Introduction

The Centre for Haematology is a dynamic grouping where academic investigators work closely with their clinical counterparts to investigate the molecular and clinical phenotypes of benign and malignant haematological disease.

There are six broad research groupings comprising

• Haemostasis and thrombosis
• Haemato-oncology
• Inherited and acquired disorders of haemopoiesis
• Immune haematology
• Transplantation and cellular therapy
• Gene targeting

Education and training

The Centre actively supports both undergraduate and postgraduate education within the Imperial College Faculty of Medicine and also runs several popular external educational events, including disease-based preceptorships, the long-established ‘Advances in Haematology’, one-day workshops in haemostasis and the renowned St Mary’s Short Courses in morphology, haematopathology and haemoglobinopathies. Find out more about education and training opportunities in the Centre.

Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory

The Centre for Haematology was integral to the establishment of the Imperial Molecular Pathology Laboratory which is situated at the Hammersmith Hospital Campus. The laboratory provides molecular testing for a wide range of haematological malignancies including tests for quantitative measurement of residual disease for chronic myeloid leukaemia (BCR-ABL1 quantification) and a variety of recurrent fusion genes in acute lymphoid and myeloid leukaemia. The laboratory is also providing tests for clonality assays, clotting disorders, chimerism for transplant patients, JAK2 and calreticulin gene mutation analysis for myeloproliferative disorders and a variety of other genetic tests (UGT1A1, alpha and beta thalassemia). Next-generation sequencing is used for the investigation of disease-specific and somatic mutations in haematological malignancies. The lab has a substantial track record in the development and transfer of research tests to the diagnostic laboratory, most recently employing digital PCR to replace more conventional single-gene RT-PCR for response monitoring, Additional information can be obtained from the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust website.

The laboratory is run by a team of clinical and biomedical scientists and hosts a team of research members of the department of Haematology and cellular pathology who are registered for PhD, Masters and biomedical science courses. The team is integrated within the multidisciplinary facilities including flow cytometry, cytogenetics and morphology.

Clinical collaborations

The Academic Centre for Haematology is fully integrated with our NHS counterparts of Clinical and Laboratory Haematology within the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. Haematology lies within the Cancer theme of the Biomedical Research Centre, and our goals of clinical excellence and translational medicine are aligned with those of the Academic Health Science Centre. At any one time, the Haematology Clinical Trials Unit oversees the conduct of more than 30 studies in both malignant and non-malignant diseases.