Dr Claire Cockcroft - The Babraham Institute

ePolitix.com speaks to Dr Claire Cockcroft at The Babraham Institute about the organisation.

Question: Can you tell us a bit about the Babraham Institute?

Dr Claire Cockcroft: We undertake innovative biomedical research to discover the molecular mechanisms that underlie normal cellular processes during development and ageing, and how, over lifetime, their failure or abnormality may lead to disease. Breakthroughs have increased understanding of medical conditions like hypertension, cardiac arrhythmia and heart failure, infertility, cancer, diseases of the immune and nervous systems and bipolar disorders. This work will hopefully lead to new treatments for these conditions and cures for conditions where there is currently no treatment or where the existing treatment is not fully effective or causes serious side effects. We also seek to understand better the societal context for our work and to actively and constructively engage with those who have concerns about either the ethical issues or technological implications surrounding our work.

The Institute is a registered charity, sponsored by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), to underpin its national responsibilities for healthcare research and training. Our research is also supported by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and many medical charities and other organisations. The Babraham Institute is located six miles south-east of the university city of Cambridge, UK.

There are approximately 450 members of the Institute, including around 30 research Group Leaders, 70 graduate (PhD) students, 90 postdoctoral research scientists, support staff, administration staff and working visitors, coming from all over the world. This diverse, international mix produces a stimulating research environment. The work of the Institute is recognised as internationally important, and in some areas, world-leading.

Babraham Bioscience Technologies Ltd (BBT) is the wholly-owned trading subsidiary of the Babraham Institute and promotes knowledge transfer and translation of the Institute’s research discoveries, actively managing and exploiting the Institute’s intellectual property, promoting and negotiating commercial research partnerships and establishing spin-out companies when appropriate.

Babraham Research Campus is being developed by BBT and the Institute to create a knowledge-driven campus to promote innovation across the academic and commercial divide and become one of the leading centres for bioscience innovation in the UK. Currently some 30 start-up and growing bioscience companies reside on the campus, which is set in an attractive and extensive parkland, woodland and riverside environment.

Question: Why is it important to carry out such research?

Dr Claire Cockcroft: Our researchers aim to understand the genetic and biochemical basis of diseases development and the ageing process. This work will hopefully lead to new treatments and cures for conditions where there is currently no treatment or where the existing treatment is not fully effective or causes serious side effects. Our work is sponsored by a core grant from the BBSRC with additional competitively won grant income from the Medical Research Council, BBSRC, medical charities, commercial collaborators and other organisations. Where the knowledge generated from the Institute’s research has potential for application, our scientists work with clinicians or with companies to translate the research into action for social and economic benefit.

The Babraham Research Campus aims to be one of the leading centres for bioscience innovation in the UK. The campus unites scientific, technological and commercial excellence with an underlying philosophy to cultivate an environment that stimulates effective commercialisation and knowledge transfer (KT) for the benefit of society.

Question: What work does the Institute do to engage the community and the wider public in science? Why is this important?

Dr Claire Cockcroft: The Babraham Institute arranges a broad range of outreach activities to discuss our research portfolio and communicate the significance of our discoveries on human health. We have a vibrant ‘Science & Society Programme’ that offers a broad range of events for people of all ages and backgrounds. Committed to dialogue with society, our communication strategy aims to reach a wide range of public audiences and provide a forum for dialogue between researchers and our stakeholders, to ensure that the benefits of biomedical research are translated into innovations that will improve the quality of life, global healthcare and benefit society. The Institute has taken a pivotal role, regionally, delivering events that bring science closer to society and enable pupils to gain valuable insights into the exciting world of biomedical research. In 2007, the Institute’s pioneering work with young people was recognised with the BBC East and EEDA-sponsored ‘Work With Schools’ Large Business award.

We also seek to understand better the societal context for our work and to actively and constructively engage with those who have concerns about either the ethical issues or technological implications surrounding our work. Institute scientists, staff and PhD students are encouraged to participate in outreach events, discussing their research and the implications that scientific advances hold for society. We hold events for our local village to discuss the institute’s research and its applications.

The Cambridge Science Festival attracts visitors from all over the South East. For the last three years we have exhibited in the ‘Biology Zone’, which draws well over 1,000 visitors each year. Poster displays explaining our science and its relevance to society, hands-on science activities for children aged three upwards and a Stem Cell exhibit have featured in the past. In 2007 one of our scientists, Wolf Reik, gave a keynote evening lecture exploring the new science of epigenetics and an opportunity for the general public to discuss issues of cloning and stem cell based therapies.

Question: How does the Institute help to promote science in schools?

Dr Claire Cockcroft: Our Schools’ Engagement Programme aims to inspire and enthuse young people about science and to encourage them to follow careers in science. We work with all ages from pre-school to 6th form and across the breadth of the educational spectrum. We have steadily increased the number and depth of our interactions with schools and develop new initiatives to promote science in schools; most notably, 2007 saw the launch of Babraham’s one-week Bioscience Boot Camp for sixth formers.

Our scientists and PhD students are encouraged to gain ‘public engagement’ experience and many act as role models to inspire an interest in biomedical research. Our team takes science into schools, assisting in classrooms, providing lectures, equipment and practical expertise. We also host pupils and ‘home-schoolers’ at the Institute, enabling pupils to gain ‘hands-on’ lab experience and interact with inspirational scientific mentors. Bioscience Enterprise workshops have been developed, explaining how science becomes a commercial reality. Through offering careers advice, work-experience and enthusiastic role models we hope to inspire the next generation to pursue careers in science. We collaborate with ‘Cambridge Biologists’ a network for teachers and institutions delivering science to schools; our Teachers’ Open Evenings facilitate dialogue and explore how we can best contribute to school science.

I have recently introduced the sixth Form ‘Concept to Clinic’ Conferences, designed to present the scientific, ethical and commercial applications of a key area of biomedical research and its application to human healthcare. The inaugural conference on stem cell science (November 2007) provided an unrivalled chance for sixth formers to gain insights into this topical subject from leaders in the field. Professor Allan Bradley and Professor Roger Pedersen reviewed the historical and academic research perspective and outlined the conditions that may benefit from stem cell-based therapies. Speakers from two companies at Babraham’s BioIncubator (NovaThera Ltd. and Stem Cell Sciences, plc) explored the commercial applications, allowing students to reflect on the challenges that need to be overcome before the potential of stem cells can be realised in the clinic.

Students later worked in small groups with facilitators using the DEMOCS ‘game’ designed to stimulate debate about the ethical dimensions of stem cell research and other controversial technologies. A second conference on the “Bioscience of Ageing” will take place on 24 June 2008, during the Institute’s 60th Anniversary celebrations. It will high-light the Institute’s research investigating the processes through which we age and develop disease with insights into how this knowledge will address healthcare challenges. Supported by BBSRC, these conferences aim to enrich A-level biology, broaden pupils’ awareness of socio-ethical issues in science, contribute to teachers’ Continuing Professional Development and, by engaging with leading researchers, inspire the next generation to consider scientific careers.

Question: In your opinion, are vocational qualifications in the science sectors easily accessible and well supported?

Dr Claire Cockcroft: With the changes in the science curriculum at GSCE and A-level in recent years, the Babraham Institute’s schools programme aims to provide work-related learning opportunities and raise awareness of more vocational career paths in science, such as animal technology. There is considerable demand for employees in this sector and the profession offers an excellent training programme and career development opportunities; employees can work and learn at a rate comfortable to the individual, enabling them to gain further professional qualifications. However, this career path has not received much publicity in schools despite the pressing need for technicians and wealth of employment opportunities throughout the UK. This needs addressing and I believe that the requirement for schools to link more effectively with employers in line with curriculum objectives will also be a tough challenge.

‘Futures & Options in Biomedical Science’ is another new initiative, which aims to raise awareness of careers in animal technology and the ethical issues associated with using animals in research. This initiative aims to bring science and industry closer to young people, to increase the attractiveness of science-based vocations and to raise pupils’ aspirations about employment opportunities. Around 150 key stage 4 students from Comberton, Cottenham and Sawston Village Colleges and Long Road 6th Form have taken part in this half-day workshop at the Institute, supported grants from BBSRC and RCUK. Case studies review the role of animals in biomedical research and pupils then discussed ethical issues in small working groups, heard about careers in animal technology and toured an animal research facility then under construction.

Dr Kevin Geall, Head of Science, Cottenham Village College reported, "This was a valuable learning experience for the pupils, feedback from students was very positive. They left with a much better feel for the variety of jobs available in the science and construction industries and had the opportunity to consider some important ethical issues surrounding current scientific advances. Several were surprised at the career options available; they held the common view that the only progression from science education was to become a research scientist. This misconception is common despite much effort from the careers service and science teachers and forms an invaluable part of the Institute’s link with schools. The pupils were very keen to know more and understandably wanted to see the actual animals and scientists at work."

Raising Aspirations about Careers in Science: An objective of government is to increase the attractiveness of science careers to young people. Our work experience programme for young scientists is flourishing; each summer the Institute opens its doors to 6th formers, undergraduates and Master’s students, offering valuable insights into biomedical research through short research projects. In 2006, four 6th formers awarded bursaries from the Nuffield Foundation worked in the Signalling Laboratory, where scientists are studying how cells communicate with each other to better understand medical conditions like high blood pressure, heart failure, infertility, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. In both 2007 and 2008, six recipients of Nuffield Bursaries undertook 4-week projects at the campus.

Younger students also get a taste of the diverse range of careers within a biomedical research organisation through the government’s ‘Connexions’ scheme. Around twenty GSCE students each year spend 2 weeks working in computing, nursery care, building engineering services, security or in the Corporate Affairs Office to gain insights into science communication and event management. ‘Next Steps’ is an 18-Month Life Skills and Mentoring Programme for young people aged 16-24 with learning difficulties living in Cambridgeshire. Students visited the Institute in 2006 to hear about vocational career opportunities; one student returned to undertake work experience in our Stores facility in May 2007.

Getting Girls into Science - Our school events are inclusive but we recognise a need to encourage girls into research since women are under-represented in science nationally. Offering opportunities to visit research institutes, chat with role models and see what it’s really like to work in the lab is part of our strategy to address this. Over 50 per cent of participants in initiatives like Boot Camp, the summer bursary schemes and the 6th form conferences were girls. In the days when Babraham was still a family home, the Adeane family used to allow the local Girl Guides to camp in the grounds. With a twenty-first century twist, Bottisham Guides camped out in the conference centre for their Easter Camp in 2007; they spent the Saturday afternoon doing science experiments and learning about Babraham’s research in signalling and how the heart works. 

Question: What are your other key areas of work over the coming months?

Dr Claire Cockcroft: BBT has established a dedicated Technology Development Laboratory to promote the translation of Institute and third-party technology into investment ready propositions. Importantly for the Institute, this serves to partition the different requirements for the further development of technologies for translation from those which drive science discovery in the research programmes. BBT uses this facility to exemplify and mature Institute intellectual property. This is currently exemplified by a potential lead compound, an anti-angiogenesis molecule, which is under development in the Technology Development Laboratory. This family of molecules could be linked with other Institute technology in the angiogenesis field and may well represent the next spin-out in the Babraham pipeline.
Since the Babraham Bioincubator opened in December 1998, 49 companies are or have been through the facilities, with 30 currently in residence. In total, these companies have raised over £330m of investment funding to date. The current companies occupy 73,000 squarte feet of laboratory and office space, including two purpose-built buildings erected by BBT in the past three years, and employ over 240 staff. Over the next four to five years, the BBSRC and Babraham Institute will invest over £35m in new research facilities.

Collaborative research projects continue to be developed with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies but increasingly we are looking to early stage ventures, on or associated with the Babraham Research Campus, to establish knowledge transfer partnerships. As an example, an innovative collaboration has been established with CellCentric Ltd., an early stage company focused on therapeutic and non-clinical applications in epigenetics.