Pete Downes, Life Sciences and Principal, interviewed by Eddie Small

Reference:GB 254 RU 925/15/5
Dates of Creation:2017
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Language of Material:English
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Administrative / Biographical History
The School of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee was formed in October 2000 from the Departments of Anatomy and Physiology, Biochemistry, Biological Sciences and Chemistry. These Departments were dissolved and replaced by eight Research Divisions and a Teaching Unit. The School is housed in five buildings on the University Campus, namely the Wellcome Trust Biocentre (WTB), the Medical Sciences Institute (MSI), the Biological Sciences Institute (BSI), the Old Medical School (OMS) and the Carnelley Building. Completed in 1997, the WTB is the most recent addition, being built and equipped with donations totalling nearly £14 million. This includes £10 million from The Wellcome Trust (thought to be the largest single charitable donation ever given to Scotland). The WTB is physically joined to and fully integrated with the MSI and this research complex houses some 450 scientists and support staff. A further 200 Scientists are based in BSI, OMS and the Carnelley Building. The School comprises some 70 Research Groups headed by Principal Investigators (PIs) that include citizens of Austria, Britain, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Japan, and the USA, and scientists from 52 different nations work in the School. Many of the PIs have been awarded prestigious Research Fellowships and a host of National and International Research Prizes. Current research grants awarded from non-University sources are £23 million per annum mainly from the Wellcome Trust, the UK Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the National Environmental Research Council, The Royal Society of London and a number of Pharmaceutical companies. The eight Research Divisions of the School are Biological Chemistry and Molecular Microbiology, Cell Biology and Immunology, Cell and Developmental Biology, Cell Signalling, Environmental and Applied Biology, Gene Regulation and Expression, Molecular Physiology and Physical and Inorganic Chemistry. They carry out fundamental research into many of the most topical areas of current biomedical and life sciences research, and their work is aimed at understanding the causes of diseases that include diabetes, cancer, hereditary skin diseases, inflammatory diseases, defects of the immune system, antibiotic resistance in bacteria and tropical parasitic diseases.
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The School of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee was formed in October 2000 from the Departments of Anatomy and Physiology, Biochemistry, Biological Sciences and Chemistry. These Departments were dissolved and replaced by eight Research Divisions and a Teaching Unit. The School is housed in five buildings on the University Campus, namely the Wellcome Trust Biocentre (WTB), the Medical Sciences Institute (MSI), the Biological Sciences Institute (BSI), the Old Medical School (OMS) and the Carnelley Building. Completed in 1997, the WTB is the most recent addition, being built and equipped with donations totalling nearly £14 million. This includes £10 million from The Wellcome Trust (thought to be the largest single charitable donation ever given to Scotland). The WTB is physically joined to and fully integrated with the MSI and this research complex houses some 450 scientists and support staff. A further 200 Scientists are based in BSI, OMS and the Carnelley Building. The School comprises some 70 Research Groups headed by Principal Investigators (PIs) that include citizens of Austria, Britain, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Japan, and the USA, and scientists from 52 different nations work in the School. Many of the PIs have been awarded prestigious Research Fellowships and a host of National and International Research Prizes. Current research grants awarded from non-University sources are £23 million per annum mainly from the Wellcome Trust, the UK Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the National Environmental Research Council, The Royal Society of London and a number of Pharmaceutical companies. The eight Research Divisions of the School are Biological Chemistry and Molecular Microbiology, Cell Biology and Immunology, Cell and Developmental Biology, Cell Signalling, Environmental and Applied Biology, Gene Regulation and Expression, Molecular Physiology and Physical and Inorganic Chemistry. They carry out fundamental research into many of the most topical areas of current biomedical and life sciences research, and their work is aimed at understanding the causes of diseases that include diabetes, cancer, hereditary skin diseases, inflammatory diseases, defects of the immune system, antibiotic resistance in bacteria and tropical parasitic diseases.
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