Discovery Park, Kent’s thriving life science community, has partnered with scientific content discovery and discussion platform, Researcher, to promote collaboration and facilitate scientific progress.

Building strong networks of like-minded organisations is vital to support the growing life science industry and facilitate the sharing of expertise. Discovery Park and Researcher’s aligned values of collaboration and supporting research to advance scientific progress presented a clear partnership opportunity. Both parties will be introduced to a wider, highly relevant audience, allowing increased visibility within the scientific community.

As part of the partnership, Discovery Park will introduce its life science tenants to Researcher and its new AI market intelligence tool REID (Researcher Equipment Insights Directory). Researcher will promote Discovery Park’s start-up programme, Discovery Spark, to its users and is also offering one year’s free access to REID to the winner. Discovery Park will also feature as sponsors of a live events series on Researcher Live.

Mary Sweny, Head of Partnerships and Business Development at Researcher, commented: “Having met the Discovery Park team at several events recently, it’s clear that there are lots of synergies and benefits of working together, and this partnership clearly provides a great opportunity for us to further support scientific collaboration and discovery. We’re delighted to be working with Martino and the Discovery Park team and look forward to seeing the impact our partnership will have on innovative science organisations and their research.”

Martino Picardo, Chairman of Discovery Park, added: “We’re committed to providing a supportive network that facilitates collaboration and delivers exciting opportunities to companies based at Discovery Park. This partnership not only gives us the opportunity to engage with a wider audience, but also offers our tenants access to a unique, forward-looking platform that will help them to collaborate and drive the progress of their research.”

DLOC Biosystems has selected Discovery Park, Kent, as the location for its new biology facility. The company will set up a biology lab within Discovery Park’s thriving life science cluster to continue development of its state-of-the-art organ-on-a-chip technology and deliver accurate assay testing services to pharmaceutical companies to advance drug discovery.

DLOC Biosystems was founded to enable faster, safer and cheaper drug development. The company’s chips provide an environment where cells can grow and reorganise into tissues, providing the perfect setting for large scale, affordable drug testing. Its technology will help to enable the reduction and replacement of animal testing, by providing more accurate data on safety and efficacy than current pre-clinical testing models.

With an engineering team based in Lebanon, DLOC was looking to build a new biology team based in the UK. The company selected Discovery Park’s high-spec lab facilities just over an hour from London due to its reputation as a leading hub for life sciences and the opportunity it offers for future expansion. Discovery Park’s extensive ecosystem provides future opportunities for collaboration as well as a network of potential customers, a key consideration for life science start-ups.

Wadah Malaeb, CEO and Founder of DLOC Biosystems, commented: “We were initially interested in locating in London as it offered access to an excellent talent pool, however, the cost and availability of high-spec lab space as well as living costs for potential employees proved inhibitive. When I visited Discovery Park, I was impressed not just by the quality of the facilities available, but also by the extensive business support offered by the team. The park and its surroundings provide an ideal location to build our business and I look forward to joining the Discovery Park community.”

Chris Broom, Head of Business Development at Discovery Park, added: “We’re passionate about supporting the transformation of ideas into successful commercial innovation. As well as access to our cutting-edge facilities, DLOC will have the opportunity to network and collaborate with our community of innovative start-ups and established companies. We are excited to welcome Wadah and his team to Discovery Park and look forward to working with them to support the growth of the company and deliver significant benefits to the drug discovery industry.”

DLOC is currently recruiting a biology team leader to start and build its new team at Discovery Park and will also expand its engineering team on site. It is also participating in the Discovery Spark programme for life science start-ups to develop and refine its business offering.