IRR celebrates its research, innovation and sustainability

Following on from the successful symposium last year, the IRR Symposium 2025 incorporated the hotly contested Flash Talk, poster and IRR Innovation Competitions.

Innovation

The winner of the IRR Innovator 2025, and £5,000 research funding, was Dr Ferran Nadal Bufi, who presented his innovative idea to develop smart linkers for antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). The competition was run in partnership with Dr Andrew McBryde, from Edinburgh Innovations ITPA Translational Community. 

The competition was judged by a panel of industry experts, including former finalist Dr Emily Thompson and representatives from competition sponsors Aldevron and Argenx.

Sustainability

The importance of sustainability was highlighted in an engaging panel session where we heard from CMVM Sustainability Coordinator Neil Johnson who discussed how we’re embedding sustainability within CMVM. 

We also heard from Personal Chair of Mechanistic Cell Biology Julie Welburn who shared practical tips on how to reduce your carbon footprint in research - whether you’re a PhD student, postdoc, or group leader. Julie gave a shocking statistic on how a 90 minute run on an autoclave, runs the same amount of energy as a – 80°C freezer does for a week! Throughout the day, delegates were asked to vote on an IRR biodiversity project (wildlife cameras, animal houses, bug hotels) and to guess the total power generation potential of the IRR solar panels for a prize (a plant!)

Poster and presentation winners

Throughout the day, researchers from across the institute presented posters of their work. A panel of judges voted Laura Quesada Ojeda (student on the MScR Reproductive Sciences programme) as the winner. Rosie Willis (PhD student), Bethan Rowley (PhD student) and Sam Benson (postdoc) were the runners-up. These awardees show the breadth of talent at all levels of the Institute.

All the presentations were of a very high standard but the delegates voted Dr Kelvin Cheng winner of the Flash Talk competition, for his presentation “Real-Time Characterization and Modulation of Microbial Keratitis Inflammation and Resolution in Zebrafish Larvae”.

The keynote talk was given by Professor Muzlifah Haniffa (Sanger Institute, Cambridge). Professor Haniffa gave a brief introduction on the relevance of the 'Human Developmental Cell Atlas' project and the course of human immune system development, before detailing some of her lab’s recently published work. 

This included their study that identified how certain immune cells called macrophages help shape important skin structures, helping it grow and form properly. Professor Haniffa also shared her research on a type of skin cancer involving T cells. Her team found that another group of immune cells, B cells, can actually support the cancer’s growth by helping harmful T cells thrive. She finished with outlining the future vision for the Sanger Institute, where she has recently been appointed head of the Cellular Genomics Programme. 

It has been wonderful to hear how our colleagues are pushing the boundaries of science and medicine in their respective fields, and we look forward to another year of impactful breakthroughs and inspiring research.Thank you to all our speakers, chairs, judges and poster presenters, event sponsors (Miltenyi Biotec, Merck Group, Thermo Fisher Scientific) and Innovation Competition sponsors (Aldevron and Argenx).