5 March 2009

Scotland Office Minister visits Life Sciences at Dundee

Photo opportunity: 2.50 pm, Thursday March 5th,
Sir James Black Centre, College of Life Sciences
University of Dundee
Ms McKechin in the laboratory with Professor Sir Philip Cohen

Ann McKechin MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Scotland, will visit the College of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee this Thursday, March 5th.

Ms McKechin will have discussions with Sir Philip Cohen, the Director of the Medical Research Council Protein Phosphorylation Unit (MC-PPU) and the Scottish Institute for Cell Signalling and will be given a tour of these Divisions.

Ms McKechin will also meet with Professor Michael Ferguson CBE, Dean of Research in the College of Life Sciences to hear about other exciting developments in Life Sciences research at Dundee.

Ms McKechin said, 'Today I saw first hand the valuable and groundbreaking work being undertaken by the UK Research Council-funded PPU at Dundee University. In particular, I was impressed by the work they are doing to train the next generation of scientists who will advance our understanding of these subjects - which is key to ensuring the long term success of the vibrant bio tech industry in Scotland.'

'Scottish Universities have an exemplary record of securing UK Government-funded research money in UK wide competition. In 2007, Scottish Universities won 12% of all Research Council funding to UK universities. A figure significantly in excess of Scotland’s 7.9% share of UK GDP and 9% share of the UK population. These figures are testament to the importance of a UK pot in helping Scottish Universities to compete on both a domestic and international scale.'

The MRC-PPU was established at Dundee in 1990. In 2006 the MRC Council approved an expanded budget of £14.9million to cover the Unit’s activities from 2007 to 2012, following an overwhelmingly positive review of its activities.

The Unit's work has enhanced our understanding of cancer, diabetes, hypertension and chronic inflammatory diseases and helped to accelerate the development of improved drugs to treat these conditions through a collaboration with five of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies called the Division of Signal Transduction Therapy (DSTT). This is widely regarded as a model for how academia and industry should interact for which it was awarded the Queens Anniversary Prize for Higher Education in 2006.

The MRC-PPU has nine Programme Leaders and 115 staff and accounts for around 15% of the research of the College of Life Sciences at Dundee.

The Scottish Institute for ceLL Signalling (SCILLS) was formed in October 2008 following a grant award of £10million from the Scottish Government. The money will be spent on setting up a Protein Ubiquitination Unit, a rapidly emerging area of 'cell signalling' which also has great potential for the development of drugs to treat global diseases.

The immediate priorities for the Institute are to:

• Recruit to Scotland a critical mass of leading scientists studying the ubiquitin system
• Produce the proteins and technologies needed to carry out cutting edge research in this emerging area
• Exploit the strength of the Protein Ubiquitination Unit to enhance the Scottish biotechnology industry.

For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk