Norwich North MP Alice Macdonald tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM) welcoming the charity Invest in ME Research’s funding of the Ian Gibson Fellowship for postdoctoral research into myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), held by Dr Katharine Seton, and the fellowship’s role in further developing the centre of excellence in ME research at the Quadram Institute.

Dr Ian Gibson was MP for Norwich North from 1997 to 2009. He died aged 82 in 2021. Dr Gibson, was a cancer researcher and Dean of Biological Sciences at the University of East Anglia, was a highly respected Chair of the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee, and an outstanding advocate for science and health.

Professor Simon Carding, Head of the Food, Microbiome, and Health research programme at the Quadram Institute said: “We remain incredibly grateful to Invest in ME Research and their supporters for their support of our ME research and would like to thank Alice Macdonald MP for tabling the Early Day Motion and helping highlight our ongoing investigations into the links between ME and the gut microbiome.”

South Norfolk MP Ben Goldsborough, the constituency MP for much of the Norwich Research Park, cited the Quadram Institute and its neighbouring institutes in a debate in Parliament on the EU Trading Relationship on Thursday 24 April.

Ben Goldsborough MP said: “It is in the labs of the Quadram Institute, the Sainsbury Laboratory, the Earlham Institute and the John Innes Centre—the world-leading institutions that make up Norwich Research Park and whose discoveries in genomics, health and crop science are shaping the future. Innovation does not happen in isolation, and a more pragmatic relationship with the EU would allow those centres to collaborate more freely, access essential data and funding streams, and unlock discoveries that could change our lives for the better.”