Neuroimaging & GSK http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20040316/04 Imaging center planned in London Imperial College and GlaxoSmithKline to jointly fund a new facility for 400 staff By Linda Nordling Plans to build a £76 million medical imaging research center in London were unveiled on Tuesday (March 16) by Imperial College London and pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). The center will focus on improving treatments for diseases like stroke and cancer [Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
, while at the same time driving new developments in imaging technology. Even for a research-intensive university like Imperial College, the new center is on a huge scale. This is by a long way the largest such investment internationally that I know of in imaging science, said Leszek Borysiewicz, principal of the faculty of medicine. The site at the college's Hammersmith Hospital campus was chosen over several top US and European institutions. It will house 400 researchers and support staff from industry and academia, half of which will be new positions. The company is contributing £28 million to the construction of the center and £16 million to furbish it with imaging equipment. The rest will be provided by Imperial College and the hosting hospital. According to Borysiewicz, increasing UK capacity in imaging research is one of the key benefits of the investments. What is very important to me is that we are bringing this development into the UK science base to ensure that we can really give UK scientists an opportunity to participate in this kind of program, he said. Basic and translational research will take place in the center when it stands finished in 2006. This will initially focus on neurological diseases and cancer; however, the publicly funded research is likely to also branch out into a number of other disorders [Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
. Borysiewicz said that there are likely to be developments in the diagnostics and therapeutics of diseases, but that the college at the same time will be able to push the technology with its strong base in engineering, computing, and chemistry. Fuelling basic science is a welcome side effect for the drug company. If we can increase the science output of a major university, it's good for us because you can't discover drugs without understanding disease, said John Brown, who oversees imaging research at GSK. [Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
The deal has attracted much attention from the UK government, which is currently considering ways of encouraging industryacademia collaborations. In fact, the UK treasury asked GSK and the college to delay announcing the center by a few days so it could be used as a good example in its consultation on how UK science should be supported in the next 10 years, which is also published today. Brown said that the center was designed with collaboration in mind. Everything has been done to break down the barrier between industry and academia. [Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
I suppose one reason that we went to Imperial is that that barrier is most broken down at Imperial. However, asked why his institution does so well at attracting industry funds, Borysiewicz said there are no magic bullets. If Imperial has a lead it is in the fact that it is actually beginning to achieve it on the ground rather than just discussing how it should be done. Links for this article £76 million research centre to make the UK a global centre of excellence for clinical imaging, Imperial College London press release, March 16, 2004. http://www.ic.ac.uk/P4980.htm Leszek Borysiewicz http://www.ic.ac.uk/P2964.htm Hammersmith Hospitals http://www.hhnt.org/ Government unveils blueprint for future of British science, HM Treasury press release, March 16, 2004. http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/newsroom_and_speeches/press/2004/ press_26_04.cfm |
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