Quadram Institute


is a world leading centre for food and health research, combining Quadram Institute Bioscience, the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals’  endoscopy centre and aspects of the University of East Anglia’s Norwich Medical School and the Faculty of Science.. It is located on the outskirts of Norwich, England, United Kingdom and is a member of the Norwich Research Park along with the John Innes Centre, the Earlham Institute, the University of East Anglia and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.
The Institute is housed in a purpose-built facility on the Norwich Research Park that opened in 2018. Its founding partners are Quadram Institute Bioscience, University of East Anglia, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. The institute combines research teams from the partners with a regional gastrointestinal endoscopy unit and a clinical trials facility. The first patients were treated in the endoscopy unit in December 2018.

History

The Institute of Food Research was created in, when it was spread over four sites; the Meat Research Institute at Langford near Bristol, the Food Research Institute at Colney in Norwich, the National Institute for Research in Dairying in Shinfield near Reading, and the Long Ashton Research Station. At the end of 1990, the Meat Research Institute Bristol laboratory was closed, and in 1992, the National Institute for Research in Dairying Reading laboratory was moved onto the campus of the University of Reading. In 1998, it was decided that the Institute's activities should be consolidated in one location: Norwich, which was completed in September 1999.
On 28 April 2017, the Institute of Food Research transitioned into Quadram Institute Bioscience, ahead of a full opening of the Quadram Institute in 2018.

Research focus

The Quadram Institute has a research programme that covers four main areas:
The aims of its research are to combat diet-related diseases, develop innovative healthier foods, ensure healthy ageing, and to better understand the microbiota.

Directors

The director is Professor Ian Charles, who was appointed in 2015.

Building

Construction of the Quadram Institute building began in February 2016, and the building opened in September 2018. Wates Construction is the main contractor. It was designed by the London office of architects NBBJ. The building can house 300 scientists and 100 staff supporting the endoscopy centre, as well as having capacity for 40,000 endoscopy outpatient visits each year.