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Milner Update: March 2023
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Milner Therapeutics Symposium
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 We're excited to bring you additional updates on our annual Symposium, which will take place on July 5th at West Road Concert Hall and online. Complete information is available on our website, and you can now download the programme!
As well as plenary talks, this year's event will feature short talks from teams at the Milner Therapeutics Institute. Our fantastic spotlight speakers are Manav Pathania (Department of Oncology and Milner Therapeutics Institute), Debora Lucarelli (Enhanc3d Genomics) and David Walter and Douglas Ross-Thriepland (AstraZeneca Cancer Research Horizons Functional Genomics Centre).
Plenary Speakers
This year we are delighted to welcome Serena Nik-Zainal (Early Cancer Institute, University of Cambridge), Wolf Reik (Altos Labs), Karen Duff (UK Dementia Research Institute at University College London), Allan Bradley (Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease and Kymab), Cigall Kadoch (Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School) and Mene Pangalos (AstraZeneca).
Posters
We are now inviting poster abstracts from academia and industry, to be presented in person and/or digitally as part of our hybrid Symposium! The posters will be on display throughout the day, and are an integral part of our lunch, coffee and networking sessions. The deadline for abstract submission is Monday, 5th June. Submit an abstract here »
Meet the Consortium
Registered attendees are now able to request a short meeting with Pharma companies in the Milner Therapeutics Consortium during the morning of the Symposium! These non-confidential discussions provide introductions between academics and affiliated companies and our pharma partners, and are aimed at identifying collaborative opportunities. The deadline is Monday, 5th June. Request a meeting here »
Sponsor Announcements
We are thrilled to announce our first Milner Therapeutics Symposium 2023 sponsors: bit.bio are joining as a Silver Sponsor and AltemisLab will be returning as a Bronze Sponsor alongside Selvita!
  
Registration
For more information and to register, please visit our symposium webpage. Registration to the Symposium is free, and is open to academics and Milner affiliated companies only. If you are interested in becoming affiliated with the Milner Institute, please email our Head of Partnerships and Alliance, Dr Alison Schuldt.
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Milner Therapeutics Consortium Call 2023
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 There are only a few days left to apply for our 2023 Therapeutics Consortium Call! The deadline for applications is Friday 24th March.
Our pharma partners are working together with researchers at the University of Cambridge, Babraham and Wellcome Sanger Institutes to better understand disease mechanisms and to discover and validate new therapeutic targets. These pre-clinical projects range from reagent sharing and 6-month pilots to 2-year postdoctoral funded collaborations and are expected to lead to joint publications with the company partners.
Do you have an idea for a potential pre-clinical collaborative project that would benefit from industry expertise and know-how? We are looking for project proposals that could provide solutions to current challenges in: Neuroscience; Oncology; Immunology & Inflammation; Infectious Disease; Metabolic & Cardiovascular disease; and New technologies that will aid therapeutic discovery.
Information webpage: The full list of research interests is available on our website.
Learn more and download an application form »
Contact details: If you have questions around a new collaborative project in key research focus areas for the Consortium partners, email our Consortium Manager, Asha Carpenter.
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Connect: Health Tech - Live!
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Save the date for Connect: Health Tech – Live! This free hybrid event will bring together a diverse global community of health tech professionals to make connections, share knowledge and catalyse ideas to help shape the interdisciplinary innovations of the future. Taking place in Cambridge and online, on 14th June 2023.
Join the Connect: Health Tech online community and be the first to hear about event registration and speaker line-up.
 Pssst! Did you know Connect: Health Tech is now on LinkedIn? Follow their page here »
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New Milner Affiliates
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We are delighted to share with you details of new affiliates! Find out more about the companies below, and click the logos to visit their websites.
Shift Bioscience is developing biological-age control to end the diseases of aging, promising a future where you can routinely reset to prime-of-life.
HexagonFab is building a flexible and automated benchtop protein assay instrument, enabling protein analysis at the point of use.
PrecisionLife is an innovative techbio extending the reach of precision medicine, beyond cancer and rare disease, into chronic diseases that account for over 80% of healthcare spending.
Qureight: Pioneering data curation to solve complex diseases.
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Affiliate News
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 Multiple Milner affiliates were announced as finalists in the 2023 Cambridge Independent Science and Technology Awards, including bit.bio, Cardiatec Biosciences, Domainex, Eagle Genomics, Enhanc3d Genomics, Intellegens and STORM Therapeutics. Milner Consortium company Astex were also shortlisted for Life Science Company of the Year.
Qkine and Somaserve were named on the Cofinitive #21toWatch list, which recognises inspiring companies on the way to being industry leaders. Semarion were short-listed, and Avatrial, Qureight and Stroma Biosciences were long-listed.
Absci expanded into the European pharmaceutical market with the opening of its Innovation Center, located in Zug, Switzerland.
bit.bio are partnering with Automata, to automate a key aspect of the manufacturing process of their iPSC (induced pluripotent stem cell)-derived human cell products.
Cell Guidance Systems were selected as a UK Life Sciences Innovator 2023 at the Life Sciences Innovator Showcase.
Cyclica have partnered with the Uruguayan National Research and Innovation Agency, leveraging their AI-enabled drug discovery platform to drive innovation within Uruguay’s biotech ecosystem.
Cytiva’s latest two-step purification protocol was selected by AcuraBio to offer a productive plasmid DNA service to customers globally, to alleviate supply constraints for mRNA and cell & gene therapies.
Drishti Discoveries received the Lawrence and Isabel Barnett Drug Development Award from the ALS Association, for research into potential gene therapy for ALS.
Enhanc3D Genomics, formerly based within the Milner's Frame Shift bio-incubator, held an event to mark the opening of their new lab space at St John’s Innovation Park in Cambridge.
Intellegens opened their new headquarters at Chesterton Mill, Cambridge.
Lifebit are collaborating with with PlumCare RWE to help a Greek genomics initiative to detect rare genetic diseases in newborn babies.
MedAnnex’s first-in-class therapy MDX-124 received Orphan Designation from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.
Sai Life Sciences are setting up a GMP Kilo Lab at their facility in Alderley Park, Manchester.
Semarion are expanding, and are currently advertising multiple roles on their website, including a Cell Biology Scientist and Process Engineer.
Standigm has been selected for the Boston C&D Incubation Center support project, sponsored by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI).
STORM Therapeutics presented preclinical data supporting treatment of patients with AML at the AACR Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Myelodysplastic Syndrome Conference.
Virothera, a start-up biotech company based in the Milner's Frame Shift Bio-incubator, have launched their brand new website.
Vivan Therapeutics announced that the first two milestones have been achieved in their quest for a treatment for ECHS1 deficiency, a rare congenital metabolic disorder.
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Events
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Emerging technology to transform cancer early detection
20th March, Cambridge
In this multidisciplinary networking event from the Early Cancer Institute, you will find out how emerging STEM technologies and innovations could potentially be used for the early detection of cancer and precision diagnosis and treatment.
Cambridge New Therapeutics Forum
22nd March, Cambridge
Topic: Novel approaches to tackle PARPi resistance from bench to bedside.
This event is open to all researchers interested in new therapeutics, and will be followed by networking.
Technology and Systems: What do they mean for public health?
24th March, Cambridge
This event will present speakers with interests in technology and systems, who are committed to improving public health across the UK. It will explore the interface between these ideas and demonstrate their role in both policy and direct clinical care.
Mobiles and Wearables for Public Health
27th March, Cambridge
This event will bring together researchers from across disciplines at the University of Cambridge to showcase the potential, and challenges, of mobile devices and wearables in public health.
From PhD to Professional: Where can your research take you in health tech?
28th March, Cambridge and online
Connect: Health Tech is holding an event bringing together panellists at different stages of their career journey, to explore and highlight the resources and opportunities the Cambridge ecosystem of research, industry and entrepreneurship can offer.
iDMT Learning Lab for SMEs: Digitalising Chemistry
29th and 30th March, Cambridge
The Innovation Centre in Digital Molecular Technologies (iDMT) is hosting this in-person interactive workshop for companies in molecular sciences and manufacturing with an interest in digitalisation.
Milner Seminar Series
30th March, Cambridge and online
Professor Menna Clatworthy of the Cambridge Institute for Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease (CITIID), University of Cambridge will discuss “Uncovering disease pathophysiology and therapeutic mechanisms one cell at a time."
This presentation will include time for Q&A and will be followed by networking and refreshments for in-person attendees.
Cambridge AI Club for Biomedicine
6th April, Cambridge
Emma Dann and Dr Chenqu Suo from the Teichmann Lab, Wellcome Sanger Institute will discuss this month’s theme of Single-cell genomics analysis.
Milner Therapeutics Symposium
5th July, Cambridge
Our annual Symposium is an opportunity for scientists from academia and industry to discuss the latest academic and pre-clinical research and how it could be applied in the pharma and biotech industry to develop new treatments.
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We are delighted to welcome Dr Erica Bello as our new Head of Target Discovery at the Milner Therapeutics Institute. Erica brings to the team broad experience in CRISPR screening and advanced disease models, both from her work at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and more recently at Lightcast Discovery. Erica’s appointment will be essential for expansion of the Target Discovery team’s collaborations and capabilities in the coming year, including the recently announced collaboration with the NC3Rs. 
