Science giant launches Sir James Black Centre

One of the world's legendary figures in the field of genetics, Nobel Laureate Professor Sydney Brenner, has officially opened the University's £20 million Sir James Black Centre.

Formerly called the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research, the state of the art research facility is home to 250 staff and scientists researching diabetes, cancer and tropical diseases in the College of Life Sciences.

The building was named in honour of former University Chancellor Sir James Black and is a fitting tribute for the scientist who first came to Dundee as an assistant lecturer in the Department of Physiology in 1946. He is credited with the discovery of Beta Blockers for heart disease and Tagamet for ulcers and went on to receive the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology in 1988 for his pioneering contributions to drug design.

It seems appropriate then that a Centre where drug discovery and design is a major focus has been named in his honour and officially opened by another science great - Professor Sydney Brenner.

Professor Brenner was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology along with University honorary graduate Sir John Sulston in 2002 for his work with the model organism, the C. elegans worm. He is also internationally recognised for his pioneering work in genetics - it is he who discovered messenger RNA (the link between the DNA of our genes and the proteins they code for).

Professor Brenner accepted an honorary doctorate from the University during his visit.