OUH receives over £1m for vital research equipment

Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) has received more than £1 million to fund state-of-the-art equipment to expand its research capabilities.

The funding was awarded after a competitive process by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) as part of its capital funding to NHS organisations across England that host its wider infrastructure, such as Biomedical Research Centres (BRC) and Clinical Research Facilities (CRF).

In total, OUH is receiving £1,018,380 to purchase equipment that will support and enhance studies across numerous disciplines, including respiratory and vaccine trials, ground-breaking imaging research using hyperpolarised xenon gas, and the work being done in pharmacy and pathology that underpins experimental medicine studies. 

Dr Chris Bray, Head of Research and Development Operations at OUH and Joint Lead applicant for this successful bid, said: “We are absolutely delighted that the NIHR has agreed to fund this equipment. It will allow Oxford University Hospitals – together with our partners at the University of Oxford – to expand its research capacity and press ahead with a wide range of new studies that will benefit NHS patients. 

“This new equipment will also allow us – in line with the expectations of the government – to expand our capacity to meet the growing demand for commercially sponsored trials.”

Professor Andrew Brent, OUH Chief Medical Officer, added: “Research and innovation remain an important pillar of OUH’s strategy, so I am delighted at this latest award which supports our teams in delivering high impact clinical research.

“Our research teams also sometimes share equipment with our clinical teams, so a significant additional benefit of capital funding like this is that it relieves demand on equipment used for clinical work, while at the same time allowing us to increase our research portfolio.”

Professor Chris Buckley, Director of the NIHR Oxford CRF and the Lead Applicant, said: “This funding for new infrastructure will give an important boost to the work being carried out by the NIHR Oxford BRC and NIHR Oxford CRF, who, working with patients and the public, are translating innovative scientific ideas into tangible new treatments and diagnostic tools for our patients.”

The infrastructure and equipment that OUH will acquire with this funding includes:

• Refurbishment of the expanded Experimental Medicine CRF, which has growing demand from commercial partners to carry out early-phase inflammation and infectious diseases trials.
• Magnetically shielded transport case to allow the expansion of our ground-breaking imaging trials for respiratory conditions using hyperpolarised xenon gas. This case will allow the gas to be transported to other NHS sites.
• Lung function machine and endoscopic equipment to support increasing recruitment to respiratory and gastroenterology studies and to avoid the need to find research slots in already busy NHS facilities.
• Equipment – including state-of-the-art PCR and single cell sequencing technology – to speed up the screening of samples and measure immune response in vaccine studies.
• DXA scanning equipment to enhance capability for research in metabolic/liver area and osteoporosis.
• An advanced imaging system needed for research into retinal disease and new gene therapy treatments, which is currently restricted to times when imaging devices are not being used for clinical care. 
• Increased freezer and centrifuge capacity to meet the demand for specialist assays in clinical trials.
• Equipment to support aseptic dispensing that will allow the pharmacy clinical trials unit to meet the growing demand from commercial partners to test advanced new drug therapies.
• Home telemetry kits to increase the ability to monitor participants in epilepsy trials in their own homes and allow for the expansion of the number and type of studies that can be performed, without impacting on clinical services.
• Servers for the OxCAIR Research Platform, which is rigorously evaluating commercially available AI-based diagnostic and decision-support tools in the clinical setting.

Most of the equipment can be purchased in a relatively short timeframe, meaning that the benefits of this investment will be felt very quickly.

The award is part of £47.8 million in funding the NIHR is providing to NHS Trusts and primary care organisations across England for equipment to expand the NHS’s ability to deliver high-quality commercial research, in line with the government’s aim to ‘turbocharge’ clinical trials.