Now on TV! Watch Tony Kouzarides explain the thinking behind the new Consortium.

An innovative new Therapeutics Consortium was launched today in Cambridge, UK. The Consortium will see academic and clinical researchers at the University of Cambridge, the Babraham Institute and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute working with pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and Astex (part of Otsuka). It will provide researchers with the potential to access novel drug molecules being developed by each of the companies, in order to investigate their mechanism, efficacy and potential. Each industry partner has committed funding to spend on collaborative projects, which are expected to lead to joint publications. The terms of the Consortium allow for fast and easy access to reagents and information.

West elevation of new Capella building

The Consortium is to be directed by Professor Tony Kouzarides, currently Deputy Director of the Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute, and will initially operate from there. From early 2018 it will form a major constituent of the new Milner Therapeutics Institute, to be located in the new Capella building on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.  The Institute has been made possible through a £5 million donation from Jonathan Milner, a former postdoc in the Kouzarides lab at the Gurdon Institute, and subsequently co-founder with Kouzarides of the successful life sciences company Abcam plc. The Milner Therapeutics Institute will house independent research groups and core facilities, with cancer therapeutics as a major focus.

Read more details on the University of Cambridge news page