A FIVE-year mission to cement the reputation of Darlington and the Tees Valley as one of the UK’s centres of bioscience innovation has been endorsed by leading industry experts.

The backing came at a bioscience industry workshop organised by Teesside University’s National Horizons Centre, featuring leaders from national and international businesses and organisations.

The experts gave their wholehearted support to the centre’s ambitious five-year business plan which aims to significantly grow the skills and capacity of the UK’s bioscience industry.

The plan includes the recruitment of 15 senior staff and academics.

Senior figures from several leading organisations across the life sciences sector took part in the workshop, including FUJIFILM Diosynth Technologies, Cogent Skills and the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre, among others.

The members agreed that the vision for the Darlington centre would provide a rich pipeline of graduate talent to the life sciences sector while helping to grow the UK bioindustry through training, research and partnerships.

The £22.3million National Horizon’s Centre (NHC), which is based at Teesside University’s Darlington campus at Central Park, is a national centre of excellence for the bioscience industry.

It provides training, research and talent to the life sciences sector and over the next five years, the National Horizons Centre will invest more than £2.5million.

Investments include the recruitment of 15 new staff including four senior academics at Professor/Reader level specialising in Proteomics, Translational Healthcare, Gene Therapy and Cell Engineering.

It will also recruit a senior technician, experimental officers and a business innovation manager.

By the end of the five year-plan, up to 50 percent of the National Horizons Centre’s output will be focussed towards industrial collaboration and training.

The strategy will also develop the Centre’s core strengths in disease-specific research in areas such as Alzheimer’s, cancer and Parkinson’s.

Dr Kath Mackay, MD of Bruntwood SciTech Alderley Park, said: "It's great to see the National Horizons Centre establishing itself as a key organisation in the life science sector.

"There is real potential for the industrialisation of research and for hands-on training opportunities to grow the UK's biopharma workforce of the future."

Dr Nicola Hutchinson, CEO of the region's Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) said: "The AHSN drives business growth across the region by supporting innovators to commercialise their health innovations and facilitate the spread and adoption of these life changing innovations across the health and care system.

“So, having the NHC based in our region is fantastic news and provides a huge opportunity for us to enable successful health innovators to access this world leading training centre to grow and scale their businesses.”

Dr Jen Vanderhoven, director of the centre, said: “For the National Horizons Centre to succeed, it is vital that the work it is doing is focused on the needs of industry."