The Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility in Southampton General Hospital is a partnership between the Wellcome Trust, the University of Southampton and the Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust. It is dedicated to clinical and translational research that will deliver maximum patient benefit across a wide range of diseases and conditions.

The WTCRF is an integral part of the Southampton Clinical Research Institute (www.scri.soton.ac.uk), which facilitates the conduct of clinical research through improved coordination and collaboration of support services.

Opened in 2001, the WTCRF provides state-of-the-art facilities for researchers together with a team of experienced and trained research nurses. It places Southampton at the heart of new developments in the causes and treatments of common diseases including asthma, cancer, food allergies, sleep disorders, diabetes, arthritis, bone disease, infectious diseases, obesity and heart disease.

The unit comprises:

• temperature controlled consulting rooms
• a nine bedded adult inpatient facility, including high dependency
• a self-contained four bedded paediatric area
• bronchoscopy/endoscopy suite
• environmental laboratory
• physiology laboratory
• sleep laboratory
• prep lab
• Category III laboratory
• infusion room