Keele University's Institute for Science & Technology in Medicine (ISTM) takes a collaborative "bench to bedside" approach to bio-medical research across the Faculties of Health and Natural Sciences. The Institute has grown from strong foundations: 30 years experience in postgraduate medical training, investment in world-class bioengineering in the 1990s, and the establishment of the new Keele Undergraduate Medical School in 2000. Over a decade of 5 and 5* ratings in the Research Assessment Exercise has enabled basic, strategic and applied research to take place in the highest quality environment, with clear focus and routes into exploitation in bioscience industries and healthcare. ISTM was ranked in the top 10 UK university Musculo-skeletal Research groups by the Department of Health in 2007, and is a European Centre of Excellence in Tissue Engineering.
ISTM bridges the interface between new advances in basic science and technology with medicine and clinical practice. Overall, ISTM now comprises 75 academic and clinical members, ~35 research staff and ~100 research students all brought together in a single unit. Clinical members are based at two hospitals in North Staffordshire and Shropshire: the University Hospital of North Staffordshire and the Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital, Oswestry, both of which have outstanding reputations in applying cutting-edge research in orthopaedics, medical physics, bio-engineering and tissue engineering. In the last five years Keele and the NHS have invested in extensive state-of-the-art infrastructure and equipment for the Institute, including the Guy Hilton Research Centre which includes patient research facilities and new laboratories for staff and students.
