with a common aim of developing safer, more effective therapies and diagnostic tools for the management of chronic diseases.
We regularly hear about the over-prescribing of antibiotics and the adverse effect on the success of these medicines in treating bacterial infection. Budget-constrained health systems need to find an effective solution. There is significant research taking place around antibiotic resistance in both academia and at a commercial level with companies such as Novabiotics working on anti-infective trials for difficult-to-treat, medically unmet diseases.
Pioneering research is the backbone of any advancement and the Centre for Continuous Manufacturing and Advanced Crystallisation based at the University of Strathclyde, is a world-class hub for manufacturing research and training, working in partnership with industry. The centre’s purpose is to transform current manufacturing process of drugs and accelerate adopting of new processes required for future medicines.
We take it for granted that we’ll always have access to food and water but in so many places in the world the reality is very different. Years of droughts, famine and poor soil have meant certain areas have struggled to provide enough food. For several years, researchers in Scotland have been studying processes from the gene and molecular level to field scale, providing vital knowledge to tackle problems of food security and development of sustainable food production in the backdrop of climate change. The James Hutton Institute is one such research centre making a major contribution to the understanding of key global issues through its research into land, crops, water and the environment.
In Scotland we have the resources, the knowledge and the facilities to help address some of the most serious global challenges in our lifetime and beyond. Our collaborative approach across the life sciences sector in Scotland is enabling us to pool our expertise and resources to help find the solutions quicker. The growth of the sector is beneficial to every single one of us as we strive to improve the lives of a growing global population.
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