New state-of-the-art laboratories opened

21 November 2005

During the last few months Dr Mark Walport, Director of the Wellcome Trust, has opened a number of Trust-funded laboratories, giving researchers state-of-the-art facilities for their research into diseases such as malaria and breast cancer. These new facilities were funded through a variety of schemes, including the Joint Infrastructure Fund (JIF) and the Science Research Investment Fund.

On 30 September, Dr Walport opened the Wellcome Trust Cyro-Electron Microscopy Facility at the University of Warwick, funded with a £1.17 million award for use by the structural biology groups in the Midlands, UK. The varied research interests of the Midlands groups are all aimed at understanding the structural basis of biological functions.

The Wellcome Trust and the Wolfson Foundation Facility for Molecular Life Sciences was then opened on 3 November. This £16.3 million facility at the University of Sheffield aims to enhance interaction and collaboration between programmes in four major areas: structural biology, developmental genetics, molecular physiology and molecular microbiology.

The £9 million Henry Wellcome labs for Medical and Molecular Genetics, opened on 10 November at Kings College London, will provide the latest facilities for researchers studying the genetic basis of diseases ranging from breast cancer to high blood pressure. The new laboratories include high-throughput genomics facilities, with high-capacity DNA sequencers, some of which can detect specific variations in DNA that may or may not play a role in disease; and microarray analysers, which can compare the expression of a wide range of genes between different tissues or individuals.

On 11 November, Dr Walport opened the Henry Wellcome Laboratories of Infection Biology and Immunology, a £7 million research facility at the University of Edinburgh. The new labs provide the latest facilities for researchers to work on treatments for a range of deadly infectious conditions such as malaria, sleeping sickness, elephantiasis and stomach ulcer bacteria. Among the special features of the new centre are a suite of insect 'houses'; a DNA sequencing facility, which will help scientists decode the genetic make-up of bacteria; and a cell sorting facility that makes it easier for researchers to analyse individual cells.