Uni ‘world leader for pharmaceuticals research’

THE University of Dundee has been named as a world leader for pharmaceuticals research.

A global survey has placed the university ahead of the likes of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California Berkeley.

This year’s “The State of Innovation” report, by Clarivate Analytics, ranks Dundee as the most influential scientific research institution in pharmaceuticals for the period 2006-16.

The University of Edinburgh is the only other UK representative in the top 10, which features institutions such as France’s Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne and the Technical University of Denmark

Research at Dundee’s School of Life Sciences and School of Medicine is having a significant impact on research into therapeutic areas including cancer, arthritis and Parkinson’s disease.

The university’s drug discovery unit collaborates with partners to translate world-class biology research into novel drug targets and candidate drugs across multiple disease areas.

Professor Sir Pete Downes, principal and vice-chancellor of the university, said: “This report demonstrates research at the university has had a transformational impact around the world over the past decade. To be named as the world’s most influential pharmaceuticals research institution, ahead of some of the most prestigious international universities, shows just how vital and leading-edge the work being carried out here is.”

Professor Sir Pete Downes