Archive of news and press releases

Press Release – 25th April 2006

Cascade Fund Invests in Protein Crystallography at the Univeraity Of Reading

Dr Kim Watson, Reader in Structural Biology at the University of Reading, is the latest recipient of seed investment from the Cascade Fund, bringing the total number of investments made by the Fund in technology from Reading to seven. Two separate investments will support the establishment of a business case for a spin-out company providing protein crystallography solutions to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

Protein crystallography is the study of the three-dimensional structure of biological molecules at atomic (or near atomic) resolution using X-ray diffraction. Knowledge of the structure or "form" of a molecule can aid understanding its biological function. Such detailed understanding of protein structure and function is an important underpinning for life sciences. Pharmaceutical companies utilise protein crystallography as part of their core research platform for drug development.

The business idea has evolved through the award of a University Enterprise Fellowship to Dr Kim Watson which has provided her with training and a business mentor from Finance South East who run the Merlin¹ mentoring programme.

The Structural Biology Unit is part of the BioCentre at the University of Reading. The BioCentre is housed in state-of-the-art research laboratories, principally within the Plant Sciences building. An investment of £8M, with more than £2.5M spent on new equipment makes the BioCentre one of the best equipped research laboratories of its type in Europe.

The BioCentre is a centre of excellence, enabling the University of Reading to be at the forefront of Life Sciences research. It provides a platform comprising facilities and expertise in genomics, post-genomics, structural and computational biology; and is a scientific hub encouraging and supporting integrated approaches to the challenging scientific questions addressed by biologists, computer scientists, chemists, physicists, biotechnologists and health-related researchers. The BioCentre aims to encourage access to its facilities and expertise across the University - and foster links and collaborations with external enterprises and institutes.

Facilities include modern laboratories for large scale fermentation, molecular biology, tissue culture, biochemistry, X-ray structural biology, discovery proteomics, transcriptomics and modern mass spectroscopy.

Dr Watson is well placed to understand the protein crystallography world market, having led a Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Global Watch Mission in June 2004 to visit emerging structural genomics centres (including protein crystallography) in China and Japan. The mission provided an opportunity to discover at first hand the new areas emerging from programmes in China and Japan and to explore areas of potential collaboration and technology transfer with the UK. The mission involved representatives from the University of Reading, the University of Oxford, Rigaku/MSC, Oxford Diffraction Ltd, GlaxoSmithKline and Syngenta.

¹ The Merlin mentoring project is co-financed by the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) and the European Social Fund (ESF).

Note to Editors

The Cascade Fund

Cascade is an early stage or Seed fund available to five partner universities in south east England: Brunel, Reading, Royal Holloway, Surrey and Sussex. It invests in activities that have moved beyond the scope of Research Council funding but which are still too early for conventional funding sources. The Cascade Fund has £4 million, 75% funded by the Office of Science & Technology (with contributions from the Wellcome Trust and the Gatsby Charitable Foundation) under the second round of the University Challenge Scheme, and 25% by the partner universities. The Cascade Fund is managed by an independent fund manager, Generics Asset Management Limited (GAML).
Web: www.cascadefund.co.uk

Generics Asset Management (GAML)

GAML is the wholly-owned FSA-regulated investment management company of The Generics Group Ltd. GAML manages and maintains investment assets on behalf of both external investment funds and The Generics Group. GAML invests in technology-based opportunities and aims to make investments in enterprises to which GAML or other parts of the Group can add significant value and reduce the inherent technology risk. The Generics Group is quoted on the London Stock Exchange (Reuters: GEN.L)
Web: www.genericsgroup.com

Dr. Kim Watson

Dr. Kim Watson is Reader in Structural Biology and Head of the Structural Biology Unit in the BioCentre at the University of Reading. After completing a DPhil. in Molecular Biophysics at the University of Oxford (1994), she was awarded a Diabetes UK Fellowship (until 1999) to pursue independent research in structural and computational biology of proteins involved in liver glycogen metabolism. Following that, she was awarded a Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine Fellowship (until 2005) to continue and extend her work to include pancreatic proteins involved in insulin release. She is an internationally recognised protein crystallographer with several years experience of protein biochemistry and bioanalytical methods. She has published over 40 papers in leading journals, the majority focusing on protein structure-function studies and protein-ligand analysis.
Web: www.biocentre.rdg.ac.uk

The University of Reading

The University of Reading is a top rated international research institution, in the top 20 research intensive universities in the UK, with over 13,000 students from over 100 countries; it is listed in the Top 20 of the Sunday Times Good University Guide. The University employs nearly 4000 people, making it one of the largest employers in the county of Berkshire.
Web: www.reading.ac.uk

Finance South East

FSE exists to provide an integrated approach to funding, and associated pre- and post-investment support, for ambitious growth companies and entrepreneurs in the South East (SEEDA) region. Its specialist range of products and services include advice on funding strategy, introductions to funding sources, fund management and mentoring and investor networks.

For further information editors should contact:

Sue O’Hare, Technology Transfer Manager, University of Reading. Tel: +44 (0)118 935 7198, Fax +44 (0)118 935 7330, Email: s.c.ohare@reading.ac.uk
or
Andrew Austin, The Generics Group, Tel +44 (0) 1223 875200, Fax +44 (0) 1223 875201, Email andrew.austin@genericsgroup.com

Press Release 18 August 2005

Si-Light receives further stimulus funding

Si-Light technologies Ltd, a spin-out company from the University of Surrey has announced that it has received further stimulus funding from the Cascade fund. Si-light will use this new investment to complete designs for demonstration prototypes of it's patented silicon light emitter technology, and to deliver various milestones to bring the company to investor readiness. Si-Light's patented technology enables the manufacturing of efficient silicon LED's that emit light in the 1.2 microns to 1.5 microns spectrum, and which are compatible with standard semiconductor manufacturing processes. Si-Light CEO Kevin Arthur commented “ We have world leading technology here, and this new award from Cascade puts us on track to demonstrate silicon LED's that will revolutionize the production of inexpensive optoelectronic transceivers, for applications such as rack-to-rack parallel communications, optical backplanes and fibre to the home systems. We are very excited about the prospects for this potentially game changing technology.”

Si-Light are based in the SETsquared facility on the Surrey research park in Guildford Surrey.

The University of Surrey places a very high priority on creating and nurturing productive links with business and industry and currently has working relationships with over 500 businesses. The University's plans in this area have been backed by substantial funding from the Government. Following recent awards totalling £10 million, the University, along with partner institutions Bath , Bristol and Southampton , has been awarded a further £12.8 million. This funding is being used to accelerate development of a wide range of programmes designed to ensure that the University is able to deliver benefits to the regional and national economy in partnership with industry.

The Cascade Fund was created to stimulate entrepreneurial activity and provide financial and business assistance to commercialise, together with the University technology transfer offices, the inventions and ideas arising from the research undertaken in the five partner universities: Brunel, Reading , Royal Holloway, Surrey & Sussex.

Contact
Si-Light Technologies Ltd.
The Surrey Research Park
Surrey Technology Centre
Guildford
Surrey
GU2 7AF
England
www.si-light.com
kevin.arthur@si-light.com

Links
Si-Light Technology Ltd. www.si-light.com
The Cascade Fund www.cascadefund.co.uk
The University of Surrey www.surrey.ac.uk
SETsquared www.setsquared.co.uk

Press Release 1 June 2005

University spin-out company secures further funding

Whitfield Solar, a spin-out company of The University of Reading that develops and manufactures solar electric photovoltaic generators, has secured funds from Carbon Trust Investments Limited matched with private equity from Mr Andy Pegg, founder and CEO of Segen, a new entrant to the sustainable energy generation industry. Further funds from Whitfield Solar's existing investor, the Cascade Fund, have also been secured.

CEO Dr Clive Weatherby said: “I am delighted with the new investment, especially as it comes from such committed partners. This investment demonstrates confidence in the technology and the additional capital will allow us to accelerate the development of the low-cost photovoltaic concentrator system to market entry later this year. We can realise start-up production levels creating momentum towards our goal of halving today's installed system prices. We will exhibit our product for the first time at the Barcelona EU PVSEC in June this year.”

Jonathan Bryers, Investment Manager at the Carbon Trust, commented: “The Carbon Trust is committed to developing a low carbon economy within the UK and our investment in Whitfield Solar Limited is part of our ongoing work to help make this vision a reality. From an investor's perspective the last few years have seen the clean technology sector emerge as a discrete investment category in its own right. We look forward to supporting the commercial development of Whitfield Solar Limited as part of this exciting period of growth for the clean technology market.”

Whitfield Solar Limited is a spin-off company from the University's Department of Cybernetics. Formed in April 2004, it provides a commercial outlet for over 30 years of R&D within the solar sector and capitalises on the Carbon Trust's review of solar concentrator technology – ‘Building Options for UK Renewable Energy' (October 2003). The report identifies that the high material costs of photovoltaic panels represent a significant barrier to take up of solar technology. Whitfield Solar Limited aims to produce a low-cost solar technology by developing concentrated photovoltaic technology that contains 100 times less silicon than conventional flat panel systems.

Whitfield Solar Limited is based at Reading Enterprise Hub, a business incubator on the University campus which offers an environment for growth for high-tech start-ups.

End

Notes for Editors

The Carbon Trust
•  The Carbon Trust works with UK business and the public sector to cut carbon emissions and develop commercial low carbon technologies. An independent company set up by Government to help the UK meet its climate change obligations, the Carbon Trust creates practical business-focused solutions to carbon emission reduction on energy efficiency, carbon management, and investment.
•  The Carbon Trust's annual funding is in excess of £65m in grants from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government and Invest NI.
•  The Carbon Trust is involved in the general activity of promoting investment in low carbon technologies. It does not give investment advice. The contents of this press release are intended for information only and are not to be relied upon for any purpose whatsoever.

The University of Reading
The University of Reading is one of the top 20 research intensive universities in the UK , and internationally recognised for the excellence of its teaching on a broad range Arts, Humanities and Sciences programmes. In the last Research Assessment Exercise, 15 departments were awarded the grade of 5, with five designated the top rating of 5* (Archaeology, English, Italian, Meteorology and Psychology). The University consistently achieves high ratings for the quality of its teaching from the national Quality Assurance Agency.

Links:
Whitfield Solar Ltd. http://www.whitfieldsolar.com
The Carbon Trust http://www.thecarbontrust.co.uk
Cascade Fund http://www.cascadefund.co.uk
Segen http:// www.segen.co.uk
The University of Reading http://www.reading.ac.uk
Reading Enterprise Hub http://www.readinghub.co.uk/dynamic/index.aspx

For media enquiries, please contact:
1. Dr. Clive Weatherby, CEO, Whitfield Solar Ltd.
Reading Enterprise Hub,
The University of Reading , Earley Gate,
Reading , RG6 6AU , UK .
+44 (0) 118 935 7260
clive.weatherby@whitfieldsolar.com

2. The Carbon Trust press office
+44 (0) 20 7544 3100
carbontrust@fishburn-hedges.co.uk

Full press release (Word 97 document)

Press Release 22 December 2004

CASCADE FUND INVESTS IN NANOSCIENCE TECHNOLOGIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF READING

Edman Tsang , Professor of Nanomaterials and Catalysis at The University of Reading, is the latest recipient of seed investment from the Cascade Fund. The investment will support the establishment of a business case for the application of a novel technology for manufacturing magnetically separable nanoparticles.

Nanotechnology essentially involves manipulating material on the scale of atoms and molecules. At these minute sizes, materials' behaviour and performance are transformed. For example, gold is an inert metal but in nanoscale form becomes a very efficient catalyst; similarly non-magnetic materials can become magnetic, potentially allowing massive quantities of data to be stored in tiny areas. Professor Tsang's expertise in nano-architecture of catalyst particles has led to the development of novel catalytic materials with widespread potential applications in biotechnology, biomedical, chemical and engineering sciences. Recent research has included collaboration with a Manchester hospital to investigate the application of nanoscale encapsulated radioisotopes for use in medical diagnosis.

Full press release (Word 97 document)

News 15 June 2004

Brunel University Enterprise Centre Unveils The Future Of Electric and Electronic Recycling - Products that Disassemble Themselves At End-Of-Life

Where Do All The Old Mobile Phones and Playstations Go?

Active Fasteners Ltd, is revolutionising electronic and electric recycling technology from its base at Brunel University.

With EU Waste and Electronic Equipment Directive Coming Into Force, Recycling Technology Spinout Secures £100,000 From The CASCADE Fund To Go To Market

Based at Brunel University's Runnymede Campus, Active Fasteners Ltd was the first Brunel spinout company to receive funding from the CASCADE Government/University Challenge Fund. It has created a unique active disassembly technology, whereby a product at the end of its life can self dismantle with the aid of discrete embedded devices.

On triggering, these devices provide release of energy to allow or cause disassembly. The triggers can be internal or external stimuli such as heat, electric current or magnetic field. This allows for easy sorting and separation of materials that negatively impact the environment.

How Does It Work?

The concept of active disassembly uses shape memory alloys and shape memory polymers that are stable at set temperatures. When triggered by a predetermined transformation catalyst, the shape memory alloys can provide the force necessary to disassemble components, for example opening a shell casing. In contrast, the shape memory polymers lose their mechanical strength when triggered by the transformation catalyst and so can be used as releasable fasteners. This technology has been developed by a team at Brunel University working in close collaboration with a number of global electronics manufacturers.

Professor David Harrison, founder, Active Fasteners Limited says: "This unique technology developed by pioneers at Brunel University has helped present Active Fasteners with a blockbuster product. The EU Waste and Electronic Equipment Directive is coming into force, presenting us with a huge target customer base - Generics Asset Management recently estimated the worldwide market for this technology for small and medium sized appliances at £47 million by 2007. The recent CASCADE funding allows us to take our technology a few steps closer to our potential customers - it's incredibly exciting."

Press Release 20 August 2003

Universities launch Cascade Fund to assist academics seeking to commercialise their research

Case Study Investment
The first investment made by The Cascade Fund is to Dr Jonathan Gibbins, a Reader in Cell Biology at the University of Reading.

Dr Gibbins' research focuses on understanding, at the molecular level, how platelets recognise tissue damage and trigger the response that results in blood clotting.

While blood clotting is an essential mechanism, thrombosis may occur if platelets are triggered to perform their function in the absence of tissue injury. Thrombosis can lead to heart attack or stroke and is a significant cause of mortality. (In the UK over 175,000 people died from the condition in the year 2000, more than the number of deaths caused by cancer; source: Office for National Statistics).

With an improved understanding of how the regulation of platelet function is achieved at the molecular level, scientists will be able to design new therapeutics for the treatment and prevention of thrombosis. In recent years huge advances have been made in our knowledge of platelet function, although scientists are still a long way from converting this knowledge into powerful anti-thrombotic drugs that do not also cause unwanted side-effects.