Universities form bioscience pact

Five universities have joined forcesto form the Western Arc BiosciencesPlatform, part of a government initiative aimed at keeping Britain ahead ofother European countries in making commercial use of academic biosciences research.

The five arethe universities of Cardiff, Bristol, Bath, West of England and the University of Wales College of Medicine. Jointly, they boast more than 1,000permanent academic and research staff located in bioscience departments carrying out work of international significance.

Work at the institutions includes the developmentof drugs for the treatment of such conditions as strokes and depression (atBristol); new products for agricultural and horticultural markets (at Cardiff), and the development of an electronic "nose" to identify bacterially infected air-dried hams.