Hollywood star Brian Cox is lending his support to the major fundraising campaign to raise the final £4 million needed for the University’s Centre for Interdisciplinary Research.
The new centre - scheduled to open in 2005 - will employ 180 scientists and will adjoin the existing Wellcome Trust Biocentre, which already employs some of Europe’s top researchers. The centre will seek improved treatments for diabetes and global parasitic diseases such as malaria. Work will begin in 2003.
Visiting the University at the beginning of April to launch the fundraising campaign, Dundee-born Brian said: "Diabetes affects more than 150 million people worldwide, including nearly two million in the UK. That number is growing rapidly and diabetes is one of the fastest-growing threats to health in the UK today.
"The new centre will be run by Professor Sir Philip Cohen, one of the world’s top scientists and a world expert on diabetes. But without major corporate donations towards the cost of the building the scientists will not be able to carry out important research to advance the understanding of diabetes and malaria and stimulate drugs to beat these diseases.
"The work going on in Dundee already is amazing. When I met Sir Philip he introduced me to Professor Grahame Hardie, who works at the Biocentre and is the man whose research led to the development of the drugs I take everyday to combat the effects of diabetes. If the new building receives the required funding, the potential for saving lives is nothing short of astounding."