Queen Mary University of London, in partnership with UCL, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the Francis Crick Institute, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and the European Bioinformatics Institute, has been awarded nearly £9 million by the Medical Research Council (MRC) to improve capability, capacity, training and capital infrastructure in medical bioinformatics.
The major strategic award, one of five amounting to £32 million, was announced today by the Minister for Science and Universities, the Rt Hon David Willetts. The awards will strengthen collaborative links, improve tools and infrastructure for researchers and will support the safe use of biological and patient data for medical research across all diseases.
Queen Mary has an important and unique role to play in the MRC Bioinformatics consortium. Earlier this year Professor Mark Caulfield, Co-Director of Queen Mary’s William Harvey Research Institute, was appointed Chief Scientist of Genomics England, who will deliver the Department of Health’s 100K Genome Project. In addition, Queen Mary is a partner with UCL in one of four MRC Centres for e-Health, which forms part of the UK’s first health informatics research institute (the Farr Institute).
Professor Richard Trembath, Vice-Principal for Health, Queen Mary University of London, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, comments: “We are delighted to be a part of this exciting and ambitious programme. Effective analysis of large dataset, such as those arising from genome sequencing and integration with NHS patient records, has the potential to revolutionise healthcare. Our academics have a key role to play in bringing this about, drawing on insights gained from working across our diverse population base. Collaboration is vital for a project of this scale and we look forward to working with the world class institutions drawn together in this partnership.”
More information on the 100k Genome Project can be found here: http://www.genomicsengland.co.uk/
More information on the Farr Institute can be found here: http://www.farrinstitute.org/
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