Fundamental Stem Cell Research
Biologist (The Journal of The Institute of Biology, UK)
Vol. 53 No. 4
August 2006
The Wellcome Trust has announced funding of £10 million to establish an international centre of excellence in fundamental stem cell research. The Wellcome Trust Centre for Stem Cell Research will be led by Professor Austin Smith and Professor Fiona Watt, and is due to open at the University of Cambridge in December 2006.
The Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Wolfson Foundation are also contributing £1.5 million each towards the Centre.
Professor Austin Smith is former Director of the Centre for Stem Cell Research at Edinburgh University where his team made a series of discoveries in stem cell research. He will become Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Stem Cell Research in Cambridge. “Stem cell biology is a young and complex area of basic research with emerging potential for biomedical applications,” said Professor Smith. “Historically the United Kingdom has been a world leader in stem cell research. There is now a crucial opportunity to extend this due to the current restrictions on public funding of human embryonic stem cell research in the United States”.
Taking the post of Deputy Director at the Centre will be Professor Fiona Watt, who has been Head of the Keratinocyte Laboratory at the Cancer Research UK London Research Centre since 1987. Professor Watt is also Deputy Director of the new Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute.
The Wellcome Trust Centre for Stem Cell Research in Cambridge will focus on the definition of the genetic and biochemical mechanisms that control how stem cells develop into particular types of cell. This will provide foundations for engineering of stem cells to model particular diseases, drug discovery and regenerative medicine
For further information, visit www.welcome.ac.uk
