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Health giants join forces in research powerhouse
Anna Davis07.08.08
London's most renowned health experts are to unite to create the biggest medical research centre in Europe, it was announced today.
More than 3,000 scientists will join the powerhouse, looking for cures and treatments for everything from cancer to deafness.
It means experts in child health from Great Ormond Street Hospital will work with researchers from Moorfields Eye Hospital and transplant specialists from the Royal Free Hampstead NHS trust for the first time.
They will be joined by academics from University College London and specialists from University College Hospital.
The group, known as UCL Partners, will concentrate on 10 areas: cancer, heart disease, transplants, the nervous system, children's health, immunology, ophthalmology, deafness and hearing impairment, dental and oral disease and women's health.
Leaders of the institutions hailed the move as a landmark for medical research. It will mean notoriously competitive researchers will combine their knowledge instead of working independently. Dr Jane Collins, chief executive of Great Ormond Street Hospital, said: "This is a very significant moment. Research is equally as important as caring for sick children."
Malcolm Grant, president of UCL, said: "The combined skill, expertise and knowledge of our five organisations promises to deliver to patients the benefits of cutting-edge research at its best as quickly as possible. This is a great step forward."
The organisation, which will launch officially next month, has so far cost about £200,000 to set up. Dr Collins said: "Even though all the experts are in the same city, it hasn't always been easy to collaborate.
"There is a recognition that people need to work together to make big breakthroughs. You can't do it on your own with a pipette and a bunsen burner in the corner of the laboratory any more."
There are already strong links between some of the hospitals involved which have resulted in major medical breakthroughs.
UCL and Great Ormond Street researchers collaborated to find a cure for two diseases that cause children to be born without an immune system.
Meanwhile, researchers at Moorfields have started working with staff at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology to use gene therapy in treating inherited blindness.
