King's College London opened new laboratories earlier this month, following a £3.7 million refurbishment programme aimed at bringing all laboratory-based dental research at King's under one roof.

Above from left to right, Sir Tim Chessells, Chairman of the Guy's and St Thomas' Charitable Foundation, Professor Rick Trainor, Principal of King's College London and Dr Sohaila Rastan, Director of Science Funding, The Wellcome Trust.

Professor Paul Sharpe, the head of the new Henry Wellcome Laboratories for Craniofacial Development on floor 27, said that the refurbishment had provided them with dedicated facilities for different types of microscopy. The research teams headed by Professor David Beighton and Dr Gordon Proctor, who were previously housed at Denmark Hill, are the main beneficiaries of the new facilities on floor 17. The new laboratories were opened by Dr Sohaila Rastan, Director of Science Funding at the Wellcome Trust, and Sir Tim Chessells, Chairman of Guy's and St Thomas' Charitable Foundation. Together, these organisations financed the new facilities.

A state-of-the-art mass spectrometer will allow researchers to identify bacterial proteins that are important in tooth decay, with the ultimate aim of developing new therapies. The new equipment has also inspired dental researcher Dr Karen Homer to launch collaborations with other King's College departments, to identify proteins that play a major role in leukaemia and diabetes.

In addition, the refurbishment has provided space for two new specialist research microscopes. A laser-dissection microscope will enable researchers to cut out individual cells from developing teeth for analysis.