Milner Therapeutics Institute and partners MRC and AstraZeneca in line for top award
Fellow Cambridge businesses Cellestial Health, Exonate, Ignota Labs and RxCelerate are also shortlisted for awards. The winners will be announced at the OBN Awards ceremony on Wednesday 26th November at The Royal Lancaster, London.
The Milner Institute has been recognised for the Functional Genomics Screening Laboratory (FGSL). This is a collaboration between the Institute at the University of Cambridge, the Medical Research Council and AstraZeneca, which aims to combine know-how and experience to accelerate the development of biomarkers and therapeutics for diseases through functional interrogation of the genome at scale.
As part of the Human Functional Genomics Initiative, the FGSL forms collaborations to explore how genes impact on complex phenotypes in development and disease.
The OBN Awards competition, now in its 17th year, is a highly regarded programme for the Life Sciences industry, designed to celebrate innovation and outstanding achievement across all corners of the industry. The shortlist is available on the OBN website.
The awards shine a light on companies at all stages of development, recognising inspirational leadership, exciting innovation, novel approaches to unmet clinical need, outstanding company progression, and the delivery of tangible outcomes.
Two Cambridge startups – Cellestial Health and Ignota Labs – are shortlisted in the The BioSeed One-to-Watch Award category. University of Cambridge spin-out Cellestial Health announced its pre-seed funding round in May to accelerate the development of novel therapeutics targeting astrocytes, an often-overlooked cell type in the brain, with the first indication of Parkinson’s disease. Cellestial aims to revolutionise how brain disorders are treated by shifting the therapeutic focus towards the inclusion of astrocytes in drug development.
Cambridge Science Park based Ignota Labs announced a seed raise of £5.5m earlier this year and is building a robust pipeline to bring safer drugs to market faster. It has doubled the size of its team and entered into a collaboration with global healthcare company Sanofi.
Cambridge drug discovery and development platform RxCelerate is in the running for the ‘Most Impactful CRO of the Year’ award, and Cambridge biotech company Exonate, which is developing novel, non-invasive, small-molecule therapeutics for patients with retinal vascular diseases, is shortlisted for the ‘Best Established Biotech Company’ accolade.
Oxford companies Brainomix (Best Established Medtech Company), Greywolf Therapeutics (Best Established Biotech Company) and Ochre Bio (Best Emerging Biotech Company) are also vying for glory on the night.
The Milner Therapeutics Institute won the ‘Most Impactful Business Support Organisation’ category back in 2021.