News & Events

Archived News

Dundee Life Scientist wins prestigious industry award

Dundee life scientist, Professor
Roland Wolf, has been honoured
with a Scottish Enterprise
Scottish Life Sciences Award for
his outstanding contribution to
the development of the life
sciences sector in Scotland.

Professor Wolf was awarded the
prize at the Scottish Enterprise
Life Sciences Annual Dinner on 8th
February at the Edinburgh
International Conference Centre in
front of 700 guests active in the
Scottish Life Sciences community.

Professor Roland Wolf, director of
the Biomedical Research Centre at
the University of Dundee, has
worked in life sciences in
Scotland since 1982. The award
recognises his part in the
commercialisation of research
being carried out at the
University of Dundee, including co-
founding the hugely successful
Dundee company CXR Biosciences
five years ago.

Backed by funding from Archangel
Informal Investments, CXR works
with biotech and pharma companies
to use conventional and
proprietary technologies to
accelerate the drug development
process. This involves the
development of new models aimed at
reducing toxicology problems and
drug failure at clinical trial.

The company is now self-sufficient
with 40 staff, and in the 2005
financial year reported a
significant profit.

As well as his commercial and
research interests, Prof Wolf was
also responsible for the
establishment of four major
research consortia with a group of
international pharmaceutical
companies.

Prof Wolf said: "The results of
the Scottish Enterprise Life
Science Awards are watched very
closely in the sector, so it's a
massive honour for me to have been
chosen from such a strong field."

"It's taken the combined expertise
of a lot of people to get to this
point, and it's my hope that the
entire life sciences community -
and ultimately patient care - will
derive real benefit from that."

Prof Wolf was also a key player in
bringing about the first
collaboration between four of
Scotland's leading universities
and major US company Wyeth
Pharmaceuticals. The
collaboration, assisted by
Scottish Enterprise combines the
research expertise of Scotland's
top scientists with the resources
and industry experience of Wyeth.

The result is the Translational
Medicine Research Collaboration
(TMRC) - in which Wyeth has
invested $86 million - based
around a central core laboratory
in Dundee, and working with
centres of excellence at the
university medical schools in
Dundee, Glasgow, Edinburgh and
Aberdeen.

Prof Wolf is also a member of the
Board of Governors of the Beatson
Institute for Cancer Research, is
a member of several international
advisory boards and has been a
consultant to multinational
pharmaceutical and consumer
products companies.

Backed by Scottish Enterprise, the
annual Life Sciences Awards
recognise groundbreaking
developments in healthcare,
medical devices and disease
prevention within Scotland's life
sciences community.

Scottish researchers have long
been pioneers of their field with
discoveries and innovations as
diverse as penicillin and the MRI
scanner.

The annual awards recognise the
many achievements for both
companies and individuals working
in this complex field.

The Scottish Enterprise Life
Sciences Annual Dinner, hosted by
Scottish Enterprise and sponsored
by Dundas & Wilson and Highlands &
Islands Enterprise, attracts more
than 700 people from the life
sciences communities across the UK
and abroad.


2007