18 April 2005
Launch of Dundee Diabetes Research Centre
The diabetes laboratories at the University of Dundee have been awarded Centre status to promote
communication amongst the research and clinical groups and to raise public awareness of their
work.
The Dundee Diabetes Research Centre is a joint venture between the Faculty of Life Sciences and the
Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing, which currently hosts over 25 research teams that have a
shared interest in Diabetes research, ranging from the study of single molecules to complex
clinical studies.
The launch of the Dundee Diabetes Research Centre reinforces the city's standing as one of the
world's key hubs of research into the disease.
The Dundee Diabetes Research Centre has been set up for a period of 5 years. Its main role will be
to encourage and facilitate interactions between basic and clinical Diabetes research. The Centre
will help provide funds to initiate pilot collaborative studies between research groups and also to
enable students to attend courses or visit other labs to acquire new skills and techniques that can
be subsequently set up at the University. Another goal of the Dundee Diabetes Research Centre will
be to participate in the recruitment of internationally renowned Diabetes researchers to work at
University of Dundee. The Centre will support the costs required for networking of diabetes
researchers, an annual meeting, an invited prominent International seminar speaker and the
establishment of a dedicated website for the scientists. The annual meetings will allow current
research to be presented and discussed, to maximize collaboration between the different groups and
provide a platform for clinicians and researchers to be kept informed of relevant basic research
going on in Dundee.
The Dundee Diabetes Research Centre will be launched on Monday, 18 April with a lecture from
Professor Gerald Shulman, Yale Medical School, New Haven on "Cellular mechanisms of insulin
resistance in humans" at 1 pm in the MSI Small Lecture Theatre.
The Director of the Centre is Professor Dario Alessi, an internationally recognised diabetes
researcher in the MRC Protein Phosphorylation Unit at the School of Life Sciences and Dr Calum
Sutherland, a Diabetes UK Senior Fellow at the Neurosciences Institute in Ninewells Hospital, is
the Assistant Director.
On the establishment of the Centre Professor Alessi said: "There is a tremendous amount of
important and exciting research into all aspects of Diabetes being undertaken at the University of
Dundee. We hope that the creation of the Dundee Diabetes Research Centre will stimulate
interactions between basic and clinical researchers which will further enhance the quality of the
work that is taking place".
By Roddy Isles, Head of Press 01382 344910, out of hours: 07968298585, r.isles@dundee.ac.uk | 
