A YORK professor has been awarded an £85,000 grant to create a spin-out business from technology he has created to aid drug development.

The Royal Academy of Engineering has awarded an Enterprise Fellowship to academic Jon Timmis, from the University of York.

As well as the funding Professor Timmis will be given mentoring support over the next year to help commercialise the software he has developed in a viable business.

Together with Dr Mark Coles, from the university’s Centre for Immunology and Infection, Prof Timmis has created new computer modelling software to aid drug developers tackle conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis.

His technology has been designed to assist in the prediction of the effects of new drugs on autoimmune diseases, which are conditions where the immune system attacks its own tissues, and are a leading cause of death and disability.

Prof Timmis, who is from the university’s Department of Electronics and is also a Royal Society-Wolfson Research Merit Award Holder, said: “I first became interested in commercialisation of my research after discussions with various pharmaceutical companies and collaborators concerning my work and the avenues by which it might be exploited.

“It became clear there was significant interest in the potential for my research and expertise to make a significant impact at various stages of the drug discovery pipeline.

“I am now enthused with the prospect of commercialisation and consider it a natural extension to the academic research process, which can ensure the work achieves its intended aim.”

The new software is capable of integrating more data types than current systems and has two key areas of application in the field of immune and inflammatory diseases – drug development and personalised medicine.

Arnoud Jullens, head of Enterprise at the Royal Academy of Engineering, said: “UK universities produce some of the greatest innovations in the world, but getting them out of the lab and into the marketplace remains a huge challenge.

“Business-minded academics need investment and support from experienced industry practitioners to exploit their research, which could become the commercial success stories of tomorrow, and this is exactly what the Academy’s Enterprise Hub provides.”