Latest Lab Talk news in brief: Investment, conferences, awards, partnerships, appointments

Dr Stephen Ward of the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult and Dr Annarita Miccio  of the Imagine Institute will headline the free event, to be hosted at Hinxton Hall in Cambridge from 9–10 March.

The programme will focus on translational impact and patient perspectives, covering neurological disorders, sensory diseases, rare conditions, and cancer immunotherapy.

Conference director Dr Verena Brucklacher-Waldert, head of research operations at Laverock Therapeutics, said: “Cell and Gene Therapy 2026 is not just a conference — it’s a catalyst for collaboration. By uniting experts and encouraging dialogue across disciplines, ELRIG is accelerating the journey from discovery to delivery for life-changing therapies.”

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Assurance and risk management provider DNV is partnering with Korean AI-driven blood and cancer diagnostics company Noul to certify the latter’s malaria diagnosis, blood cell morphology and cervical cancer testing solutions, under the European Union’s In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Device Regulation (IVDR).  

IVDR regulates the safety and effectiveness of new in-vitro diagnostic (IVD) devices, with most products requiring a certificate of compliance in order to receive a CE mark permitting sale within the EU. However, many other countries also recognize the CE mark as sufficient to market IVD devices, making IVDR compliance a gateway to global market access.  

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Belgian and Danish firms Bio-Sourcing and Zerion Pharma have obtained a €1.3 million EU grant reward under the EUREKA Eurostars programme to advance an orally administered anti?HER2 antibody, Trastuzimab, for treatment of breast cancer

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Qureight, a techbio company advancing the understanding of lung and heart disease through application of its AI-powered CT imaging biomarkers and clinical data management platform in clinical trials, has appointed Rebecca Simmons as its chief operating officer. Simmons was previously COO at quantum computing company Riverlane and is credited with a key role in closing Series A, B and C funding rounds, helping to raise more than £100 million in venture capital, and supported business development activities, including raising more than £20 million in government grants and contracts.

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Vilnius University Life Sciences Center researcher Dr Constantinos Patinios has been awarded a European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) installation grant to establish a new genome editing research group. Patinios works at the Lithuanian university’s EMBL Partnership Institute.

The five-year grant worth €50,000 annually will support his project, which aims to develop new approaches that could expand the capabilities of current genome editing technologies, including CRISPR-based methods.

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The scientific sector ranks among the lowest for supporting employee financial wellbeing in 2025, according to research by Access Paywise+.  It analysed more than 20 financial wellbeing benefits listed in recent job ads across 30 UK sectors to show which industries best support staff beyond their salaries.

Benefits were grouped into seven categories including financial compensation and pay enhancements, insurance and protection, lifestyle support, health and wellbeing, family and parental benefits, retirement and savings, and work from home flexibility. Scientific came fifth to last overall, ranking in the bottom tier for four of the seven benefits categories. Its weakest area lies in family and parental benefits, with just 0.20% of job ads mentioning this type of support.

The most common financial benefits offered in the sector related to insurance and protection, though still only 6.15% of job ads include this.

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Beaches along the Firth of Forth are being mixed with significant amounts of human-made materials like bricks, concrete, glass and industrial waste, new research has revealed.

A detailed survey of six beaches led by a team from the University of Glasgow has found that these mineral-based materials, known as anthropogenic geomaterials, now make up far more of the beach surface than previously realised.

Their paper in the journal Sedimentology suggests that up to half of the coarse sediments on Granton Beach near Edinburgh are comprised of the materials and on average, comprised around 22% of the pebble-sized or above sediments on the beaches. Brick fragments were most common at five of the sites, with Granton dominated by concrete.

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Electrical equipment manufacturer WEG’s advanced testing laboratory in Santo Tirso, Portugal now has full operating status. Since August 2024, this cutting-edge facility has enhanced the firm's capabilities in testing large motors and inverters, expanding WEG’s operations across Europe. Several years ago, WEG made a strategic decision to expand beyond its original base in Maia, near Porto, after identifying a critical need to enhance inspection processes and improve overall production capacity. This led to the establishment of the new laboratory.

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Drug discovery biotech Nuclera scored its first commercial sales in Asia. It completed the first installations of eProtein Discovery systems at the departmens of pharmacy and chemistry at the National Taiwan University College of Medicine and the Center for Bioscience and Biotechnology and Department of Chemical Engineering at the National Cheng Kung University.

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Arrayjet, Edinburgh-based inventor and provider of high-speed inkjet microarray technolog, opened its first US laboratory, the Arrayjet Printing Suite is located within Grace Bio Labs in Bend, Oregon.

“This dedicated facility will let US customers see Arrayjet’s technology in action and make it easier for us to support and work with our North American clients,” said CEO Iain McWilliam.

US-based manufacturer Grace Bio Lab has specialised in the development of microarray substrates and incubation chambers for more than 30 years. 

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Alvotech, the Icelandic-founded biotechnology firm specialising in the development and manufacture of biosimilar medicines, has announced key senior leadership changes in a planned succession process.

Founder Róbert Wessman, chairman since the company’s inception in 2013 and chief executive officer since 2023, will transition from the CEO role at the end of the first quarter of 2026. Lisa Graver, who has been appointed as his successor, was previously chief executive officer of Alvogen until its acquisition by Lotus Pharmaceutical in December 2025, and has been a member of Alvotech’s Board since its public listing in 2022. Wessman will continue to serve as executive chairman in a full-time capacity.

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Professor Mathieu Vinken, toxicologist at Belgium’s Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), has received the Society of Toxicology’s SOT Enhancement of Animal Welfare Award.

The award honours outstanding contributions to the advancement of toxicological science through the development and application of methods that replace, refine, or reduce the use of laboratory animals. An official award ceremony will take place during the annual meeting of the Society of Toxicology, from 22-25 March in San Diego, USA.

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The American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA) announced today that its Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association (JAPMA) will transition to an open-access publishing model.

This follows an agreement with Swiss open-access scientific journal publisher MDPI effective from 1January this year, beginning with Volume 116, Issue 1. It will make JAPMA’s research freely available to people everywhere, including clinicians, researchers, educators, and policymakers worldwide, said APMA.
Founded in 1907, JAPMA is APMA’s official peer-reviewed scientific journal and one of the longest-standing publications dedicated to podiatric medicine and surgery.

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Chitose Laboratory, a provider of advanced cell line development services, and FUJIFILM Biosciences , a global leader in the innovation and manufacture of cell culture solutions for the life science market, today announced a new strategic alliance that leverages the strengths of both companies in advancing biopharmaceutical production.

“Together, the combined expertise... is set to create comprehensive solutions that not only enhance manufacturing efficiencies but also provide an integrated approach to tackling challenges in the global biopharma landscape,” said Takayuki Horiuchi, Chitose Laboratory chief technology officer.

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Swiss science publisher MDPI (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute) has unveiled a new ‘freemium’ pricing model, allowing journals to publish up to 20 manuscripts per year with full submission-system functionality for free with scaling options as journals grow. A company statement said the move would enable smaller journals, particularly those in underserved markets and the global south, to pursue growth and impactand allow journals in their infancy will have access to a system that guarantees “rigour and quality, at no cost."

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Pic (clockwise from top left): Stephen Ward, Annarita Miccio, Constantinos Patinios, MDPI, WEG laboratory.