New £10 million robotic AI laboratories to ‘supercharge’ infection R&D activity at iiCON

Activity at Infection Innovation Consortium: iiCON, led by Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), will be bolstered through a 10 million GBP government investment to develop large Category Three robotic laboratories capable of handling a range of dangerous and deadly pathogens.

The award is part of the Liverpool City Region Life Sciences Investment Zone plans to supercharge the sector. Overall, the Investment Zone plans to create 8,000 new jobs and potentially deliver 800 million GBP of public and private investment over 10 years according to LSTM.

The funding will support the development of high-containment laboratories based at LSTM fitted with state-of-the-art robotics, AI, and liquid handling equipment. The new facility will be completed in the next two years, and will support iiCON’s activity in propelling innovative infection R&D.

Led by LSTM with core partners LifeArc, Unilever, Evotec, Liverpool University Hospitals Foundation Trust, University of Liverpool, and Infex Therapeutics, iiCON brings together industry, academia, and clinicians to accelerate the discovery and development of new products for infectious diseases.

The 260 million GBP consortium launched in 2020 with 18.6 million GBP in funding from UK Research & Innovation’s flagship Strength in Places programme. It works with over 800 companies worldwide and has already created over 560 jobs and supported over 36 new products to market, saving and improving thousands of lives says the school.

The new laboratories will enable iiCON to increase the commercialisation of two of its R&D platforms led by LSTM: Organoids, and its Bio-Actives Library. LSTM says the new facility will support ‘cutting-edge’ industry innovation and streamline and expand activity across the two platforms to drive forward new treatments and products, opening this specialised offering to a wider range of companies nationally and internationally.

Research using human organoids offers new ways of shaping treatments and products to respond to some of the most challenging and deadly infections according to the school.

As part of the Investment Zone plans, iiCON and LSTM will also develop RIBA Stage 2 plans for a new facility in Liverpool which will provide increased specialist biotech and high-containment Category Three laboratories to house the expansion of iiCON’s existing R&D platforms.

Professor Janet Hemingway, Founding Director of iiCON said: “From the outset, iiCON was structured to develop innovative R&D platforms using cutting-edge technology and approaches that would allow companies to bring their products through to market more effectively. 

“We’re pleased to have secured this important funding as part of the Liverpool City Region Life Sciences Investment Zone programme. This funding is an important next step which will enable us to continue to develop and expand our operational pipeline - opening out our highly specialist offering to industry partners of all sizes to support their innovation and save and improve lives worldwide.

“As a place-based initiative, our location in the heart of the Liverpool City Region’s thriving health and life sciences ecosystem has been key to the success of the programme. The region has world-leading capability in drug discovery, diagnostics, clinical trials, & vaccine manufacturing capability within one of Europe’s largest biopharmaceutical manufacturing clusters and the plans laid out in the Investment Zone prospectus speak to the scale of the ambition within the region.”

The investment in the new facilities is part of plans to supercharge Liverpool City Region’s economy, create 8,000 new jobs, and save lives globally through the region’s Life Sciences Investment Zone. 

Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region said: “With up to £800m of investment and thousands of quality, high-skilled jobs on offer, the Liverpool City Region Innovation Zone is an important tool in our arsenal to position our area at the head of UK science and innovation.

“But in the Liverpool City Region, we’re proud to do things differently. Throughout the development of our Innovation Zone, I have been clear that any investment in our area must go further than purely financial incentives. I want to use our status as a force for good, to connect our residents up to secure, well-paid jobs and training opportunities, and attract transformational investment into our communities.

“Becoming an innovation superpower is a lofty ambition, but I firmly believe that, if anywhere has the potential to achieve it, then it is the Liverpool City Region.”