The Sheffield PRU was originally established at the Sheffield Children's Hospital in 1974 and moved to the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in 1976.  We relocated to larger laboratory facilities at the Northern General Hospital in 1993 due to an increasing service demand and test repertoire. In 2012 we moved into a purpose built Laboratory Medicine building at the Northern General Hospital. The Laboratory Medicine building cost £11 million and reflects the investment that Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has placed in its Pathology services. The building houses the departments of Immunology/PRU, Clinical Chemistry, Haematology/Coagulation and Microbiology/Virology.

We offer a comprehensive diagnostic Immunology, Immunochemistry and Allergy service and have a long standing expertise in specialist protein measurement including tumour markers. The PRU began testing for neural tube defects in 1975 and this has evolved into the pre-natal Downs screening service covering South Yorkshire, North Derbyshire and North Lincolnshire. We have been involved in the investigation of anaesthetic adverse reactions since 1978.

We are continually seeking to offer new tests and expand our repertoire. More recently we have increased the service in specialist immunodeficiency and allergy investigations to include specific IgE to recombinant allergens, functional assays such as basophil activation and TLR screening and B cell phenotyping for immunodeficiency.