A vital asset of the MRC-PPU is the Division of Signal Transduction Therapy (DSTT). This division operates as a unique collaboration between world leading pharmaceutical companies and scientists in the MRC-PPU and signalling researchers at the University of Dundee’s School of Life Sciences.

We are delighted to announce the renewal of this collaboration in which Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline and Merck will provide support of £7.2 million until 2020, enabling our scientists to engage in exciting collaborations with companies in multiple therapeutic areas.

Founded in 1998, expanded in 2003 and renewed in 2008 and 2012, the DSTT is the world’s longest running collaboration between academic research laboratories and the pharmaceutical industry. The latest renewal means the consortium has attracted £58 million in funding since its inception. It is widely regarded as a model for how academia and industry can interact productively.

Professor Dario Alessi, Director of the MRC-PPU, said, “I am absolutely thrilled that we have been able to renew this remarkable 18-year flagship collaboration with our pharmaceutical partners. This alliance has never been more important as our researchers are making such tremendous progress in better understanding human diseases such as Parkinson’s, immune conditions and cancer.”

“The DSTT collaboration provides a unique platform through which our Dundee investigators and pharmaceutical companies can work together in order to launch and accelerate the early stage development of new drugs. It also provides our students and postdocs an opportunity to gain vital experience working closely with pharmaceutical companies that stimulates some of them to embark on a lifelong career of drug discovery to develop better treatments or even cures for human disease.”

Dr Malcolm Skingle, Director of academic liaison at GSK, said, “At GSK, we believe that collaboration is key to helping convert groundbreaking science in to medicines. Working with experts outside our own labs enables us to benefit from each other’s skills and experience, as well as sharing risk – which makes all partners well placed to pursue the most promising avenues of research.

“We’re delighted to be renewing our long-lasting alliance with Dundee, which exemplifies this collaborative approach. Working alongside scientists from Dundee, we’re making inroads in our understanding of a broad range of chronic diseases, and we believe that by continuing our work together we’ll be able to accelerate the translation of this knowledge in to new treatments for patients.”

Dr Clive Wood, Corporate SVP of Discovery Research at Boehringer Ingelheim, said, “We have been delighted to be a member of the consortium and work with the outstanding scientific teams in Dundee. We have gained early insights that have helped to spark in-house discussions, ideation for new therapeutic concepts and generate better understanding of new cellular mechanisms of disease. We look forward to our future work together.”