About us
Accelerating the development of gene therapies into life-changing treatments for patients.
The Gene Therapy Innovation and Manufacturing Centre (GTIMC) is a team of over 20 experienced technical experts based at our purpose built good manufacturing practice (GMP) facility at the University of Sheffield. The centre builds on the University of Sheffield's internationally renowned world class research in neurodegeneration and gene therapy to dramatically broaden the scope of gene therapy research in the UK. We bring together academic institutions, NHS Trusts, non-profit and industry partners to translate scientific discoveries in adeno-associated virus (AAV) based gene therapies into new and exciting treatments for patients, faster.
Our vision
A world in which gene therapy is mainstream transforming the lives of patients and their families.
Our mission
To provide cutting edge manufacturing, process innovation and translational support that advances the development of gene therapies for debilitating genetic diseases: empowering today’s researchers to translate their gene therapy research whilst training the gene therapy leaders of tomorrow.
Our offer
A one stop shop to take gene therapy research in to the clinic: from the development of pre-clinical studies to the release of a clinical batch.
Part of a national and international network of gene therapy innovation
The GTIMC is one of three national Innovation Hubs for Gene Therapies funded by the Medical Research Council and LifeArc, with support from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. The other hubs are located at King’s College London (in partnership with University College London and the Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust), and NHS Blood and Transplant in Bristol.
The director of the GTIMC, Professor Mimoun Azzouz, is also a coordinator within ARDAT (Accelerating Research & Development for Advanced Therapies), a consortium of 34 international partners from academia and industry. ARDAT's aim is to develop and provide tools that will advance knowledge in the field of viral gene/cell therapy and accelerate the development of new treatments for rare diseases.
Looking to the future
Our longer term intent is to build an “Advanced Therapies Bio-accelerator” in Sheffield focussed on rare diseases: a LifeSciences Incubator to host gene therapy start-ups, labs for processing innovation and further clean rooms for commercial scale up. The vision is for the Bio-accelerator to be part of the ongoing development at Runway Park, the University of Sheffield Innovation District.