[8] His recent academic research centred on engineering of antibodies for application in health care, management of environmental pollution, and the derivation and use of novel combinatorial libraries.
[13] Between 1969 and 1978 Bill was a lecturer in biochemistry in Aberdeen University and then entered industry as Head of In Vitro Toxicology, Inveresk Research International (IRI Ltd.) 1978–80.
He established and was Head of Biotechnology at IRI,[14] 1980–86, was Research Director of Bioscot Ltd. 1986-87 and then became Professor of Genetics in Aberdeen University in 1987 where he remained until taking early retirement in 2003.
to provide methods for manufacture of antibody fragments on a scale, and at a cost acceptable for application in environmental management and as components of topical pharmaceuticals, cosmeceuticals or consumer goods.
The work was reportedly commissioned by the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency in response to fears that British forces could be attacked by countries which had been thought to have built up stockpiles of biological weapons.
Biological Sciences and Biotechnology Research Council (BBSRC) for 7 years and focused on provision of antibody based reagents using herbicides such as atrazine, diuron, mecoprop and paraquat as prototypes.
This pioneering investment group provided vital funding to projects at the stage between initial university research discovery and industrial product development.
During this time, he directed the expansion of the companies' business into provision of novel immunoassay technologies and products, and developed an ELISA based test for the environmental monitoring of Legionella pneumophila, marketed by Boots Microcheck.
Scotgen was established in 1987 with seedcorn finance from the Founders, an investment by Aberdeen University Research and Innovation Services, and the Scottish Development Agency.
[24] Anti-infective therapeutic products developed up to 1992 included those for treatment of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), Varicella zoster (chicken pox/shingles), cytomegalovirus and rabies.