Business and innovation

Moredun Scientific Limited

A partnership between the University of Glasgow and industry has proven that commercial links with academia are dynamic and innovative methods of developing business.

Professor Andrea Nolan, School of Veterinary Medicine and Senior Vice-Principal & Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University, became involved in a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with Edinburgh based company Moredun Scientific Limited – which offers support to veterinary pharmaceutical companies - in 2003.

An expert in pharmacology, Professor Nolan’s specialist research interests include pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics – how the body reacts to drugs and the effect the drugs have on the body over time, areas of knowledge vital to the development of new drugs.

She explained: “I was asked by Moredun Scientific to relate my own expertise to the company, allowing them to develop an analysis service for clients and make the business more holistic.

“In terms of a personal benefit, I found my skills were tremendously expanded by engaging with industry – it certainly developed my understanding of developing learning plans within the workplace and also the operational aspects of small-to-medium-sized enterprises.”

Industrial supervisor, Dr Doug Jones, consultant research analyst at Moredun also praised the partnership scheme.

He said “Working with Professor Nolan and her colleagues in the University of Glasgow has been a tremendous boost to the company. The transfer of knowledge and expertise on data interpretation from such an eminent group means that Moredun has significantly enhanced the scope of the package that they can provide to the pharmaceutical industry in terms of generating regulatory compliance and registration data.

Lynn Macdonald, analytical chemist at Moredun Scientific, worked with Professor Nolan as in-house KTP Associate and said the partnership had been invaluable in terms of furthering the company’s commercial development.

She explained: “Previously, our services to clients had been limited to commercial research on drug development and we had been unable to offer an interpretation of results to clients.

“However, using Professor Nolan’s expertise allowed me, as KTP Associate, to develop an interpretive service, therefore allowing us to integrate our services and offer a more appealing package to clients.”

The partnership was facilitated by the University’s Research & Enterprise department and the West of Scotland KTP Centre.

KTP, hailed by the UK Government as ‘Europe’s most successful knowledge transfer programme’ draws funding from more than 14 bodies such as the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Scottish Executive, with the balance coming from partnering companies.

Dr David Brown, West of Scotland KTP Centre Manager explained: “The centre facilitated the building and approval of the excellent project and has been thrilled to see the great benefits to company and academics alike. It similarly assists other Glasgow academics to build KTP applications with partner companies.”

Elizabeth Gray, of the University of Glasgow's Research & Enterprise department, said the partnership was a positive example of the results of industry and academia coming together.

She added: “This project shows just how both commercial interests and academics can benefit from specialist areas of research being done within the University – furthering not only business concerns, but also the skills and expertise of those academics working to help develop links.”