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The Royal Scottish Society of Arts
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3rd Meeting of the 192nd Session (2012-2013)

New pharmaceutical lead compounds from marine natural products
- an under exploited source of chemical diversity

Professor Andrew Mearns Spragg FRSA FSB
Founder & Chief Technology Officer
Aquapharm Biodiscovery Ltd

In the Augustine United Church
41 George IV Bridge
Edinburgh, EH1 1EL
On Monday 10th December 2012, at 7pm

Over the last 20 years, as the pharmaceutical industry has seen a decrease in discovery and success based on computational and combinatorial chemistry, and an increase in base costs, the industry is starting to re-evaluate the potential of natural products to obtain new drug leads.

Aquapharm is a marine biotechnology company pioneering the development of untapped and drug-like chemical diversity derived from a proprietary collection of over 9,000 marine micro-organisms. The company is developing its innovative approach to chemistry as a potential new source of pharmaceutical drugs e.g. novel antibiotics & anti-inflammatory compounds as well as further high value products for use in other commercial sectors such as natural cosmetic ingredients, nutraceuticals and industrial applications.

Professor Andrew Mearns Spragg gained a first class honours degree in microbiology and a PhD in marine biotechnology from Heriot-Watt University. Whilst holding a Royal Society of Edinburgh Enterprise Fellowship in biotechnology, he developed Aquapharm. Since its foundation Prof Spragg has successfully raised over £10M in equity finance and secured competitive grant funding from EU and UK sources. He was the recipient of the 2007 Gannochy Innovation Medal from the RSE for achievements in biotechnology and innovation. In 2008, his entrepreneurial achievements were recognised through winning the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the year 2008 in Health Care for Scotland. In 2011, Prof Spragg was appointed a Member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Young Academy and was elected a Fellow of the Society of Biology.

Location of meeting


Complimentary tea, coffee and biscuits are served from about 6:40pm onwards before the meeting.

Members of the Public are welcome to attend

Dr Jane Ridder-Patrick, Secretary
secretary@rssa.org.uk


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