Centre For Life

Centre For Life

The International Centre for Life is a pioneering science village based in the heart of Newcastle upon Tyne where scientists, clinicians, educationalists and business people work to promote the advancement of the life sciences. The ICFL Trust is a registered charity, governed by a board of trustees, which receives no public funding. Life’s mission is to be the best place in the UK for enthusing and engaging everyone in science and to provide support and state-of-the-art facilities on site so that world-class scientific research in medicine can flourish.

The Life Science Centre is a visitor attraction - a science centre - at the heart of the International Centre for Life which houses a number of temporary and permanent exhibitions, a Science Theatre, the largest planetarium in the North and a 4D Motion Ride, as well as presenting a varied programme of science-themed special events for children and adults. The Life Science Centre also has an educational programme, Lifelab, providing science workshops to schools and other groups all year round. Lifelab offers curriculum enrichment and enhancement by providing access to equipment and expertise that is not normally available in schools.

Life’s patron is Dr James Watson, Nobel Prize winner and co-discoverer of the structure of DNA. The £90 million landmark site was designed by Sir Terry Farrell and opened in 2000. Previously it had been a Roman settlement, a hospital and a livestock market. The project transformed a run-down area of inner city Newcastle and stimulated a regeneration programme that includes a hotel, offices, housing and a multi-storey car park.

Almost 600 people from 35 countries work at Life. Partners in the Centre for Life include Newcastle University; the North East England Stem Cell Institute (NESCI); the NHS Newcastle Fertility Centre and the NHS Northern Genetics Service.

Since 2000, teams based at the Centre for Life have earned worldwide headlines for advances in stem cell technology.