George Freeman, MP visits The Roslin Institute

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Scientists at the University's Edinburgh Cancer Research UK Centre have been awarded more than £1 million from the UK Government to develop a new way of treating cancer with harmless metal implants that will be placed at the tumour site where they locally activate chemotherapy drugs. This innovative approach aims to treat cancer with fewer side effects and is led by chemist Dr Asier Unciti-Broceta, who will be working closely with biologists and cancer clinicians.

The Roslin Institute has also recently benefitted from funding by the UK Government's Department for Business Innovation and Skills, to work with more than 20 partners from other research institutes and the food industry and set up state-of-the-art facilities for livestock research.

George Freeman MP was welcomed to the Institute by Professor Bruce Whitelaw, Head of the Developmental Biology Division at The Roslin Institute; Professor David Argyle, Head of the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, and Val White, Easter Bush Campus Operations Officer. In the boardroom he had the chance to hear about the Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health, an alliance with Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) that will host joint projects to develop and apply genetic tools and technologies to improve the health and productivity of farmed animals in tropical climates and the new Centre of Innovation Excellence in Livestock, that is set to transform the UK's livestock sector.

The Minister also met some of the Institute's key researchers working on stem cells and had the opportunity to see first-hand the progress being made on the Roslin Innovation Centre, a new building on the Easter Bush Campus that from next summer will house companies undertaking research in the Agri-Tech and One Health industries.

"George Freeman's visit provided a great opportunity to highlight the major new initiatives that we are engaged with at Easter Bush - from the exciting international opportunities provided by our collaboration with colleagues at SRUC and ILRI to the imminent formation of the InnovateUK Innovation Centre CIEL, which heralds a new era for interactions between the UK's research base and industry players in the animal farming space."  

Bruce Whitelaw

Further information:

www.roslin.ed.ac.uk/news/2015/11/23/10m-award-boosts-bid-to-aid-plight-of-tropical-farmers

www.easterbush.mvm.ed.ac.uk