The £60m building that one day – might just change the world

Hidden away behind the University is a £60 million building that could, one day, change the world.

Or it might do, once it’s finished.

The Greenheys building, which is currently being constructed in Manchester Science Park — taking its name from the infrequently-used name of the area.

The Greenheys building

Inside the 131,000 sq ft, six storey building will be the UK Biobank — ‘the world’s most comprehensive source of health data for research’, according to developers.

And once they move in, in 2026, they will be able to rapidly step up their research, aided by ‘the latest-generation robotic freezer capable of storing and retrieving up to 20 million biological samples four times faster than current standards’.

“It will allow us to meet the growing demand for our millions of unique biological samples, enabling scientists across the world to make great leaps forward in health and disease research,” according to Samantha Welsh, its head of laboratory.

Health and disease research

Those great leaps will be particularly aimed at tackling the nastier diseases which can ruin lives — dementia and cancer.

One in 10 Brits over the age of 65 have dementia.

Half of UK residents will develop some form of cancer during their lifetime.

But it might not be this way forever if Samantha’s team has any say over it, as ‘with more data from UK Biobank participants on these diseases’, a spokesperson added, ‘there can be more research into their potential causes and the development of targeted treatments’.

The UK Biobank

Targeted treatments are not the only thing on the agenda for UK Biobank, as it will also aim to ‘gather incredibly useful information about how people’s minds and bodies change over middle and old age’ by ‘repeating the first measures taken at recruitment for every participant’.

Ultimately, that work will inform how diseases develop as we age.

There will also be trials on ‘remote forms of assessment’ like ‘apps and wearable technology’ in order to collect ‘detailed data on participant health, including objective measures of movement and sleep’.

And all of this work will take place in an unassuming box-shaped building tucked behind the University.

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