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University of Edinburgh Awarded $71.8M for Genetic Research

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – The University of Edinburgh announced today that it has received a £53 million ($71.8 million) commitment from the UK's Medical Research Council (MRC) to support research into the genetic underpinnings of human health and disease.

According to the university, the money will be used to fund research at the MRC Human Genetics Unit — which is located on its campus — for the next five years. The unit's primary research focuses include the molecular basis of human genetic disease and normal development, genome sequence variants involved in common disease risk and quantitative traits, and how mutation and selection influence human genome variation.

"We are using the latest computational and experimental techniques to investigate how our genomes work to control the function of cells and tissues in people and populations," MRC Human Genetics Unit Director Wendy Bickmore said in a statement. "We will also be able to train the next generation of scientists to apply their expertise to improving health and the lives of patients and their families."

In 2012, the MRC awarded the University of Edinburgh £60 million in funding for the MRC Human Genetics Unit and the MRC Institute of Genetics and Medicine.

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