Title: NIHR Cambridge BRC
Funder: Department of Health and Social Care

Abstract: The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) is a partnership between Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) and the University of Cambridge. It is based on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, which combines on a single site scientific research in world-class institutes, patient care in NHS hospitals, and drug discovery in pharmaceutical companies including AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). The NIHR Cambridge BRC reaches out to scientists on the campus and beyond to ensure that their discoveries are pulled into the NHS, where clinical researchers can use them, in partnership with the life sciences industry, to improve health. The NIHR Cambridge BRC creates an environment that trains and nurtures the next generation of researchers, promotes equality and is diverse, and encourages all staff working in the NHS to engage in research. The NIHR Cambridge BRC engages patients and the public, as well as international experts, to develop and implement its strategy. It will work on diseases where there is a pressing need for improved prevention and treatment, and where our researchers have world-leading expertise. Over the next five years the NIHR Cambridge BRC plans to work on cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory disease, dementia, disorders of the nervous system and mental health, infections and their resistance to antibiotics, obesity and diabetes, bone disease, digestive disorders and the effect of nutrition, diet and lifestyle on health, transplantation and the use of stem cells to repair tissues, and women's and children s health. In the short-term the NIHR Cambridge BRC will develop cutting-edge facilities to study how our genetic make-up causes common and rare diseases, and develop tools to collect health data and complex images from scans from individuals and populations using state-of-the-art, secure technology. To accelerate health benefits we will work with other NHS and research organisations, locally and nationally. Important local partners will be Papworth Hospital, which moves to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in 2018, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, our specialist mental health service provider, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, a world leader in genome research, and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory-European Bioinformatics Institute, which works with scientists to analyse and understand complex sets of health data. In the medium-term the NIHR Cambridge BRC will play a leading role in developing research infrastructure across England, building on its track record of establishing national collaborations to support research into rare diseases and the NIHR BioResource. Patients and healthy volunteers who join the NIHR BioResource are empowered to participate in research based on information about their health and lifestyle, and analysis of biological samples, including DNA . Using this approach, the NIHR BioResource provides researchers in academia and industry with volunteers precisely tailored to answer specific research questions. We will now scale up the NIHR BioResource to increase participation of patients and the public in research. In the long-term the NIHR Cambridge BRC will ensure that the remarkable innovation environment, which the Cambridge Biomedical Campus is at the heart of, delivers maximum improvements in the health and wealth of the nation.

Lay abstract: The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) is a partnership between Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) and the University of Cambridge. It is based on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, which combines on a single site scientific research in world-class institutes, patient care in NHS hospitals, and drug discovery in pharmaceutical companies including AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). The NIHR Cambridge BRC reaches out to scientists on the campus and beyond to ensure that their discoveries are pulled into the NHS, where clinical researchers can use them, in partnership with the life sciences industry, to improve health. The NIHR Cambridge BRC creates an environment that trains and nurtures the next generation of researchers, promotes equality and is diverse, and encourages all staff working in the NHS to engage in research. The NIHR Cambridge BRC engages patients and the public, as well as international experts, to develop and implement its strategy. It will work on diseases where there is a pressing need for improved prevention and treatment, and where our researchers have world-leading expertise. Over the next five years the NIHR Cambridge BRC plans to work on cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory disease, dementia, disorders of the nervous system and mental health, infections and their resistance to antibiotics, obesity and diabetes, bone disease, digestive disorders and the effect of nutrition, diet and lifestyle on health, transplantation and the use of stem cells to repair tissues, and women's and children s health. In the short-term the NIHR Cambridge BRC will develop cutting-edge facilities to study how our genetic make-up causes common and rare diseases, and develop tools to collect health data and complex images from scans from individuals and populations using state-of-the-art, secure technology. To accelerate health benefits we will work with other NHS and research organisations, locally and nationally. Important local partners will be Papworth Hospital, which moves to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in 2018, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, our specialist mental health service provider, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, a world leader in genome research, and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory-European Bioinformatics Institute, which works with scientists to analyse and understand complex sets of health data. In the medium-term the NIHR Cambridge BRC will play a leading role in developing research infrastructure across England, building on its track record of establishing national collaborations to support research into rare diseases and the NIHR BioResource. Patients and healthy volunteers who join the NIHR BioResource are empowered to participate in research based on information about their health and lifestyle, and analysis of biological samples, including DNA . Using this approach, the NIHR BioResource provides researchers in academia and industry with volunteers precisely tailored to answer specific research questions. We will now scale up the NIHR BioResource to increase participation of patients and the public in research. In the long-term the NIHR Cambridge BRC will ensure that the remarkable innovation environment, which the Cambridge Biomedical Campus is at the heart of, delivers maximum improvements in the health and wealth of the nation.

Research activity codes: 4.5 RESOURCES AND INFRASTRUCTURE (DETECTION);5.9 RESOURCES AND INFRASTRUCTURE (TREATMENT DEVELOPMENT);6.9 RESOURCES AND INFRASTRUCTURE (TREATMENT EVALUATION)
Health categories: CANCER AND NEOPLASMS