King’s College Hospital’s first dedicated paediatric research facility has opened at the Trust’s Denmark Hill site.
The Alex Mowat Paediatric Research Laboratories, known as the MowatLabs, was developed primarily for research into children’s liver disease and acute liver failure.
The £1.2m state-of-the-art laboratories – which have been funded through philanthropic donations – bring together clinicians, researchers, nurses, intensivists, surgeons and transplant specialists.
King’s has the only joint paediatric and adult liver facility in the world and is home to the world’s largest children’s liver unit – treating more than 3,000 young patients a year.
Professor Anil Dhawan, Clinical Director for Child Health and Director of the MowatLabs at King’s College Hospital, said: “The fantastic new MowatLabs will make all the difference to our young patients with serious, often life-threatening liver conditions.
“It will help us develop new therapies and treatments, which will benefit children locally, nationally and internationally. We are already working on a number of exciting new research projects in the laboratories, which will build on over the coming months and years. Thanks to very generous donations from key supporters, we continue to strive for treatment breakthroughs, and can maximise the resources available to us.”