
BBSRC appoints new director of science
pharmafile | July 23, 2012 | Appointment | Business Services, Manufacturing and Production, Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | BBSRC, Melanie Welham
BBSRC the government-funded bioscience research organisation has announced the appointment of Professor Melanie Welham as director of science.
Welham is currently Professor of Molecular Signalling at the University of Bath, will take up the role on 1 October. Welham is a leading researcher in molecular signalling and stem cell science. Until September last year, she was co-director of the Bath Centre for Regenerative Medicine.
Earlier in her career Welham was awarded a BBSRC Research Development Fellowship which enabled her to develop and pursue new research directions. She moved from the study of signalling in white blood cells to seeking to understand the fundamental mechanisms controlling the behaviour of embryonic stem cells.
For more than four years she has served on BBSRC peer review committees, including periods as either chair or co-chair. Welham also served on the advisory committee for the UK National Stem Cell Network from 2009-11.
Prof Douglas Kell, BBSRC chief executive, said: “We are very pleased to have attracted a candidate of Prof Welham’s calibre. She is a strong research leader and is well respected in her field. As director of science, Prof Welham will be central to working with the research community, our systems and our partners to deliver our strategy to support UK bioscience.”
Welham said: “I am looking forward to joining the Council in the autumn. I feel I can help BBSRC and the research community in delivering the Council’s strategic vision of the ‘Age of Bioscience’ and to make the best possible case for the role of UK bioscience at the centre of a national bioeconomy in the future.
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