£58.7 million funding for medical research at Guy’s and St Thomas'

The five-year funding will support a programme of translational research that the hospital trust claims will directly benefit local patients through new and better treatments and improved health outcomes.

The Biomedical Research Centre forms the heart of an 'experimental medicine hub' at Guy's Hospital and also takes advantage of clinical research facilities and the latest imaging technology at St Thomas' Hospital.

"We are grateful to the NIHR for this generous award, which recognises the huge progress that we have made in driving forward translational research that takes discoveries from the laboratory and into the clinic at the earliest opportunity," says Guy's and St Thomas' chief executive Ron Kerr.

"This new funding will allow us to deliver a truly innovative research strategy. We will focus on pulling through early discovery of new drugs, molecules and biomarkers into the clinic – and then extending these beyond the hospital and into the wider community through close collaboration with primary care.

"Our scientists and clinicians are at the forefront of developing some of the latest diagnostic techniques and therapeutics so that we can tailor both diagnosis and treatment to individual patients. They are also developing talented young researchers and we will use this opportunity to establish the UK's first School of Translational and Experimental Medicine.

"We will build on key areas of strength, such as the better understanding of transplantation and rejection, and more targeted treatment of cancer. We will also extend our research into our local population in South East London, for example, by broadening the EXHALE study that is investigating the effect of pollution and the Low Emission Zone on lung disease and health amongst school children in East London."