Chemistry of Health building ‘offers hope’ Our new Chemistry of Health building, which is dedicated to combating neurodegenerative disorders, was officially opened in September.
“O
ur scientists and this building offer hope,” said Vice-Chancellor Professor Stephen J Toope as he opened our new Chemistry of Health building, which is dedicated to combating diseases such as the neurodegenerative disorders Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. “The research carried out here has the potential to affect millions of lives around the world for the better.” The building houses the Centre for Misfolding Diseases, a world-leading research facility focused on the misfolding of proteins in human cells – a phenomenon that causes a number of disorders including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and motor neurone diseases.
large number of scientists from different disciplines who are dedicated to establishing the molecular basis of neurodegenerative disorders and to identifying new ways for treating or preventing these debilitating conditions,” said Professor Dobson.
The building has been funded by £17.6 million from Research England’s UK Research Partnership Investment Fund, as well as with contributions from Elan Pharmaceuticals and AstraZeneca. Among the philanthropic contributions is a substantial donation from Cambridge alumnus Derek Finlay in memory of his late wife, Una, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.
“The treatment of neurodegenerative disorders represents a major challenge, requiring both the development of innovative biophysical approaches and their translation into diagnostic and therapeutic tools,” said Professor Vendruscolo. “This new building creates favourable conditions to combine these two steps.”
A 2015 report suggested that by 2030, there will be 75 million people worldwide living with Alzheimer’s disease. While the number of cases of Alzheimer’s diseases and other neurodegenerative disorders continues to rise, so too do the costs to society, both economic and emotional. At the opening ceremony, the Vice-Chancellor told guests: “Through collaboration and the sharing of ideas, our research teams will work to find the keys that unlock the mysteries of neurodegenerative disorders, one of the greatest health problems of our age.” The Centre for Misfolding Diseases is co-directed by Professor Sir Christopher Dobson, Professor Tuomas Knowles and Professor Michele Vendruscolo, three world leaders in their fields who have been studying the molecular origins of neurodegenerative diseases. “This building will for the first time bring together a
The new building is also home to a Chemistry of Health Incubator, which will enable closer collaborations between researchers and industry and host spin-out companies in order to increase the rate at which scientific discoveries are translated into new therapies. The new incubator is the first in Cambridge to be directly integrated into a University department, and will provide the resources and complementary know-how required to ensure that fundamental research is ultimately used to develop new treatments for patients. The first spinout company to move into the Incubator will be Wren Therapeutics, which is based on a ground-breaking drug discovery method for neurodegenerative disorders developed at the Centre for Misfolding Diseases. •
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You can see the building going up in just three minutes in a timelapse video on our YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/dv4Tqo_CccM ISSUE 58 Winter 2018