A £54m stem cell research centre in Edinburgh, Scotland has been officially opened by the Princess Royal.
The Princess Royal opened the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine (SCRM) as well as the £24m bio-incubator facility, Nine, in the Edinburgh BioQuarter.
The SCRM will carry out stem cell research to help find therapies for patients with conditions such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease, and heart and liver diseases.
The centre is the first large-scale, purpose-built facility of its kind and provides accommodation for up to 250 stem cell scientists.
The centre, funded by the University of Edinburgh, Scottish Enterprise, the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the British Heart Foundation through its Mending Broken Hearts Appeal, was opened by the Princess Royal in her role as chancellor of the University.
It includes the most up-to-date facilities in the UK, which meet the highest guidelines, to manufacture stem cell lines that could be used for patient therapies.
Nine, which has been jointly funded by Scottish Enterprise and the UK Government’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, provides 85,000ft2 (7,900m2) of laboratory and office space for both established biotechnology companies and start-up ventures. These could include potential spin-out companies from the University of Edinburgh.
Professor Charles ffrench-Constant, director of the Medical Research Council Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the SCRM and Chair of Medical Neurology at the University of Edinburgh, said: ‘The Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine’s great strength lies in bringing world-class clinicians and scientists to work together, encouraging the translation of laboratory discoveries into treatments for patients.
‘The research will help in finding treatments for devastating conditions, for which there are currently no cures.’
Edinburgh BioQuarter is a joint venture between NHS Lothian, Scottish Enterprise, the University of Edinburgh and Alexandria Real Estate Equities, to boost developments in life sciences.
