New Dundee research centre to help treat diseases with no known cure
The ÂŁ5 million labs should be ready by next year.
A new research centre aimed at treating diseases with no known cure is to be created at Dundee University.
The ÂŁ5 million labs, which will tackle things like cancer, should be ready by next year.
It aims to do it through a new technique called protein degradation
Professor Alessio Ciulli says it gets rid of infections from cells in the body.
"We can actually make them go away. We can remove them from the disease, we can degrade them," he said.
"Therefore the molecule we can develop to enable this, has the potential to become new medicines.
"We have already initiated a collaboration with a company to look at skin diseases and we will be looking at applications into other diseases as well.
"For example the central nervous system and neurodegeneration."
The Centre for Targeted Protein Degradation (CeTPD) will be housed at the Technopole site adjacent to Dundee’s School of Life Sciences
The existing two-storey building will be fitted out with state-of-the-art facilities. The core team working on targeted protein degradation at the University will grow from around 25 currently to 50 when their labs are relocated to the new centre.
Professor Iain Gillespie, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University, said, “This development is pivotal to our ambition for Dundee to establish itself not just as a great place for scientific discovery which subsequently drives economic growth elsewhere but also as a leading location for us to grow the businesses we spin out and to create a vibrant bio-cluster here in Tayside.
“The investment we are making demonstrates our commitment to supporting and nurturing excellence, with the work of Professor Ciulli and colleagues truly leading the world in terms of TPD research.
“The industry partnerships that have subsequently developed have been heralded as exemplary by the pharmaceutical companies we work with. We are very excited by the prospect of the CeTPD helping to realise the scientific and commercial potential of this field and of our city.”