The Cambridge Children’s Research Institute (CCRI) will embed research into Cambridge Children's Hospital, transforming early diagnosis, precision treatment and prevention of disease.
The Research Institute will house seven collaborative research centres focusing on the most serious impediments to health and wellbeing that children and young people face in the UK and globally.
Our research will tackle what matters to children, from conception into adulthood, covering mental and physical health, with a shift from reaction to prevention.
Professor Sam Behjati, Director of Cambridge Children's Research Institute and Head of Paediatrics, University of Cambridge
Childhood Cancer Centre
Improving the effectiveness and lessening the lifelong impact of cancer treatment.
Cancer and blood disorders such as leukaemia, brain tumours and sickle cell disease continue to be leading causes of death and disability in children and young people. In the Childhood Cancer Centre, researchers will focus on better understanding the early origins of childhood cancers, utilising new insights into where paediatric cancers of the body and brain begin to improve detection and treatment. At the forefront of translating genomic data into effective cancer treatment, our ambition is to provide novel cell-based therapies for leukaemia and blood diseases and open up new gene therapy options.
Centre for Diabetes and Metabolic Research
Anticipating risks and developing new treatments and smart therapies.
Obesity and diabetes are leading causes of disease in children, with both conditions closely linked to socioeconomic status and, in some cases, genetic vulnerability. Using state-of-the-art approaches, the Diabetes and Obesity Centre will test new treatments and work beyond environmental factors to personalise care for every child. Researchers will work to better predict obesity risks and intervene by identifying gene scores and pregnancy exposures, whilst piloting new approaches and developing new ‘smart therapies’.
Genomic Medicine Centre
Developing advanced diagnostic testing, precision medicine and gene therapies
Serious genetic disease is the leading cause of death in children under one year of age and accounts for 30 percent of all paediatric hospital admissions. The Centre for Genomic Medicine will use cutting-edge genomics to find new and better diagnostics and treatments. Researchers will develop clinically applicable methods – particularly whole genome sequencing and gene and cell therapies – to help predict, prevent and treat rare diseases, focusing in particular on serious neurogenetic disorders and cancer.
Neurodevelopment & Mental Health Centre
Understanding the correlation between physical and mental ill health.
We will focus on the early detection of poor mental health among children with long-term or chronic conditions and other vulnerabilities, developing and testing novel ways of responding to check that they work and are value for money, and the complex relationships between mental and physical health, and between health and education services. The Centre brings together a broad multidisciplinary team, including psychiatry, clinical and non-clinical psychology, paediatrics, epidemiology, statistics, informatics and education.
Current estimates suggest that around 20% of the world’s children and young people have a mental health condition, making mental health conditions a major and increasing cause of paediatric disability worldwide. The mental health teams have additional broad programs of research focussed on developing and evaluating services and interventions to optimise children and young people's mental health.
Read about the latest research in children's mental health:
- ChARM Research Group (opens in a new tab).
- Attend Study (opens in a new tab),
- WAIT LESS Study (opens in a new tab),
- Exploring Mental Health Support Teams in schools (opens in a new tab)
- It takes a village (opens in a new tab)
- Artemis-a (opens in a new tab)
- HOPE study (opens in a new tab)
- Attend Well (opens in a new tab)
- sorts4schools (opens in a new tab)
Perinatal Centre
Predicting and preventing stillbirth, and developing neonatal neuroprotective therapies.
The Perinatal Centre will work closely with clinicians at the Rosie Hospital on preventing stillbirth and neonatal brain injury by investigating basic mechanisms, developing new strategies for neuroprotection and clinical innovation. Work will draw on whole genome sequencing to enable earlier diagnosis and personalised approaches to the antenatal and NICU management of babies with serious genetic diseases.
Autism Clinical Centre
Dedicated to translating autism research into autism clinical practice.
The K. Lisa Yang Autism Clinical Centre will serve not only autistic people and their families but also clinicians, researchers, data scientists, and policy experts working collaboratively to improve outcomes. The Clinical Centre will provide evidence-based interventions that support children to grow into healthy, thriving adults, delivering transformative, life-course improvements for autistic individuals and their families.
Read the latest in autism research by visiting the ARC website: Autism Research Centre (opens in a new tab)
Centre for Children's Gut Health
Pioneering more effective treatments for children with gut-related diseases and improve quality of life.
Gut-related diseases, such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), often means children face lifelong illness, repeated hospitalisations, invasive procedures, powerful medications, anxiety and uncertainty. The Cambridge Centre for Children's Gut Health will pioneer AI-enabled personalised medicine; patient-derived “mini-gut” disease models; precision drug testing and next-generation diagnostics. It will also focus on the integration of mental and physical healthcare.