Cancer Research

Dundee’s world role in cancer and biomedical research is renowned and now yielding results. But the University’s international role extends to a spectrum of other fields including design expertise; applied computing; medical education; international law and policy on water, energy and minerals; and keyhole surgery, to name but a few. A robotic bone drill and a range of surgical devices designed to reach the parts that others can’t were among an arsenal of medical tools being developed in Dundee and demonstrated to the world’s surgeons and engineers at a conference in Brazil. Organised by Alan Slade of the department of mechanical engineering, the Technology Meets Surgery event will be staged in Dundee in 2001.

International Water

Today the world faces increasing problems with water distribution - water for drinking, for washing and sanitation, and for agriculture. Water shortages, often affecting the poorest countries, can lead to conflict within and between nations. Dr Patricia Wouters, Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy, is focusing on national and international law to help resolve potential conflict.

Avalanches and Landslides

Staff in the Geotechnical Centrifuge Centre led by Professor Michael Davies, are studying the link between global warming and disasters on the mountains of Europe. The centrifuge, the first of its kind in Scotland, will ‘speed up’ gravity and observe what happens when soil is warmed up and permafrost, which holds the ground together, is destroyed.

Gene Therapy and Keyhole surgery
The benefits of collaboration can be seen in the world’s first Department of Surgery and Molecular Oncology. The new £4 million cancer treatment centre brings together world leaders in gene therapy and keyhole surgery. Using a special surgical tool, designed by the Dundee team, gene therapy will be delivered simultaneously to several parts of a cancer tumour via keyhole surgery.

‘Green’ Concrete

Professor Ravindra Dhir, Concrete Technology Unit, is working on a £0.5 million project to examine how waste ash can be safely used to produce environmentally-friendly concrete. If successful, a cheap and useful building material will have been produced and waste ash will no longer have to be consigned to landfill sites.