David Willetts, Minister of State for Universities and Science in the United Kingdom, joined president Alan Shepard and key Concordia academics for a visit to the university's groundbreaking synthetic biology research centre on February 11.
The aim was to explore potential collaborations between the Centre for Applied Synthetic Biology (CASB) and research labs in the U.K. Willetts was accompanied by renowned chemist Martyn Poliakoff, of the University of Nottingham, and Mary Bownes, senior vice principal of external engagement at the University of Edinburgh.
“It's great to see what's going on in synthetic biology here,” Willetts said. “We're certainly investing strongly in synthetic biology in the U.K., so it will be great if the Concordia unit could co-operate more closely with the units we've got in Nottingham, London, Bristol and Edinburgh. There's clearly a significant investment here, and I think the university's making a very bold, strategic decision that synthetic biology is something they want to back.”