Dundee top in Scotland for drug research

Dundee has long been a world-class hub for medical research and education.

Dundee Medical School is currently ranked at number one in Scotland and at fourth place in the UK.

In 2014, the £26 million Drug Discovery Unit opened at Dundee University and is now home to medical researchers working on drug discovery programmes in neglected tropical diseases, cancer and various skin conditions.

The university’s college of life sciences boasts hundreds of scientists, research students and support staff from over 60 countries.

It is against this backdrop that a trial to come up with an inexpensive diabetes prevention treatment has been set.

Professor Wilkin is carrying out the research in collaboration with Professor Stephen Greene of Dundee University and the Tayside Clinical Trials Unit.

Professor Wilkin, a graduate of Dundee University, explained that the trial is taking place in Scotland because the country has the third highest rate of type 1 diabetes in the world.

It also has a highly efficient record linkage system to identify affected families and a cohesive group of paediatric diabetologists.

Tayside is the first centre to start recruitment for the trial, but the study will roll out to the other 10 health boards in Scotland before crossing into England.