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SciLifeLab, MAX IV and ESS join forces in new life science collaboration

Infra Access for Life Science Sweden, InfraLife, is a new initiative in life science that aims to maximize the benefits of the investments made in Sweden’s large scale strategic research infrastructures.

SciLifeLab, MAX IV, and ESS, have joined forces in a unique and powerful collaboration within life science. The goal is to provide better prerequisites for utilizing their large-scale research infrastructures across Sweden, also for sectors outside academia, such as the life science industry and healthcare sector.

SciLifeLab is a national infrastructure for molecular bioscience research, MAX IV Laboratory currently houses the brightest X-ray source in the world and the ESS will soon house the world’s most powerful neutron source.

“Together, we will engage the broad life science community in academia, industry, and health care, and jointly develop new technology-, data- and challenge-driven capabilities across different sectors of life science“, says Sandra Falck, External Relations Officer at SciLifeLab.

Two core positions
The InfraLife Hub builds on the individual external relations functions at the three infrastructures, bridging these and providing a single point of entry. The project, funded by the Swedish Research Council, will be kick-started in 2021 with an open call to recruit the two External Relations Officers that are going to form the unit’s core.

One of the two positions working within the InfraLife initiative will be based at SciLifeLab (KTH) and the other one at MAX IV (Lund University). To learn more about these central positions, with an application deadline of January 31, please see this link.

Two industrial branch organizations, SwedenBIO and Läkemedelsindustriföreningen (LIF), are partnering with the InfraLife Hub. The aim is to provide a link to the entire swedish industrial life science community.

“Access to the top-notch infrastructures, supplied by SciLifeLab, MAX IV and ESS, gives Swedish life science-companies a competitive advantage and can lead to the development of novel therapeutics and medical treatments benefiting patients all over the world. This will contribute to our efforts to maintain and further develop Sweden into a knowledge-based economy in the life science-area. The project is off to an immediate start with recruitments of the two central positions dedicated to implementing and jointly developing this initiative, and we look very much forward to being an active part in this initiative”, says Helena Strigård, CEO of SwedenBIO.

“Further knowledge and exploration of the full potential of the large-scale research infrastructures, SciLifeLab, MAX IV and ESS, in drug discovery- and development processes and access to new collaborative partners, will give the pharmaceutical industry important tools to accelerate and refine the research- and innovation pipeline. LIF is strongly committed to engaging in this work”, says Frida Lundmark, Life Science Special Advisor at LIF.

Building novel collaborations
Intensifying collaborations and increasing accessibility is key to stimulating novel findings, innovations, and implementation of research and technology advances for the benefit of society at large.One of the goals of this project is to engage with major challenge-driven and cross-sectorial collaborations; utilizing available technologies at the infrastructures to work on grand challenges in the field of life science.

A workshop kick-off is planned for the spring of 2021, and the first task will be to gather stakeholders around the challenges of antibiotic resistance. Several workshops and activities on other themes will follow, and InfraLife is of course open to consider input from stakeholders on urgent and highly important topics.

“The ambition is to leverage synergies, coordinate initiatives, and develop new collaborative working models. In this collaborative spirit, we welcome interactions with all interested parties. Furthermore, we look forward to including new groups sharing the joint ambition to generate added value from the utilization of the advanced technologies at these infrastructures”, says Sandra Falck.

Photo: ESS/ESS


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Last updated: 2021-01-20

Content Responsible: David Gotthold(david.gotthold@scilifelab.se)