The FINANCIAL — An Aston University biologist has been shortlisted for a prestigious national award in recognition of her molecular technology research and its relevance and application for health industries.
Senior Lecturer, Dr Anna Hine, has reached the final stage of the BBSRC’s Innovator of the Year award for her development of molecular technologies for protein engineering in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.
Innovator of the Year is an established competition recognising the efforts of BBSRC-funded scientists to take their work beyond the lab and deliver social and economic advantages. Dr Hine and her team’s research produced technologies for creating high quality gene libraries for use by businesses involved in antibody, protein and peptide engineering.
The Innovator of the Year competition form part of BBSRC's Fostering Innovation programme, which celebrates the success of scientists, knowledge exchange practitioners and institutions which have translated excellent research into social and economic benefits.
Speaking about her nomination, Dr Hine said; “I’m honoured to be have been nominated for the Commercial Innovator award, as a result of our work in advanced protein engineering.Working with Aston’s Business Partnership Unit, we have been able to establish licensing routes to transfer research from the laboratory and into the ‘real world’. It’s great to have the opportunity to demonstrate that academic research really can make a difference to UK-based industrial biotechnology.”
The Innovator of the Year finalists compete in one of the three categories; 'Commercial Innovator', 'Social Innovator' and 'Most Promising Innovator' which reflect the breadth of the benefits delivered by BBSRC's investment in UK bioscience. One of the category winners will be chosen as the overall Innovator of the Year by the independent panel of expert judges.
As Aston University said, winners in each category will receive a £10,000 award to support research, training or other activities promoting economic or social impact. The overall winner will receive a further £5,000 and their department will receive £15,000. All competitors will find out who has won the prestigious titles at the BBSRC finals in London on 20 March 2013.
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