CATALYST company Synetix is expanding to enhance its position as a leader in its field.

The Billingham company, part of the ICI Group, has invested £2m in research facilities in Cambridge.

The facility, dedicated to Synetix's Chiral Technologies business, will be opened today by Professor Steven Ley, of Cambridge University and will support the manufacturing and development work in Chiral Technologies, currently carried out on Teesside.

Bob Coxon, chief executive of Synetix, said: "We are building on our success with the opening of this new facility in Cambridge, supporting the manufacturing and development work in Chiral Technologies, carried out on Teesside.

"The new facility will give us a local base nearer to more of our specialist customers and to the academic excellence that Cambridge is renowned for."

The laboratory will employ a staff of 12, nine of them from Teesside.

The Chiral Technologies team will work on developing specialist catalysts, advanced solutions and new technologies for its customers in the pharmaceutical and fine chemical industry.

The new technologies will help drug companies to produce more sophisticated drugs, helping to reduce side effects of existing medicines