_{1 Aug 2012}

David Cameron promises Olympic Games health 'legacy'

David Cameron is to announce the setting-up of a £10m science research centre on the site of the Olympic drug-testing laboratories.

The "phenome" facility will allow better understanding of physical characteristics such as hair and eye colour, as well as diseases including dementia and diabetes.

The prime minister will say the UK can "lead the world" in the research field.

He will address 500 leading figures from the global health industry.

The centre, in Harlow, Essex, is on the site of the London Olympics' anti-doping laboratory.

Mr Cameron is expected to say: "When the Games close, all this incredible equipment and expertise will be used to establish a new phenome centre for research into biological markers of health and disease.

"This will take advantage of the extraordinary opportunities that lie in combining genetic data with the results of medical tests on tissues and blood.

"It will allow us to understand the characteristics of disease and how these link into genes and our environment."

He will add: "It's an impressive example of collaboration between top-class research, the NHS and industry. It will produce new forms of drugs and it will lead the world in the development of precision medicine."

The centre, run by drugs firm GlaxoSmithKline, will be funded by £10m over five years from the Medical Research Council and the Department of Health's National Institute for Health Research.

For more on this see the BBC News website.