A new state-of-the-art Veterinary Vaccinology and Cell Therapy Hub is being built on the Royal Veterinary College’s Hawkshead campus in Brookmans Park.

Due to be completed in early 2021, the Hub will contain specialist facilities including laboratories, housing for animals and an incubator for small businesses, as part of the wider, multi-million pound redevelopment of the Hawkshead campus.

The Hub will strengthen Hertfordshire’s position as a global leader for vaccine and cell therapy research and add to the growing cluster of expertise within the county.

Professor Stuart Reid CBE, Principal of the RVC, said: “We are delighted to have secured such a significant grant from Hertfordshire LEP. It will make a huge difference to what we can achieve in the next phase of development of our Hawkshead Campus, supporting the College’s research mission to contribute globally in a One Health context to some of the most significant challenges facing society.”

Why
The Hub will bring together top veterinary and human medical science researchers under one roof to advance the ‘One Health’ approach, to accelerate the development of new vaccines and cell therapies to fight animal infections and ultimately protect humans.

Research will mainly focus on livestock, in particular cattle, pigs and poultry, which are increasingly susceptible to infection from being intensively reared to meet global demand. The Hub’s facilities will support the use of large animal models in vaccine development, replacing the more common use of mice to formulate vaccines for livestock.

Funding
Hertfordshire LEP has awarded the Royal Veterinary College a £7m Local Growth Fund grant to support this project.

This project was approved by the board on the 22nd March 2018.