Manchester Centre Offers Stratified Treatment for Illnesses

The University of Manchester has celebrated the opening of an £18 million centre which will identify the unique markers of diseases such as cancer or arthritis.The Stoller Biomarker Discovery Centre, funded by a philanthropic gift from the Stoller Charitable Trust, the Medical Research Council and in partnership with SCIEX, will help to industrialise the process of identifying these biomarkers in a stratified treatment approach.

Essentially this is the future of healthcare – getting the right treatment to the right person at the right time and in the right dose,” said Professor Tony Whetton, Director of the new Centre. “Without the knowledge of biomarkers we won’t be able to identify which people need treatment or who will benefit from certain medicines, so this new centre underpins everything we’re doing in precision medicine in Manchester and beyond.”

Located at City Labs Manchester  in the midst of biotechnology companies, the Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Manchester, the new Centre is stocked with a large suite of high-end SCIEX mass spectrometers for measuring molecules in proteins (proteomics). The University of Manchester has also invested in a number of liquid chromatography and automated sample preparation components for the Centre, from SCIEX and other Danaher life science companies.

The Centre was officially opened during a special two day conference (14-15 June), which attracted some of the biggest names in medical research such as Dr Leroy Hood, Dr Leigh Anderson,and Professor Jennifer Van Eyk.

President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester, Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell said: “Manchester has become a major hub for precision medicine and proteomics we are very grateful to the funders who have backed the cutting-edge work that is carried out by our scientists.As a result of their generosity, The Stoller Biomarker Discovery Centre will start work on addressing some of the biggest issues in medicine in an environment where these discoveries can move quickly to improve people’s lives.”