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Imperial College has attracted a huge life sciences name to its White City innovation hub

US life sciences firm, Mapi, has doubled its UK presence after it has taken space at Imperial College’s new innovation hub at White City.

The health research and commercialisation services company has moved its UK company, Mapi Life Sciences UK, into the new 23-acre research and innovation plot as part of Imperial’s Translation and Innovation Hub.

The new centre, dubbed the I-HUB, is hoping to become a melting pot of academia and business, with flexible office and lab space bringing together the university’s world-class scientists, engineers and medics with local and international businesses wanting to turn research into new products.

In this regard, Mapi would seem like a good fit for the new centre, with its health research and commercialisation efforts within the life sciences sphere singling it out as one of the global leaders in the field, having worked on patient-centered healthcare methodologies for over 40 years.

Its new home will plant the firm right in the middle of Imperial’s public health, molecular sciences and biomedical research facilities, and will prove a boon to Imperial’s efforts to foster a vibrant research community at the site.

Mapi’s Chief Executive Officer, James Karis, said that the new centre would ideally position the US research business amongst UK’s world-renowned golden triangle of research universities.

He said: “Our new White City home will be a global leadership centre for Mapi, allowing our innovative management and operational leaders to tap into the knowledge and dynamism in the UK’s golden triangle of leading universities and entrepreneurs.

“The chance to be part of this research ecosystem and the scientific community that calls London home was a key factor in our decision to locate at the I-HUB.”

The newest addition to I-HUB joins a number of other biotech and research organisation’s who now call the White City base their home, with the billion-dollar low-emissions tech startup OGCI Climate Investments the first and perhaps most high-profile tenant thus far.

Dr Eulian Roberts, Chief Executive of Imperial College London ThinkSpace, which operates the I-HUB, decribed Mapi as a ‘fantastic addition’ to the centre.

He added: “Mapi joins a thriving enterprising environment at White City where the sharing of ideas and research will help us to reach new heights not just in medicine, but also in engineering, science and business.

“Bringing together some of the world’s greatest minds in one place, we’ll be able to leverage their collective knowledge and tackle some of the biggest challenges facing us today.”

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