The Biomedical Sciences Research Institute at the University of Ulster facilitates companies that are developing innovative new products and drugs – a vital research activity in a country where the pharmaceutical sector plays such a major role in the economy
THE BIOMEDICAL Sciences Research Institute (BMSRI) is one of six research institutes within the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences at the University of Ulster and is based on the Coleraine Campus. It specialises in the study of the biological mechanisms associated with degenerative diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis and visual deterioration and is ranked among the UK’s top academic research institutes.
Researchers at the institute are also exploiting the remarkable opportunities made possible by recent advances in areas such as bioimaging, systems biology, genomics, proteomics and transgenics.
“We also have a specific focus on the emerging area of personalised medicine,” says institute director Prof Tony Bjourson. “Our aim is to ensure that people get the most appropriate treatment based on their genetic profile. The current model is a one-size-fits-all approach this is effective in as few as 30 per cent of cases. The drugs budget is a massive drain on health service resources and personalised medicine could deliver significant savings.”
The BMSRI has established a strong international reputation as a result of its consistently high ranking among the UK’s university research centres. “All UK universities are independently assessed every five or six years,” Prof Bjourson explains. “This is the one that keeps us all awake at night. The ranking can have a huge impact on funding. We have achieved a five star ranking every year since 1996. We were last reviewed in 2008 when we were awarded the leading position of all biomedical research institutes in the UK university system.”
A key factor in this achievement has been the institute’s strong link with the commercial sector. “A major determinant of the ranking is how the research impacts on society. If you are undertaking research that doesn’t have an impact you won’t do very well. This is more important than ever now in the economic downturn. Most drugs are produced by the private sector and if we can’t bring our discoveries from the lab through commercialisation and to the bedside we won’t be relevant.”
The BMSRI is committed to providing scientific support for knowledge-intensive, high-added value biotechnological and biomedical industries. This has seen the establishment of core facilities in the areas of bioimaging, biomedical and behavioural research, bioinformatics and computational biology, cell technologies, genomics, human interventions studies, metabolomics and proteomics, pharmaceutical instrumentation and aseptic manufacture, vision science, and clinical translational research and innovation.
“We offer our state-of-the-art equipment to companies so that they don’t have to go out and buy it for themselves,” says Bjourson. “We are not the St Vincent de Paul though – there is a fee but we offer very good value. We carry out consultancy and collaborative research projects with private sector partners as well. We offer seamless support helping companies which are developing innovative new products and drugs. This is very important in Ireland where the pharmaceutical sector plays such a major role in the economy.”
“Too often in academia we get grants to buy major pieces of equipment but when we get them it’s like having a Ferrari without being able to afford the fuel or pay for a driver. Thanks to our collaboration with industry that’s not the case with us.”
The collaborative effort is very much a two way process. “We don’t tell industry what to do,” Bjourson points out. “We ask what workforce they need and what skills they need so that we can provide them with the graduates they require. We modify our degree programmes in accordance with what they tell us. We go to all the major global pharmaceutical companies asking them what their unmet research needs are and they work on fulfilling them.”
Each of the core facilities has to cover its own costs. “We operate on a financially sound basis,” he says. “The economic downturn will only make us leaner, meaner and more capable of meeting challenges.”
Microscopy core facility unit
The Microscopy laboratories at Coleraine have a long history of both leading and working in partnership with instrument manufacturers to design, prototype and test new microscopes, cameras and analysis programmes. One outcome of this relationship is that the UU laboratories contain a considerable range of very sophisticated microscopes and incomparable expertise which is available to outside users via a number of different routes. The facilities are made available to in-house researchers, collaborative laboratories and consulting partners and have been used to support proof of concept applications, patent filing and protection, diagnosis of production problems, development of individual solutions and training of outside staff as competent users.
Dr George McKerr (facility coordinator) says: “I don’t think there is a single problem we have been presented with in the last 20-30 years that we haven’t been able to solve. Sometimes we can be presented with not just the challenging but also the weird and our activities range from imaging single molecules, through looking at forensic evidence on clothing to peering inside ice cream. I’ve even been asked to look inside the foam head to be found on a locally produced black beverage. We can visualise high-speed events equally as well as the more sedate happenings which might go on inside, say a piece of cheese.”
Nanoscope Services, a specialist analysis company from Bristol specialising in the computer chip market has recently partnered Coleraine in the investigation of nano-patterned surfaces as growth substrates to aid bone repair. Recent work has been commissioned by an undisclosed US oil exploration company to look for oil deposits from samples taken at very great depth within the earth’s crust.
Human intervention studies
The Human Intervention Studies Unit (HISU) is primarily dedicated to nutritional intervention trials on human volunteers. Studies can range from those examining the effects of different food products such as yogurts and cereals on appetite, to longer-term studies investigating the potential health benefits of dietary supplements or studies looking at various aspects of digestive processes in the laboratory.
The unit has extensive experience in performing nutritional intervention trials and conducting fundamental research into the relationship between diet and chronic disease and can provide state-of-the-art facilities for both residential and non-residential trials and has the resources to undertake a diverse range of metabolic measurements, dietary assessments and bioavailability testing.
Recent work by researchers in the HISU has demonstrated that optimising vitamin B2 (riboflavin) status can lower blood pressure in people with a particular genetic trait and these findings are due to be published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Given that the occurrence of this genetic variant ranges from three per cent to 32 per cent worldwide, the clinical and economic implications of correcting this genetic predisposition for hypertension are considerable.
Additional studies are being undertaken to explore this gene-nutrient interaction and the implications it has for hypertension management.
Pharmacy core facility unit
The Pharmaceutical Instrumentation Aseptic Manufacture Core Facility Unit (PIAMCFU) offers a range of modern, state-of-the-art instrumentation and laboratory space ideally placed to assist commercial organisations in the preliminary stages of product development and characterisation. The unit has access to an array of sophisticated analytical equipment, together with bench-top operations, such as tablet presses, granulators and particle sizers. It can provide assistance with preformulation studies to small to medium sized enterprises in their initial stages of defining product specification and optimisation. The unit is currently working with Wm J MacNab Co (sales) Ltd in Lisburn, developing and assessing a range of innovative, environmentally friendly products intended for the cleanser and sanitiser market. This work is funded through an Invest NI Innovation Voucher Programme.
