Olympic anti-doping facility to become MRC-NIHR Phenome Centre

New plans have been announced to develop the Olympic anti-doping facilities into a phenome research site operated by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

The MRC-NIHR Phenome Centre will be the first of its kind in the world and will utilise the cutting-edge facilities developed for London 2012 by GlaxoSmithKline and King's College London to help develop better and more targeted medical treatments.

Researchers at the new centre will be able to rapidly investigate the phenome patterns of subjects on an unprecedented scale, allowing them to discover new biomarkers from blood and urine samples.

The MRC and NIHR will invest five million pounds into the centre annually for five years, with Imperial College London to aid operations, while Bruker and Waters will supply nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometry equipment.

Health secretary Andrew Lansley said: "Alongside our investment in genomics and gene-based centres, we will in coming years develop world-leading diagnostic capabilities."

The current anti-doping lab is operating 24/7 during the Olympics, with more than 150 in-house scientists analysing over 6,250 samples.