A new £1.6 million dental research centre at Cardiff University’s School of Dentistry has been officially opened.
The new Translational Research facility is a joint research investment by the University, Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust and the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW).
Designed to help tackle dental disease, the new facility will provide laboratory space for the development of biomaterial research targeted at patients with dental disease and lost dental tissues.
It also provides dedicated office space for both non-clinical and clinical early career researchers, which will form the future research base and lead exploitable new dental research .
Officially opening the new facilities, First Minister for Wales, Rhodri Morgan said: "This new facility is a great development for Cardiff's School of Dentistry, which is now ranked in the top five Dental Schools in the UK."
"This investment will allow the school to further build its world class facilities and attract the best research talent to assist us in improving dental education and dental research in Wales."
Mr Morgan also opened a new £500,000 lecture theatre built to meet the increase in student numbers and provide the latest facilities for teaching.
Professor Elizabeth Treasure, Dean of Cardiff’s School of Dentistry and Professor in Dental Public Health, added that the new facilities will enable the school’s members "to look forward to further development of research, education and clinical practice".
