The specialist unit – the only one of its kind in Scotland – will join in worldwide research looking into the effect of body fats on the development of diseases, as diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

Meantime Translational Medicine Research Collaboration, a project headed by (right) Professor Andre Morris, closes its £11.6m lab at Dundee University.

What was to have been the hub for Glagow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh Universities, for Tayside, Grampian, Lothian and Greater Glasgow health boards, with  Scottish Enterprise and US-based pharmaceutical company Pfizer as the partners is no longer.

Announced in 2006 with £50m funding promised for cancer, neuroscience, inflammation and other conditions research, it was aimed at speeding up development of drug treatments.

Now the potential partners will simply continue their own translational work. The lab building becomes part of Dundee University school of medicine from the end of next month. Some translational research will still be carried out there, along with other work, particularly in the areas of cancer, diabetes and neuroscience.

The Courier reported  that "Of 28 staff employed by the university in the building, 11 have now been redeployed to other areas, 7 moved to alternative employment, 1 retired. The University works with the remaining 9 staff to identify  redeployment opportunities.

The Inverness facility is part of the UHI Department of Diabetes and Cardiovascular Science, now boasts four mass spectrometers to be used by the five-strong specialist team to analyse fat samples.

Leading the team is Professor Phillip Whitfield, 38, head of lipidomic research. The Press & Journal reports him commenting: “Spectrometers are akin to kitchen scales but they will weigh out molecules. We have cells to look at and to work up methods and we will be looking at collaborating with Raigmore Hospital to set up study analysis on patient samples.

“We believe fats may change in diseases and ultimately we hope that lipidomics will be able to detect changes in the levels of certain types of fats, which may help to improve our understanding of some diseases. Ultimately, we see the findings from our research leading to improved diagnosis and treatment of patients.

“It is like having a new car at the moment and we are trying out all the equipment and speaking with our colleagues about working together. Hopefully we will start to progress quickly and over the next few months some interesting results will come up.”

HIE’s head of research Morven Cameron said: “The growth of this sector requires an underpinning scientific capacity and UHI has been working hard to deliver this.

“Inverness and the whole region is set to benefit from this development, putting the Highlands and islands firmly on the Scottish map in terms of our pioneering scientific research. By working together, the university and private and public sectors have been able to create the right conditions to attract leading academics, including the chair in diabetes, Professor Ian Megson (left)  and Professor Whitfield to the region.

"This investment in major equipment will be vital if our research ambitions in lipidomics are to be realised.”

The project has been funded by Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the European Regional Development Fund and Scottish Funding Council.