Wales To Host Europe's First Centre For Nanohealth

Plans for the ВЈ21.6 million Centre for NanoHealth at Swansea University were given the green light after securing more than ВЈ10 million from the Convergence European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Assembly Government on Thursday, February, 05, 2009.


Believed to be the first state-of-the-art NanoHealth facility of its kind in Europe, the Centre for NanoHealth brings together the expertise of clinicians, life scientists, engineers and industry to develop cutting-edge technologies and devices for the benefit of patients everywhere.


These nanoscale technologies, for example, will enable researchers and scientists to apply engineering methodologies to successfully build, repair tissues such as cartilage and skin using advanced cell culture techniques including adult stem cell methods.


Dr Chris Wright, Portfolio Director for Process Engineering and Senior lecturer at Swansea University explains: "The School of Engineering has been applying advanced nanoscale techniques to develop materials for nearly a decade. By applying techniques typically used in process engineering to regenerative medicine, we are able to not only predict and control the way cells and structures behave, but test these before they are reintroduced or implanted in the body to give better results in healthcare applications."


Announcing the funding in Swansea, Deputy First Minister for Wales, Ieuan Wyn Jones, who is also the Minister for the Economy and Transport, said: "Support for innovation and the growth of our knowledge-based economy are essential if we are to help companies deal with the current downturn and ensure Wales is in a strong position to take advantage of the economic upturn.


"This investment is a major boost to our research and development capabilities, and will undoubtedly help Welsh businesses become more competitive, productive and efficient through the development of a new generation of products and processes."


Swansea University Vice-Chancellor Professor Richard B. Davies said the announcement of the funding for the Centre for NanoHealth is a cornerstone of the University's strategy for continued growth.


He said: "Campus universities provide an ideal environment for multi-disciplinary work to flourish. This is important because the big challenges of today do not respect the artificial boundaries between traditional disciplines. The new Centre for NanoHealth goes one stage further: disciplinary boundaries disappear and the Centre creates an innovative academic alignment with the size and quality of facilities to make a major impact. World class research will deliver high-technology solutions to major healthcare challenges in an explicitly multi-disciplinary environment and culture.


"The Centre also builds successfully upon Swansea University's strong track record of working closely with private industry. It benefits from the effective working relationships established between the new School of Medicine and the NHS."















The Centre for NanoHealth, which will be located on the University's Singleton campus, will include business incubation space, and open-access nanotechnology and biomedical research and development facilities. This will enable businesses to fully realise the potential of nanotechnology innovation in healthcare from conception to commercialisation.


Professor Steve Wilks, Co-Director of the Centre for NanoHealth and Deputy Head of the School of Engineering said: "Nanotechnology is widely considered to be the next big thing; with markets associated with nanotechnologies projected to exceed $2.5 trillion within 15 years. We are at the leading edge of Research and Development in this field."


Dr Steve Conlan, Co-Director for the Centre for NanoHealth and a Principal Investigator in the Reproductive Biology Group of the School of Medicine said: "The Centre for NanoHealth will provide Swansea, Wales and the rest of the UK with the required infrastructure to facilitate a level of investment from the private sector to develop new technologies in the area of NanoHealth. This will ultimately return wider economic, health and environmental benefits to both the region and the wider economy."


The Centre for NanoHealth is forecast to assist around 400 companies, of which more than 300 will be small and medium businesses in Wales.


The Centre is also expected to create up to 450 new jobs over five years. These will include 12 new jobs, of which eight will be academic appointments, at Swansea University.


The total investment/funding secured to date by CNH is ВЈ21.6 million: This includes ВЈ10 million funding from WEFO, ВЈ7.6 million from Swansea University and ВЈ2.5 million from Industry.


• The Centre for NanoHealth (CNH), a unique concept co-locating engineers and biomedical scientist in a single Centre, with access to patients and clinical materials to create a pioneering, integrated facility for delivery of Research and Development in NanoNealth. The CNH will be an open access centre, with state of the art nano-fabrication, nano-manipulation and nano-characterisation resources, together with cell and molecular discovery, characterisation and production laboratories, and high-volume printing and coating facilities for manufacturing scale-up. The CNH will also offer business and IP support, with facilitated access to UK and Global networks.


• Swansea University's School of Engineering is one of the leading Engineering Schools in the UK, as recognised by the outstanding performance in the recent Research Assessment Exercise where the MNC was ranked 5th in the UK out of 52 institutions submitted to the General Engineering category. 80% of the staff were rated as internationally leading or internationally excellent. This mirrors excellent' rated teaching for the School's undergraduate and postgraduate courses which are state-of-the-art and support the changing needs of the industry. The School has an international reputation for innovation and developing new technologies designed to make a real difference to people's lives.


• Established in 2001, the School of Medicine at Swansea University is one of the UK's newest Schools of Medicine and has been committed from the outset to an innovative approach to medical research and teaching. Its principal activities include a four-year Graduate Entry Degree Programme in Medicine, higher degree programmes including PhD, MD, MCh and Masters degrees and biomedical and health services research with a strong inter-disciplinary ethos. Through its £52 million research facility, the Institute of Life Science (ILS), the School encourages multi- and inter-disciplinary working that operates across traditional boundaries, with the aim of translating basic research into medical discoveries that have a positive impact on the health and wealth of the nation. Results from the recent Research Assessment Exercise found that, of the 70 institutions that submitted to Biomedicine's Unit of Assessment, Swansea University's School of Medicine is now ranked joint fourth (Guardian 18/12/2008, ranked by 4* status).


• Swansea University is a world-class, research-led university situated in stunning parkland overlooking Swansea Bay on the edge of the Gower peninsula, the UK's first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Founded in 1920, the University now offers around 500 undergraduate courses and 150 postgraduate courses to more than 13,800 students.


For further information please contact Swansea University Public Relations Office, Tel: 01792 295049 or email pressswansea.ac.uk.


swansea.ac.uk