Too simplistic to say I’m from industry, says BBSRC chief

The chief executive of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, who took office in October, has said that she is "quite academic for a non-academic".

Jackie Hunter, who worked as a researcher in various companies that now form parts of AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline, made the comments in an interview posted on the BBSRC’s website.

“I think that saying I am from industry is quite a simplistic view these days,” she said. “The boundaries cross and collaboration is vital. I did a PhD studying owl monkeys at London Zoo and my postdoctoral fellowship was under Cathy Wilson at St George’s Hospital Medical School, on rodent reproductive behaviour. Subsequently my research was in the neurosciences and I have authored or coauthored more than 140 peer-reviewed papers and co-edited several books.”