Clinical Research Facility awarded £5.5million by NIHR

The UCLH/UCL Clinical Research Facility (CRF) has been awarded £5.

5 million by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) for 4 and half years starting in September 2012.

The award represents an uplift of over 60% on the previous funding award in 2007 and is part of £100 million announced this month by the NIHR for clinical research facilities across the country.

Awards were made on the basis of the quality and volume of world class experimental medicine studies undertaken at the CRF and the NIHR said that competition was very competitive.

The UCLH/UCL CRF, which has 20 beds, laboratory, endoscopy suite, dispensaries and specialist staff all dedicated to clinical research, provides a specialist environment where researchers can carry out studies and trials as safely and effectively as possible. At any one time there are about 50 studies taking place at the facility.

The CRF encompasses a general research facility supported by the Wellcome Trust and Wolfson Foundation and a cancer clinical research facility, and hosts the clinical work of the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre and the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre.

Director of the CRF Professor William Rosenberg said: "This is fantastic news for UCLH and UCL and supports our collaboration to expand the conduct of experimental medicine in the heart of London. Our CRF has rapidly expanded since it opened 18 months ago and this kind of support from the NIHR is enabling us to transform the research environment here at UCLH and UCL."

Sir Robert Naylor, UCLH chief executive, said: "We welcome the investment in our research into new treatments. This will go a long way in supporting our clinical research facility in its work on early-stage studies for people with diseases such as cancer, liver disease and respiratory disease."

The CRF received £3.8million from the NIHR for the period 2007-12.

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