Cardiff University commitment to beating Wales’ big problems

Cardiff University is launching three new Research Institutes to tackle issues which present a growing threat to Wales’ society and economy - cancer, sustainability, and mental illness.

Each problem, if left unchecked, will do increasing damage to Welsh quality of life and put further strain on public spending.

More than 17,000 new cases of cancer are diagnosed in Wales every year, accounting for around 5 per cent of the NHS budget. Survival rates after treatment remain low for many types of the disease and the problem will worsen as the population ages. Mental ill health is estimated to cost the Welsh economy £7.2 billion annually – close to £200 for every man, woman and child. Again, this figure will rise if we don't improve diagnosis and treatment of brain diseases which affects people from childhood to old age. The Welsh ecological footprint is currently 4.44 global hectares per person – meaning we are each using double the resources we should to maintain our lifestyles. This figure could rise by 20 per cent by 2020.

Each problem will need a large number of experts working together to solve it. Cardiff University’s new Research Institutes combine different academic disciplines and build on existing strengths to offer a distinctive new approach. They are:

Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute. The Institute aims to become the UK leader for understanding the role of cancer stem cells in the formation and growth of tumours. The long-term ambition is investigate whether new therapies targeted on these cells offer better survival rates than current treatments aimed at all the cells in the tumour.

Sustainable Places Research Institute. The Institute will focus on sustainable solutions for individual cities and their surrounding regions, tailored to particular circumstances around the world. The Cardiff city-region and the Severn Estuary will be among the first areas for study, combining expertise in buildings, energy systems, communities, the natural environment, infrastructure, health and policy-making.

Neurosciences and Mental Health Research Institute. Cardiff has already made breakthroughs in establishing the genetic origins of such diseases as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and Alzheimer’s Disease. The Institute will put these breakthroughs to work, understanding how exactly they change human behaviour and developing new therapies to counter them.

Cardiff University is ideally placed to create the clusters of research excellence required to tackle these problems. Its breakthrough on the genetic roots of Alzheimer’s Disease was listed in Time magazine’s top ten academic achievements of 2009. It has introduced new ideas about sustainability to the business world through its Economic and Social Research Council-funded Research Centre for Business Relationships Accountability Sustainability and Society. The University’s President, Professor Sir Martin Evans, won the 2007 Nobel Prize for Medicine for discoveries in the field of embryonic stem cells – which bear some similarities to cancer stem cells.

The University is investing almost £10M of its own money in the creation of the new Institutes. Each will be based on the wide range of existing world-leading academic talent at Cardiff, which will be reinforced with a major international recruitment drive for new posts.

At the same time, the Cardiff is moving ahead with its plans for an entirely new research campus at Maindy Park, which received outline planning permission from Cardiff Council last week. The development will be a series of modern, sustainable, prestigious buildings, creating 60,000 square metres of new working space and allowing researchers to collaborate in new ways. The first building on the campus, the £30M Gateway Building, is due to open in 2012 and will provide a new home for two of the institutes – mental health and cancer stem cells.

The Gateway Building itself will be a public “front door” to Cardiff University’s work. It will have the latest laboratories and scientific equipment to support the Research Institutes and also a large amount of public open space. This will be used for an array of public events, including exhibitions, conferences and lectures – so that everyone can participate in the University’s ground-breaking research.

The Vice-Chancellor, Dr David Grant, said: “The issues which will be tackled in the Research Institutes and at Maindy Park are vital to all of us in Wales. Survival rates for many kinds of cancer remain low, environmental change will create new dilemmas across the country, while our ageing population will face an increasing challenge from degenerative brain disease. We believe our new initiatives at Cardiff University will provide the innovation and commitment to deliver new solutions which will benefit us all.”

For further information visit: www.cardiff.ac.uk/research

14/06/10

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