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University

The University of Southampton is an international center of excellence, currently ranked 10th amongst comprehensive medical schools for intensity-weighted research power (Research Excellence Framework 2014). It is an acknowledged leader in cancer immunology, marked by CRUK, Bloodwise and Asthma and Allergy centre of excellence status. The recent opening of the (£25m) Centre for Cancer Immunology brings together basic scientists and the CRUK Clinical Trials Unit in one building. It has a long history in Neuroimmunology and chronic Inflammatory and Infectious diseases including, asthma, tuberculosis and meningitis, with critical mass in these areas. The Southampton Centre for Biomedical Research is a translational research partnership with University Hospital Southampton, housed in a five-storey lab complex supported by NIHR funding (£27m). It incorporates the Wellcome Trust Clinical Trials Facility and the Wessex Investigational Sciences Hub (WISH), which specialises in immunomonitoring and so facilitates direct application of new discoveries into clinical practice.

Immunology is a key theme at the Faculty of Medicine  Moreover, across the university, over 250 scientists are currently involved in basic and applied immunology research. The vision of applying cross-disciplinary research is encapsulated in the new Institute for Life Sciences (£47m) at UoS which provides state-of-the-art research facilities, including the Centre for Proteomic Research and is the home for the Quantitative Biology research community. Computational facilities at Southampton for large-scale data analysis are excellent and include the Iridis4 supercomputer, currently the 3rd most powerful supercomputer in UK academia. Moreover, our approach to immunology and its involvement in disease embodies a molecule to man approach as illustrated by our track record in taking basic research findings into new, first in class and practice changing immunological therapies.