October 2024

UCLB Impact Insights is the monthly roundup from UCL Business, the technology commercialisation company for UCL – bringing you inspiring stories of success and impact from commercialising UCL’s world class academic research.

Welcome from our CEO, Dr Anne Lane

Welcome!

Thanks for signing up to receive our newsletter. I hope you’ll be inspired by our stories of commercialising UCL’s research for real-world impact. I am incredibly proud of the work of UCLB’s talented team and the strong partnerships we forge to bring UCL research to market where it can improve lives. We’re always keen to do more, so do get in touch with us via our website and let’s talk!

London Social Ventures launch

Last week UCLB attended and presented at the launch of London Social Ventures , a collaborative initiative that promises to invigorate social innovation in the capital. London Social Ventures sees some of London’s leading universities, businesses, and civic organisations coming together to support social ventures – enterprises that prioritise social impact over profit.

Dr. Steven Schooling , Managing Director of UCLB commented: “We are thrilled to be part of this ground-breaking initiative. UCLB has a long history of social venture success, and we look forward to working with our partners to offer the critical support these ventures need to grow.” ?

Discover more here .

In the news

World Sight Day – two pioneering UCLB spinouts

This month marked the World Health Organisation’s annual World Sight Day, an opportunity to highlight the importance of protecting our eyes and vision, raise awareness of vision impairment and blindness, and promote eye and vision care.?

In this article, the pioneering work of two UCLB spinouts Tenpoint Therapeutics and MeiraGTx are explored.?

Read more from our World Sight Day article here .?

UCLB helps commercialise medical imaging breakthrough

UCLB has helped commercialise a new hand-held scanner, developed by UCL researchers. The product can generate highly detailed 3D photoacoustic images in just seconds, paving the way for use in a clinical setting for the first time, and offering the potential for earlier disease diagnosis.?

UCLB Senior Business Manager Dr. Weng Wong said: “It’s been fantastic to see this ground-breaking innovation receive the attention it deserves. The wide reaching possibilities of this technology will make it a valuable tool for clinicians worldwide.”

Read more here.

Guildford Street Laboratories (GSL) to help researchers detect diseases earlier

Guilford Street Laboratories (GSL), a new UCLB spinout, is using machine learning-driven omic technology to deliver new innovative assays with higher precision.?

Dr. Caitriona O'Rourke , Senior Business Manager, UCLB, said: “We’re delighted to see GSL spinout successfully.?The excellence of the team should help the spinout succeed and UCLB will continue to work closely.”

Find out more here.

Cancer Research UK and NovalGen advance T-cell engager

Cancer Research UK (CRUK) , one of the world’s largest funders of cancer research, and UCLB spinout NovalGen , a clinical stage immunology company, have signed an agreement to bring NovalGen’s next-generation T-cell engager, NVG-222, into a first-in-human clinical trial.?

Under the agreement, Cancer Research UK’s Centre for Drug Development (CDD) will sponsor, design and deliver a Phase 1/2a clinical trial of NVG-222. NovalGen will be responsible for completing the Clinical Trial Authorisation (CTA)-enabling activities.??

Find out more. ?

Spotlight on: Dr. Harriet Story

UCLB Senior Business Manager, Biopharm Harriet Story, PhD discusses her passion for tech transfer’s role in tackling gut conditions, and her yoga teaching qualification.?

Read the full story here .?

Breast Cancer Awareness Month: focus on UCL Innovations

It’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month – and we want to spotlight UCLB spinout Endomag’s journey to impact.?

Endomag , the innovative UCL med-tech spinout, has been on quite the journey, from its formation in 2007 to solve a world issue, to being purchased in 2024 for $310m by Hologic.??

The company’s problem-solving ethos and relationships with clinicians across the world have led to the exciting innovation: a product which helps surgeons mark the location of the primary breast cancer tumour.??

Read more here. ?

Technology Spotlight

Oriole Networks

Oriole Networks - the UCLB spinout using light to train Large Language Models with a fraction of the usual AI energy consumption - has raised an additional $22m from leading investors to further scale its ‘super-brain’ solution.

Oriole Networks’ optical infrastructure uses light to directly connect thousands of AI GPUs into super-brains, enabling a wider deployment of more sustainable and cost-effective AI. This comes after Oriole secured $13m in seed funding to accelerate development of its ‘all-optical’ infrastructure earlier this year.

Find out more here .?

Events

Inspiring UCL Academic Entrepreneurs

I/O Lab Coffee Club is a networking event hosted by UCLB for UCL academics to informally discuss topics relevant to research commercialisation.?

These sessions are to encourage academics new to the idea of research commercialisation to come and ask questions and be inspired to look for opportunities for market impact from their own research portfolios.?

The next session is on Tuesday 26th November, as we chat with Professor Andreas Schatzlein , co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Nanomerics Ltd .?

Discover UCL technologies

Stanhope AI

Check out the latest technology from our spinout company Stanhope AI , which is building a Generative AI for the physical world, based on the first principles of human brain function. The technology uses Active Inference to build World Models for industrial robotics and autonomous vehicle applications.??

Read about Stanhope AI's technology , helping support the new generation of AI.?

For more UCLB content and updates, visit our website here .