Vision

Our vision for the Institute of Clinical Sciences (ICS) is to unite the strengths of Imperial College London and the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) to deliver cutting edge fundamental research into the genetics and mechanisms underpinning disease and to translate this for human health benefits.

A thriving research community

Imperial College London houses a thriving community of researchers with excellence not only in medical sciences but also in mathematics, chemistry, physics and engineering. It unites this with impressive translational and clinical infrastructure.

At the ICS, we bring together these strengths with those of the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS), an MRC core-funded institute with an established international reputation for fundamental research. We focus on the interface between genomics, physiology and epigenetics to understand the basis of human disease and its prevention. Our research community interfaces with colleagues across the Faculties of Medicine, Natural Sciences and Engineering to ensure that our research remains at the cutting edge and that opportunities for translational pull-through are recognised and delivered.

Delivering research priorities

Scientifically, the ICS combines established scientific strengths particularly in epigenetics and metabolism with innovative integrative genomics and imaging approaches. We focus on elucidating the biological mechanisms and processes that underpin health and disease, for example the (long term) impact of epigenetic changes that are induced by environmental stresses at the molecular, cellular and organismal level, and the genetic basis of major health challenges such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Research at the interface between disciplines

We recognise that innovation is increasingly driven from the intersection between disciplines. At the ICS we aim to exploit the interface between imaging, genomics, physiology and epigenetics, to better understand and treat metabolic disease and to evaluate – through mechanistic studies – how environmental factors impact on gene regulation and output.

Training tomorrow’s researchers

Translating the insights from fundamental research requires close partnership and understanding between disciplines and between clinical and non-clinical researchers. Over the last five years, we have developed at the ICS a very distinctive portfolio of training programmes, aimed at equipping the next generation of academics and clinical academics with the multidisciplinary skills that they need to make a difference in UK Health and Life Sciences throughout their careers.