£30m cancer and mental health research centre opened at Cardiff University

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New £30m Hadyn Ellis Building, which is home to some of Wales’ leading scientists, was opened by economy minister Edwina Hart

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 The Hadyn Ellis Building, a new Science and Innovation Campus at Cardiff University

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A state-of-the-art cancer and mental health research centre at Cardiff University has been officially opened.

The new £30m Hadyn Ellis Building, which is home to some of Wales’ leading scientists, was opened by economy minister Edwina Hart.

The building, which has been named in honour of the late university deputy vice-chancellor, is the University’s latest research development, housing facilities for world-leading research teams.

Professor Ellis, who died in 2006, was a pioneer in the field of cognitive psychology of face recognition.

Appointed deputy vice-chancellor in 2001, he published leading research on prosopagnosia – the inability to recognise faces following brain injury.

A state-of-the-art cancer and mental health research centre at Cardiff University has been officially opened.

The new £30m Hadyn Ellis Building, which is home to some of Wales’ leading scientists, was opened by economy minister Edwina Hart.

The building, which has been named in honour of the late university deputy vice-chancellor, is the University’s latest research development, housing facilities for world-leading research teams.

Professor Ellis, who died in 2006, was a pioneer in the field of cognitive psychology of face recognition.

Appointed deputy vice-chancellor in 2001, he published leading research on prosopagnosia – the inability to recognise faces following brain injury.

The building will play host to the University’s European Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute, which has developed a new approach to tackling cancer by focusing on a small part of the tumour known as the cancer stem cell, alongside the Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute which aims to understand the major causes of a variety of mental illnesses affecting the population.

It will bring together experts in neuroscience and mental health and the Medical Research Council Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics.

Cardiff University’s vice-chancellor, Professor Colin Riordan, said the facility would help the University compete with the best in the world.

He said: "The Hadyn Ellis Building houses highly advanced facilities for some of Cardiff University’s world-leading interdisciplinary scientific teams.

“In recent weeks, breakthrough Cardiff research by one of its new tenants, Professor Julie Williams, hit the international headlines after she helped to discover 11 new Alzheimer’s genes.

“Bringing together the University’s best scientists in cancer and mental health in one state-of-the-art facility will help us do even more of this work and meet some of the world’s grand challenges head-on.

“As well as a striking landmark development, it is the gateway to the University’s ambitious plans for the redevelopment of the whole of the Maindy Road site.

“It will also be part of our strategy to become one of the world’s top 100 universities.”

The ground floor of the building includes a public area to host lectures, displays and conferences and a 150-person lecture theatre.

It will also be home to Public Health Wales, which will allow academics to work alongside frontline health professionals to translate their research findings for the benefits of Welsh patients.

Source : Wales Online , 7th Nov 2013