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The Animal Welfare Assessment Grid (AWAG) system is a web-based software application designed for capturing, storing and visualising animal welfare assessment data. The system was developed by Public Health England in collaboration with the University of Surrey, School of Veterinary Medicine. The first version was released in 2015 and has been trialled by PHE and a number of other research organisations. Feedback has been very positive in terms of assessing current welfare and identifying areas for potential improvement such as housing, use of enrichment and frequency of applying procedures. During these trials and those from zoos and wildlife trusts, many ideas for future developments have been gathered. Further development is now required to refine the system and to make it applicable to a wider range of applications in the research community where the system has potential to improve animal welfare.

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) is currently seeking proposals to the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) Enterprise Fellowship scheme which supports researchers who wish to play a key role in the commercialisation of their research.

A delegation of Indian biotech company leaders visited the University of Birmingham yesterday to see the life sciences cluster, where the University’s world-leading research is translated into new medical therapies. The delegation travelled to Birmingham as part of bioConclave 2017 - an annual gathering of Indian life science business leaders, who come to the UK to explore investment and partnership opportunities.

A clinical trial to test a new cancer drug in patients with advanced solid tumours, launches in four centres across the UK today (Wednesday), through Cancer Research UK’s Centre for Drug Development.