A RENOWNED scientist has been appointed as the director of a new £100m life sciences institute.

The Rosalind Franklin Institute at the Harwell Oxford campus is named after a X-Ray operator who was one of the key figures in discovering DNA.

Professor James Naismith has been named as the first director of the new centre, which is due to open in 2020.

It will develop technologies for life science, with the aim of improving understanding human health, and developing more effective drug treatments.

Prof Naismith has a distinguished career in research and research leadership.

He said: “It is a huge honour to lead the Rosalind Franklin Institute, and I look forward to honouring the spirit of the institute’s illustrious namesake - an interdisciplinary researcher whose pioneering application technology changed life science profoundly.

Prof Naismith held the Bishop Wardlaw Chair at St Andrews, moving to Oxford in 2017 as Director of the Research Complex at Harwell and Professor of Structural Biology at Oxford University. He will become the inaugural director in June 2019.

Life Sciences Minister Lord Henley said: “We have a long history of pioneering research in one of the strongest life sciences sectors in the world, attracting the most inward investment in Europe.”