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For people, place, prosperity and planet, we deliver impact with measurement science.

National challenges

Health

Supporting healthcare, life science and the bioeconomy

Personalised medicine, new treatments, and earlier diagnosis

The healthcare and life sciences landscape is transforming. Demographics, quality of life, environmental and economic shifts are all contributing. As the global population is growing and aging, new areas of medical need are emerging. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us all that the world needs to be better prepared to respond to global health emergencies, regardless of geography, or socio-economic position.

A healthy population enables individuals and communities to prosper socially and economically, as well as live longer with a good quality of life. NPL provides the measurement infrastructure to accelerate innovation and technological advances that will enable the UK to diagnose, monitor, treat, cure and prevent a wide range of diseases and reduce health inequalities.

We are working to shape the future of healthcare, to get new and more effective diagnostic tools, treatments, and medical technologies to patients more quickly.

Michael Adeogun - Head of National Challenge (Health), NPL

Our metrology is making a difference

We provide national science and measurement infrastructure, which provides expert metrology capability to the healthcare and life sciences sectors. Our expertise helps deliver confidence in the data which underpins decision making in the development of new medicines and brings together the physical sciences with other disciplines to tackle health challenges and accelerate technological innovation. At NPL we:

  • Enable longer, healthier and more prosperous lives by accelerating the detection of priority diseases and our readiness to fight current and future pandemics
  • Support the UK’s position at the forefront of leading-edge healthcare and the rapid adoption of new drugs and future therapies in line with regulation
  • Develop the bioeconomy to deliver net zero and a sustainable future
  • Provide confidence in data for early diagnosis and precision medicine
  • Deliver new measurement capabilities and infrastructure for the improved understanding of diseases.

NPL is supporting key areas of healthcare and life sciences to:

  • Improve understanding of biological systems and processes
  • Underpin the infrastructure for clinical imaging and treatment modalities
  • Support the implementation of advanced manufacturing processes
  • Enable real-time, in vitro and in vivo diagnostics
  • Ensure the increased use, quality and trustworthiness of data

Our scientists work closely with collaborators across the UK and around the world to inform our approach to current and foreseeable challenges. We create partnerships with key stakeholders from the private, public and non-profit sectors to help drive innovation.

Contact us to find out more about our healthcare and life sciences work and learn more of the expertise available through collaboration with our experts.

Contact us

Case study

Supporting the NHS during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Article

Case study

Supporting the UK biotechnology industry

Article

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Find out more about the range of work we do in life sciences and health.

Contact us

Our research and measurement solutions support innovation and product development. We work with companies to deliver business advantage and commercial success.
Contact our Customer Services team on +44 20 8943 7070