About the Centre

The Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Disease in Children provides much needed dedicated laboratories, cutting-edge technology and equipment, and brings together hundreds of clinicians and researchers under one roof to drive forward new treatments and cures for children with rare and complex diseases.

Designed by award-winning architects, Stanton Williams, the state-of-the-art centre was completed in 2019. Adjacent to Great Ormond Street Hospital and the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, it houses the latest technologies in a flexible space that acts as a vibrant and collaborative hub.

Our impressive Centre includes:

• Major new good manufacturing practice (GMP) suite including 7 specialist clean rooms for the production of clinical grade gene and cell therapies and a simulation suite for education and training. The facility is the largest single academic manufacturing unit for gene and cell therapies in the UK and one of the largest in the world. GOSH has been granted the Manufacturer’s Authorisation License for the manufacture of viral vectors, which can improve research and enable us to provide new bespoke treatments for patients.
• Main laboratory with 140 dedicated benches for early development work to test the safety and efficacy of potential new treatments and a second lab housing the genomics team.
• 9 Tissue culture rooms for testing potential new treatments on cells grown in the laboratory.
• Flow Cytometry suite for rapidly identifying and sorting different types of cell from one another.
• The Noé Heart Centre Labs bring together five critical labs that support research into new treatments and underpin cardiac clinical care at GOSH.
• An outpatients clinic with child friendly consultation rooms, a sensory room, interactive artworks and educational activities suitable for our patients.
• Research write-up areas, meeting rooms and spaces to allow our scientists and medical teams to collaborate and progress with their work.