A capacity audience gathered last week at a showcase to hear about the work of the Northern National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centres (BRCs).

There was only standing room as an audience filled with industry, together those working in health science gathered to hear about the work of the centres, based at Leeds, Newcastle, Sheffield and Manchester, at the event which was organised by the Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA) and sponsored by the NIHR.

Representatives from Microsoft, Amgen, Abbvie, Genetech, DebioPharm, GSK, Life Arc, GeneData, SAP, Benevolent AI and Heptares among others heard about industry and BRC collaboration opportunities at CityLabs in Manchester. the illustrious group included Dr Matthew Hallsworth from NIHR, Dr Hakim Yadi from the NHSA and the four BRC centre directors Dame Pamela Shaw, Prof Avan Sayer, Prof Paul Emery and Prof Ian Bruce.

Dr Hakim Yadi CEO of the NHSA said: “The North’s Biomedical Research Centres are world-leading and offer a huge number of collaboration opportunities for those working in the health science industry.

“We were thrilled with the great turnout and the excitement of delegated as new relationships were formed and potential new industry engagement partnerships created.”

The NIHR BRCs in the North support commercial and investigator led translational and experimental medicine research in five areas: Ageing and Long-Term Conditions (including dementia, hearing health, liver disease and neuromuscular disease), Cancer (advanced radiotherapy, prevention and early detection, and precision medicine), Musculoskeletal Diseases (including inflammatory arthritis, osteoarthritis and connective tissue diseases ), Inflammatory Conditions (including respiratory, dermatology and skin and oral disease) and Translational Neuroscience (neuroinflammation, cerebrovascular neurology and neurodegeneration).

The Northern BRCs are among 20 NIHR BRCs providing nationally leading expertise in clinical trials, health economics, informatics, data science, imaging and biomarker discovery platforms.

Shirley Hannan, Research Coordinator and Funding Development Manager for the NHSA, led the event. She said: “This showcase gave industry a unique opportunity to speak to the Northern NIHR Biomedical Research Centres and leading universities, on how they can support translational research through: funding partnerships, clinical research projects, access to clinical research, facilities and expertise and evaluation and testing of products.

“The success of the event is a testament to the professionalism and dedication of the North BRC Centres and we are very much looking forward to seeing the outcomes of the showcase in the coming months.”

ENDS