Three top Oxford research professors and 80 of their staff have been poached by London's Imperial College - taking 7m in research grants with them, writes Ian Townsend.
All three Prof Roy Anderson, Brian Spratt and Geoffrey Smith - are involved in research into how diseases spread and will continue that work in the Wright-Fleming Institute, to be housed at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington. Prof Anderson is the top of his field in mathematical modelling of how viruses like HIV and BSE spread.
Prof Spratt, an expert on the evolution of bacteria, was recruited to Oxford by Prof Anderson. Prof Smith is the University's professor of virology and will have the same title at Imperial.
When they move, they will take with them 7m in research grants from the Wellcome Foundation.
Heading the new department at Imperial College, Prof Jonathan Weber said: "Poaching is an ugly word but it's not uncommon at universities. And scientists of this calibre would not move unless they thought their research was going to be enhanced by doing so."
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