FIVE research centres are to be created at one of the region's leading universities.

Part-financed by £12.5m in Government cash, the initiatives will create at least 40 jobs at York University.

The announcement follows the creation of ten professorships to celebrate the university's 40th anniversary.

Together, the developments will provide a boost for scientific activity at the university and confirm its place at the cutting edge of research.

The centres will host research teams in infection and immunity, neuro-imaging, magnetic resonance, nano-fabrication and nano-analysis, and nuclear physics.

The £12.5m, from the Government's Science Research Infrastructure Fund, will provide equipment and other support for the centres.

Infections such as HIV and malaria, novel vaccines against cancer, and allergic or auto-immune conditions will be the focus of research in an infection and immunity unit.

Work is due to start early next year on refurbished laboratories for researchers from the Hull York Medical School and the department of biology.

The unit will give leading immunologists access to world-class facilities.

Head of the department of biology Professor Alastair Fitter said: "A functional immune system is essential to human health, and recent research has unravelled many of the intricate mechanisms that underlie its protection.

"But there are still many uncertainties, especially about the way immune responses are regulated.

"Understanding how these conditions arise is the first step in developing therapies to control or prevent them."

The neuro-imaging centre will develop non-invasive methods for studying the activity of the brain, uniquely combining highly-advanced technology with eye movement recording.

A detector development laboratory is to be built for the department of physics' nuclear research.

Scientists will study the strange properties of exotic nuclei that do not occur naturally.

Nano-fabrication and nano-analysis is the science of tiny particles and the centre will provide facilities for 17 academics and technical staff across at least four departments at York.