Infrastructure is a fundamental enabler for science and underpins BBSRC’s entire research and innovation portfolio. Access to a diverse range of infrastructures is essential for the continued success of UK bioscience.
We ensure UK bioscientists, including researchers in academia and industry, can access cutting-edge, sustainable research and innovation infrastructures. These infrastructures include the facilities, resources and services used by the research and innovation communities to conduct research and foster innovation in their fields.
Across the biosciences this includes:
- equipment: from single items of equipment to large-scale facilities
- resources: bioinformatics and biological resources, such as databases and biological collections
- digital research infrastructures: from High Performance Compute to data-intensive bioscience and artificial intelligence (AI)
- translation: scale-up facilities to accelerate translation from laboratory to market, such as bio-refining centres
- international: promote access to overseas capabilities for our community, working with international initiatives such as those recognised by the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI)
- BBSRC’s strategically supported institutes
- BBSRC’s research and innovation campuses
These investments provide enhanced capacity, capability, efficiency and coordination for research, such as through sharing of open biodata, and provide space for new companies to establish and thrive.
This is complemented by our investments in people and skills that are vital to the planning, development, operation, maintenance and long-term sustainability of infrastructure.
Our infrastructure strategic framework
In 2024 we published our first Infrastructure Strategic Framework. It sets out our approach to ensuring UK bioscience, including academic researchers, innovators and industrialists, can access cutting-edge, sustainable research and innovation infrastructures.
The framework is underpinned by seven key principles that will guide our strategy and decision-making:
- A balanced portfolio
- Forward planning
- People, culture and talent (for instance, Research Technical Professionals)
- Engagement
- Supporting a connected infrastructure ecosystem
- Operational sustainability
- Environmental considerations
The framework provides a useful summary of our current infrastructure investments and highlights the key trends and drivers to address moving forward.
Our support for bioscience infrastructures and investments
ALERT Mid-range equipment for biosciences research
Our annual ALERT programme funds mid-range equipment, from ‘workhorse’ equipment to cutting-edge technologies and lab-to-field platforms. The goal of these investments is to strengthen the capabilities of local and regional infrastructures to maintain the competitiveness of the UK biosciences.
Visit our awarded research grants and Portfolio Analyser for details on previous awards.
The BBSRC Transformative Technologies programme delivers related funding opportunities including:
- Bioinformatics and Biological Resources (BBR) Fund
- Transformative Research Technologies (TRT) Fund
National infrastructure
We work on behalf of the biosciences when engaging with cross-UKRI infrastructure activities, including:
Recent infrastructure projects funded through these activities but led by BBSRC include:
- John Innes Centre and The Sainsbury Laboratory Next Generation Infrastructure
- EMBL-EBI Data Resources for the Life Sciences Phase 2
- BioFAIR
- PhenomUK (preliminary activity)
BBSRC also supports 10 National Bioscience Research Infrastructures (NBRI) hosted at its strategically supported institutes. NBRIs are an important contributor to their respective institute’s role as a national capability in the UK bioscience research and innovation landscape.
The NBRIs are:
- The Insect Survey at Rothamsted Research
- The Long Term Experiments at Rothamsted Research
- The North Wyke Farm Platform at Rothamsted Research
- Large Animal Research and Imaging Facility (LARIF) at The Roslin Institute
- High Containment facilities at The Pirbright Institute
- Low Containment facilities at The Pirbright Institute
- Transformative Genomics at Earlham Institute
- Earlham Biofoundry at Earlham Institute
- Germplasm Resources at John Innes Centre
- Food & Nutrition at Quadram Institute
Find out more about the facilities and other resources funded by BBSRC.
International infrastructure
BBSRC also acts as an international partner by contributing to the international infrastructure landscape, promoting coordination, and securing access to unique infrastructure for UK researchers.
We collaborate and contribute towards a range of international infrastructure activities, outlined as follows.
European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)
Research at EMBL focuses on a central strategic goal: the fundamental understanding of basic biological processes in model organisms, from molecules through to ecosystems.
EMBL places emphasis on experimental analysis at multiple levels of biological organisation, from the molecule to the organism, as well as computational biology, bioinformatics and systems biology.
It has six sites across Europe.
EMBL European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI)
EMBL-EBI provides open data resources that enable discovery and performs research in computational biology. It is located in Hinxton, UK.
A 2021 independent report found that data resources managed by EMBL-EBI are critical to the life sciences, and they underpin research impacts estimated to be worth £1.3 billion annually.
The databases, tools and software serve users worldwide and on average receive over 107 million online requests each day.
European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI)
ESFRI is a strategic initiative that supports international collaboration to develop and enhance large-scale research infrastructures. The ESFRI Roadmap identifies European investment priorities in research infrastructure.
BBSRC supports the following major international infrastructure projects recognised by the ESFRI Roadmap:
- European life science infrastructure for biological information (ELIXIR)
- Euro-BioImaging
The UK Nodes of these infrastructures manage access to cutting-edge facilities, services and training for the international community.
European life science infrastructure for biological information (ELIXIR)
ELIXIR is an inter-governmental organisation building on existing data resources and services within Europe. It helps researchers with managing and analysing this increasing volume of life science data.
The ELIXIR-UK node represents the nation’s strengths in bioinformatics and supports open-access services across the life sciences. It has 28 UK research organisation members and is led by the Earlham Institute.
Euro-BioImaging
The mission of Euro-BioImaging is to provide researchers with imaging services that bridge biological and biomedical imaging and facilitate innovative and world-class research. It offers open access to imaging technologies, training and data services.
The Euro-BioImaging UK Node offers open access to a wide range of advanced biological imaging techniques including correlative, multi-modal, high-content and super-resolution. It is a multi-sited national infrastructure hosted across seven leading UK research organisations.
Research Technical Professionals
Beyond the physical and digital infrastructure, we also consider the Research Technical Professionals (RTPs) who play a crucial role in ensuring the smooth operation of infrastructure and ensuring its impact can be fully realised.
We aim to champion the crucial role of RTPs in research and innovation and the value they bring to our investments, building on:
RTPs in the ALERT programme: showcase videos
In collaboration with the UK Institute for Technical Skills and Strategy, we developed a three-part video series to showcase how RTPs are utilising BBSRC’s ALERT funding to support the delivery of bioscience research and innovation.
Who to contact
BBSRC Research Infrastructure team
Email: infrastructure@bbsrc.ukri.org
BBSRC ALERT team
Email: bbsrcalert@bbsrc.ukri.org
Last updated: 30 January 2025