Teesside University’s National Horizons Centre (NHC) has been named as a preferred bidder to become a training centre for cutting-edge gene therapy work and vaccine manufacturing.
The NHC has been picked as one of three National Training Centre - alongside RoslinCT in Edinburgh and the University of Birmingham - for the Advanced Therapies Skills Training Network (ATSTN).
One of the ATSTN’s core aims is to develop a coordinated network of National Training Centres to deliver specialist on-site courses to provide learners with hands-on experience in the sector.
Based at Teesside University’s Darlington campus at Central Park, the NHC was formed in 2019 to deliver research and education in the bioscience sector. Becoming a National Training Centre cements the region as a global hub for the sector.
Dr Jen Vanderhoven, director of the National Horizons Centre, said: “Collaboration is the key to success, and I am delighted that the NHC has been chosen as one of the national ATSTN centres to provide the vital training of the future advanced therapies and vaccines workforce.
“The NHC, with its leading expertise and state of the art bioprocessing and virtual reality capabilities, is perfectly positioned to up-skill and cross-skill hundreds of people in the coming months.
“We will deliver the necessary technical hands-on training to create the workforce needed to manufacture vaccines and advanced therapies, to overcome COVID-19 and any future pandemics and diseases.
“We look forward to collaboratively working with the other centres and the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, to create a truly world-class offering that puts the Ƶ at the forefront of ATMP (advanced therapy medicinal products) and vaccine manufacturing.”
The ATSTN is a national skills development programme that has been coordinated by the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult. It has received £4.7m in funding as part of the Government’s commitment to increase the Ƶ’s expertise in advanced therapies and vaccine manufacturing.
Matthew Durdy, chief executive officer at Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, said: “We are looking forward to collaborating with the National Horizons Centre which will bring its expertise, industry-leading bioprocessing and virtual reality capabilities to this programme.
“This is a significant step in driving the effective development and rollout of state-of-the-art and impactful training courses which can rapidly upskill and attract talent within the advanced therapies and vaccine manufacturing industry.
“The involvement of the National Horizons Centre will enable the ATSTN to provide users with a wide variety of exciting training resources which are at the forefront of innovation. I look forward to witnessing the impact which the NHC will make as part of this valued collaboration over the years to come."
