The Genome Damage and Stability Centre (GDSC) is delighted to announce it has been selected by the University of Sussex as a Centre of Excellence, chosen for its collaborative and innovative research that addresses areas of global importance.

The GDSC has a long-standing and well-established international reputation for conducting state-of-the-art research in the field of DNA damage and genome stability. The GDSC’s mission is to investigate the mechanisms that ensure genome stability and how these relate to human genetic and somatic disease.

Inspired by the idea ‘impossible until it’s done’, the University has selected the GDSC alongside 11 other new Centres of Excellence, all of which are carrying out highly innovative and potentially transformative research that will drive progress and make an important contribution to the planet and its people.

The GDSC’s Co-Director, Professor Keith Caldecott, said: "We are excited to be awarded Centre of Excellence status in recognition of our international impact and outstanding contribution to biomedical research. Centre of Excellence status will allow us to continue our seminal research in genome damage and stability and its relationship to human health, and to develop further our diagnostics of rare human genetic diseases."

The GDSC aims to build on its existing strengths by continuing to nurture high-quality research and Professor Caldecott revealed some of its ambitions for the years ahead. “As a critical part of the establishment of the GDSC as a Centre of Excellence, we plan to expand and further develop the Centre’s molecular diagnostic clinical activities by launching a bespoke facility for Rare-Disease Diagnostics and Novel Therapeutics (RADIANT),” he said. “RADIANT will strengthen our national and international visibility and leverage additional resource critical to the Centre’s mission of understanding and exploiting the molecular mechanisms of genome maintenance.”

Commenting on today’s announcement of the 12 new Centres, Professor Sasha Roseneil, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Sussex, said: “The great research challenges of our time demand bold thinking and collaborative, interdisciplinary approaches. Sussex’s 12 new Centres of Excellence build on the University’s long history of ground-breaking and innovative research that transcends the traditional boundaries between disciplines. Together they promise to make great strides in tackling the most urgent problems that face people and planet – problems that, as Nelson Mandela once said, seem impossible to solve until they are done.”

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