Norwich to House New Food & Health Research Centre

The Quadram Institute, a new centre for food and health research, is to be located at the heart of the Norwich Research Park, one of Europe’s largest single-site concentrations of research in food, health and environmental sciences. With an anticipated opening during 2018, the initial investment for the £81.6m facility that will house the new centre is being provided by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) together with its three Norwich-based partners: the Institute of Food Research (IFR); the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NNUH); and the University of East Anglia (UEA).

The Centre will be led by Professor Ian Charles, currently Director of the IFR, integrating research teams from the IFR and UEA’s Faculty of Science and Norwich Medical School with the NNUHs’ gastrointestinal endoscopy facility under one roof, with aims to develop solutions to worldwide challenges in human health, food and disease.

“There is a unique set of resources and expertise at the Norwich Research Park enabling the new Quadram Institute to be a world-leading innovation hub across our areas of interest, namely the gut, microbes, food and health. This is an exciting time to have the opportunity to be truly at the forefront of an emerging new discipline of health and food research. Recent understanding of how food and our gut flora interact is creating a fundamental shift in the way we will understand and address the impact of food on health. We will be engaged in fundamental and translational research, alongside clinical studies and endoscopy and our goal is to become recognised globally for research excellence and clinical expertise and impact on patient care and outcomes” said Professor Charles.