Warwick: Construction begins on new applied cell biology centre

Construction work has begun on a new translational Centre for Mechanochemical Cell Biology, based at Warwick Medical School.

The Centre will focus on basic research in cell biology and molecular systems and then apply this in the development of new treatments.

Mechanochemical cell biology seeks to understand the principles and mechanisms by which cells organise their contents in space and time. It is an emerging area of interdisciplinary research that has the potential to advance understanding of essential cell processes.

The new facilities, being built as Warwick Medical School celebrates its tenth anniversary, have been funded by Warwick University, which put in £3.4 million, The Wolfson Foundation, which donated £1 million, and Advantage West Midlands, via the Science City Research Alliance’s Translational Medicine Project, which invested £1.9 million.

The Science City Research Alliance Translational Medicine project is part of a larger investment in the research infrastructure of the region, which brings together Birmingham University and Warwick Other projects funded through this source include the Clinical Trials Unit at the Warwick Medical School (WMS) and the Human Tissue Biorepository at the Birmingham University’s College of Medical and Dental Sciences.

Director of the new Centre for Mechanochemical Cell Biology, Rob Cross said scientists who will be based at the Centre have worked closely with the building design team. “What has emerged is a unique, state-of-the art customised environment for research into the machinery of living cells, defects in which are important in cancer and in reproductive, neurological and cardiovascular disease.”