ONE Life Science Chair Deborah O’Neil has pointed to the success of North-east life science founders at Scottish EDGE round 26 as a sign of the growing significance of the cluster in the North-east.
Five companies from the north east received awards from Scottish Edge, the UK’s largest funding competition for high-growth businesses:
- Brigid Bio – Future EDGE – £150,000 – Aberdeen – Brigid Bio is a biotech spinout pioneering novel antifungal therapies to treat life-threatening, drug-resistant fungal infections.
- mycoBiologics Ltd - Scottish EDGE - £85,000 - Aberdeen - mycoBiologics develops novel biologics for systemic fungal infections using its proprietary FungoBiologic platform.
- CAnswer BioSolutions Limited – Young EDGE – £15,000 – Aberdeen – CAnswer BioSolutions Limited develops liquid-biopsy diagnostics that make cancer detection faster and more accessible beyond hospital settings.
- Formartine Bio Ltd. - Wild Card - £10,000 - Auchnagatt - Formartine Bio harnesses next-generation antisense technology to leverage the power of glycans for accurate and personalised healthcare.
- ZygoteLink Ltd – Wild Card – £10,000 – Aberdeen – ZygoteLink uses advanced genomic analytics to improve cattle breeding through accurate sire selection, trait prediction, and enhanced herd sustainability.
Commenting, Dr Deborah O’Neil OBE FRSE said: “This is fantastic news for the founders, but also the region. They are all great ambassadors for the North-east, showing that life science innovation is flourishing here.
“Against a backdrop of some difficult energy sector headlines for the local economy recently, I hope that all businesses here in the north east will celebrate this success.
“I hope those outside the region also look closely at what is happening here.
“Life sciences is a vibrant and growing sector in the North-east. Founders benefit from critical business support like mentoring peer support, access to funding and of course, ONE BioHub, the launchpad for start-ups and high potential life science companies looking to rapidly scale and grow.”