29 May 2001
Three gene researchers at the University of Dundee's Wellcome Trust Biocentre have been named among Europe's best.
Dr Anne Donaldson, Dr Tom Owen-Hughes and Dr Tomoyuki Tanaka, were selected by the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) in the first year of a scheme to identify and support the best young biomedical and life scientists in Europe.
The three, who have just started to establish their own research groups within the Division of Gene Regulation and Expression, will now receive additional support to help them develop their laboratories more rapidly. The primary criteria for the awards are the originality of the research and the quality of their research publications.
The United Kingdom received 14 of the 56 awards.
Dr Donaldson was recruited from the University of Washington, USA and joined the Wellcome Trust Biocentre three years ago. Her research is focussed on understanding how the DNA in chromosomes is duplicated precisely when living cells divide.
Dr Owen-Hughes was recruited from Pennsylvania State University, USA and also moved to Dundee three years ago. His research is giving much greater insight into gene control including how the correct genes are switched on at the right time.
Dr Tanaka has recently been recruited from the Institute for Molecular Pathology in Vienna and will relocate to Dundee in July. His research is targeted towards discovering how chromosomes are separated correctly when a single cell divides.
Professor Angus Lamond, head of the Division of Gene Regulation in the Wellcome Trust Biocentre said "This is an excellent achievement and illustrates why Dundee has developed a prominent international reputation as a centre of excellence for research in molecular biology".
Sir Philip Cohen, Director of the Wellcome Trust Biocentre said "This is a remarkable endorsement of the quality of the young scientists we have been able to recruit to Dundee recently. We are very pleased to have been able to help reverse the "brain drain", bringing back outstanding British scientists from the USA and other leading investigators from overseas".END