30 July 2003

Deputy President Jacob Zuma this week opened a R40-million state-of-the-art medical science research facility at the University of Natal.

The Doris Duke Medical Research Institute is to be housed at the university's Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, and is funded mainly by the US-based Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

The institute will create a dynamic and integrated research environment for inter- and multi-disciplinary research among basic, laboratory, clinical and public health scientists.

The institute occupies 5 000 square metres, and among its facilities are 10 specialised laboratories housing molecular virology, molecular biology and immunology sciences. It includes a P3 laboratory, a clinical trials unit, several multi-disciplinary research centres, a conference facility and an HIV-Aids library.

The University of Natal invested R6.5-million in the project, and further funding has come from Johnson and Johnson, Pfizer SA, the 13th World Aids Conference Trust, the governments of Flanders and Japan, Investec Securities, the Victor Daitz Foundation, and the Stella and Paul Lowenstein Trust.

The Dean of the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, Prof Barry Kistnasamy, said the institute will "provide the infrastructure for strategic research, and will focus primarily on diseases affecting the poor and vulnerable in South Africa and all of Africa."

President of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Joan E Spero, said: "We hope this facility will expand opportunities for collaborations among African researchers, and that our commitment will spur additional investments in the infrastructure needed for developing regions to battle the devastating toll of the HIV-Aids pandemic."

Source: University of Natal