Professor Chris Lowe to give Gates Distinguished Lecture
Chris Lowe, Professor of Biotechnology at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Trinity College, is to deliver the second Gates Distinguished Lecture of Lent Term on 1 March 2011.
Elected the Most Entrepreneurial Scientist in the UK (2006), Professor Lowe will deliver insights into the challenges and future prospects of entrepreneurship, technology transfer, and spin-out ventures within the life sciences sector. His lecture is entitled “Driving innovation into application: The passion behind creating a Biotechnology company.”
Professor Lowe’s research concentrates on developing high-value/low-volume biopharmaceuticals, biosensors, diagnostics, and microbial technologies, with a focus on their applications to areas of unmet needs within society. His group is currently invested in engineering novel chemical intelligence technologies to enable the continuous monitoring in real-time of patients suffering from debilitating disease.
As the founding Director of the Institute of Biotechnology at the University of Cambridge, Professor Lowe has led the Institute to become a world-class centre for innovative and translational biotechnology research, training, and entrepreneurship. Spin-out companies from the Institute have raised more than £45 million to date, employ over 250 people, and command an approximate market capitalization greater than £250 million. In recognition of its success, the Institute was bestowed with the Queen’s Award for Technological Advancement in 1996 and the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 2007.
“We are very excited to have Prof Lowe deliver the Lecture,” says Nathan Benaich, External Officer of the Gates Scholars Council and organiser of the Distinguished Lecture Series. “Having authored over 330 publications and 60 patents, in addition to generating the technologies underpinning the creation of eight spin-out companies, Professor Lowe is an exemplary innovative scientist. His passion for entrepreneurship and the translation of pioneering science from bench to everyday life is inspiring to Gates scholars; his work is of supreme interest to us, consistent as it is with our humanitarian ethos.”
The Lecture, which is open to all members of the University and their guests, begins at 6:30PM (GMT) on 1 March (Tuesday) in Lecture Theatre 2 of the Engineering Department, University of Cambridge.
