Briefs: Cambridge Uni, BP to deepen research collaboration; Meldex closes on Dexo sale: Bango wins FT.com account
Energy giant BP and the University of Cambridge signed an agreement marking their intention to expand their long-standing relationship and collaborative research.
The deal means they will work to deepen and integrate their research collaboration and continue to attract the best students to employment opportunities within BP.
The University is among BP's top recruiting universities in the UK. The company has already made significant investments, including a £22m endowment to establish the BP Institute for Multiphase Flow in 2000, a £1m gift to establish the Cambridge Centre for Energy Studies in Judge Business School, and £0.5m start-up funding for the Cambridge Centre for Indian Business. BP is this year funding £0.8m worth of research and provides £0.6m a year in research scholarships and undergraduate support.
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Cambridge University has been named one of six research hubs in the Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council's new £27m Sustainable Bioenergy Centre (BSBEC).
The Centre has been launched to provide the science to underpin and develop the emerging UK sustainable bioenergy sector - and to replace the petrol in cars with fuel derived from plants.
At the Cambridge research hub, entitled the BSBEC Cell Wall Sugars Programme, research will aim to develop strategies to improve plants and enzymes so that more sugars can be obtained from plants. These sugars could then be converted to drive cars through biofuels.
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Meldex International plc said that Helmut Kerschbaumer and Klaus Kuehne have resigned as directors and no longer have any executive responsibilities.
The Company also reported that the disposal of its Dexo France Business Unit has been completed and that it has received notification from the French Authorities that the transfer of the Marketing Authorisation had been approved and that the €7m held in Escrow was released on 20 January.
The final consideration of €1.5m will be received 15 days from the date of the release of the Escrow. Funds from the sale of Dexo have and will be used to reduce the debt.
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Bango plc, the mobile web platform provider, has been selected by the Financial Times to provide mobile analytics for the newly launched FT.com mobile website, which has been optimised for mobile devices. Bango's mobile analytics allows in-depth analysis of site traffic and the tracking of responses to marketing initiatives.
In addition, the Financial Times is pioneering an advanced web experience for its growing mobile channel which consists predominantly of Blackberry and iPhone users. Using Bango's Identifier technology, a user's preferences can be stored in their FT.com profile, so when they return they can quickly get to the content of greatest interest.
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Phico Therapeutics Ltd has been granted a Wellcome Trust strategic translational award of £1.03m to cover Phase I and II trials of its lead candidate SASPject PT1.2 for nasal decolonization of MRSA and S. aureus.
PT1.2 is based on a new class of antibacterial proteins called SASPs which bind to bacterial DNA resulting in rapid "speed of kill." The award will enable the company to conduct the trials with results expected in third-quarter 2009 and third-quarter 2010, respectively.
