Bristol research receives £21 million Biomedical Research Centre award over five years

University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust (UH Bristol) in partnership with the University of Bristol has been awarded more than £21 million over five years by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to fund cutting-edge research, as part of a new Biomedical Research Centre award.

The partnership is one of 20 NHS and university partnerships across England to have been awarded funding through the NIHR. Each of the Biomedical Research Centres (BRCs) 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. Key themes addressed through the award include:

• Cardiovascular disease
• Nutrition, diet and lifestyle
• Reproductive and perinatal mental health
• Surgical innovation
• Mental health

The award will start in April 2017.

Robert Woolley, Chief Executive of UH Bristol, said:

“This funding and designation is testimony to the special health research strengths that we have in Bristol and will help us to build on the excellent partnership that exists between the local trusts and the University of Bristol. Working together, we will marry population studies, laboratory science and patient-based research to improve practice and design ground-breaking treatments and care for all.”

Professor John Iredale, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Health at the University of Bristol, said:

“This is a remarkable achievement for a fantastic, united team across the University of Bristol and UH Bristol, building on our existing NIHR funding and strengths, particularly in cardiac surgery. Uniquely in Bristol, we can take information from population level studies and marry it with our outstanding clinical expertise to provide tangible advances in patient care. We can do this because of the strong partnership between our researchers, health professionals and citizens, who are all committed to our research programmes.”

Professor David Wynick, Director of Research at UH Bristol, said:

“This new funding recognises the internationally excellent translational biomedical research undertaken across Bristol which will directly benefit our patients and local population.”

There are currently two NIHR funded Biomedical Research Units (BRU) in Bristol that are conducting innovative research. The Bristol Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit performs world-class research into heart disease. Researchers are currently conducting studies in a broad range of areas such as heart disease affecting children, research into stem cell and platelet function as well as imaging. The NIHR Biomedical Research Unit in Nutrition, Diet and Lifestyle performs patient-focused early phase experimental clinical research in the areas of human nutrition, diet and lifestyle.