30th March 2007: Cambridge, UK… Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT) is delighted to announce that it has named its new building the “Aaron Klug Building” in honour of Professor Sir Aaron Klug, an eminent Cambridge-based, Nobel Prize-winning scientist who has worked closely with CAT since its foundation in 1990.

The 92,000 square feet building on Granta Park, the science park near Cambridge that is already home to two of the company’s facilities, is currently known as Unit GP15 but will be known as the Aaron Klug Building from now on.

Professor Sir Aaron Klug was on the Board of CAT from its foundation in 1990 until 2006, and continues to sit on the company’s Scientific Advisory Board. He has many notable scientific achievements, including significant work in the field of interactions and structures of large biological molecules, and in the development of new methods for their study.

Dr. Alex Duncan, CAT’s SVP Discovery commented: “Everyone at CAT is delighted that Aaron has allowed us to acknowledge his long-standing contribution to the company in this way. There is no doubt that his Board leadership and on-going support for CAT and its scientists has played a key role in the company’s growth and success. Aaron’s great scientific insights and his advocacy for science and its application at CAT make this a fitting tribute.”

Professor Sir Aaron Klug commented, "I am honoured to have CAT’s new building named after me. CAT is a fine company and I am glad to see it flourishing. I feel proud because of my involvement with the Medical Research Council in its support for the formation of CAT, its first spin-off company, based on new science".

Dr. Hamish Cameron, CAT’s Chief Executive commented: “CAT is growing rapidly at present, hence the need for us to expand our facilities in Cambridge. It is very appropriate for us to link the company’s expansion to its excellent heritage by honouring Aaron – a strong reminder that CAT’s success is based on the fundamentals of distinguished, world-leading science and know-how.”

CAT expects to start occupying the Aaron Klug Building in early 2008, after completing significant alterations to the internal layout.

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors

Professor Sir Aaron Klug

Professor Sir Aaron Klug has devoted his life to studying science. He was educated at the Universities of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and Cambridge. He began as a medical student, transferred to science, and his PhD at the Cavendish Laboratory was in Physics.
He joined the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge in 1962, was the director of the Laboratory from 1986 to 1996, and now continues with the Laboratory, leading a research group working on gene expression.
His own work has been on the interactions of proteins and nucleic acids, and on the elucidation of the structures of large biological molecules and assemblies, and on the development of new methods for their study. The principle of his method of 3-D image reconstruction in electron microscopy from a series of 2-D tilted images later formed the basis of X-ray CT scanner.
In 1982 he was awarded the undivided Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He was President of the Royal Society (1995-2000), is a member of the Order of Merit, a Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences, and of the French Academy of Sciences.
After his Nobel Prize, he moved from the study of chromatin to the subject of transcription. In the course of this he uncovered by biochemical studies the zinc finger design, which was later found to be widely used for gene regulation in higher organisms. The zinc finger modules, each of which recognises three base pairs, can be linked linearly in peptides to recognise specific DNA sequence with high fidelity and affinity. By fusing such zinc finger peptides to effector domains, genes can be selectively targeted and switched on or off, or variously manipulated. Clinical trials based on his zinc finger technology are now in progress on several therapeutic applications, including peripheral obstructive arterial disease and diabetic neuropathy, and there are promising pre-clinical studies on correcting mutations in genes.
He has received many honorary degrees, and is an Honorary Fellow of Peterhouse and of Trinity College, Cambridge.

Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT)

Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT) is a biopharmaceutical company using its capabilities and technologies in the discovery and development of new and innovative antibody medicines in selected therapeutic areas to bring improvements to seriously ill patients’ lives.
CAT is a leader in the discovery and development of human therapeutic antibodies and has an
advanced proprietary platform technology for rapidly isolating human monoclonal antibodies using phage display and ribosome display systems. CAT has extensive phage antibody libraries, currently incorporating more than 100 billion distinct antibodies. These libraries form the basis for the Company’s strategy to develop a portfolio of antibody-based drugs.
CAT is part of the AstraZeneca group of companies.
CAT employs over 300 people and is based near Cambridge, UK and in Palo Alto, USA.
For more information: www.cambridgeantibody.com 

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