This new building will create a unique opportunity to link UCL’s expertise in immunology research and bio-engineering to specific clinical problems that affect over six million people nationally.
The new research facility will be based at the Royal Free Hospital campus and will combine dedicated, state-of-the-art research, clinical, and teaching spaces. It will provide the best possible infrastructure for research, training, and clinical delivery, and will more than double our research capacity and the number of clinical trials we can run. Furthermore, it will house patient accommodation so that patients can feel comfortable when receiving treatment, ensuring that our translational research is truly “bench to bedside”.
This world-class facility will provide the perfect environment for collaboration. It will house academics from UCL’s Division of Immunity and Infection with their medical research expertise and unparalleled knowledge of basic science, together with clinicians from the Royal Free who specialise in diagnosing and treating patients with a broad range of diseases affecting the immune system. Breakthroughs happen when researchers and clinicians are together and have the freedom to collaborate: the right people, from the right disciplines, with the right knowledge – in the right place, giving them access to the latest equipment and to diverse groups of patients.
This is the environment we are building with the IIT. Practically that will mean spaces for meetings, sharing equipment, receiving training together and building personal interactions to achieve the common goal of advancing research in this area. This collaborative ‘bench to bedside’ approach will be game-changing for patients and something that would not have been possible without the support of The Catherine Cookson Charitable Trust.
