Building for the future of Regenerative Medicine in Edinburgh

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The CRM is marking the beginning of construction of the Centre of Tissue Repair. Together with the Centre of Regenerative Medicine, they will form the Institute for Regeneration and Repair.

The Centre of Tissue Repair (CTR) is expected to be completed in 2020. With CRM the CTR will work to discover and deliver new therapies to repair tissue damage caused by disease and injury.

Ground was broken for the CTR building by CRM Director Professor Stuart Forbes and Castlebrae High School pupil Kelsey Wallace. Kelsey was CRM's first summer intern as part of a close collaboration with Castlebrae Community High School which includes a scheme where CRM staff and students mentor Castlebrae pupils.

The CTR will bring together experts from a range of fields to build on existing research expertise in stem cell biology, regenerative medicine, and matrix and inflammation biology to better understand and promote tissue regeneration and repair.

The project builds on the success of the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine (CRM) which has grown beyond its capacity since it was completed in 2011.

The CTR will build on Edinburgh’s long history of excellence in regenerative medicine research, which dates back to before Dolly the sheep. Bringing together world-leading experts onto one site, we hope to speed up the delivery of much-needed treatments.

Professor Stuart Forbes

The Institute for Regeneration and Repair will support a vibrant community of over 600 scientists across the two Centres and clinician scientists at all career stages, with state of the art facilities, training, and support.

Professor Forbes added:

The IRR as a whole will use the latest technology to investigate new therapies and treatments for tissue damage in debilitating diseases of the brain, liver, lung, and blood, such as the destruction of nerve cells in multiple sclerosis, or damage to the liver caused by infections.

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The £54m project is partly funded by a £10.7million award from the UK Research Partnership Infrastructure Fund. 

The CTR will also house the new £10m Chemistry and Computational Biology of the Niche (CCBN) facility which provides space and resources to link cutting-edge chemistry, bioengineering and computational biology with stem cell research and has been funded by the Medical Research Council integrated with the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform Hub ‘Engineering and Exploiting the Stem Cell Niche’.

At the same time a new pedestrian link will be built to improve the current walking route between the north and south of Edinburgh BioQuarter, fostering better collaboration and links across the entire health and science campus.

Development of the new walkway has been funded by NHS Lothian, Scottish Enterprise and the University of Edinburgh

Hans Moller, Director, Edinburgh BioQuarter, said:

Our vision for Edinburgh BioQuarter is to have a network of paths and cycle routes which will bring better connections between researchers, clinicians, healthcare staff, commercial companies, patients and visitors. There are plans for a hotel, more cafés and a gym which will offer a welcoming space where people can meet."

This is an exciting time and I’m delighted to see work starting on the Centre for Tissue Repair. Once it opens the Institute for Regeneration and Repair will boast one of the largest cohorts of stem cell scientists on one site in the world, which is quite remarkable. The development will bring many additional benefits to people here, especially in terms of collaboration opportunities, jobs and local community engagement.”

Related Links

Chemistry and Computational Biology of the Niche (CCBN) facility

Edinburgh BioQuarter

UK Research Partnership Infrastructure Fund