Leading NHS clinicians and universities will benefit from new world class facilities and support services built by the 5-year funding package totalling £816 million – the largest ever investment into health research.
Mental health research will see funding increase to nearly £70 million, dementia to over £45 million, deafness and hearing problems will receive over £15 million and antimicrobial resistance research rises to around £45 million.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said:
The UK has so often led the world in health research – from the invention of the smallpox vaccine to the discovery of penicillin and the development of DNA sequencing. Today, we are making sure the UK stays ahead of the game by laying the foundations for a new age of personalised medicine.
We are supporting the great minds of the NHS to push the frontiers of medical science so that patients in this country continue to benefit from the very latest treatments and the highest standards of care.
The funding has been awarded to 20 NHS and university partnerships across England through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). Each of the 20 biomedical research centres will host the development of new, ground-breaking treatments, diagnostics, prevention and care for patients in a wide range of diseases like cancer and dementia.
Chief Scientific Advisor Professor Chris Whitty said:
The future of NHS care depends on the science we do now. This new funding will enable clinical researchers to keep pushing for medical breakthroughs. The NIHR biomedical research centres announced today offer huge potential benefits for patients across the country.
The table shows the successful applicants who will receive a share of the £816 million investment. Each local partnership between the NHS and university will be known as an NIHR biomedical research centre.
NHS host organisation
Academic partner
Research themes
Funding for 5 years from 1 April 2017
Barts Health NHS Trust
Queen Mary University of London
Cardiovascular devices and innovative trials, inherited cardiovascular disorders
£6,557,380
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
University of Cambridge
Antimicrobial resistance, cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory disease, dementia and neurodegenerative disease, gastrointestinal disease, integrative genomics, mental health, metabolism, endocrinology and bone, neuroscience, nutrition, diet and lifestyle, population and quantitative science, transplantation and regenerative science, women’s health and paediatrics
£114,300,000
Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
University of Manchester
Advanced radiotherapy, cancer prevention and early detection, cancer precision medicine, dermatology, hearing health, respiratory medicine, targeted therapy in musculoskeletal diseases
£28,500,000
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust
University College London
Advanced treatments for structural malformation and tissue damage, gene, stem and cellular therapies, genomics and systems medicine, novel therapeutics and their translation into childhood disease
£37,005,790
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
King’s College London
Cardiovascular disease, cutaneous medicine, genomic medicine, imaging sciences, infection and immunity, oral health, regenerative medicine and cellular therapy, transplantation, women and children’s health
£64,400,267
Imperial College Healthcare Trust
Imperial College London
Brain sciences, cancer, cardiovascular, gut health, immunology, infection and AMR, metabolic medicine and endocrine, surgery and technology
£90,008,746
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
University of Leeds
Preventing disease and disability in immune mediated inflammatory disease, improving treatment of osteoarthritis
£6,736,575
Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
University College London
Gene therapy, genomic medicine and informatics, inflammation and immunotherapy, regenerative medicine and pharmaceutics, visual assessment and imaging
£19,075,000
Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Newcastle University
Dementia, liver disease, musculoskeletal disease, neuromuscular disease, skin and oral disease
£16,208,633
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
University of Nottingham
Deafness and hearing problems, gastrointestinal and liver disorders, mental health and technology, musculoskeletal disease, respiratory disease
£23,642,003
Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
University of Oxford
Adult mental health, older adults and dementia, precision psychological treatments
£12,824,900
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
University of Oxford
Antimicrobial resistance and microbiology, cardiovascular, diabetes and metabolism, gastroenterology and mucosal immunity, genomic medicine, haematology and stem cells, multi-modal cancer therapies, multimorbidity and long term conditions, musculoskeletal, neurological conditions, obesity, diet and lifestyle, respiratory, stroke and vascular dementia, surgical innovation and evaluation, technology and digital health, vaccines for emerging and endemic diseases
£113,718,800
The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust
The Institute of Cancer Research
Breast cancer, gastrointestinal cancers, novel cancer therapeutics, prostate cancer, targeted physical therapies, uncommon cancers
£43,074,315
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
University of Sheffield
Translational neuroscience for chronic neurological disorders
£4,049,681
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
King’s College London
Affective disorders and interface with medicine, bioinformatics and statistics, biomarkers and genomics, child and neurodevelopmental disorders, clinical and population informatics, dementia and related disorders, mobile health, neuroimaging, obesity, pain, patient and carer involvement and engagement, psychosis and neuropsychiatry, substance use, translational therapeutics
£65,977,500
University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
University College London
Cancer, cardiovascular disease, deafness and hearing, dementia and mental health, immunity, inflammation and immunotherapeutics, neurological diseases, obesity, oral health and disease
£111,503,317
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
University of Birmingham
Inflammatory arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, inflammatory sarcopaenia
£12,120,962
University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust
University of Bristol
Cardiovascular disease, mental health, nutrition, diet and lifestyle (including obesity), reproductive and perinatal health, surgical innovation
£20,858,545
University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust
University of Leicester
Cardiovascular, lifestyle, respiratory
£11,591,314
University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
University of Southampton
Life-course nutrition, lifestyle and health, respiratory and critical care
£14,509,067
The UK is already a world leader in pioneering medical breakthroughs and this record investment will ensure this strong tradition continues. It is estimated that for every £1 the Department of Health invests, hospitals/universities will generate £6 from public funders of research, charities and industry partners.
Previous rounds of funding have led to medical breakthroughs, including:
genetically engineering patients’ own cells to attack cancer
gene-edited immune cells to treat ‘incurable’ leukemia
clinical trials of new T-cell treatment for cancer
MRI brain scans to detect early Parkinson’s
detection of the early signs of Alzheimer’s disease
multi-gene DNA sequencing to help predict cancer patients’ responses to treatment
new immunotherapy trial to test cancer vaccine