Bii Mission Statement
To create world-class bioinformatics technologies specifically intended for commercial exploitation, thus enabling the development of the North East of England as a driving force in bioinformatics in the UK.
Key Objectives
Bii has three key objectives:
- To create bioinformatics technologies that are commercially viable;
- To facilitate the exploitation and commercialisation of knowledge for the benefit of the Region's economy and the economy of the UK;
- To provide a market-focused research environment that fosters entrepreneurship, the creation of new start-ups and spin-outs, and growth in the Region's SME base.
In addition, Bii has a number of supplementary objectives:
- To promote the North East of England as a location able to deliver research, development and investment in bioinformatics;
- To effect technology transfer between Universities and Business;
- To build long-term, sustainable relationships between the Region's Universities and Industry;
- To retain talent within the Region;
- To catalyse the growth of new SMEs;
- To stimulate regional levels of private sector R&D.
This Institute will also build upon significant expertise located at the Universities of Durham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne ; Northumbria , Sunderland and Teesside. From its outset, the Institute will be industry-facing and collaborate on cutting-end problems of relevance to improved medication and healthcare delivery. The mathematical approaches to be developed will find numerous cutting-edge applications in modern medicine and therapy development. These include:
- precocious diagnosis of life-threatening disease
- individuals responding adversely to one or more drugs
- monitoring new treatments in clinical and pre-clinical trials
- predicting disease and treatment outcomes
- improved economic and practical efficiencies in healthcare delivery
- better targeting of high cost treatments to those patients most likely to benefit
