BioWorld International Correspondent

LONDON - After five years of wrangling, planning permission has been granted for a science park at the Genome Campus in Cambridge to allow companies to set up alongside the academics at the Sanger Institute who carried out the UK's share of the Human Genome Project.

The development is sponsored by the Wellcome Trust, the world's largest medical charity, which funds the Genome Campus. Mike Dexter, director of the trust, said the approval would allow the basic data of the Human Genome Project to be translated into practical health benefits.

"It is now time to move on to converting this basic information into knowledge that will underpin the further development of new medicines and therapies for decades to come," he said. "We can drive this research forward by bringing academic and industry scientists together, and we hope our vision for the campus will propel the UK to the forefront of post-genomics research."

The trust originally applied to build the science park in 1997, but permission was refused because the South Cambridgeshire District Council said the development was too large for the rural area where the Genome Campus is situated. A government inquiry in 1999 upheld the council's decision, but acknowledged that the extension of the campus was in the national interest and that a smaller development would have been allowed. The approval for 27,000 square meters is much smaller than the 40,000-square-meter extension originally envisaged.

Some of the extension is for further academic laboratories and a data center, but there also will be an Innovation Center for start-ups and facilities for more mature early stage companies. Once companies reach maturity and are able to develop products, they will be moved to make way for new start-ups. There will be no manufacturing at the site. Construction work will start in the next two weeks, and completion of the extended campus is scheduled for 2007.

Allan Bradley, director of the Sanger Institute, said the development will bring industry and academic scientists together to allow the data from the genome project to be translated into practical health benefits. "This is a major boost to the morale of our gifted scientists. We can now look ahead to playing an instrumental role alongside industry to develop new medical advances."