UTRECHT UNIVERSITY HAS BROUGHT TOGETHER ALL ITS EDUCATION AND RESEARCH PROGRAMMES IN BIOMEDICAL AND LIFE SCIENCES WITHIN THE ACADEMIC BIOMEDICAL CENTRE UTRECHT, ABC. THIS INITIATIVE WAS TAKEN FIVE YEARS AGO BY THE FIVE DEANS OF THE FACULTIES OF BIOLOGY, CHEMISTRY, PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES, VETERINARY MEDICINE OF UTRECHT UNIVERSITY AND THE FACULTY OF MEDICINE EMBEDDED IN THE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTRE UTRECHT. IT AIMS AT PUTTING UTRECHT ON THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL MAP AS A STRONG AND PROMINENT BIOMEDICAL CENTRE IN WHICH SCIENCE, EDUCATION AND SOCIETY FIND AND NOURISH EACH OTHER.

PROGRESS
Over the last few years, knowledge concerning molecular biology and its applications in biotechnology have made enormous progress, especially since the outcome of the human genome project (HUGO). The path from basic research to medical applications is getting shorter. Besides that, the economic value of know-how necessary for biotechnology grows along with this development. The ABC - Academic Biomedical Centre Utrecht - integrates the entire biomedical research, education, facilities and biobusiness at Utrecht University and the University Medical Centre Utrecht. Very good progress has been made over the last five years
with for instance more interdisciplinary research collaboration, a broad choice of ABC-masters, special expertise centres and
biobusiness support.

AMBITION AND SETTING
The initiators of the Academic Biomedical Centre Utrecht - ABC in abbreviation - are convinced that Utrecht University offers an excellent setting to do pioneering work and that it can prove its leading position. With an excellent starting point both in quality and quantity, Utrecht University offers the broadest range of biomedical know-how within the Netherlands: in 1998 this resulted in the establishment of two holding companies : the Utrecht University
Holding and University Medical Center Holding. UU Holding guides new businesses in their first five years and assists in creating an independent position in the market. UU Holding is instrumental in the development of an ‘Incubator’ in Life Sciences through which it hopes to attract two to three new businesses each year.
From single-cell organisms to pets, from mass-spectrometry to post-marketing surveillance, from molecule to man, from gene to patient.
The Academic Biomedical Centre Utrecht offers a unique setting in Life Sciences thanks to an unparalleled combination of participating
Faculties and Research Institutes such as the Faculty of Medicine embedded in the University Medical Centre Utrecht (UMC-Utrecht) including the Academic Hospital and the Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital. Utrecht University has the only Faculty of Veterinary Medicine - with its clinics - in the Netherlands. One of the two Dutch Faculties of Pharmaceutical Sciences is located in Utrecht. And last but not least the Faculties of Biology and Chemistry which are closely involved in several outstanding research institutes. Apart from the participants, the location at the Uithof adds to the strong position of Utrecht University because it is close to other (inter)nationally renowned institutes
such as RIVM (National Institute of Public Health and the Environment), Hubrecht Laboratory (Netherlands Institute for Developmental Biology - NIOB), ID-Lelystad and TNO-Voeding (Research and Technology, Nutrition and Food).

THE ABC-RESEARCH PROFILE
is therefore very varied and complete. At the moment current research groups in genomics (a.o. Bos, van der Vliet, Timmers, van Oost,
Wijmenga and Holstege) will join forces in the ‘Genomics Centre’ that will start in the Stratenum close to the University Medical Centre. This centre of expertise will concentrate on four fields of special know-how in Utrecht: Neurogenomics, Oncogenomics, Cardiovascular
Genomics and Immunogenomics. The Genomics Centre will be a meeting place for (inter)national researchers in the field. The other current initiative is the ‘Netherlands Proteomics Center’, a national center of excellence that Prof. dr. Albert Heck was asked to coordinate. The NPC will focus on research and development of new technologies in some of the key (bottle-neck) areas in proteomics. These centres of excellence will join forces with all other interfacultary initiatives on the areas of special interest and expertise: Brain & Nervous system, Growth & Differentiation, Infection & Immunity and Heart & Vessels. The technologies used to tackle the questions in these areas are the already mentioned genomics and proteomics, as well as metabolomics, bioinformatics and advanced structure elucidation & imaging.

THE ABC-EDUCATION PROFILE
is broad and flexible. It educates young people in biomedical sciences through interdisciplinary Bachelor, Master and PhD programmes. Of course, programmes are also offered in the ‘classical’ professions for doctors, vets and pharmacists. Some 23% of Utrecht University
students (total 23.716 in december 2002) study in one of the ABC-programmes. With nearly 400 fte ABC covers more than 30% of all Utrecht scientific staff, among which 100 full professors. ABC delivers over 200 PhD’s each year, which is about 55% of the Utrecht total. This trend is apparent in scientific publications as well: in 2001 almost 50% were ABC-publications, just as the years before. Regularly the title of ‘ABC professor’ is given to an outstanding professor who shows interdisciplinary work and vision. Two of them are: Ronald Plasterk en Hans Clevers. In March 2003 Titia de Lange from Rockefeller University received the first ABC honorary doctorate.

ABC ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Biomedical and biotechnological research offers a very fertile soil to all sorts of output toward biotechnological and pharmaceutical enterprises. Being close to RIVM, NIOB, TNO en ID-Lelystad is also an advantage for biobusinesses starting from or within the Academic Biomedical Centre Utrecht. Utrecht University as well as the University Medical Centre Utrecht want to support initiatives in biobusiness. The UU Holding - together with UMC Utrecht Holding - supervises the new companies and offers guidance, legal advice and expertise (for
instance for patent applications) to researchers and other starting entrepreneurs. One example of a spinoff is U-Bysis that changed its name in Crucell B.V. after a merger with IntroGene and is now quoted on the stock exchange.