New hi-tech laboratories have been opened at Oxford’s Wood Centre for Innovation.

The High Sheriff of Oxfordshire, Imam Monawar Hussain has officially opened the newly-converted class II R&D laboratories in Headington, alongside Jeremy Long, chair of the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP), and Steve Burgess of The Oxford Trust, the charity that owns the building.

Also in attendance were founders of the two biotech companies that have taken space – David Llewellyn of DJS Antibodies and Peter Hamley of Samsara Therapeutics.

The Oxford Trust’s development of class II laboratory facilities at its Wood Centre for Innovation is to answer the significant demand that has been seen in the last year from science and tech start-ups and SMEs for lab space in Oxford’s world-leading life sciences cluster, centred in Headington, delivering lifesaving developments such as the Covid-19 vaccine.

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The trust has received £0.1 million in funding towards the £0.5m project via the Government’s Local Growth Fund, secured by OxLEP.

On unveiling the official plaque, Imam Monawar Hussain said: “As a member of the trust’s board and the High Sheriff of Oxfordshire, I am pleased to open the new R&D lab space at the Wood Centre for Innovation to support science and tech start-ups at the forefront of research and more widely innovation in our region.”

Biotech start-up, DJS Antibodies has taken more than 2,000 sq ft of laboratory and office space for their nine staff and Samsara Therapeutics 1200 sq ft.

Both companies are working on ground-breaking projects: DJS is developing therapeutics to treat the world’s most critical inflammatory diseases, a class of disease that accounts for more than 50% of deaths worldwide, and Samsara is discovering new therapies for extending healthy ageing and treating age-related genetic diseases.

They have joined Barclays Eagle Labs, Low Carbon Hub, Lurtis, Spintex, Printpool and SSEN.

Steve Burgess, chief executive officer, The Oxford Trust, said: “We were honoured that the High Sheriff of Oxfordshire came to officially open our newly-converted labs. It is thanks to OxLEP for securing the national government funding alongside the Trust’s investment that we have been able to accelerate the lab provision at our centre to help support Oxfordshire’s dynamic innovation ecosystem.”

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Jeremy Long, chair of the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership said: “Over the past year, we have all seen how the historic investment in R&D and expert capability in Oxfordshire-based life sciences facilities has been able to play a swift and highly effective role in response to Covid-19.”