Warwick opens £6 million mechanochemical building

Less than two years after construction work began, Warwick has officially opened the £6 million Mechanochemical Cell Biology Building at Warwick Medical School (WMS) on Tuesday 24 April 2012.

Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society and Nobel Prize Winner in 2001 for his work in cell biology, unveiled the latest addition to the scientific research facilities on campus. Coming only twelve years after WMS was established as part of a partnership with Leicester Medical School, the building is intended to provide a customised environment for research into cell biology.

The building was funded through the Translational Medicine programme within the Science City Research Alliance, with additional input from the Wolfson Foundation and the University. It has been specifically designed so that it can cater for the specialist environment which is needed for state-of-the-art microscopes and any other equipment required for the ground-breaking research.

Professor Peter Winstanley, Dean of Medicine at WMS, said: “Today marks the culmination of several years of work resulting in a fabulous addition to our research facilities. I believe it will have a tremendous impact on our science and symbolises Warwick’s commitment to world-class biomedical research.”

At the building’s opening, Sir Paul Nurse also said: “Disease and infection have their roots in the altered functioning of cells or the way they interact in the body. So the research conducted at Warwick has a very clear purpose: to improve people’s health and well-being.”

As a geneticist who works on what controls the division and shape of cells, the research which can now be carried out here at Warwick will be of great interest to Sir Paul Nurse as well as many others and he added: “The funding partnership has worked successfully here, resulting in a wonderful environment to help us achieve a better understanding of biological science and processes to understand why disease develops and how it might be prevented or treated.”

When asked about the building’s official opening, Chris Lane, second-year Biomedical Science student, told the _Boar_: “It’s gratifying to see the University investing in state-of-the-art facilities. Hopefully this building will help to develop the department further and enhance Warwick’s reputation for excellence in the field of research.”