Chapel Allerton Hospital

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Leeds Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) is part of the NIHR and hosted by Leeds NHS Teaching Hospitals in partnership with the Universities of Leeds and York.

Leeds BRC was awarded £21.76 million (2022-28), our largest single research award, with the mission to:

  • Drive innovation in preventing, diagnosis and treatment of ill-health
  • Deliver breakthrough experimental medical research that benefits patient care
  • Involve patients and the public in research design and delivery
  • Train the next generation of researchers through our Academic Capacity Development strategy

Our activities prioritise research focussed on those who are in most need, designed for each individual patient and aimed at increasing the speed research is adopted.

Our partnership unites leading clinicians and researchers to maximise the impact of innovative ideas and discoveries, transforming early-phase applied research into real-world clinical care results that contribute to the local and national economy.

Leeds: A leading hub for NIHR research and innovation

The NIHR Leeds BRC is part of the city’s £40 million NIHR infrastructure. 
Comprising three centres of excellence: NIHR Leeds Biomedical Research Centre, NIHR Leeds Healthtech Research Centre and NIHR Leeds Clinical Research Facility, each produces world-leading research. 

Underpinned by the NIHR@Leeds Forum, academic researchers, clinicians and industry innovators are increasingly collaborating across these centres to cover the entire health research journey, taking new discoveries from ‘bench to bedside’ to improve people’s health. 

The NIHR Leeds BioResource – Leeds Biomedical Research Centre, part of LTHT, conducts research to improve outcomes for people with a range of diseases. It recruits volunteers with and without health conditions for studies on rare and common diseases, including COVID, inflammatory bowel disease, and immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. Blood samples may be linked with routine hospital tests to support vital research.

Leeds hosts the national NIHR Research Delivery Network Coordinating Centre (RDNCC), and the regional Yorkshire and Humber Regional Research Delivery Network.

This outstanding NIHR@Leeds infrastructure is part of Health Innovation Leeds, one of the UK’s most interconnected ecosystems for health and care research and innovation and independently ranked as a top UK health innovation hub.

Our Research Themes

Initially dedicated to Musculoskeletal research, Leeds BRC has expanded to a six-themed research centre as of December 2022 under NIHR Leeds BRC Director Professor Philip Conaghan. To find out more about our work please explore our six research themes below.

Icon for Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection theme, showing a cartoon of a shield containing a bacterium and a virus with a tablet of medication in front of it.
An cartoon image representing the Cardiometabolic research theme. Showing a heart at the top of the symbol with a pulse through it and below a syringe and a cube block.
An cartoon icon representing the Haematology research theme. Depicts a blood drop with a magnifying glass over it to show two red blood cells.

Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection

Cardiometabolic Disease

Haematology

Icon representing the Musculoskeletal research theme. The icon shows a cartoon of the bones in the pelvis, upper legs and lower spine.
The Pathology Research Theme's icon. The icon shows a cartoon representation of a microscope on the right hand side with a speech bubble coming out from the slide under the microscope containing a cartoon representation of bacteria and other microbes.
An image of the icon for the Surgical Technologies theme. The icon shows a cartoon of a gloved hand holding a scalpel and a dotted line behind the scalpel to indicate its being used to cut.

Musculoskeletal Disease

Pathology

Surgical Technologies

News