London 2012 Olympics: Drug-testing centre will become £10m health hub

The laboratories working to catch Olympic drugs cheats will be used to create a cutting-edge scientific research centre once the Games are over, Prime
Minister David Cameron has
announced.

Mr Cameron set out plans for the £10 million centre in a speech to a global health summit in London in which he declared his ambition to make Britain “the best place in the world to invest and innovate in life sciences”.

The world’s first phenome centre will allow experts to investigate links between genes and diseases, helping usher in a new age of treatments tailored to individuals’ genetic make-up, the PM said.

The facility will occupy the 2012 Games’ anti-doping centre in Harlow, Essex, where scientists analyse samples from all medallists. The centre cleared 16-year-old Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen
of taking banned substances after American coach John
Leonard sparked controversy by describing her world record-breaking performance as “disturbing”.