The NIHR CRF is equipped to a high standard to allow research studies to be carried out consistently and in accordance with good clinical practice (GCP) guidelines.
Rooms
The CRF has:
- multi-purpose generic rooms which include outpatient clinic rooms, day-case facilities, inpatient beds and meeting rooms
- specialist rooms that include a metabolic studies area, endoscopy suite and high specification isolation rooms
Access to equipment
The adult CRF covers two floors in the Heritage Building at QEHB and operates jointly with the Inflammation Research Facility (IRF) and the Institute of Translational Medicine (ITM), within the established Centre for Rare Diseases.
The CRF has specialist equipment and skilled staff for procedures such as:
- endoscopy
- fibroscans
- echos
- metabolic testing
Initial site discussions can address specific project needs. A health research bus (HRB) is also available for community-based projects.
Laboratories
The CRF Laboratory in the adult facility provides invaluable services such as specimen processing for researchers and is complaint with both GCP and good laboratory practice (GLP) guidelines.
The laboratories consist of a class II analytical laboratory that can facilitate investigative research, sample processing, storage and analysis and an analytical laboratory with flow cytometry equipment, CO² incubators and hoods. A separate freezer room houses several minus 80 degree, temperature monitored freezers.
The paediatric CRF is closely linked to the hospital clinical laboratories for all sample processing and shipping support.
Last reviewed: 06 November 2024