Unique new bone research centre opened

The University of Sheffield opened a centre of excellence for bone research today (Tuesday 9 June 2009), to mark a new phase of its outstanding research into bone related diseases in both adults and children. The Mellanby Centre for Bone Research was opened by the University´s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Keith Burnett and eminent world leaders in bone biology, Professor Graham Russell FRS and Professor Jack Martin FRS. The centre will allow departments to expand on the already strong research efforts the University has in the bone research field. The new centre, named after the late Sir Edward Mellanby, who was appointed chair of the pharmacology department at the University of Sheffield in 1920, will encourage the bench to bedside approach to studying bone diseases, such as osteoporosis and bone cancer in adults and brittle bone disease in children. The University of Sheffield has been rated in the top six organisations in the world by ISI Thompson, the leading resource of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, and number one in the UK for their research into osteoporosis. The University is unique in that there are only a limited amount of universities worldwide where clinical research interests span skeletal diseases of childhood through to the elderly. As life spans increase, musculoskeletal diseases are likely to affect an increased proportion of the population so treatments for these are a high priority in the UK and worldwide.