Welcome to 'This Is The North' Podcast, your source of transformative conversations. An intentional challenge to the systems holding back the North of England. Hosted by Alison Dunn, an award-winning charity chief executive and former solicitor. This podcast is supported by Society Matters Community Interest Company and is dedicated to curating and sharing knowledge, powering the change we need for a more equal and inclusive society.

In this episode, Alison speaks with Professor Mike Waring, Chair of Medicinal Chemistry, and Professor Akane Kawamura, a Professor of Chemical Biology at Newcastle University. What starts as a conversation about drug discovery becomes a story about human impact, regional potential, and where life-saving innovation happens.

Professor Waring's office wall tells a story. Framed like a diploma hangs a handwritten letter from a stranger in France—a man with lung cancer who'd been told there was no treatment. His terror wasn't about dying. It was about leaving his disabled wife alone. Traditional chemotherapy would render him too weak to be her carer, and without him, she had nobody. Then came the phone call that changed everything. A doctor had spotted a genetic marker that made him eligible for an experimental drug—one that had started as chemical equations scribbled on whiteboards in Newcastle by Mike's team. "Now he takes a once-daily pill," Mike says, "and he's alive and healthy enough to look after the person he loves most."

That drug represents something remarkable happening in the North. Newcastle University has brought two cancer medicines to market with modest funding, yet the region continues losing its brightest minds to opportunities down south. The professors have a plan to change this: a Northeast Institute for Molecular Medicine employing 1,000 researchers, rivalling London's Francis Crick Institute.

The barriers reveal themselves in the numbers. While 46% of public research investment flows to the Golden Triangle, the North East could provide the trained scientists that Britain's £25 billion pharmaceutical export industry desperately needs. Northern institutions aren't just competing for resources—they're fighting the assumption that serious science happens elsewhere.

Episode Timestamps:

00:30 Meet the Experts

00:55 The Journey of Drug Discovery

02:55 Challenges and Resilience in Drug Development

07:01 Women in STEM

08:45 The Vision for a Northeast Institute for Molecular Medicine

11:14 The Importance of Location and Infrastructure

15:52 Investment and Political Climate

19:18 Future Challenges and Opportunities

22:52 Inspiring the Next Generation

Behind every policy discussion about regional investment are real people whose lives hang in the balance. The man in France who can care for his wife. The postgraduate student choosing between staying home and advancing their career. The families who could benefit from high-skilled, well-paid jobs in their communities.

The question is whether we'll invest in keeping that excellence here, or continue watching our brightest minds head elsewhere. Somewhere in France, a man is making breakfast for his wife because scientists in Newcastle refused to accept that innovation only happens in the Golden Triangle.

Host: Alison Dunn

Guests: Professor Mike Waring & Professor Akane Kawamura

This podcast is produced by Purpose Made.

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