What is the CFDD and what does it do?
The Centre for Food and Drug Discovery (CFDD) provides industry partners with access to specialist expertise, state-of-the-art facilities and collaborative research programmes that help bring new products to market faster.
The centre will be a single-site, preclinical hub for the pharmaceutical and food industry capable of delivering expertise at all key stages of the innovation process.
CFDD Facilities
- Drug discovery and analytical characterisation
- Formulation science
- Pre clinical and GLP preclinical unit
- Molecular and cellular technologies
- Advanced bioimaging
- Human intervention and food trials
- Biomedical and behavioural research
- Vision healthcare technologies
Our state-of-the-art facilities will accelerate the development, rigorous testing and market introduction of effective drugs and functional foods to bring forward solutions, treatments, products and technologies for the benefit of public health.
Who does the CFDD partner with?
CFDD is unique in offering integrated expertise across pharmaceutical innovation, drug discovery and food innovation within a collaborative environment designed around industry needs.
Companies can access specialist facilities and multidisciplinary teams capable of supporting:
- Novel therapeutics and drug candidates
- Functional food development
- Medical devices
- Healthcare technologies
- Translational research programmes
- Product safety and efficacy testing
Our integrated approach allows organisations to work with a single trusted partner throughout the innovation journey, from concept generation through to market readiness.
Why partner with the CFDD
Industry partners choose CFDD because we combine academic excellence with commercially focused innovation support.
Benefits include:
- Access to state-of-the-art research facilities
- Collaboration with leading biomedical and food science experts
- Integrated preclinical and translational research capabilities
- GLP toxicology and safety assessment expertise
- Drug discovery and analytical chemistry support
- Formulation science and product development services
- Clinical and food trial capabilities
- Support for SMEs, scale-ups and multinational organisations
- Access to collaborative research funding opportunities
Whether you are developing a new therapeutic, functional food, diagnostic technology or medical device, CFDD provides the expertise, infrastructure and partnership model needed to accelerate innovation and reduce time to market.
What is the CFDD's Vision
Our vision is to establish the Causeway Coast and Glens regions as a nationally and internationally recognised centre of excellence for drug discovery and food innovation.
By fostering collaboration between academia , industry and healthcare stakeholders, we aim to create a thriving innovation ecosystem that delivers economic growth, attracts investment, develops future talent and improves public health outcomes.
What are the CFDD's Objectives
- Establish the centre as a global leader in food innovation and drug discovery by empowering industry partners to develop innovative products and technologies through access to cutting edge research and equipment.
- Collaborate with companies to develop solutions at all key stages of the research and innovation pipeline to accelerate the development, rigorous testing and market introduction of effective drugs and functional foods.
- Foster innovation to stimulate growth in productivity and scale of the sector through the development of a cluster based ecosystem that contributes to sustainable economic growth and creates a favourable environment for foreign direct investment.
- Support the development of a pipeline of talent with requisite skills to work in the various sectors relating to core CFDD activities.
How is the CFDD supporting skills development
We are revolutionising healthcare by future proofing industry through data driven innovation and creating a skilled workforce.
The centre will work with key stakeholders and enhance existing initiatives to create and deliver training and skills development opportunities to meet the future needs of the Life and Health Sciences with a specific focus on pharmaceutical and food sectors.
With a focus on ResearchPlus, the centre will deliver groundbreaking collaborative research and education for the delivery of solutions and upskilling . It will drive innovative growth, in both productivity and scale, of the pharmaceutical and food sectors across the region.
