Clinical Research Facilities for Experimental Medicine
Working with other major research funders across England under the umbrella of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration, the NIHR has helped to develop clinical research facilities for experimental medicine across England.
Clinical Research Facilities for Experimental Medicine
The NIHR funds Clinical Research Facilities (CRFs) for Experimental Medicine to help speed up the translation of scientific advances for the benefit of patients.
The NIHR is funding:
· Five NIHR CRFs for Experimental Medicine.
· Four Millennial CRFs in partnership with The Wellcome Trust.
· Nine CRFs in partnership with various funders (The Wellcome Trust, The Wolfson Foundation, the Medical Research Council, the British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK) under the umbrella of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC).
CRFs are purpose-built, cutting-edge facilities, with specialist clinical, research and support staff, in locations where universities and NHS Trusts work together on dedicated programmes of patient-orientated experimental medicine research.
New competition
A new NIHR funding competition for Clinical Research Facilities (CRFs) for Experimental Medicine has now opened.
The purpose of the scheme is to provide NIHR funding to meet the necessary recurrent NHS infrastructure costs of dedicated purpose-built clinical research facilities that are supporting world-class experimental medicine research. The competition will enable current recipients that are successful in fulfilling the criteria to continue to receive NIHR funding. The NIHR funding for successful NHS Trusts, will be for the period 1 September 2012 to 31 March 2017.
The closing date for submission of the applications by the NHS Trusts in England is Wednesday 14 December 2011 at 5:00pm.
CRFs for Experimental Medicine competition.
Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres
The NIHR funds 15 Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres across England in close partnership with the leading cancer charity Cancer Research UK.
The Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres play a leading role in speeding up the process of cancer drug development and the search for cancer biomarkers – molecules present in blood or tissue - that can be used to diagnose cancer, predict the aggressiveness of the disease, or show whether a drug will be effective in a specific patient and at what dose.
Further information is available on the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre Network website.
Experimental Medicine Resources Website
The UKCRC Experimental Medicine Resources website, managed by the NIHR Office for Clinical Research Infrastructure, provides a central information resource about the UK’s capability and expertise in experimental medicine and early-phase clinical trials.
Users of the site can search for over 65 facilities by location, health or disease research topic, plus the expertise and equipment available. It provides an optimum entry point for investigators from both industry and academia seeking information about new opportunities to conduct experimental medical studies.
UKCRC Experimental Medicine Resources website.
NIHR briefing documents