The Centre for Translational and Interdisciplinary Research will consist of four storeys of laboratories and associated office space, including a state-of-the-art Drug Discovery High Throughput Screening Laboratory and an open-plan floor dedicated to interdisciplinary research bringing together Mathematical Biology, Biophysics, Bioinformatics, Data Analysis and Software Development.
One of the key aspirations of the new facility is to enable innovation by breaking down barriers between scientific disciplines. To facilitate this a new enclosed ‘street’ will be formed between the CTIR and the existing Wellcome Trust Building. The space will act as a meeting and collaboration place, as well as including exhibition space and digital media installations, promoting arts and science collaboration projects and streaming live data direct from the laboratories.
On the front facade of the building large anodised aluminum cladding panels shall incorporate an artistic abstraction representative of 4 key scales of Life Science Research: Molecular, Organellar, Cellular and Tissue. The scientific images will be translated into artwork, to be perforated onto the panels, by Professor Elaine Shemilt and her team from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design. Further information about the art project can be found here.
The construction of the CTIR will cost about £12.5 million. A peer reviewed Wellcome-Wolfson Capital Award in Biomedical Science of £4.875 million has already been made towards the project. In addition, a donation of £5 million has been committed by the University of Dundee.
£1.5 million has been raised thanks to the generous donations of our funding agencies and charitable trusts, and we hope to shortly confirm an additional donation of £1.1 million to the project. Our funders include the Scottish Funding Council, the Leng Charitable Trust, the Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust, the Lethendy Trust, the Binks Trust, the Tay Charitable Trust, the Margaret Murdoch Trust, the Leach Family Trust and the Sylvia Aitken Charitable Trust. We have also received a generous contribution from the BBSRC towards a networking centre in the CTIR. Construction is due to start in June 2012 and will be completed by the end of 2013.