Transcript Cathy Vickers CRACK IT

Innovation through the application of the 3Rs:
Collaboration & funding opportunities
Cathy Vickers
BioSynergy Conference
York, April 2015
 NC3Rs & CRACK IT
 Non-animal technologies
 Funding competition
 Special interest group
What do we do?
CRACK IT
 Collaborative funding scheme from the NC3Rs connecting the
industrial, academic and SME sectors
 Aims to improve business processes and develop marketable products
 CRACK IT Challenges solve scientific and business problems identified
by the biosciences sector
 CRACK IT Solutions is a technology partnering hub designed to
accelerate the translation of technologies with potential 3Rs impacts
CRACK IT Challenges
S

Industry business need
defined and developed into
Challenge with NC3Rs
Sponsor
C
S
C



C
Challenge Launch
Review Panel
£100k Proof of concept
Contractors
S&C
 Challenge Panel pitch
 Phase 2 award- up to £1 million
for 3 years
Collaboration
New product with scientific, business and 3Rs
impact available across bioscience sector
CRACK IT Challenges to date
 Launched in 2011
 19 Challenges set
 Increasing engagement with SMEs in UK and Europe
 £13.9 million allocated to date
 2015 Challenges will be announced in August 2015 with launch
event 10 September 2015 in London.
CRACK IT Solutions

It all starts with an idea!

Review and pitch development
with the CRACK IT team and
Solution provider

CRACK IT treatment

1:1 partnering

Trade associations and other
professional bodies

NC3Rs online networks

Monitoring and notifying of new
connections

Seed funding for new
collaborations
www.crackit.org.uk/crack-it-solutions
Challenges
Solutions
Challenge-led Open
Innovation
Technology
Partnering Hub
Cognition
Wireless electrophysiological recording
device for measurement in mice
Dr Esther Rodriguez Villegas, Imperial College
Sponsor: Eli Lilly
ETT Solutions
High content in vitro testing strategy to
reduce animals in neurotoxicity evaluation
Ebers
UnTangle
Multi-parametric iPS cell model of tau
pathology for Alzheimer’s disease
Dr Selina Wray, UCL
Sponsors: Alzheimer's Research UK, Eli Lilly, Janssen
Three dimensional, microfluidic cell
culture technology for cell-based drug
screening assays
http://www.crack-it.org.uk
Non-animal technologies

funding competition

special interest group
The non-animal technology pipeline
Innovation and
Translational
research
Application and
commercialisation
‘Validation’ and
scale up
Integrated into core
business R & D
Cross sector impact
Grant funding
New spin-outs
CRACK IT
Challenges &
Solutions
NAT
collaboration
with Innovate
UK
Thriving UK industrial
sector offering and using
better tools for safety and
efficacy
Developing non-animal technologies
Programme overview & scope
Emerging Technologies & Industries
 Non-animal technologies (NAT) is a high potential area
 A partnership with NC3Rs - and BBSRC, EPSRC, MRC et
al
 Investments so far
 Feasibility Studies investments, 16 projects, £3m grant
 Technology Roadmap in preparation
 Special Interest Group (NAT SIG) open for business
 Scale up investment – Competition 2
Emerging Technologies & Industries strategy
 Identify and evaluate high potential early stage
technologies
 Create a coordinated programme
 Accelerate the journey to market
 Build critical mass and nurture capability
The Competition
• 2 stage: Collaborative R&D
• Project size: £500k to £1 million
• Project length: 24-36 months
• Total investment: up to £6 million
The Challenge
• To advance the rate of development and
commercialisation of non-animal technologies and
testing systems that better predict human and
animal responses to, and the environmental effects
of, chemicals and new molecular entities.
• It covers technologies that could be used in early
drug, veterinary medicine, chemical and consumer
product discovery and development, and suites of
technologies intended to replace regulatory
toxicology studies.
The Scope
• Our aim is not simply to replace animal models with
equivalents but to produce better test systems that more
accurately predict efficacy, safety and environmental
effects
• Very broad scope to encourage a range of projects that
can include:
• Biological, tissue engineering and imaging-related
approaches
• Manufacturing-related approaches
• Computational & mathematical methods
What’s not in scope
• Development of novel or improved animal models
• Extensive validation studies for acceptance by licensed
regulatory bodies
Developing non-animal technologies
Key dates
Competition opens
23 March 2015
Competition briefing
26 March 2015
Registration deadline
noon 29 April 2015
Expressions of interest (EOI) deadline
noon 6 May 2015
Stage 2 opens for invited applications
1 June 2015
Deadline for invited applications
noon 15 July 2015
Connecting the research and business communities
to develop and apply novel, more predictive
technologies to transform business and improve
product development across a range of biosciences
industries, and reduce reliance on animal models.
Membership benefits include:
 Opportunities to help shape the nonanimal technologies sector.
 Automatic notification of relevant
funding opportunities, events and
news.
 Opportunity to contribute to
discussions.
 Potential to identify new
collaborations with members.
https://connect.innovateuk.org/web/non-animal-technologies
Thank you
NC3Rs, CRACK IT, NAT scope & SIG
Website: www.crackit.org.uk
Email: [email protected]
Developing non-animal
technologies:
Collaborative R&D competition
[email protected]
+44 (0)782 462 6888
@MikeSullivanTSB