Ian Watson, Business Editor at Scotsman.com

PROFESSOR Chudomir Nachev, president of the Bulgarian National Academy of Medicine, is visiting Dundee this week with the aim of establishing links with Scottish biotechnology companies and institutions.

Professor Nachev is a leading Bulgarian scientist and is representing the Bulgarian medical universities and institutes that make up the Academy on his fact-finding mission to Scotland. The Bulgarians hope Professor Nachev`s visit will lead to greater collaboration with their scientific counterparts in Dundee.

Scottish Enterprise Tayside says the visit will also help raise the profile of the Tayside biotechnology sector in Bulgaria, and to help encourage some of the several hundred Bulgarian students who currently study at European universities to come to Dundee to undertake research projects.

During his visit, Professor Nachev will visit biotech company Cyclacel, which makes and develops anti cancer medicines. Dundee-based Cyclacel is a leading biotechnology company developing novel therapeutics for treating cancer and other serious diseases by employing insights in the biology of cell cycle control and state-of-the-art rational drug design chemistry.

Professor Nachev will also meet executives at Axis-Shield, whose chief executive is Svein Lien. Axis-Shield is a world-leader in the field of healthcare diagnostics, and was formed by a merger between Axis Biochemicals of Norway and Shield Diagnostics of Scotland.

Earlier this year it extended its partnership with US giant Abbot Laboratories, adding another test for heart disease and damage to two key ones already under development.

Professor Nachev will also visit Ninewells Teaching Hospital and the School of Life Sciences Biocentre at the University of Dundee.

His four-day visit has been organised by Cyclacel with support from Scottish Enterprise Tayside which will be giving Professor Nachev a presentation on `BioDundee`.

Kevin Bazley, manager of biotechnology and commercialisation at Scottish Enterprise Tayside, said: `The strength of the biotechnology sector in Tayside and the close working relationships between the institutions and companies is attracting a lot of interest around the world.

`These visits are important in raising Tayside`s international profile even further and in establishing links with potentially lucrative markets.

`Professor Nachev`s visit is a wonderful opportunity to set up collaborative research projects and perhaps attract students from Bulgaria to carry out research in Dundee.`

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