Researchers and clinicians at Southampton’s university hospitals have been awarded £15m to help tackle obesity, poor nutrition, asthma, allergies and infections.
The five-year funding arrangement, announced by the Department of Health and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), will see the city’s pioneering nutrition and respiratory research brought together to form a new NIHR Biomedical Research Centre (BRC).
A joint venture between University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Southampton, the BRC will focus on taking discoveries out of the laboratory and into the clinic.
The current BRC has seen Southampton establish the impact of mothers’ diets on their babies’ life-long health, discover new treatments for asthma and improve management of rare diseases, allergies and musculoskeletal conditions like rheumatoid arthritis. The new BRC, under the directorship of Professor Robert Read, a consultant and professor in infectious diseases, will encompass nutrition and respiratory/critical care, plus cross-cutting themes in data science, microbial and behavioural sciences.
“This award represents an opportunity to make a real difference to people’s lives and health by combining Southampton’s unique strengths in nutrition and respiratory clinical research as well as data, microbial and behavioural science,” said Professor Robert Read, a consultant and professor in infectious diseases and the new centre’s director.
“Over the last decade we have built a world-class environment for taking discoveries from the lab into the clinic and this NIHR award recognises that, as well as what Southampton can do for patients, the public and the NHS.
“It gives us the means to bring new treatments into care and improve not only our patients’ health, but also people across the region and nationwide.”
Read the full press release here.
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