Diane Harbison has been appointed new managing director of BioCity Scotland. The hub is part of a network of four locations across Scotland and England, and acts as BioCity’s pharmaceutical incubator.
Harbison previously worked as a senior executive at Pfizer, and established two GlaxoSmithKline partnerships with Edinburgh University. Her focus in the new position will be to further advance and grow the life sciences sector in the country.
The hub is home to the European Lead Factory (Elf), funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative. Elf is operated by BioAscent Discovery and by Dundee University. The university’s researchers staff Elf’s European Screen Centre exclusively and work on biological data, medicinal chemistry, informatics analysis and modelling.
Diane Harbison said: “BioCity Scotland has already achieved 50% occupancy on site, which is ahead of what was predicted in our strategic plans. We have a strong pipeline of new and growing life sciences companies considering locating to Newhouse. Many of the companies already located at BioCity Scotland have attracted additional investment and are expanding rapidly. It is an exciting time to be joining the BioCity team. Businesses which choose to locate within MediCity Scotland will benefit from BioCity’s experience of growing successful life science businesses in its specialised incubator environments and have access to expertise in the global healthcare market through the BioCity family of companies.”
