The Highland’s leading mental health research charity signs first international agreement with major Chinese university

Following the establishment of the first genetics laboratory in the Highlands last May 2006, an international collaboration agreement has been signed by The Ness Foundation with The First Clinical College of the Norman Bethune Centre of Health Sciences, Jilin University in Changchun, North-East China. “This new collaboration between a significant medical research charity based in the Highlands of Scotland, (a partner in the UHI Millennium Institute), with one of China’s top ten universities, opens the way to regular collaboration projects which we hope will lead to faster and better support for the early diagnosis of schizophrenia sufferers worldwide” says Douglas Mundie, Chairman of The Ness Foundation.

 Mundie and Dr Jun Wei travelled to China last week for the official ceremony where they were warmly welcomed by academics and medical research staff. The collaboration establishes a framework within which both organisations can work together to further scientific/medical research into the causes of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and establish physical tests and treatments for these.

Leading geneticist Dr Jun Wei, a reader at UHI Millennium Institute as well as senior genetics researcher at The Ness Foundation has worked closely with the Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) in Beijing for many years.  Established in 1919 by John Rockefeller, PUMC is widely acknowledged to be China’s top medical school, and Wei made a presentation to their academic council last week. Wei was subsequently appointed Visiting Professor of Genetics at PUMC. “This is a huge accolade for Dr Wei, and for his work at The Ness Foundation,” says Douglas Mundie. “It opens up the possibilities for Ness to work more closely with research groups at PUMC, giving us wider population samples to work with in pursuing the results we need in our research, and it is recognition of the significance of Dr Jun Wei’s research work in the Highlands of Scotland.”

The Ness Foundation opened the Highland’s first genetics laboratory last year to explore the role which genetics can play in developing a range of non-invasive tests which can diagnose and measure the extent of certain mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia and autism. This was thanks to major funding from Highlands and Islands Enterprise - Inverness & East Highlands, and a significant contribution from the new ARC (Addressing Research Capacity) Fund put together by Highlands & Islands Enterprise, Scottish Funding Council, and European Regional Development Fund.

Wei heads up the five-strong research team which is exploring the genetic conditions which influence schizophrenia and investigating linkages between diet and the genetic make-up of the sufferer and their family. Ness has been working for the last 11 years to discover ways to help those suffering from mental health problems in the knowledge that early and accurate diagnosis can lead to a better quality of life for both the sufferer and their families, and help tailor subsequent treatment more accurately.

The international collaboration agreement was signed in China by Professor Guanjun Wang, Dean of First Clinical Hospital at Jilin University, and by Douglas Mundie, Chairman of The Ness Foundation. Mundie and Wei were given official tours of an impressive set of both established and new medical laboratories which have enjoyed an investment of £20m in recent years. “The scale and quality of the undergraduate teaching laboratories was breathtaking,” says Mundie. The team from Ness met with Professor Li, Vice President of Jilin University and responsible for the Key Stem Cell Laboratory at Jilin from which the other Chinese stem cell laboratories take their lead. He was invited by Mundie to visit Inverness to present a paper on his work in the autumn, to which leading Scottish stem cell researchers will be invited.