Biomedical Assets
Liverpool BioCampus Timeline
1995
Wellcome Trust Tropical Centre
The Wellcome Trust Tropical Centre (WTTC) was established in 1995 as a collaborative centre between the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and the University of Liverpool. The Centre was funded by the Wellcome Trust and is located in the Old Royal Liverpool Infirmary. The WTTC provides support for international research in a wide range of specialist areas and is instrumental in encouraging applicants and recruiting for clinical and non-clinical Wellcome Trust Fellowships in Tropical Medicine. The WTTC is also primarily responsible for providing logistical, financial and project support for Fellowships and to several international sites. The main site supported is the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Trust Research Programme based in Blantyre, Malawi, but there are a number of other overseas sites including Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and India. The present Director of the WTTC is Professor David Lalloo.
1996
The Cancer Research UK Liverpool Cancer Trials Unit
The Cancer Research UK Liverpool Cancer Trials Unit (LCTU) is principally involved in phase III and large randomised phase II cancer trials with core infrastructure posts and running costs. It is one of only eight CR-UK core funded phase III Cancer Trials Units. The LCTU has a strong relationship with collaborative NHS R&D Departments including those at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology and University Hospital Aintree. It also provides trial, medical statistics and bioinformatics consultancy and support to University and NHS colleagues led by Dr Trevor Cox with a team of eight medical statisticians and bioinformaticians. The Director is Professor John Neoptolemos.
1997
Research Institute for Sport & Exercise Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University
The Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences (RISES) supports research activity broadly aligned to the following themes: Chronobiology, Human Performance (including biomechanics), and Exercise and Health. The RISES Cardiovascular Science groups have established fundamental new information regarding mechanisms of cardiac and skeletal myocyte death, replenishment and function, and additionally concerning forms of exercise that can cause cardiac fatigue and damage. In January 2010 RISES moved into the state-of-the-art Tom Reilly Building with bespoke and specialist research and teaching facilities including a temporal isolation laboratory, a stem cell and molecular physiology laboratory, plus a unique movement function research laboratory for clinical biomechanics studies alongside a 50 metre runway.
www.ljmu.ac.uk/sps/RISES/index.htm
1998
Centre for Public Health, Liverpool John Moores University
The Centre for Public Health is a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Violence Prevention. It works with WHO to support and develop violence prevention in the UK and internationally, through the provision of evidence reviews and original research. The Centre also hosts the Department of Health funded North West Public Health Observatory, which is the lead UK Observatory for public health intelligence on alcohol, drugs and violence. The work of the Centre demonstrates how the effective use of health surveillance data can inform behavioural research and health promotion or treatment interventions, and how these can play a role in shaping policy.
2004
Clinical Eye Research Centre
The Clinical Eye Research Centre (CERC) of St. Paul’s Eye Unit is a purpose built facility aiming to develop new methods of detecting, assessing, treating and ultimately preventing eye disease. The ethos is for “high tech, low volume” research in a patient centred environment. The CERC bridges laboratory and routine clinical practice in eye and vision science with clinical and non-clinical scientists coming together from a range of disciplines to study mechanisms and treatment of eye diseases. Funding is from Trust, University, NHS R&D and external non-commercial and commercial income. Programs comprise age-related macular degeneration, ocular oncology, diabetic retinopathy, surgical retina, ocular structure and function, visuomotor and cornea and refractive surgery. The CERC has contributed to the strategic development of biotechnology through engagement with therapeutic and product development programmes run by the NHS, development companies and the pharmaceutical industry. Specific areas include advanced therapies for eye diseases, image analysis, automated detection of disease, clinical trials and new approaches to investigating mechanisms of disease.
The Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute Liverpool
The Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute Liverpool (MCPCIL) was established in November 2004 by Marie Curie Cancer Care, the University of Liverpool and the Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust. The Institute has a multi-professional profile and is under the leadership of John Ellershaw, Professor of Palliative Medicine at the University of Liverpool, Medical Director at the Marie Curie Hospice, Liverpool and Clinical Director of the Specialist Palliative Care Directorate at the Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust.
The MCPCIL is a leading organisation in the field of palliative care, with a specific focus on end of life care and care of the dying. The work of the Institute is directed towards making a real and sustained difference to patient care, from bedside to policy, and has achieved through its research and innovation £4 million grant portfolio.
2005
Centre for Health and Social Care Informatics, Liverpool John Moores University
The Centre for Health and Social Care Informatics promotes the development, application and use of informatics within healthcare (and also social care and other health-related disciplines). The Centre adopts a multidisciplinary approach in order for its research to concentrate on developing and implementing IT solutions in both clinical and management disciplines. It draws upon expertise in a range of disciplines, including the health sciences, computing and mathematical sciences, engineering and sport science.
www.ljmu.ac.uk/CHaSCI/81279.htm
2006
National Centre for Zoonosis Research
The National Centre for Zoonosis Research (NCZR) is a combined venture of the universities of Liverpool and Lancaster, the Health Protection Agency and the Veterinary Laboratories Agency.
The Centre is physically hosted by the University of Liverpool at Leahurst Campus, the field station of the University’s Veterinary School, on the Wirral, but it is the hub for collaborative research across the UK and further afield.
The NCZR is a research network which seeks to reduce the impact of zoonotic disease in the UK and internationally. The Centre promotes zoonosis prevention and control by building research collaborations, coordinating and arranging research activity, facilitating training and enhancing communication.
Institute for Health Research, Liverpool John Moores University
The Institute for Health Research (IHR) provides direction and focus to all health research at LJMU and aims to promote, maintain and reward excellence in the quality of health research and ensure that its health and health-related research is world class. It operates as research networks whose boundaries extend far beyond the University structure to engage and collaborate with external organisations, health and social care professionals, and partners in industry. The main areas of research activity encompassed by the networks are: Medical Sciences and Therapeutics; Organisation and Delivery of Health Services & Public Health; Quality of Life.
2007
Centre for Materials Discovery
The Centre for Materials Discovery (CMD) at University of Liverpool provides research and knowledge transfer services to academia and industry in the area of high throughput materials discovery. The focus of CMD is to use state-of-the-art robotics and automation technologies for the accelerated discovery of new functional materials in applications such as energy, health, home and personal care. Working closely with other universities in the North West, the centre aims to provide access to leading research, training for industry personnel, and world-class facilities such as robotics and advanced ICT. It is accessible to all businesses across the North West and UK and has enabled small, medium, and large industries across a range of sectors to move rapidly into the next generation of materials science.
www.liverpool.ac.uk/materials-discovery
Liverpool Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre
The NIHR and Cancer Research UK Liverpool Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (LECMC) runs an extensive programme of biobanking, biomarker studies, new drug discovery, translational research and early-phase clinical trials. Established in 2007 it has core infrastructure posts, equipment and running costs with dedicated laboratories for sample collection and analyses to the standard of Good Clinical Laboratory Practice (GCLP). The LECMC hosts over 60 clinical trials, covering 12 distinct cancer types, of which 90% are phase I or II. A significant number of these trials have associated-sample collection or sample analysis.
2008
Centre for Tropical & Infectious Diseases
The Centre for Tropical and Infectious Diseases is a £23 million state of the art facility which puts LSTM at the forefront of infectious disease research and adds to the growing importance of the North West of England in worldwide biotechnology.
It brings together, under one roof for the first time, a multidisciplinary team of scientists capable of taking a scientific idea from ‘molecule to man’ and is at the very heart of LSTM’s long term plans to generate products to directly improve health in the developing world.
Research undertaken in CTID addresses new challenges in the treatment of infectious diseases through drug and vaccine design and development, initiation and management of clinical trials, pesticide and vector control design and development and cell and molecular biology pathogen research. The building provides 7,800 square metres of laboratory, write up and office space over four floors and has brought 1,800 square metres of brownfield land back into productive use. The building was opened by HRH The Princess Royal in 2008.
www.lstmliverpool.ac.uk/research/research-environment/ctid
MRC Centre for Drug Safety Science
The MRC-funded Centre for Drug Safety Science was established as a joint venture between the Universities of Liverpool and Manchester to bring together a critical mass of knowledge and technologies in order to advance our understanding of Adverse Drug Reactions and acts as a fulcrum for fostering collaborative pre-competetive research between academia, the pharmaceutical industry and the drug regulators. Its remit is to understand the fundamental mechanisms of clinically-important Adverse Drug Reactions with the overall aim of preventing such reactions by improved drug selection, improved drug design and more informed patient selection. The success of the Centre is built on a cutting-edge bioanalytical platform that combines pharmacology, medicinal chemistry, structural biology, proteomics, metabolomics, molecular biology, immunology and genetics, and importantly allows for the quantification of both chemistry and biology in the same patient sample or experiment.
www.liverpool.ac.uk/drug-safety
Liverpool NMR Centre for Structural Biology
The Liverpool NMR Centre for Structural Biology, located in purpose-built accommodation adjacent to the School’s Life Sciences and Biosciences buildings, houses one of the largest Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectrometers in the UK.
The Centre supports a wide range of projects including studies in cancer, malaria, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer’s Disease with the main focus on the understanding of the molecular basis of these disease states. There is a strong commitment to use a combination of biological, chemical and computational approaches in our research. Included in these objectives is the development of enabling technologies that will assist with the target and drug discovery processes. The Centre is directed by Professor Lu-Yun Lian.
www.liverpool.ac.uk/integrative-biology
2009
Dental Research Facility
Liverpool University Dental Hospital, part of the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust, is closely integrated with the University’s School of Dentistry. The School of Dental Sciences is committed to high quality research that will enhance both the academic and clinical aspects of Clinical Dentistry.
The School has a range of research expertise that spans both basic and applied clinical sciences. The central strategy for the next 5-10 years will be to build on existing strengths, further integrating our research at both the Faculty and University level to provide a thriving research environment. During the last RAE period, members of staff in the School received in excess of £7 million in grant income and published over 650 publications.
The new Research Wing, a first rate facility, demonstrates the University of Liverpool’s commitment to cutting-edge research within the School of Dental Sciences.
NIHR Biomedical Research Centre in Microbial Diseases
The National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) conferred the status of Specialist Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) in Microbial Diseases to the partnership of the Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust, the University of Liverpool and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
The key aims of Liverpool BRC are: to reduce the burden of infection on the NHS; to be a global health-academic player in addressing; the challenge of infection; to be a pioneer in the development of new drugs and diagnostic tools in infection.
The BRC’s ground-breaking translational research is based around a managed portfolio of research projects. Themes focus on identified healthcare priorities that build on strengths in research and clinical excellence within the NHS, the University of Liverpool and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. BRC research themes are: Safety of Antimicrobials; Sexual Health; Community and Hospital Acquired Infections; Pulmonary Infections
The BRC also features a number of state-of-the-art facilities available to support commercial and non-commercial studies. Clinical Research Facility provides an onsite patient focused clinical environment, comprising interview and examination rooms, 6 beds and clinical support to meet regulatory needs for first-in-man clinical trials. Medical Microbiology Facility for identification and safe handling of bacteria. Bioanalytical Facility, including a Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry system to measure drug levels and other small molecules at low concentrations. Data and a Sample Repository for human samples and microbials to allow a comprehensive investigation of pathogenesis at the level of mRNA, DNA, protein and whole cells.
Liverpool CR-UK Cancer Research Centre
The Cancer Research UK Centre formally came into being in July 2009 and is one of only 15 or such centres. The Liverpool Centre has a focus on pancreatic, head and neck, haematological, paediatric and lung malignancies as well as melanoma and palliative cancer care and also aiming to enhance treatment using radiotherapy and surgical oncology. Core funding provides infrastructure posts to promote integrative cancer research in the University of Liverpool and collaborative NHS partners across Liverpool and Merseyside. It includes project pump priming support and a funded programme for clinical and non-clinical PhD training posts. The Department of Cancer Medicine is the major component of the Liverpool CR-UK Centre which is serving as a focus for the reconfiguration of cancer services and research in Liverpool and the region.
www.liverpoolcancercentre.org.uk
Wolfson Centre for Personalised Medicine
The Wolfson Centre for Personalised Medicine, one of only three in the world, opened in November 2009. It was funded by the University and a £2 million donation from the Wolfson Trust to refurbish and kit out an area of the Liverpool Royal Infirmary to a standard consistent with a listed building. It has a state of the art archiving system with robots, with 300,000 bar coded samples. Their genotyping platform can process 100,000 per day.
The aim of Liverpool’s research programme – the largest of its kind in the UK – is to define the mechanisms of variability in drug response and translate these findings into clinical care. It works in conjunction with the Biomedical Research Centre in Microbial Diseases.
www.liverpool.ac.uk/pharmacogenetics/centre_for_personalised_medicine
2010
Liverpool NIHR Pancreas Biomedical Research Unit
The Liverpool NIHR Pancreas Biomedical Research Unit (PBRU), which is based at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, is a dedicated translational research unit for pancreatic diseases, such as acute and chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. The PBRU is built around the world class excellence of pancreas research in Liverpool, incorporating the strengths of the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals Trust (RLBUHT) and University of Liverpool which include: RLBUHT Research and Development, Liverpool BRC, Liverpool CR-UK Centre, Liverpool Cancer Trials Unit (LCTU), and Liverpool Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (LECMC). The PBRU has well established links with various industrial partners concerned with diagnostic and drug development as well as early phase clinical trials. The PBRU is carrying out an ambitious research programme, focused on: drug discovery and the development of new interventions; application of new diagnostic and imaging strategies; validation of new biomarkers and screening protocols. The Executive Director of the PBRU is Professor Robert Sutton and the Scientific Director is Professor John Neoptolemos.
2012
Investment Opportunities Available from 2012 onwards
The BioCampus opportunity is enhanced by its proximity to the universities, LSTM, Liverpool Science Park and the MerseyBio incubator. Development of the new hospital will be supplemented by additional investment in new life science research laboratories by UoL and LSTM.
The BioInnovation Centre will be the next major investment on the BioCampus site.
2014
BioInnovation Centre
Find out more about the BioInnovation Centre
2017
New Hospital
The existing Royal Liverpool University Hospital is to be replaced by a new hospital, to be built on part of the current site. The business case is fully supported locally and has been approved by the Department of Health and HM Treasury and a private sector partner has been chosen. Construction will commence in early 2014 and the hospital will open in 2017.
The new Royal is being designed to deliver best in class performance, with an excellent patient environment (including 100% single bedrooms), improved clinical productivity, sustainable design and construction and a landmark public building at the gateway to the city.
www.rlbuht.nhs.uk/The%20New%20Royal/Pages/V2%20New%20Royal%20Home.aspx
2017-2020
Site Development
Demolition of the old hospital facilities will quickly be followed by completion of the site infrastructure and a newly landscaped site.
The Trust’s outline planning permission for the new Royal includes up to 100,000m2 of further health related development on the site, taking the form of new city blocks around a landscaped public green space. This enables the creation of the BioCampus.