RVC receives grant for new imaging centre

The RVC has been awarded a £2.13 million Getting Building Fund grant from Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to create the first cardiovascular imaging centre of excellence (C-ICE) in the county.

The centre will encompass research and development facilities to bring forth the next generation of treatments for animals and humans, as well as advanced skills training provision for academics, students, and veterinary sector small and medium-sized enterprises, helping strengthen the local skills pipeline.

Novel treatments

At the heart of C-ICE will be a 3 tesla MRI scanner capable of producing high-resolution images of pathological conditions for diagnostic and treatment evaluation.

It will also be used to investigate novel treatments initially in experimental animal models of human disease and then in veterinary patients – in particular, neurological and cardiac conditions.

Full integrated

The scanner will be fully integrated with the RVC’s Queen Mother Hospital for Animals – home to the largest group of veterinary clinical specialists in Europe. This one health approach – which recognises the interconnectedness of humans, animals and ecosystems in health care – will enable C-ICE to support the development of precision medicine.

C-ICE will also complement recent investments in the cell and gene therapy cluster in Stevenage through its cardiac catheterisation lab, created as part of the veterinary vaccinology and cell therapy hub.

Gene therapies

The lab will enable the delivery of cell and gene therapies, or “living medicines”, into the cardiac circulation via coronary artery catheterisation.

This combination of advanced imaging equipment and expert veterinary clinicians will be unique within Hertfordshire and the wider Oxford-Cambridge-London triangle.

Regenerative medicine

Jonathan Elliott, vice-principal for research and innovation at the RVC, said: “I am delighted that the RVC has been awarded this grant. The establishment of this centre will not only pave the way for innovation in the field of regenerative medicine, precisely tailored to the individual patient, it will also contribute to the growth of our local economy.

“At the RVC we recognise the importance of a collaborative ‘one health’ approach to cutting-edge science, which benefits both veterinary and human medicine. This centre will facilitate research that could transform the treatment of some of the most important debilitating chronic diseases affecting today’s ageing society.”