Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust’s partnership with Imperial College London, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, in the form of the Imperial College Academic Health Science Centre (IC AHSC), has been competitively awarded £1.3 million to develop a National Institute for Health Research London In-Vitro Diagnostics Co-operative (NIHR London IVD Co-operative).
The NIHR London IVD Co-operative is a centre which aims to develop new devices and tests to treat patients. It will bring together researchers and clinicians across the partnership to work collaboratively with patients in identifying where there is need for new diagnostic tests such as point-of-care tests (POCTs), which are performed at or near to the patient, rather than in the laboratory. The centre will also work with industry to improve the effectiveness of current tests and devices, and provide research on their impact.
Professor Eric Alton, who led on the project for the Trust said, “Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust is actively involved in many diagnostic studies that will contribute to, and benefit from, this newly awarded centre. Of particular note are the new genetic diagnostic laboratory, providing rapid, cost-effective diagnosis of genetic conditions, the academic microbiology team, who aim to provide a more accurate diagnosis of the bacteria and other organisms causing respiratory infections, and dedicated clinics to help improve the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis using a novel test developed within the Trust.”
Research at the NIHR London IVD Co-operative will focus on nine clinical areas where there is a need for rapid and accurate diagnostics. They are:
- respiratory
- trauma and critical care
- cancer
- haematology
- infectious diseases
- emergency care
- metabolic medicine
- gastrointestinal
- primary care
Funding has been awarded for five years initially and the centre will officially launch on 1 January 2018.