THE lifetime work of a Cardiff University professor who contributed to one of the most important medical breakthroughs in the last 50 years, will be honoured this week.

Professor Anthony Campbell is a leading advocate of the idea that science begins with curiosity and can lead to discoveries, which explain how the living world works and evolved.

A celebration of his 40 years at Cardiff University's School of Medicine will be held on Friday and will feature speakers from Cambridge University, the University of Paris and the Darwin Centre.

A leading member of the university's School of Medicine's research team, Prof Campbell was one of the inventors behind a series of patents filed by the school. The technology has since helped transform clinical diagnosis and is now used in hundreds of millions of clinical tests every year.

As a result of this work, the School of Medicine was awarded the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher Education in 1998 and the technology was selected in 2006 by the Eureka project from Universities UK as one of the 100 most important inventions and discoveries from UK universities in the last 50 years.

Dr James Matthews, a senior lecturer, Infection, Immunity and Biochemistry at Cardiff University's School of Medicine said: "Prof Campbell is truly one of the school's most dedicated and highly respected members. …