Princess Anne opens UCL's new Centre for Cell and Molecular Dynamics, and learns a little about confocal microscope technology
Princess Anne, in her role as chancellor of University College London, officially opened the new Centre for Cell and Molecular Dynamics at UCL on Wednesday 26 June 2002.
She was given an extensive tour of the new facilities, starting with the new imaging suite.
David Becker, lecturer in the department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, and Paul Suckling, from Leica Microsystems, demonstrated one of the department's six Leica confocal microscopes, explaining the technology and the role of confocal microscopy in many research applications.
After visiting several other groups within the new department, Princess Anne was introduced to the team responsible for project managing the centre, along with the senior architect and Huw Thomas, confocal business manager for Leica Microsystems.
The princess asked about the logistics of co-ordinating such a project and acknowledged the tremendous effort made by so many people to open the centre on time.
She then gave a short speech thanking the Wellcome Trust and the Joint Infrastructure Fund for its continued support of research at UCL and expressing her appreciation for everybody's hard work.
Finally, Princess Anne was presented with a framed confocal image, produced by David Becker using raw image data from a Leica TCS SP confocal system.
Huw Thomas concluded: "The new imaging suite will be a centre of excellence at UCL, and Leica Microsystems will play a major role in supporting the facility.
It was a privilege for all concerned to be associated with such a prestige department and to be invited to the opening ceremony."
