The Milner Therapeutics Institute was co-founded by Professor Tony Kouzarides and Dr. Jonathan Milner in Cambridge in 2015 as a new paradigm for an academic institution, based on bridging the gap between academia and industry.
The long-term vision of the Institute is to act as a catalyst and a driver to transform ground-breaking science into therapies.
Unique environment
The Institute opened in summer 2019 on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus as a unique physical environment for collaboration between academia and business. Dr. Milner is a benefactor to the building of the Research Institute, which bears his name.
Both a physical hub and a global research community, the Institute provides a unique research setting for industry initiatives extending throughout the University of Cambridge. Pharmaceutical and biotech companies, start-ups and academics work together in a common space that is physically and culturally designed to spark collaboration and entrepreneurship.
Driving collaboration
The Institute provides two paths for partnering and driving academic collaboration with business. Through the Milner Therapeutics Consortium, academics and pharmaceutical companies can promptly exchange information and reagents (products used in experiments to detect and measure biological processes) for innovative research collaborations. The Consortium is one of the largest cross-sector Biomedical Consortia in the world working on target discovery across multiple disease areas and emerging technologies.
The second path brings together academic entrepreneurs and venture partners. The Frame Shift bio-incubator and Start Codon Accelerator provide flexible options for R&D intensive start-up companies at different stages in their development. The entrepreneurs benefit from unparalleled access to clinicians, researchers, drug discovery scientists and significant investment.
“The funding from EET was critical in enabling the creation of a physical research institute here in Cambridge, providing a unique space that breaks down barriers between sectors and catalyses academic-industry collaboration.”
Prof. Tony Kouzarides, Director and Co-founder, Milner Therapeutics Institute
Focus on entrepreneurship
Building on its success, in 2021 the Institute partnered with the University of Cambridge to launch the Connect: Health Tech microsite and online community platform. Part of the University’s Enterprise Zone, the initiative brings together people in med tech, digital health and therapeutics, to create opportunities that will transform ideas at the interface between medicine and technology into reality.
The Milner Therapeutics Institute won an OBN Award for Most Impactful Business Support Organisation in 2021, and has been shortlisted as a finalist in the Cambridge Independent Science and Technology Awards.
