SSC are proud to announce a new client for their mentoring program. IMAQA, , is a startup with roots from the GSK Clinical Imaging Centre, and is based in the UK at the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst. IMAQA has been founded by Dr Omer Casher who brings in significant expertise and IP in the area of Medical Imaging Informatics. Their mission is to deliver innovative and game-changing solutions for a highly complex but critical area of pharmaceutical research.

IMAQA will benefit from SSC's knowledge and networks in the pharmaceutical and ICT worlds as they assist IMAQA's market entry by way of securing
partnerships and collaborations. They will also enable company growth through the development of business, marketing and sales strategies and
provision of extra resource through the challenging early phases of IMAQA's evolution.

Dr Omer Casher said "I am delighted to be working with Cait and Frederic. I am amazed at how quickly they have grasped the technology
and value proposition of IMAQA and I am sure that this collaboration will be very beneficial at this critical stage of our company's development"

Just back from mentoring at the Environment YES and Biotechnology YES event in Edinburgh. This is a boot camp for teams of post-graduates who put themselves in the roles of new company management and go into a Dragons Den to ask the judges for investment. It is intense and fun (for the most part). As a mentor for the marketing and sales aspects I get to be very irritating and I ask the students not to tell me about the technologies (which they have thought about for about 3 months at this stage) and instead to show me where the money is. This years crop have been very tolerant and for the most part have grasped the concept well. Good luck to them in their presentations this morning.

I am very proud to announce a collaboration with MTT in Finland to work on a Market Research project for TEKES. We will be working with Dr Anna-Marja Hoffren to prepare a report into the cross-pollination of Bioinformatics skills with other industry areas including IT, Food and Drink, Environment and Forestry. And from a personal point of view I get the benefit of going back to Finland to work with old friends!