UK Puts £52 Million Into Five Hubs That Aim to Catch Disease Early

Five new research hubs will share more than £52 million from the UK government, through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), to build technologies that detect illness years before symptoms show. Partners including Google, Siemens and Medtronic add another £37.5 million in cash and in-kind support, bringing total backing close to £90 million.

The investment builds on earlier healthcare hubs whose work already produced the world's first AI-assisted brain tumour surgery and spacesuits with artificial muscles for Moon and Mars missions.

What will the hubs actually build?

The five hubs, based in Exeter, London, Southampton and Sunderland, each have a concrete brief:

• BRAINIAC (University of Exeter, led by Professor David Llewellyn): the UK's first network of NHS brain health clinics. Ten sites will test AI that combines blood tests, brain scans and memory tests into one picture of brain health, involving more than 1,700 patients. The goal: cut dementia risk and make diagnosis up to 50% faster.
• BRAIN-SAFE (Imperial College London, led by Professor David Sharp): computer models that predict an individual's brain injury risk after a head impact, factoring in age, sex and previous injuries. Traumatic brain injury is the leading cause of death and disability in under-40s. Possible uses include real-time pitch-side alerts in sport, crash data that flags likely brain injury to paramedics, and safer helmets.
• HeartTech (King's College London, led by Professor Sebastien Ourselin): tools combining wearables, imaging and health records to spot cardiovascular risk earlier. Cardiovascular disease affects more than 7 million people in the UK and causes a quarter of all deaths. The hub will develop an AI wellbeing coach that nudges lifestyle changes and tells users when to see a clinician.
• CRISP (University of Southampton, led by Associate Professor Alexander Edwards): wearable sensors, smartphone apps that analyse coughs and breathing, and rapid home tests. Acute respiratory infections drive around 25 million GP consultations and 850,000 hospital admissions a year in England. AI would combine the data to predict how an illness develops and tell people whether to rest or contact a pharmacist or GP.
• NORI (University of Sunderland, led by Professor Matthew Campbell): AI that reads routine eye scans for early signs of diabetes and heart disease, starting at Sunderland Specialist Eye Hospital.

Why eyes?

The back of the eye holds tiny blood vessels and nerve tissue that reveal clues about wider health, often before symptoms appear. NORI's AI will analyse retinal images alongside NHS records and community data, picking up subtle changes that may signal early disease.