In the fourth instalment of our case study series, we are looking at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), a highly specialised organisation with a track record of influential research and drug discovery. Read more about participation in MTSC:
“MTSC sounded like a really good way of at least helping a couple of early career researchers to move their ideas forward. Since that first cohort, we’ve really developed our in-house entrepreneurship offering.”
“Because we’re so specialist, working with half a dozen other institutes of one kind or another helps bring wider thinking and knowledge.”
ICR’s research translation programme focuses mainly (but not exclusively) on the development of therapeutic drugs and small molecules. So, it is notable that both MTSC-supported projects are not directly in therapeutics but rather in the area of diagnostics.
“The one thing that the MTSC really helped me with, was to realize that I can’t do everything at once. I decided to focus on the data acquisition project, which will drastically speed up the scanning process for patients and is applicable across the board. That’s what we are trying to commercialize at the moment.”
The MTSC has also been helpful in exploring the clinical and commercial potential of certain aspects of long-term research projects at ICR.