HRH The Princess Royal opens life-changing health and medical research facility

Princess Anne visits Plymouth to mark 'exciting milestone' for University.

Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal officially opened the University of Plymouth’s multimillion pound Derriford Research Facility on 15th May 2018, the new headquarters of its flagship Institute of Translational and Stratified Medicine.

From brain tumours to vaccines, tissue regeneration to hepatitis, antibiotic resistance to innovative new cancer drugs, the state-of-the-art centre brings together all of the University’s lab-based medical, biomedical and dental research to focus on the development of new therapeutics, diagnostics, interventions and approaches to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases, enhance patient outcomes and improve global healthcare.

Research into the three core themes of cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and infection, inflammation and immunity is facilitated by cross-cutting expertise in diagnostics, clinical trials and public health research across the following life-changing areas:

• brain tumours;
• non-Hodgkin lymphoma;
• dementia, Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease;
• antibiotic resistance and the development of new antibiotics;
• innovative self-disseminating vaccines for Ebola and bovine TB;
• hepatitis and;
• tissue regeneration.

Professor Judith Petts CBE, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Plymouth officially welcomed Her Royal Highness and accompanied her on the tour of the facilities. She said:

“We are honoured to welcome The Princess Royal to the Derriford Research Facility. This visit underlines the importance of medical research to the provision of leading health care for the people of Plymouth, the region and beyond. It marks an exciting milestone for the University in accelerating our world-leading research ever-closer to finding treatments, cures, and vaccines against some of the most significant health issues. Our students too, as the future of the health and medical workforce, will greatly benefit from working alongside world-leading researchers in a world class facility. ”

Located adjacent to the University’s Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at Plymouth Science Park, and next to Derriford Hospital, the facility allows greater collaboration between medical, dental and biomedical researchers at the University, as well as with research clinicians from University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust.

The 2,300 square metre building also houses up-to-date stock management for equipment and other supplies; specialist services such as the University’s Systems Biology Centre; and a new STEM teaching area as well as the refurbishment of existing laboratory, research and teaching space.

Visit here for full details of the Derriford Research Facility and State-of-the-art headquarters of the University of Plymouth’s Institute of Translational and Stratified Medicine (ITSMED)