Sheffield researchers awarded £3.1 million funding to pioneer new drugs and treatments

Leading researchers at the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals have been awarded £3.1 million to continue to pioneer new drugs and treatments that may one day transform patient care.

The funding, announced by the Department of Health and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), will enable even more patients to take part in groundbreaking research at Royal Hallamshire and Northern General Hospital’s dedicated Clinical Research Facility.

Sheffield was one of only 23 research centres across England awarded the funding, which will see its status as a designated NIHR Clinical Research Facility renewed for a further five years. The award will enable clinicians, scientists and nurses to drive forward research into diseases which are areas of national priority such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and respiratory diseases. All of which are important causes of premature death.

The investment is the second time in recent months that researchers from the University of Sheffield in partnership with Sheffield Teaching Hospitals have successfully secured a multi-million pound grant to support world-leading health research, with a £4m grant announced in September to set up an NIHR Biomedical Research Centre to develop new treatments for diseases of the brain and nervous system.

Over 30,000 patients have taken part in clinical research at Sheffield’s state-of-the-art NIHR Clinical Research Facilities since they were first established in 2006. The units also support research in clinical areas of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, such as wards, operating theatres and the Accident & Emergency Department.

Professor Chris Newman, Director of the Sheffield NIHR Clinical Research Facility and Faculty Director of Research and Innovation at the University of Sheffield, said: “We are delighted to have once again been designated as an NIHR Clinical Research Facility.

"We are incredibly proud of our Clinical Research Facilities, and this major grant complements the £4million grant awarded by the NIHR in September to establish an NIHR Biomedical Research Centre in Translational Neuroscience in Sheffield.

"This builds on Sheffield’s international reputation and represents a major vote of confidence from the NIHR for fast tracking experimental medicine research in Sheffield, which ultimately drives forward new discoveries into tangible benefits for patients, families and carers.”

The longstanding partnership between the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust puts the city region in a very strong position to translate world-leading research into benefits for patients.

The investment will enable leading academic and clinical experts to continue their pioneering research and develop new treatments that will change people's lives for the better. Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Sheffield have been at the forefront of medical research for many years and the benefits of the Clinical Research Facility will continue to enhance this, not just for the local community, but nationally and internationally.

The Sheffield Clinical Research Facility was established in 2006 as a joint venture between the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and became an NIHR Clinical Research Facility in 2012. The Clinical Research Facility has dedicated research units on both the Royal Hallamshire and Northern General Hospital campuses.

During this time it has worked with more than 250 researchers, run over 1,000 clinical trials and facilitated more than 55,000 clinical trial visits for research studies – which often have extremely complex set-up and delivery requirements, and grown to employ over 70 staff.

Additional information The University of Sheffield

With almost 27,000 of the brightest students from over 140 countries, learning alongside over 1,200 of the best academics from across the globe, the University of Sheffield is one of the world’s leading universities. A member of the UK’s prestigious Russell Group of leading research-led institutions, Sheffield offers world-class teaching and research excellence across a wide range of disciplines. Unified by the power of discovery and understanding, staff and students at the university are committed to finding new ways to transform the world we live in. Sheffield is the only university to feature in The Sunday Times 100 Best Not-For-Profit Organisations to Work For 2016 and was voted number one university in the UK for Student Satisfaction by Times Higher Education in 2014. In the last decade it has won four Queen’s Anniversary Prizes in recognition of the outstanding contribution to the United Kingdom’s intellectual, economic, cultural and social life. Sheffield has six Nobel Prize winners among former staff and students and its alumni go on to hold positions of great responsibility and influence all over the world, making significant contributions in their chosen fields. Global research partners and clients include Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Unilever, AstraZeneca, Glaxo SmithKline, Siemens and Airbus, as well as many UK and overseas government agencies and charitable foundations. Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals is one of the UK’s largest NHS Foundation Trusts and one of the largest and busiest teaching hospitals. We have over 16,000 staff caring for over a million patients each year at our five hospitals and in the local community: The Royal Hallamshire Hospital

The Northern General Hospital

Charles Clifford Dental Hospital

Weston Park Cancer Hospital

Jessop Wing Maternity Hospital They offer a full range of local hospital and community health services for people in Sheffield as well as specialist hospital services to patients from further afield in our many specialist centres. The Trust is recognised internationally for its work in neurosciences, spinal injuries, renal, cancer, transplantation, neurosciences and orthopaedics. Thanks to the hard work and commitment of their staff and volunteers, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has been given an overall rating of ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) with many services rated as ‘Outstanding'. This means the Trust is one of only 18 (out of 174 Trusts) to have achieved a Good rating in every one of the five domains which the Care Quality Commission use to rate a NHS organisation: Safe, Caring, Responsive, Well led, Effective. Sheffield Teaching Hospital are proud to be one of the top 20% of NHS Trusts for patient satisfaction and to have consistently high numbers of our staff and patients who would recommend the Trust for care and as a place to work.

The Trust is a recognised leader in medical research for bone, cardiac, neurosciences and long term conditions such as diabetes and lung disease. We also play a key role in the training and education of medical, nursing and dental students with our academic partners, including the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam. The Trust is a recognised leader in healthcare innovation and is host to a number of national projects including the Perfect Patient Pathway Test Bed, Devices for Dignity, Yorkshire and Humber Genomics Centre as well as being a partner in the Working Together Vanguard and National Centre for Sports and Exercise Medicine.

For more information visit: www.sth.nhs.uk The National Institute for Health Research

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is funded by the Department of Health to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. The NIHR is the research arm of the NHS. Since its establishment in April 2006, the NIHR has transformed research in the NHS. It has increased the volume of applied health research for the benefit of patients and the public, driven faster translation of basic science discoveries into tangible benefits for patients and the economy, and developed and supported the people who conduct and contribute to applied health research. The NIHR plays a key role in the Government’s strategy for economic growth, attracting investment by the life-sciences industries through its world-class infrastructure for health research. Together, the NIHR people, programmes, centres of excellence and systems represent the most integrated health research system in the world. For further information, visit the NIHR website