Charity Kidney Research UK (KRUK) has been confirmed as a strategic partner to the Accelerate@Babraham initiative at the Babraham Research Campus.

KRUK will pledge strategic and financial support to Accelerate@Babraham, with initial funding set to boost early science concepts and nurture new life sciences companies across the Cambridge cluster.

The Accelerate@Babraham initiative supports early-stage life sciences ventures within the Babraham Research Campus’ community.

So far, Accelerate@Babraham portfolio companies have raised close to ￡10m in equity investments and grants and employ nearly 30 people.

Existing strategic partners to the initiative includes pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca, Eisai, Mundipharma and charity LifeArc.

“We are delighted to confirm our wholehearted support of the Accelerate@Babraham initiative and look forward to working with the Campus team, our fellow strategic partners and other supporters of the initiative,” said Marc Stowell, director of communications and income generation at KRUK.

"The partnership will enable us to forge strong connections and accelerate research into kidney disease, so it makes a difference to kidney patients’ lives faster.  At this uncertain time, being ambitious and collaborating with others is crucial to ensure kidney research continues to grow,” he added.

“We are delighted to welcome Kidney Research UK to our incredibly experienced group of strategic partners; all of whom not only assist in funding the Accelerate@Babraham initiative and give generously of their time and expertise to enable us to constantly evolve and improve what we do, but importantly also continue to help us remain focused on our key targets for the programme, one of which is therapeutic treatments,” commented Derek Jones, chief executive officer, Babraham Bioscience Technologies.