News archive 2009

Collaboration to advance diagnostic techniques

13 Jan 2009, PR 06/09

A strategic agreement has been made between King's College London, The comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation Trust and BD Biosciences to advance research into the diagnosis and treatment of patients with a range of conditions.

BD Biosciences press release

Latest diagnostic techniques to benefit patients in South East London

The comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation Trust and King’s College London has entered into a strategic agreement with BD Biosciences, a segment of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), a leading global medical technology company. The collaboration will help advance research into the diagnosis and treatment of patients with a range of conditions, including blood poisoning (sepsis), infection, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, transplant rejection, severe skin disease (psoriasis) and lupus.

Through this close working relationship, scientists and clinical staff working within the BRC will have access to BD Biosciences’ reagents to observe and measure the proteins that attach themselves to cells in far greater detail.  This will increase their ability to understand the causes of a range of auto-immune and inflammatory diseases.

Director of Translational Research Development and Deputy Director of the BRC, Professor Graham Lord, explains: 'This is very exciting for our patients as it will allow us to determine who might respond to treatment, as well as to also avoid unnecessary side effects, as we begin to tailor treatment to individual patients.

'It is also an exciting development for the Biomedical Research Centre as this is exactly what we are aiming to do when we say that our focus is on ‘translational research’ which encourages scientists to work along side their clinical colleagues to bring new developments and treatments to patients at the earliest opportunity.  This deal will both benefit local patients in south east London and also enhance our reputation as a national and international centre for research and treatment into auto-immune and inflammatory diseases.'

Frank Nestle, Director of Guy’s and St Thomas’ Clinical Research Facilities adds: 'The collaboration with BD Biosciences brings together a pioneer and world leader in immuno-diagnostics and local scientists and clinicians.  Our staff will have exciting opportunities to be involved in translational research which furthers understanding of how these complex diseases develop.'

Noel Warner, Ph.D., Worldwide VP of Scientific Affairs, BD Biosciences says: 'BD Biosciences is delighted to establish this important collaboration with the Biomedical Research Centre because it gives us access to world-class scientists and clinicians, as well as the diverse patient base served by the Biomedical Research Centre.  We are confident that this agreement will help us to accelerate the time needed to develop new and better diagnostic tools and techniques.'

The agreement between BD Biosciences and the BRC was brokered by King’s College London’s commercial arm, King’s College London Business Ltd.



Notes to editors

King’s College London
King’s College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (Times Higher Education 2008) and the fourth oldest in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, King’s has 19,700 students from more than 150 countries, and 5,400 employees. King’s has an outstanding reputation for providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise for British universities, 60 per cent of research activity at King’s was deemed world-leading or internationally excellent. The College is in the top group of UK universities for research earnings and has an overall annual income of approximately £450 million. An investment of £500 million has been made in the redevelopment of its estate.

King’s has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, social sciences, the health sciences, natural sciences and engineering, and has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA. It is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe and is home to more Medical Research Council Centres than any other university.

King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts are working together to create a world-leading Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC). Our AHSC brings together an unrivalled range and depth of clinical and research expertise, spanning both physical and mental health. Our combined strengths will drive improvements in care for patients, allowing them to benefit from breakthroughs in medical science and receive leading edge treatment at the earliest possible opportunity. For more information, visit www.londonsahsc.org

King’s College London Business
King’s College London Business is the wholly-owned subsidiary company of King’s College London, responsible for the commercial development of research and innovation at King’s. Responsive to the needs of business and industry, the King’s Business team leads the licensing of new technologies, supports creations of new business ventures, engages consultancy services and develops new business partnerships. For more information, visit www.kcl.ac.uk/business

Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation Trust
Guy’s and St Thomas’ provides around ¾ million patient contacts in acute and specialist hospital services every year.  As one of the biggest NHS Trusts in the UK, it employs over 9,000 staff.  The Trust works in partnership with the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing and Biomedical Sciences of King’s College London and other Higher Education Institutes to deliver high quality education and research.  Website: www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk

The comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre
The comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London, is one of five National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) comprehensive Biomedical Research Centres in the UK. With its strong focus on ‘translational research’ across seven research themes and a number of cross-cutting disciplines, it aims to take advances in basic medical research out of the laboratory and into the clinical setting to benefit patients at the earliest opportunity. Access to the uniquely diverse patient population of London and the south east enables it to drive forward research into a wide range of diseases and medical conditions.  Website: http://www.biomedicalresearchcentre.org 

 

Contact: Andrea Ttofa, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust tel: 020 7188 5577 or e-mail: Andrea.ttofa@gstt.nhs.uk.  Out of hours, please call our pager bureau on 08700 555500, ask for pager number 847704 and give the pager operator your message.

Further information
Kate Moore, Public Relations Officer (Health Schools)
Public Relations Department
Email: kate.moore@kcl.ac.uk
Tel: 020 7848 3202



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