Established in 2001, the School of Medicine at Swansea University is a centre of excellence in world-class research and medical education. In January 2005, it was announced that work would begin on the Institute of Life Sciences, a development that would make Swansea University a world leader in medical research.

The Institute of Life Sciences will not only benefit from some of the finest minds in medical research, but also from the European Deep Computing Visualisation Centre for Medical Applications. The result of a collaboration agreement between Swansea University and IBM, the Centre will include a new IBM supercomputer. The computer - named Blue C - is one of the fastest computers in the world dedicated to life sciences research and will significantly accelerate the programmes of the Institute.

Julian Hopkin, Professor of Medicine and Director of the School of Medicine, spoke to Sali Earls about the project.

How does the relationship with IBM work? Are they developing solutions specifically for the School of Medicine in Swansea?

The key areas of collaborative working are in new methods of medical visualisation, informatics applied to the delivery of health, and informatics applied to the solution of molecular structures, which is key to novel diagnostics and therapeutics.

Why did you choose to work with IBM over any other solutions provider?

You mention that you have worked closely with other departments, could you go into some detail about these relationships?

Some key examples are the involvement of engineering and physics at the University and the application of nanotechnology to medicine. These nanotechnology methods improve our research power. They also have real potential in delivering revolutionary techniques into medicine with small devices that can be used to monitor biological processes in the body, or to release medications in the right place in the body, and at the right time.

Another example is the involvement of computing at the University, with virtual reality techniques, and the Department of Radiology at the hospital Trust. Here the potential is in forward-looking medical visualisation.

Could you tell me something about what these new technologies can do, and what the ability to visualise means for the School of Medicine and also for the medical profession?

Firstly, at the macro level, we have a great interest in creating 3-D images of the body and particular organs, and extending this into virtual reality. This promises the most detailed views of human anatomy in the healthy and diseased state, and will allow for more accurate diagnostics and more targeted therapeutics. Additionally this promises great value - in 3D images but also in virtual reality - for training medical students and further training hospital doctors in specialised techniques.

At a second level, the visualisation can be at the molecular level. Solving the 3-D structures of molecules playing a key part in a disease will allow ultimately for "designer" drugs to fit these molecular disease targets and knock them out. This promises advances in therapeutics.

So once the project is underway, what do you feel is the next step technologically? I know that the objective is for this to lead to spinout companies, but how do you feel this is going to move forward?

The Institute of Life Sciences will open its doors in December 2006. Visit www.medicine.swan.ac.uk to find out more about the School of Medicine at Swansea University, and the plans for the Institute as they take shape.