The initiative aims to deliver precision therapies that reset the immune system and promote deeper tissue healing, with the potential for longer-lasting, possibly curative treatments for millions affected by immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs).

Over a 14-year program, researchers will map healthy versus diseased tissue, study cellular neighbourhoods and communications, and build lab tissue models to test interventions that disrupt harmful cellular interactions and restore healthy networks.

The centre will unite researchers from eight UK and Japanese universities, charities, public engagement groups, and industry to study why immune-mediated diseases develop and why inflammation persists, aiming to address underlying causes rather than just symptoms.

Leadership is led by Professor Adam P Croft, who advocates shifting from disease management to curative approaches enabled by new technologies that examine tissues at high resolution to identify disease-driving mechanisms.

The work will involve creating detailed cellular maps, developing tissue models, and translating discoveries into targeted therapies that could reduce or remove the need for ongoing treatment.

The program seeks therapies that restore immune balance and repair damaged tissues, aiming for lasting disease remission and reduced dependence on lifelong medications for conditions like inflammatory arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune liver disease, and Sjögren’s syndrome.

A UK multi-institutional effort led by the University of Birmingham plans to invest up to £50 million over 14 years in a new MRC Centre of Research Excellence in Restorative Immunology to tackle chronic inflammatory diseases.