University Of Dundee Running researchers present cheque for Diabetes campaign

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF DUNDEE

Dundee.

Running researchers present cheque for Diabetes campaign

A group of researchers and other staff from the College of Life
Sciences at the University of Dundee have raised over £1500 for the
Diabetes Research Campaign, which hopes to raise funds to support the
world-class research being carried out into the disease at Dundee.

The group of 15 â€" ranging from Professors to technical staff - all
took part in the Dundee Half Marathon earlier this year. They decided to
run in support of the University’s Diabetic Research Campaign, which
is raising funds to expand clinical research facilities in Angus, Perth
and Dundee.

“It was great to see the staff involved in the run and then to
realise we had raised such a nice amount of money,” said Professor
Dario Alessi, who took part in the run and is also Director of the
Dundee Diabetes Research Centre.

“Special mention must go to one of one of our technical staff, Maisie
Hawkins - she isn’t the fastest runner but she was ahead of all of us
in terms of raising money, which was by far the most important thing.

“Two years ago Maisie completed the Dundee half-marathon in 3 hours
20 minutes, last year in 3 hours 10 minutes, and this year we are all
supporting her and hoping to see her break the three-hour mark. Everyone
was stunned as Maisise finished in the amazing time of 2h 45 min!
Exercise is our greatest weapon in tackling diabetes. That doesn't mean
you have to be running half-marathons every week, but just taking some
regular exercise will have a real effect."

Michael Archibald, chair of the charity campaign, and Professor Andrew
Morris, one of Scotland’s leading clinicians on diabetes, will accept
the cheque for £1519 from Professor Alessi and some of the other runners
on Tuesday December 18th at 9.30 am in the Wellcome Trust Building.

The Diabetes Research Campaign was launched last year to raise
£3million to support research into diabetes at the University of
Dundee, including the establishment of state-of-the-art outpatient
clinical research facilities in Angus, Perth and Dundee, enabling
scientists and doctors to work together to undertake research from "the
cell to the community".