£32M WELLCOME-WOLFSON INSTITUTE FOR EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE OPENS AT QUEEN’S  

14 September 2018

An iconic and world-class building, the Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine at Queen’s, will be officially opened today (Friday 14 September 2018) by Nobel Prize winner, Sir Paul Nurse.

The £32m award-winning building, funded by The Wellcome and The Wolfson Foundations, is supporting the expansion of experimental medicine – an institutional priority for the University.

Professor Jose Bengoechea, Centre Director at the Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine, commented: “I'm delighted to see this investment in Northern Ireland and specifically at Queen’s University. Experimental medicine is about uncovering the intricacies of disease close to the patients, allowing a fast-track road to clinical application to benefit society. 

“This approach represents a step-change to more effectively tackle global health challenges.”

The state-of-the-art building is made up of high-tech laboratories placed around a central, spacious and light-filled atrium. This facilitates a collaborative working environment enabling Queen’s researchers to tackle global health issues and improve patient outcomes.

At the Institute, world-leading researchers focus on the development and treatment of new avenues for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of major public health problems that affect millions of people globally. These medical problems include eye disease, multiple sclerosis, diabetic complications, cardiovascular disease, antibiotic resistance and common lung illnesses such as asthma, COPD, cystic fibrosis and pneumonia.

The Institute received generous funding from The Atlantic Philanthropies, Insight Trust for the Visually Impaired, The Queen’s University of Belfast Foundation, The Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust, UK Research Partnership Investment Fund, Wellcome, The Wolfson Foundation and individual legacy gifts.

The Wellcome Foundation is a global politically and financially independent charitable foundation, which supports scientists and researchers to take on big problems, fuel imaginations and spark debate. The Wolfson Foundation is a charity that awards grants to support and promote research in the field of science and medicine, the arts and humanities, education and health and disability.

Paul Ramsbottom, Chief Executive of the Wolfson Foundation, said: “The Wolfson Foundation is delighted to be supporting an Institute that will allow such a wide-range of excellent quality research – all with a clear clinical focus.

“The funding that we provided was part of a fruitful funding partnership programme with our friends and partners at the Wellcome Trust.

“In a wider sense the Foundation are very keen to encourage applications from Northern Ireland for all of our funding programmes and are pleased to have provided significant investment over the last few years – from research infrastructure to hospices, museums and schools.” 

To find out about supporting medical research at Queen’s visit the Development Office website or contact Teresa Sloan, Head of Health Fundraising, telephone +44 (0)28 9097 5394. 

Media enquiries to Sian Devlin, Communications Officer at Queen’s University Belfast, telephone: +44 (0)28 9097 5840.

Caption (L-R): Dr Lindsay Broadbent, post doc researcher at Queen's, Professor Jose Bengoechea, Sir Paul Nurse and Professor Ian Greer, President and Vice-Chancellor of Queen's.  

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