The University of Glasgow and its partners NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, ThermoFisher and Aridhia have been presented with a major life sciences award.

The group took the first prize ‘Innovative Collaboration’ category at the Scottish Enterprise Life Sciences Awards ceremony in Glasgow on Thursday 5 February. The award recognises the group’s efforts to developing innovative infrastructure and collaborations at the South Glasgow University Hospital.

The collaboration has resulted in:

• a £30m purpose-built building, incorporating an Innovation Facility which will accommodate the pan-Scotland Stratified Medicine Scotland Innovation Centre (the £20M collaboration between the Universities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow, NHS Scotland, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Aridhia Informatics)  together with incubator units for industry;
• a £5m state-of-the-art Clinical Research Facility for precision medicine clinical trials;
• a £28m Imaging Centre for Excellence, incorporating the UK’s first 7 Tesla MRI scanner on a clinical site and collaboration space for industry.

Professor Anna Dominiczak, Head of the College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences at the University of Glasgow, said: “The new £1bn South Glasgow University Hospital, opening shortly, will bring major changes to the way healthcare is delivered across the west of Scotland - with maternity, children's and adult hospitals all on one site.

“The University of Glasgow, along with our NHS and industry partners, is filling the missing gap of the new hospital investment by developing industry-driven infrastructure and collaborations that will fuel innovation and drive forward precision medicine.

“The South Glasgow University Hospital has dedicated space for pharmaceutical companies and Scottish SMEs to engage with clinical academics and NHS clinicians, together with first-rate facilities for undergraduate and postgraduate training.

“What makes this new hospital so exciting is the ‘triple helix’ partnership between the NHS, University and industry. We have a world-leading University working with a forward-thinking health board and access to some of the brightest and best industry partners on earth.”

Robert Calderwood, Chief Executive NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: “NHSGGC and the University of Glasgow have had a close working relationship for many, many years.

“The new South Glasgow University Hospital and new Royal Hospital for Sick Children will provide Glasgow with a world class hospital complex. 

“By providing a world class clinical research and teaching and learning facility on the same site future generations of doctors and clinical staff will be able to provide the latest cutting edge treatments available for the patients we serve.”

David Sibbald, Co-Founder and CEO of Aridhia, said: “Aridhia are excited to be working closely with our academic, clinical and commercial partners on these globally significant initiatives. By combining our collective expertise, we can change the way healthcare is delivered while creating economic growth for Scotland.

“Advances in life sciences and informatics are accelerating at an unprecedented rate creating the conditions for long term collaboration between the NHS, academia and industry and ensuring we deliver material benefits to patients as quickly as we can. Scotland is uniquely placed in its capacity to collaborate and work together to deliver sustainable health and wealth for the nation."

Mark Smedley, President, Thermo Fisher’s Life Sciences Solutions, EMEA Region, commented: "We are proud to be involved with the University of Glasgow and its partners on the project to deliver the £20m Stratified Medicine Scotland Innovation Centre (SMS-IC) at the new South Glasgow University Hospital. Their goal of combining an individual’s detailed genomic data with traditional patient information to enable faster, more accurate and effective clinical decisions, is exciting, and we’re pleased that our Ion Proton DNA sequencing technologies are playing a central role in this research."

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For more information contact  the University of Glasgow Media Relations Office on 0141 330 3535 or email media@glasgow.ac.uk

First published: 6 February 2015