200 life science jobs secured as work begins on £12.5m research centre

Work has begun to upgrade Dundee University's College of Life Sciences with a new £12.5m Centre for Translational and Interdisciplinary Research.

Around 200 new research jobs will be created when the expansion is complete, with more than 1000 scientists, research students and support staff already using the college.

It is hoped the centre will enhance the institution's life sciences capacity in drug discovery, an area in which it claims to be one of the UK leaders.

Construction work is scheduled to finish in autumn next year.

Professor Michael Ferguson, dean of research in the College of Life Sciences, said: "The high-level objectives are to enhance translational research by expanding drug discovery capacity, to enhance computational biology, mathematical biology and biophysics, and to provide future expansion space.

"We already have very strong drug discovery programmes in the area of neglected tropical diseases, including African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), Leishmaniasis, Chagas' Disease, tuberculosis and malaria, which are producing strong candidates for drug development.

"We expect to see these leading to effective drugs for at least one of these diseases.

"Universities are very good at innovation. What they haven't been quite so good at is developing the capability to translate that innovation into new medicines and applications. This new centre will help us provide that bridging point."

The funding for the centre has come from a peer-reviewed Wellcome-Wolfson Capital Award in Biomedical Science of £4.87m as well as charitable donations. In addition, a contribution of £5m has been committed by the University of Dundee.

The front facade of the building will feature large anodised aluminium cladding panels incorporating artistic abstractions representative of four key scales of Life Science Research: Molecular, Organellar, Cellular and Tissue.

The scientific images will be translated into artwork, to be perforated onto the panels, by Professor Elaine Shemilt and her team from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design. In addition, the new Centre will contain a gallery for art-science projects.

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