Facilities

Castle Hill Hospital, Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

The Daisy Building, located in close proximity to patients and theatres, provides an outstanding environment to perform clinical trials and detailed laboratory analysis of patient samples.

The vibrant research laboratory environment includes research groups exploring the aetiology of pathological wound healing, the role of senescence and aging on wound repair, the underlying biology of respiratory conditions and the development of new treatments for cancer. The laboratories are equipped with state-of-the-art research facilities, including extensive cell and tissue culture suites, histology and imaging facilities, FAC flow cytometry and cell sorting, a microbiology suite and live cell imaging capabilities.

Our clinical trial facilities are equipped with Vivid E9 Ultrasound, stress exercise facilities inc Vo2, MiniBox™ a patented, first-of-its-kind, desktop plethysmography device for Pulmonary Function Testing (PFT) in any clinical setting, Nitric Oxide measurement, ECG, BP and Spirometry. We have developed and use the Hull automated cough counter (HACC) for recording 24-hour cough and associated analysis in our dedicated cough laboratory. We are also one of the few centres capable of sputum processing\Differential Cell Counts. Also available are dedicated consulting and examination rooms, a phlebotomy room, exercise test room, and volunteer\patient areas.

The Daisy Building including its facilities and state-of-the art equipment, have been made possible thanks to the generosity of the Daisy Appeal. 

University of Hull and Castle Hill Hospital, Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Hull Molecular Imaging Centres (HuMIC) is a single overarching research unit comprising of three sites: the Positron Emission Tomography Research Centre (PETRC) located at the University of Hull campus and the Molecular Imaging Research Centre (MIRC) and Jack Brignall Clinical PET-CT Centre located adjacent to each other at Castle Hill Hospital, Cottingham.

HuMic has been developed and led financially (with over £15 million of investment) by the Daisy Appeal and the University of Hull and together with the Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, has been developed to provide comprehensive bench to bedside research and clinical facilities - bringing together University and NHS researchers.  

The PETRC, which has been operational since 2014 has on-site ABT Biomarker Generator cyclotron, Gallium-68 generator, hot-cells, pre-clinical PET-CT and PET-SPECT scanners and the capacity to work with a range of short- to long- lived radioisotopes. PETRC has also access to an animal house enabling it to perform the full range of in vitro and in vivo pre-clinical molecular studies on site.

The Jack-Brignall clinical PET-CT centre services the NHS performing > 3500 clinical scans per year on its Siemens Biograph mCT Flow Edge PET-CT scanner with plans to acquire another state-of-the art PET-CT scanner in 2022-23.

The newly built £8.75 million translational imaging unit, MIRC became fully operational in 2022 and can produce Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) grade radiotracers for clinical use on its recently installed on-site cyclotron.