University of Birmingham to share in £150m clinical research funding

THE University of Birmingham is to share in a £150m investment into the UK’s clinical research infrastructure.

Details of the funding have been announced by Chancellor George Osborne, who revealed the university’s Stratified Medicine Innovation & Translation Facility would be one of 23 key projects around the country to receive support.

The Treasury has worked with the Department of Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) to allocate the full funding to the Medical Research Council’s (MRC) Clinical Research Capital Initiative. The money adds to the £80m funding also pledged to the initiative by the MRC, devolved authorities, universities, and charities, bringing the total capital to more than £230m.

Mr Osborne said the investment presented a unique opportunity to enhance the UK’s clinical research capabilities and would focus particularly on developing ground breaking technologies and experimental medicines.

The University of Birmingham’s share is £7.2m and includes co-funding from Arthritis Research UK. The money will be channelled into the West Midlands Stratified Medicine Innovation & Translation Facility, headed by Professor David Adams.

The key objective of the scheme is to support innovation – specifically to fund novel equipment and capabilities that will most effectively advance the UK’s ability to explore new areas in clinical research.

Funds will be available from April 2015 with the majority of projects due for completion by the end of March 2016.

The newly created facilities will bring into practice novel technologies to address a range of major health challenges such as dementia, cancer, metabolic disorders, arthritis, and respiratory diseases.

Besides Birmingham, examples include:

–    The institute of Cancer Research, which is hoping to revolutionise radiation treatment by targeting tumours more accurately;
–    The team made up from seven universities working together to advance the next frontier on molecular biology, single-cell genomics; and,
–    The teams from the University of Leeds and York, who are pioneering the SABRE imaging method to increase the signal of an MRI image up to 100,000 times.

The 23 projects will help in identify the causes of conditions and diseases such as cancer and dementia, and dramatically speeding up diagnosis and treatment.

Mr Osborne said: “The UK is already a world leader in science and research, which is why at the Budget, I protected science spending. Today we go a step further by announcing £150m of new investment in clinical research infrastructure.

“The funding will go to 23 truly innovative projects from across the UK that represent the best of British ingenuity and scientific exploration. The Government, charities, universities and industry will be working together to advance our knowledge in combating the biggest medical challenges of our time.”

Professor Sir John Savill, Chief Executive of the Medical Research Council, added: “The Government entrusted £150 million of funding to this initiative. With generous contributions from Arthritis Research UK, the British Heart Foundation and other partners, we have been able to invest over £230 million in a collaboration that will catalyse innovation and advance our knowledge in completely new areas of research.”

Click here to sign up to receive our new South West business news...
Close