Dr. John Mc Keon (CEO of Allergy Standards Limited) and I were invited to attend the recent Higher Education Authority visit to Trinity College Dublin. TCD have made considerable progress with the development of the Trinity Biomedical Research Institute at a site close to the main College Campus and have applied to the HEA for partial funding of the building development. The cost of building development is in the region of €70 million and is hoped to be completed in late 2010.

The HEA invited a panel of international experts to visit TCD in response to TCD’s grant application. The purpose of the site visit by the HEA panel was to assess the in-depth and detailed proposal submitted by TCD in the context of the work that would be carried out there, and for the key executive personnel and principal academics to justify the expenditure on such a project. It is hoped that the Institute will house interdisciplinary and ground breaking collaborations with some of leading national researcher groups, with international reputations. The main themes of the Institute are those of Immunology, Cancer and Medical Devices.

As a research and development centred company with industrial, medical and experimental experience in the area of asthma and allergy, we were delighted to show support for this development. At the meeting with the HEA, ASL were invited by the Dean of Research, Dr. David Lloyd, to discuss the relevance of this type of development to industry. Dr. McKeon responded discussing the prospect for industry collaboration with academia, and the potential for successful ventures and partnerships as a result of this.

TCD hope to have some response from the HEA regarding the site visits and grant application response early this year.