News & Events

Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal, officially opened the Gene Therapy Innovation and Manufacturing Centre (GTIMC) at the University of Sheffield today (2 October 2024). The state-of-the-art facility marks a significant milestone in accelerating the development of life-changing treatments for patients with rare and inherited diseases.

One year on from the publication of the Innovation Hubs for Gene Therapies Skills Strategy, Professor Qasim Rafiq reflects on the key messages from the launch event and our progress to-date on delivering key components of the strategy.

Mariya Spatar, LifeArc Communications Strategist, describes her time as a volunteer at Cheltenham Science Festival 2024 and shares her thoughts on the experience.

The recent panel discussion at Cheltenham Science Festival, “Gene Therapy: The Future of Medicine?”, sponsored by the Innovation Hubs for Gene Therapies and Cell & Gene Therapy Catapult, brought together experts Professor Bobby Gaspar, Dr Rajvinder Karda, Dharmisha Stezaly, and Vivienne Parry to explore the current state and future potential of gene therapy. This article summarises the key messages from the event, highlighting the promise of gene therapy and the challenges that must be overcome to make it widely available.

Representatives from the Innovation Hubs will be attending the first London Biotechnology Show in May 2024. Find out more about the event in this blog post.

Read Dr Sujith Sebastian's blog written for the Bioindustry Association, sharing insights into the critical role of sustainable and cost-effective manufacturing of viral vector products for the commercial success of these groundbreaking therapies.

South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) and Aviva Capital Partners Limited have announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to forge a strategic partnership aimed at fostering innovation, economic growth and housing development in South Yorkshire. This landmark collaboration signifies a pivotal step towards realising SYMCA's vision of a stronger, fairer, and greener economy for the region. The agreement was signed as part of a visit to the University of Sheffield's Gene Therapy Innovation and Manufacturing Centre (GTIMC), one of the three Innovation Hubs for Gene Therapies.

University of Sheffield spinout company, Crucible Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing novel therapies to treat the most common genetic form of MND and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), has secured £5 million from Northern Gritstone.

On Friday 10th March 2023, NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) opened its new Clinical Biotechnology Centre (CBC) facility in Filton, Bristol. The new CBC facility was built with a near £10m Government grant and was designed to expand the UK’s ability to make the products needed to support early phase clinical trials and pre-clinical work for cell and gene therapies, providing a route to eventual commercial scale production.

In October, Dr Sophie Mountcastle (Innovation Hubs Network Manager) and Dr Anji Miller (LifeArc Senior Business Partner and Innovation Hubs Lead) attended the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ESGCT) 29th Annual Congress in Edinburgh to launch a new survey on behalf of the Innovation Hubs for Gene Therapies. The purpose of the survey is to find out more about the novel gene therapies being developed within the UK academic community, and specifically to understand the requirements for GMP viral vectors for early-phase clinical trials.

Construction has finished on the pioneering Innovation Hub for Gene Therapies. The new building will advance scientific discoveries into promising treatment options for millions of patients with life-threatening diseases.

One year on, we report on the progress made to date to establish a national network of Innovation Hubs for Gene Therapies to advance promising academic research into life-changing new medicines for patients.

Sven Kili explains why he got involved and how the network will advance promising research into new treatments for patients.