Building work has begun on a life sciences centre in Dundee that will bring together academics and industrialists in an attempt to "break down barriers between scientific disciplines".

Work on the Centre for Translational and Interdisciplinary Research is expected to cost about £12.5m.

£5m of that was donated by the University of Dundee and £4.875m came through a Wellcome-Wolfson Capita Award in Biomedical Science, while the rest has been raised from funding agencies and charitable trusts.

According to the project's website, when it is complete the CITR "will break down the barriers between the scientific disciplines to facilitate innovative translation of biological and drug discovery research into new therapeutics."

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The vision for the building is that four storeys will be taken up with laboratories and one open-plan floor will bring people together for interdisciplinary research.

The front façade, made up of large anodised aluminium cladding panels, will host an artistic representation of four key scales of Life Science Research: molecular, organellar, cellular and tissue.

At first, 200 research jobs will be based in the landmark building, part of the College of Life Sciences where more than 1,000 people already work.

Professor Michael Ferguson of the College of Life Sciences said: "Universities are very good at innovation. What they haven't been quite so good at is developing the capability to translate that innovation into new medicines and applications. This new Centre will help us provide that bridging point."

Work is expected to be completed by next autumn.

(NE)