Where scientific discovery rapidly becomes medical reality, for the benefit of human health 

The Institute of Translational Medicine (ITM) is a place where scientists, researchers, clinicians and industry partners can come together to turn medical science into innovative patient and healthcare system applications, rapidly, rigorously and seamlessly.

World-class facilities within a culture of fast-track clinical trials

Located on the University Hospitals Birmingham site, between the Medical School and Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, the ITM, supported by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (now the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy), was the beginning of a major investment plan that will see Birmingham transformed into a global hub of life sciences enterprise.

This cutting-edge development that offers access to world-class laboratory and meeting facilities, University of Birmingham and other university expertise, the Birmingham Health Partners hospitals, and the diverse Birmingham population for robust clinical trials. It will also house device simulation facilities, the first robotics pharmacy dedicated to clinical trials and imaging facilities (COBALT).

A centre for multi-disciplinary creativity, communication and collaboration

The ITM acts as a common hub for clinician academics and medical researchers to interact with bioinformaticians, clinical informaticians, biostatisticians, trialists, bioengineers and biochemists, laboratory experts in biomarker development and basic scientists.

By bringing together expertise that spans every bench-to-bedside component, under one roof, barriers are broken down and problem solving is encouraged, so that:

• The latest University research across a range of major health issues, such as cancer, inflammation and rare diseases, can be developed efficiently.
• New drugs, medical devices and diagnostics can be assessed rigorously, rapidly and cost-effectively.
• The resulting innovations can be brought to market and front-line clinical use as quickly as possible, to improve patient treatments and outcomes.

Birmingham Health Partners: ensuring the right treatment reaches the right patient at the right time

This brand new world-class clinical research facility is a Birmingham Health Partners (BHP) project; bringing together the University of Birmingham, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and Birmingham Women and Children’s Foundation Trust to accelerate access to treatment and delivery across the full circle of patient care.

The ITM has already housed several nationally funded translational research groups, devices and bio-engineering groups, clinical trial design experts, bioinformatics and clinical informatics academic experts and a deep immunophenotyping and metabolomics stratification state-of-the art laboratory. The research support and governance teams from the University of Birmingham and the University Hospitals Birmingham Foundation Trust are also co-located at the ITM.

In addition, the ITM has been a central resource for the recent award of Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) status by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham and University of Birmingham College of Medical and Dental Sciences partnership.