Alzheimer’s team gets £8m new labs

May 31 2008 by Chris Robinson, The Journal

ARESEARCH centre which will make the North a world leader in the study of Alzheimer’s disease has opened.

Newcastle University’s Institute for Ageing and Health campus at Newcastle General Hospital is part of a redevelopment of the site.

Professor Jim Edwardson, whose research was the driving force behind the centre, was at the opening yesterday with daughter Abigail Boulton and grandson Josh to see the centre named after him.

Built at a cost of £8m, the Edwardson Building will host research in conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

In the research and laboratory centre, which has created 30 research jobs, there will be specialist facilities for work on how the body ages, and in particular how the brain becomes susceptible to various disorders.

Prof Edwardson, who for more than 25 years was also director of a Medical Research Council unit on the site of the new building, said : “I am immensely proud. It is exciting to see these superb new facilities.

“I had the privilege of leading an outstanding team and am confident that with this new investment their future work will be even more important.”

The centre, a joint venture by Newcastle University and Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, is to become part of Newcastle’s Science City and is the first stage of a £30m investment in the Campus for Ageing and Vitality.

There will also be a walk-in medical centre, a nutritional centre and specialist care for older people, with the “hub” being planned for the former Tyne Brewery site in the city centre. It is hoped it will spearhead research on combating age-related diseases and translate those findings into the commercial development of products and services for healthy living and ageing.

There are also plans to bring in supermarket Tesco, a 60,000sq ft development which could create about 300 jobs in addition to the 600 NHS and university jobs being created.

Minister for the North East Nick Brown said: “Today is a celebration of the work of Jim Edwardson, not just in the naming of this important new facility, but in its dedicated purpose.

“This state-of-the-art comprehensive facility takes forward Jim’s pioneering work and underpins Newcastle’s reputation as a world leader in research on brain ageing and dementia.

“The emphasis on the need for inter-disciplinary research is of international importance and an area in which Newcastle is leading the way.”

A spokesman for the Alzheimer’s Society said: “It is fantastic news that Prof Jim Edwardson has been honoured by having a new scientific research centre named after him.

“Prof Edwardson was a member of the original Alzheimer’s Society committee and has made a major contribution, continuously raising the profile of dementia research.

“Dementia research is still significantly underfunded. In the UK just £11 is spent on research per person with dementia, which pales in comparison to other countries such as America, where £105 per person with dementia is spent on research.

“Research has a crucial part to play in the fight against dementia.”