The Wellcome Trust has named Ted Bianco to be its acting director, the Nature News blog reports. Bianco currently is the director of the Wellcome Trust technology transfer office, which he started in 2002. He is to take over for Mark Walport, who is leaving to be the chief science adviser to the UK government.
Bianco is to take the helm of the charity in the middle of March.
A Wellcome Trust spokesperson tells the Nature News blog that the search a permanent replacement for Walport is at an "advanced stage."