Research into incurable diseases will be funded by a £7.9m grant given to the Sheffield Clinical Research Facility (CRF).
Announced this week by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), the money will enable experts to look into innovative treatments for conditions such as Motor Neuron Disease and Parkinson’s Disease.
Clinicians and scientists will also conduct studies ranging from early safety and efficacy trials to the testing of new treatments in patients.
The funding will further support collaboration with the Sheffield Gene Therapy Innovation and Manufacturing Centre, which is due to open at the University of Sheffield later this year.
Professor Chris Newman, Director of the NIHR Sheffield CRF and Interim Vice-President and Head of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry & Health at the University of Sheffield, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded £7.9m to enable us to continue world leading clinical research through our NIHR Sheffield Clinical Research Facility.
“This success is testament to the hugely successful partnership between Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and the University of Sheffield which has already led to an increase in clinical research bringing important benefits for patients here in Sheffield and across the wider NHS.”
The Clinical Research Facility, which is spread across the Royal Hallamshire and Northern General hospitals, is run in partnership with the university and has been carrying out cutting edge research since its opening in 2006.
It is one of only 28 institutes across the country to have been awarded funding, with the goal of expanding the delivery of early clinical research in NHS hospitals.
The new grant is more than twice the amount given in the previous round of funding, which saw the facility receive £3.1m in 2017.
The centre played a critical role throughout the coronavirus pandemic, assisting in 45 COVID-19 studies. These included 20 with urgent public health status. The work carried out here led to medicines being repurposed and used in NHS care, as well as advancements in understanding the disease’s long-term effects.
