Life sciences

Newcastle is a designated UK Science City and internationally renowned for life sciences.

The city is widely credited as a hotbed for driving medical advancements, with major breakthroughs in mitochondrial disease, neuromuscular disease, renal disease and cancer. 

The city is home to one of the leading hospital trusts in the UK for clinical research as well as two world-class universities and cutting-edge facilities including the International Centre for Life and the NIHR Newcastle Biodemical Research Centre.

In the heart of the city lies Newcastle Helix, a 24-acre hybrid innovation quarter specifically built for international tech and science innovation. A hub of collaboration, Newcastle Helix is also home to the UK’s only National Innovation Centre for Ageing and the National Innovation Centre for Data, the largest facility of its kind in Europe.

Both centres use big data, innovation and collaboration to help us research and invest into living better for longer and to unleash opportunities to individuals and organisations offered by the explosive growth in digital data.

North East England has an established pharmaceutical cluster accounting for £632m of the region’s GVA, whilst Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust tops the tables for a fourth consecutive year, undertaking the UK’s largest number of clinical trials, recruiting almost 12,500 patients.

Thanks to our world-class facilities and industry expertise, we’ve attracted conferences such as the International Society for Clinical Biostatistics and the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry (BSPD).

Things you need to know:

• The International Centre for Life is the UK’s first biotechnology village, a landmark £90m development which is home to Newcastle University’s Institute for Genetic Medicine.
• Newcastle University was granted the first licence by the fertility regulator to create a baby with three genetic parents, which is a ground-breaking development that will be used to prevent children dying from genetic diseases.
• The National Institute for Health Research Innovation Observatory based at Newcastle University applies big data analytical tools to reveal global trends in health innovation.

Newcastle University

Ranked among the top 1% of higher education institutions globally, Newcastle has a range of academic strengths, including healthy ageing, data science, cities and place and sustainable development.

Newcastle University is deeply embedded in Newcastle’s health and life sciences sector, from the Newcastle Health Innovation Partners (NHIP) programme, which convenes academics and research around innovative projects, to the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, which puts Newcastle at the forefront of the translational medicine revolution, leading to major advances in patient healthcare, regionally, nationally and globally.

The university’s School of Medicine traces its roots back to 1834 and is now one of the largest integrated medical teaching and hospital complexes in the UK.

Northumbria University

Northumbria University is a modern university with a growing reputation for academic excellence. In 2022, Northumbria was named University of the Year in the Times Higher Education (THE) Awards.

Northumbria’s department of Nursing, Midwifery and Health is ranked 8th in the UK for research power. One of five approved national NMC Competence Test Centres in the country, it provides the Observed Structured Clinical Examination for new nurses, supporting the expansion of the nursing workforce in the UK.

Northumbria is at the forefront of life sciences research through its nationally important genomics facility NU-OMICS, which works on a range of funded microbiome sciences projects.