David Willetts MP, Minister for Universities and Science, voiced
his support for UKCMRI at the summer reception of the All Party
Parliamentary Group for Medical Research.
Executive members of the UK Centre for Medical Research and
Innovation (UKCMRI) joined other leading figures from the medical
research community and parliamentarians at the event in July hosted
by the Association of Medical Research Charities.
Dr Jim Smith, Director of the National Institute for Medical
Research, and Dr Richard Treisman, Director of the London Research
Institute, presented the latest design proposals for the new
institute to be located in Camden amid a cluster of existing
research and medical institutions.
UKCMRI will be established as an independent charity with the
aim of understanding the basic biology underlying human health.
Effective collaboration with clinical centres and the
pharmaceutical and biotech sectors will speed up the process of
turning discoveries made in the laboratory into effective
treatments for the most significant diseases affecting people
today.
In remarks to the reception, David Willetts said the government
remained committed to the project and he welcomed Sir Paul Nurse's
appointment as the first Director and CEO of the new institute.
Founded by four of the world's most influential and respected
scientific organisations - the Medical Research Council, Cancer
Research UK, the Wellcome Trust and UCL (University College
London), the new institute will be at the heart of medical research
in the UK, both physically and conceptually.
Its work will be based on the world-class research currently
being carried out at the Medical Research Council's National
Institute for Medical Research, Cancer Research UK's London
Research Institute and in UCL's laboratories.)
The new institute's close proximity to a cluster of medical and
research institutions in London will aid its collaborative approach
to the increasingly specialised strands of medical research.