New research centre to open at Altnagelvin Hospital

UP to 50 jobs could be created with the opening of a new £11.5m research centre which will focus on managing chronic diseases.

The laboratory, the first of its kind in Ireland, will focus on managing chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease.

The facility at Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry will be a joint project between the University of Ulster and the Western Health and Social Care Trust.

It is based at the Clinical Translational Research and Innovation Centre (C-TRIC) at the hospital

Professor Tony Bjourson, head of the new centre, said: “A personalised approach to patient care holed huge potential for developing new diagnostic and treatment pathways for human diseases.

“This is one of the most important concepts to emerge from the sequencing of the human genome and Northern Ireland is emerging as an important region within stratified medicine research.”

The facility has been welcomed by Foyle SDLP MP Mark Durkan.

He said: “This is exactly the sort of knowledge economy-driven jobs creator Derry needs more of.”