{"id":260471,"date":"2025-07-13T02:28:23","date_gmt":"2025-07-13T02:28:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/260471\/"},"modified":"2025-07-13T02:28:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T02:28:23","slug":"work-to-expand-sheffield-neuroscience-research-centre-begins-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/260471\/","title":{"rendered":"Work to expand Sheffield neuroscience research centre begins"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Grace Wood<\/p>\n<p>BBC News, Yorkshire<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-d1200759-0 dkIvM hide-when-no-script\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/140304b0-5f06-11f0-a15e-a511f8d34832.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"eager\" alt=\"University of Sheffield A woman with short blonde hair lays a brick wearing a high-vis yellow vest, hard hat and gloves. A man, also insafety gear, assists her. \" class=\"sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj\"\/>University of Sheffield<\/p>\n<p>Dame Prof Pamela Shaw laid a brick to mark the beginning of the expansion project<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">Work has begun on a \u00a324m project to expand a world-renowned neuroscience research facility at the University of Sheffield.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">A bricklaying ceremony took place at the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN) on Wednesday to mark the start of the work.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">According to the University of Sheffield, the project will double the research capacity of the facility, which studies neurological diseases such as Alzheimer&#8217;s, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson&#8217;s and Motor Neurone Disease.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">Director of SITraN, Dame Prof Pamela Shaw, said the upgrade would help researchers in their &#8220;ultimate goal of finding transformative breakthroughs that are making curative therapies a reality in our lifetimes&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">She said: &#8220;Over 20 years ago a lady with MND asked me what I would do with \u00a320m of funding for MND research.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">&#8220;I didn&#8217;t think it was a serious question, but I described SITraN &#8211; a dedicated facility to bring together scientists, doctors and patients from all over the world under one roof with a shared ambition to improve the lives of people living with neurodegenerative diseases.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">&#8220;It is quite remarkable how far we have come since SITraN first opened.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">Established in 2010, the university said SITraN had outgrown its current capacity, with an initial research team of 64 now exceeding 300.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">The expanded building will be constructed adjacent to the current facility, opposite the Royal Hallamshire Hospital.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">Representatives of the The Ian Pratt MND Foundation and the Mel Evans Foundation attended for the brick laying ceremony as well as the family and friends of <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sheffield.ac.uk\/alumni\/our-alumni\/obituaries\/timothy-shone\" class=\"sc-f9178328-0 bGFWdi\" rel=\"noopener\">Tim Shone<\/a> and <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sheffield.ac.uk\/giving\/causes\/mnd\/gemma\" class=\"sc-f9178328-0 bGFWdi\" rel=\"noopener\">Gemma Middleton<\/a>, who both died with MND.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-d1200759-0 dkIvM hide-when-no-script\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/a6bb3110-5f0b-11f0-960d-e9f1088a89fe.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"University of Sheffield An artist's impression on the expanded Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience.  The new two-storey building, made of a sand coloured stone and glass, is situated at the end of a paved area surrounded by flower beds and trees.\" class=\"sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj\"\/>University of Sheffield<\/p>\n<p>It is hoped the new building will open at the end of December 2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">A university spokesperson said the project would not have been possible &#8220;without the unwavering generosity of a number of dedicated families whose lives have been forever changed by the cruelty of MND&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">Gemma&#8217;s father, Nigel, said: &#8220;Gemma believed in Sheffield&#8217;s research, she did everything she could to help SITraN&#8217;s researchers to find a cure for MND.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">&#8220;We have an amazing team who continue to raise funds in Gemma&#8217;s memory and we know that research into new treatments, and ultimately a cure, is the only way we can end the pain MND causes to families like ours.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">Last month a charity walk raised more than \u00a3100,000 for the new building, in which 400 staff, students and friends of the university trekked 20 or 30 miles through the Peak District.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Grace Wood BBC News, Yorkshire University of Sheffield Dame Prof Pamela Shaw laid a brick to mark the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8817],"tags":[748,393,4884,1620,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-260471","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sheffield","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-sheffield","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114843570886037047","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}