Queen Mary University of London and LIfT BioSciences ‘KTP’ Project Earns Prestigious “Outstanding” Rating

Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) connect businesses with academic expertise to turn innovative ideas into real-world impact. The KTP is a collaboration between a postgraduate (Associate), a business, and a university (Knowledge Base, this involves the Principal investigators and Knowledge base office). 

The KTP between Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and LIfT Biosciences has been awarded the highest possible “Outstanding” rating and a Certificate of Excellence from Innovate UK. 

With only around 10% of KTPs receiving this rating, the achievement reflects the strength and impact of the collaboration. 

The KTP project brought together LIfT Biosciences and QMUL to successfully develop and validate advanced 2D and 3D cancer modelling platforms, providing more clinically relevant methods for evaluating LIfT’s IMAN^® cell therapy and supporting its progression towards clinical translation.  

By combining LIfT BioSciences’ expertise in cell therapy development with QMUL’s scientific capabilities, the partnership created advanced cancer models and analytical approaches that accelerated research, improved understanding of treatment response, and generated valuable scientific insights. 

The project was led by KTP Associates Connor McGarrity-Cottrell and Christos Ermogenous under the supervision of Luigi Ombrato (QMUL) and Samuel Florence (LIfT). The academic team included Oliver Pearce, while LIfT team was led by James Roper. 

The project’s success has established a strong foundation for future collaborative research, creating opportunities for further scientific discovery, publications, funding, and innovation in cell therapy development. It also marked a significant milestone, as this was the first time an outstanding grade for KTP has been awarded within the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry (FMD). 

This work was supported by the Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) programme, funded by Innovate UK and LIfT Biosciences Ltd grant number: 10045317. 

For more information, please email: info@LIfTBioSciences.com