Biomedical research hub to open

The new building will house more than 100 research groups

A £50m centre for biomedical research will be officially opened in Manchester on Tuesday.

The University of Manchester's Michael Smith Building will be a centre for international research, housing more than 100 research groups.

The university plans to open two more adjoining buildings by 2007, to make it one of the largest centres in Europe.

It is named after former student and Nobel Prize winner Dr Michael Smith, originally from Blackpool, Lancashire.

Dr Smith graduated in Chemistry in 1953, and was honoured with the Nobel Prize in 1993 for developing site-directed mutagenesis. He died in 2000 aged 68.

External researchers to use the building include The Wellcome Tust Centre for Cell-Matrix Research, The North of England Structural Biology Centre and the UK Centre for Tissue Engineering.