Cambridge, UK, 12^th November 2024: Babraham Research Campus Ltd, which is responsible for the development and management of Babraham Research Campus is delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Louise Jopling to the newly created role of Chief Scientific & Innovation Officer.

Louise has almost 30 years’ experience working across the health and life sciences spectrum, working within academia, biotech and medium and large pharmaceutical organisations; from target discovery and R&D through to product launch and lifecycle management. Most recently Louise led the commercial team at Health Innovation East, developing partnerships and supporting innovators to refine their business models, value propositions and navigate the NHS and other global health care systems to maximise population benefit, generating economic growth at a regional and national level.

Over the past five financial years companies, supported by the commercial team at Health Innovation East, reported to have leveraged over £120m investment and supported more than 300 jobs.

Louise already has strong connections to Babraham Research Campus, having been awarded a Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence fellowship earlier this year to support research translation and commercialisation activities at the Babraham Institute.  This two-year project, which Louise will continue, facilitates close collaboration with the Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation team at the Babraham Institute to ‘accelerate fundamental life science research for talent development, population health benefit and wealth creation’. As part of her residency to date, Louise has been instrumental in identifying a novel funding programme which has resulted in a funded post to support entrepreneurial career development and the commercial progress of one of BI’s translation projects; in addition to supporting a selection of Group Leaders with commercialisation projects – developing guiding principle documents to support academics and industry embarking on collaboration.

Louise is Strategic Advisor to Enhanc3D Genomics, a Babraham Institute spin out company, a long-standing member of the British Society for Immunology and on the Editorial Board for Immunotherapy Advances journal.

The focus of Louise’s role as Chief Scientific & Innovation Officer at Babraham Research Campus is to continue to strengthen the collaborative culture of the Campus in line with its vision to be one of the best places in the world to start, scale, nurture and grow a life sciences business. Louise’s immediate priorities include growing and broadening the Campus’ strategic partnerships with corporates, service providers, investors and trade organisations committed to accelerating and enabling vibrant UK life sciences researchers and companies – both those currently on Campus and new innovators which will be attracted as the Campus grows. Louise will also oversee and further develop various on-Campus initiatives, including Accelerate@Babraham (pre-seed company support programme created out of a desire to nurture early-stage life science ventures attempting to navigate the tough and fast-moving sector life sciences sector) and LiveLabs (flexible, co-working lab space, providing fully serviced and equipped labs ideal for molecular biology and cell culture work for early-stage life science companies).

A founding initiative which Louise will lead on behalf of the Campus is oversight of a fellowship programme as a key component of the recently announced three-year collaboration between CUHP and Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA), the UK Government’s new research funding agency. A large team from across the Cambridge life sciences, technology and business worlds have come together as Activation Partners in ARIA’s Scalable Neural Interfaces opportunity space, which aims to super charge progress on a new generation of neuro-technologies designed to treat conditions such as depression, dementia, chronic pain, epilepsy and injuries to the nervous system. Applications for the first tranche of ‘Fellows’ will be announced in the coming weeks.

Louise Jopling commented of her appointment: “I am excited to be appointed to this newly created role aligned with Babraham Research Campus' vision for growth.  I look forward to further evolving the Campus innovation strategy and working with new partners to amplify the impact that Babraham Research Campus contributes to the Cambridge life sciences ecosystem for the improved health of global communities and the wealth of our nation.

“I've been privileged to have been working within the Babraham Institute since the start of 2024 as the Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence, work that will continue, and alongside my new appointment at Babraham Research Campus I really look forward to enabling further synergies within our unique Campus culture.''

Derek Jones, CEO, Babraham Research Campus Ltd, added “I am delighted to welcome Louise to the team. Her breadth of experience across academic and industry research and strategic roles, enables her to identify and implement key initiatives and collaborations which will continue to foster and encourage entrepreneurship across our Campus community.”

Babraham Research Campus is a world-leading place for early-stage life science discovery and innovation, encompassing a pre-eminently sustainable and enriching ecosystem within a campus environment to start, nurture, scale and grow a life sciences business.

An integrated and integral part of the Cambridge ecosystem, the Babraham Research Campus is distinct in its co-location of world-leading academic research at the Babraham Institute alongside around 60 biotech companies spanning start-up to scale-up. In addition, the first-class conference facilities available within the Cambridge Building - enabling interaction and connection - brings together a breadth of expertise not found elsewhere. These factors, in combination with the energy and pay-it-forward mindset of the researchers, entrepreneurs and senior teams based on Campus has created an ecosystem of know-how and experience which makes it an exceptional place to create, build and grow a life science business. 

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