The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, has announced that a partnership led by the Medical Research Council (MRC) will invest over £230 million in a range of revolutionary technologies aimed at identifying the causes of diseases such as cancer and dementia.
The University of Liverpool will lead on one of 23 key projects supported by the Clinical Research Infrastructure Initiative, focused on investigating how differences in the cellular and molecular make-up of people affect how they respond to diseases and treatment.
The UK has played a major role in pioneering the use of these technologies in the last 30-40 years and is home to many of the leading experts in the field.
Sophisticated technologies
The funding, which brings together support from UK Government, devolved administrations, Arthritis Research UK, British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and Cancer Research UK, will focus on the most sophisticated imaging technologies in the world to further develop their capabilities by using UK expertise.
Led by Professor Munir Pirmohamed, Director of the University’s MRC Centre for Drug Safety Science, the £5 million Liverpool project was successful in the ‘Technologies for Stratified Medicines’ strand of the funding scheme.
Professor Pirmohamed said: “With this funding we will look at patient samples using the latest and most sensitive technologies available in different ‘experimental’ systems. These range from cutting edge imaging techniques, to experiments on single cells.
“By combining these data with careful clinical observations of patients, we will ultimately be able to tailor treatments for individual patients so that they are not only effective but also safe.”
For more information about the different projects, please see http://www.mrc.ac.uk/research/initiatives/clinical-research-capabilities-and-technologies-initiative/
