BERLIN, April 25 (Xinhua) -- German pharmaceutical group Merck is set to invest more than 300 million euros (321 million U.S. dollars) in a new life science research center, it announced on Thursday.

"With this strategic investment, we are strengthening our company's leading position in key technologies for the development and manufacture of novel medicines," said CEO of Merck KGaA Belen Garijo, at a ceremony to lay the cornerstone of the center at the company's headquarters in Darmstadt.