An initiative led by the Medical Research Council has been unveiled which will see over £230 million invested in a range of “revolutionary technologies” aimed at identifying the causes of diseases such as cancer and dementia.

The Clinical Research Infrastructure Initiative will bring together funding from the UK Government, Arthritis Research UK, British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and Cancer Research UK, to advance 23 key projects at centres across the country, including research teams at 15 universities. Many of these will involve partnerships with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, the MRC says, and there will be a focus on “dramatically speeding up diagnosis and treatment”.

The MRC adds that the state-of-the-art technologies will be used to find out how differences in the cellular and molecular make-up of people affect how they respond to diseases and to treatment.

Announcing the initiative, Chancellor George Osborne said the funding will go to “23 truly innovative projects from across the UK today that represent the best of British ingenuity and scientific exploration”. The government, which is putting in £150 million, plus charities, universities and industry “will be working together to advance our knowledge in combatting the biggest medical challenges of our time”, he added.

For details on the individual projects, please see link below