The Institute of Metabolic Science (IMS) is dedicated to research, education, prevention and clinical care in the areas of diabetes, obesity and related metabolic and endocrine diseases, all of which are major and increasing threats to worldwide public health.
The IMS has been developed as a tri-institutional partnership between the University of Cambridge, the Medical Research Council (MRC) and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The co-directors are Professors Stephen O'Rahilly and Nick Wareham.
The IMS is housed in a new purpose-built facility on the Addenbrooke’s Biomedical Campus. The IMS houses the Metabolic Research Laboratories (MRL) of the University of Cambridge on two of its floors. MRL researchers undertake laboratory and clinical research into a range of metabolic and endocrine diseases. The MRL also hosts the new MRC Centre for Translational Research in Obesity and related Metabolic Diseases.
A further floor houses the MRC Epidemiology Unit, directed by Professor Nick Wareham, whose scientists use epidemiological methods to study the aetiology and prevention of obesity and Type 2 diabetes.
The ground floor contains the IMS Clinical Care Centre, incorporating the Weston Centre for Childhood and Adolescent Diabetes and Endocrinology which provides state of the art facilities for the treatment of people of all ages with diabetes obesity and related metabolic and endocrine disorders.
A major function of the institute is to encourage daily interaction between basic and clinical scientists, epidemiologists and clinicians to maximise the impact of research into the prevention and treatment of these diseases and to improve the quality of care delivered to the individual patient.