Unlocking The Cell

A world-first centre for groundbreaking medical research that could help tackle previously untreatable diseases is about to open in Stevenage. Louise McEvoy reports on the £67m site that could save lives on a global scale.

- Louise McEvoy

Hertfordshire’s place in global science will take another leap forward with the opening this autumn of a world-first laboratory hub that aims to find cures for untreatable and difficult to treat illnesses using revolutionary new technology.

Sited on the Gunnels Wood Road science corridor in Stevenage – home to Airbus Defence and Space, GlaxoSmithKline and Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst among others – the £67m site provides the facilities for companies to develop effective new treatments for diseases such as cancer using groundbreaking gene and cell therapy. Gene therapy can correct abnormal genes, while cell therapy involves the removal of cells from a patient, their modification, and then reinjection in order to repair the direct causes of genetic diseases.

The centre was funded by the government as part of a goal to enhance the UK’s science base – £55m from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in 2014 and £12m this year from its Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.

The company behind the new facility, London based Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult (CGT Catapult), was founded in 2012 to bridge the gap between scientific research and the commercial sector. It has played a key role in the creation of cells that are ‘trained’ to recognise a protein in leukaemia cells and then attack and destroy them.

Currently, one issue holding up cell therapy research globally is the low availability of the large numbers of cells needed to perform major clinical trials. The Stevenage manufacturing centre will allow UK and international businesses developing new cell therapy treatments to use its labs to create cells for these studies.