Where Discovery Becomes Diagnostic.
The Molecular Imaging Research Centre (MIRC) was commissioned in 2024, built and funded by The Daisy Appeal Charity. The centre offers world-leading research facilities and production of radiopharmaceuticals.
The Molecular Imaging Research Centre (MIRC) was commissioned in 2024 by the Daisy Appeal Charity who built and initially funded the centre. With no other facility like this available between Edinburgh and Oxford, the MIRC now relies on continuous funding from the charity, as well as proceeds from the contracted work it completes on behalf of its customers.
The centre offers world-leading research facilities and production of radiopharmaceuticals, enabling the NHS, research institutions, chemists, and pharmaceutical companies to develop new methods of diagnosing cancers, dementia, and heart disease when patients have PET and CT scans.
Positron emission tomography (PET) is an advanced diagnostic scan used to more accurately diagnose and monitor conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegenerative disease.
PET scans give us a glimpse into the “engine room” of the disease, unlike other imaging techniques, including X-Ray, CT, and MRI, which simply tell us where the disease is. This type of diagnostic scan allows us to better understand how the disease functions and develops, enabling healthcare professionals to select the most effective treatment to “cut off the power”.
The world-leading facilities and team at the Daisy Molecular Imaging Research Centre support global institutions and businesses through commercial and academic partnerships.
The process requires the patient to be administered a mildly radioactive drug (radiopharmaceutical), which can be detected from outside of the body using a PET scanner. Each radiopharmaceutical is finely tuned to report back on specific mechanisms driving the disease, and radiologists study the images to decipher the biological processes at work. This reveals where the disease is, how it behaves, spreads, and responds to treatment.
A limited variety of radiopharmaceuticals are available on the commercial market, making the MIRC a unique facility. It allows us to make any radiopharmaceutical we wish and offer it to patients through the NHS or as part of clinical trials.
Registered office: MIRC, Daisy Building, Castle Hill Hospital, Castle Road, Cottingham HU16 5JQ.
Registered company number 177823472
Call: 01482 461909