Cancer unit at Cambridge opens in 2001

Part of the Medical Research Council's new money will go to establishing a new cancer unit in Cambridge.

The unit, to be run jointly by the MRC and the Cancer Research Campaign, aims to bridge the gap between the basic molecular biology of cancer and cancer care.

A Pounds 10 million building is planned for the unit, which will be headed by Cambridge University's Ron Laskey. It will bring together existing MRC groups, but Professor Laskey is confident a considerable number of new groups will be established at the unit, which, it is hoped, will open in early 2001.

MRC chief executive George Radda welcomed the allocations. "We are absolutely delighted," he said. "Ron Laskey has a reputation for attracting some of the best young people, particularly for bringing people back from abroad. That's what we want to do with the CSR money."

A new international research unit to identify, understand and treat human BSE also gets the green light from the MRC. The new London-based centre will be headed by John Collinge of Imperial College.