9 December 2009

Hollywood star to visit Drug Discovery Unit

Photo opportunity: 9.30am on Thursday, December 10th. Professor Michael Ferguson will greet Brian Cox and Dr Stuart Smith at the Wellcome Trust Building.

Dundee-born Hollywood star Brian Cox will tomorrow visit his home town to see first hand the work being carried out to combat neglected diseases affecting the developing world.

He will be welcomed to the College of Life Sciences by Dean of Research, Professor Michael Ferguson, at 9.30pm on Thursday, December 10th.

Mr Cox will be accompanied by Dr Stuart Smith, founder of Developing World Heath, an organisation dedicated to developing treatments and potential cures for devastating tropical diseases which affect millions of people in the developing world.

Professor Ferguson will lead Mr Cox and Dr Smith on a tour of the University Drug Discovery Unit (DDU) to explain the work being currently being carried out to combat neglected tropical diseases of the kind that Developing World Health is working to combat. He welcomed the pair to the University, saying, “Brian Cox is a very good friend to the College of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee.

'He helped Sir Philip Cohen and myself enormously with fund-raising to build the Sir James Black Centre, where we work on diseases like diabetes and cancer and also on neglected tropical diseases like African sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis and malaria.'

'We are always happy to welcome him back and also to welcome Dr Stuart Smith, the founder of 'Developing World Health', a charity that aims to raise awareness of these neglected tropical diseases.'

'Today's visit will include a tour of our Drug Discovery Unit, where we are creating new medicines to fight these diseases. Brian's fund-raising helped us build these facilities and I hope our visitors will like what they see.'

The Unit was established by Professor Ferguson and his colleague Professor Alan Fairlamb in 2005. Many disciplines towards the discovery of new therapies for tropical diseases are combined, with 76 scientists working in the Drug Discovery Unit.

The complete project, from inception and including the construction and equipping of the new state-of-the-art laboratories, is expected to cost around £25 million to 2016. Brian Cox is a long-time supporter of the work being carried out at the University, and has assisted with, and contributed, to several campaigns raising funds for research facilities and projects.

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Grant Hill
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University of Dundee
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