About Us

We are a ground-breaking research initiative committed to revolutionising the healthcare of patients living with life-limiting or life-threatening diseases.

Aims

Develop advanced therapies, such as gene therapies, for patients who will benefit most.

Harness the power of engineering biology to develop novel molecular tools – genetic control systems- that will underpin safer, more efficient and cost-effective gene therapies.

Develop tools that ensure these therapies are only active in the right tissue, at the right level, and for the right amount of time. Ensuring treatments are more targeted and specific will prevent undesirable side effects - a major barrier to these therapies reaching the clinic. 

 

Our Focus

Our initial focus will be on gene therapies for oncology, cardiovascular diseases and rare diseases. But ultimately these advanced therapeutics innovations could help treat a wider range of diseases and become applicable to cell therapies. 

 

We are four renowned academic institutions in the UK coming together and working towards the same mission. We are led and headquartered at The University of Edinburgh within the School of Biological Sciences.

School of Biological Sciences

Our academic lead is Prof. Susan Rosser , chair of synthetic biology, and prominent figure in the field of engineering biology.

Professor Susan Rosser


The Hub builds on a prior £13.3M investment from BBSRC, EPSRC and MRC in the UK Centre for Mammalian Synthetic Biology  at the University of Edinburgh, which successfully leveraged £55M in research funding, including £11M from industry.

It continues the former centre’s vision to develop tools and technologies for mammalian synthetic biology, enhancing our understanding of mammalian biology and enabling the development of applications in biotechnology, regenerative medicine, and healthcare. 


We are kindly supported by a £14.5 million 5-year research funding grant from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) administered by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) under grant BB/Y008545/1.

Game-changing gene therapies are focus of £14m research hub

We are one of six UKRI’s flagship investments in Mission Hub initiatives as part of the Technology Mission Funds, that reflect engineering biology as a strategic research priority for innovation.

Researchers from the School of Biological Sciences lead or are involved in three of the six new hubs.   

UKRI - Engineering Biology

New 100m fund will unlock the potential of engineering biology

Our Hub is also referred to as the Engineered Genetic Control Systems for Advanced Therapeutics Mission Hub.

Case study - switched on treatments


Our academic collaborators, each bringing unique expertise and insights to our delivery, are:

  • University of Oxford
  • Imperial College London
  • CRUK Scotland Institute

We also engage with and collaborate with relevant stakeholders, including industry partners, who are key to enabling our mission and help us translate our innovative research from the lab to reaching patients through clinical solutions.


Collaborate with us

We want to work with clinicians, industry and relevant stakeholders who can help our tools to reach the clinic.


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