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15 November 2000
Media/Photo opportunity: Wednesday 15 November 3pm at Lecture Theatre 2, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School when Professor Gordon McVie will unveil plaque. A tour of the new centre follows. The University of Dundee venture to explore new approaches to treating cancer, by delivering gene therapy directly to tumours via keyhole surgery and image guided techniques, is officially launched on Wednesday 15 November. The opening of the University of Dundee centre brings together the internationally acclaimed research teams of world pioneers in cancer research and keyhole surgery - Professor Sir David Lane and Professor Sir Alfred Cuschieri together with Professor Robert Steele. The centre, based at Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, is to be named after Nobel Prize winner and Chancellor of the University of Dundee, Sir James Black, who will attend the opening ceremony. Professor Gordon McVie, Director General of the Cancer Research Campaign, who fund much of the research there will give the launch speech. Principal of the University of Dundee Sir Alan Langlands described the official launch as a "history in the making"; the true significance of which would only be appreciated in years to come. "It is no exaggeration to say that the eyes of the world - policy makers, cancer scientists and the one in three people who are likely to develop cancer - are on the new Sir James Black Centre and the pioneering research concentrated there. "History shows that most of the significant breakthroughs involve an electricity of ideas sparking across different disciplines. Uniting David Lane and Alfred Cuschieri and their world class teams in the fight against cancer - by delivering gene therapies via keyhole surgery - is one the most powerful and hopeful developments in cancer research today. The financial support from local people for this project is greatly appreciated by the University." Some £4 million has been raised to create and equip the new Department of Surgery and Molecular Oncology in the Sir James Black Centre by a public appeal, the Ninewells Cancer Appeal, led by Dr Jacqui Wood with unstinting support from Dr Pat McPherson, Lady Fiona Fraser and many others. Fifty biological scientists and 20 physics and engineering researchers are based in the Sir James Black Centre, including three clinical professors, four other clinical members of staff, one non-clinical professor and seven scientific group leaders. Close links are maintained with the surgical service of Tayside University Hospitals Trust - with surgical wards and operating theatres adjacent - and the department also plays a full part in teaching the University's medical students. The centre, which includes several suites of state of the art laboratories, has been created by refurbishing space within the medical laboratory block at Ninewells. Major funders of the research within it include the Cancer Research Campaign, the Medical Research Council, the Scottish Office, the Wellcome Trust and Tenovus. Most of the laboratory research is on the role of p53, known as "the guardian angel of the cell", and the central role it plays in guarding against the consequences of DNA damage. Meanwhile parallel work at the centre is advancing and developing minimal access surgery (MAS) and surgical technology to build on the advantages MAS offers - less pain to patients, smaller scars and faster recovery. A special surgical tool has already been designed by the Dundee team, the so-called "poison umbrella", which can be inserted into the tumour via keyhole surgery. About the diameter of a matchstick, but much longer, the device has a multi-injection head which can be opened up when in position to deliver the therapy to several different points of the tumour simultaneously. The University regrets that enquiries from cancer patients and their families cannot be handled by the Sir James Black Centre and should be directed to the Cancer Research Campaign information nurses on freephone 0800 226 237. /ends For further information see www.dundee.ac.uk/surgery/ Note for editors
Official launch for Lane/Cuschieri centre
We would be very grateful if you could include the last paragraph giving the helpline number as in the past such stories have been followed by a deluge of enquiries.
