The Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC) awarded £7.7 million during the summer to fund research in universities. Dundee received a slice of this funding as part of three collaborative research projects with other Scottish universities. The projects are:
The Interdisciplinary Centre for Medical Photonics is a joint project by the Universities of St Andrews and Dundee, who are contributing funding from their own resources in addition to the SHEFC funding. The Centre will carry out an interdisciplinary programme in medical photonics intended to make a major impact on healthcare through a deeper understanding of disease detection and management.
To achieve these objectives, a team of academic clinicians working with biological and physical scientists will be brought together to exploit emerging optical techniques, using the latest laser technology, in the study of disease processes at the cellular and molecular levels.
Key emphasis will be placed on the development and exploitation of new optical systems that can provide important and complementary photophysical and photobiological insights into disease detection and management. Advanced laser systems developed at St Andrews will be used to target genes and drugs into cells, micro-manipulate cells and chromosomes and detect cancer cells. New imaging applications will also be investigated using millimetre-waves to detect cancer at an early stage using non-invasive methods.
Scottish Structural Proteomics Facility - Universities of St Andrews and Dundee to receive £1,393,702
The Scottish Structural Proteomics Facility was set up to combat disease causing organisms including MRSA and streptococcus. The Facility is designed to streamline the process of drug design, from the identification of new therapeutic targets from drug resistant bacteria to producing candidate drug leads.
Proteomic analysis of drug resistant bacteria and determination of their structures by X-ray crystallography will allow a new group leader, to be appointed to the University of Dundee's Centre for Interdisciplinary Research. They will work on computer-based drug design, while others in the facility will test compound libraries for new drugs. This approach is unique to the UK and will aid the development of new highly-automated ways of performing these experiments with an emphasis on speed.
With the SRDG funding the Universities are able to establish the most modern basic research facility in Britain for this type of work.
Genetic Health in the 21st Century - Universities of Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow and St Andrews to receive £1,793,744
The grant to Genetic Health in the 21st Century (21CGH) addresses Scotland's three health priority areas - cancer, heart disease/stroke and mental health.
21CGH will provide the infrastructure to initiate a unique co-ordinated national approach by the five Scottish medical schools, in close association with other HEI's and the NHS in Scotland, to research the genetic health of our nation.
21CGH will provide the knowledge base, vital skill capacity and a social, legal and ethical framework for two long term projects in Scotland, 'Generation Scotland' (www.generationscotland.co.uk) and the Scottish spoke of the UK Biobank project (www.ukbiobank.ac.uk), which between them research hereditary diseases in families and the general population.