World leading medical research and education building to be named after Bob Champion

A £19 million medical research centre is to be named after former Grand National winning jockey Bob Champion CBE

The Bob Champion Cancer Trust is the project's biggest charitable donor.

The newly completed Bob Champion Research & Education Building will house researchers finding new treatments for diseases affecting ageing populations and a unique bio-bank facility to store DNA and tissue samples, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate education.

Based on the Norwich Research Park and operated by the University of East Anglia (UEA) in partnership with the Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital, the centre will provide state-of-the-art laboratories for researchers to explore new treatments for diseases from prostate cancer and antibiotic resistance, to musculo-skeletal and gastrointestinal diseases.

The Bob Champion Cancer Trust, set up in in 1983 after the Grand National-winning jockey beat cancer, donated £750,000 to the project, helping to take charitable funds raised by a UEA funding campaign over two years to more than £2.2m.

Bob Champion said: "We're very excited by the prospect of the work that will be carried out within the 'Bob Champion Research & Education Building'. The Trust is looking forward to working with UEA and in particular Professor Colin Cooper and his team - this is a great step forward for our research programmes."

Other major funders of the build include The Wolfson Foundation, which contributed £500,000 to help create The Wolfson Research Wing where UEA medical research scientists will work within the building, and Norfolk & Waveney cancer charity Big C, which gave £250,000 and will see the atrium named 'The Big C Atrium' in thanks.

Action Arthritis, Norwich Town Close Estate Charity and the R C Snelling Charitable Trust all pledged £100,000 each. The lecture theatre will bear the name 'The Roy Snelling lecture theatre' whilst Action Arthritis and Norwich Town Close Estate will be recognised in the Norfolk Bone and Joint Centre for their significant contributions.

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital clinicians will work alongside the research teams led by UEA researchers including Prof Colin Cooper working on prostate cancer, and Professor Bill Fraser who will lead the Norfolk Bone and Joint Centre. The Norfolk Bone and Joint Appeal, launched in the Assembly House in Norwich at the start of building project raised over £300,000 of valuable donations and contains a state of the art bio-analysis laboratory for Prof Fraser's nationally important work on osteoporosis.

Leading teaching facilities will ensure that medical students benefit academically and clinically from the mix of expertise based in the facility.

UEA Vice Chancellor Prof David Richardson said: "The Bob Champion Research and Education Building is an exciting new addition to the Norwich Research Park and will be one of the best-placed institutions to make great strides in biomedical science research which could benefit future generations. Not only will the building pave the way for medical breakthroughs but it will be an invaluable resource to our researchers, students and the other institutions across the Park."

Professor Krishna Sethia, Medical Director of the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, said: "This very exciting partnership between the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and the UEA will provide our future workforce the opportunity to learn in the same environment as world class research takes place, and will undoubtedly support the implementation of the resulting medical discoveries and treatments in the future."

Norfolk businesses and individuals are being asked to continue giving their charitable support as the building prepares for its formal opening in the New Year. Donations of £1000 will name an individual seat in the RC Snelling Lecture Theatre and provide further essential building funds as the project reaches towards its completion. Those interested can contact the UEA Development Office by emailing supportuea@uea.ac.uk.

Image courtesy of Pete Huggins.