The Institute currently houses about 400 scientific, technical and support staff and approximately 100 students and is attracting high calibre young scientists, both clinical and non-clinical, from all over the world.  Currently there are visiting scientists and students from more than 24 countries.  Mandarin Chinese, Thai, French, Italian, German and Spanish are often heard in the coffee area.  

Several Groups in the Institute have strong links with laboratories elsewhere in the UK and overseas.  There are several collaborations with groups in Europe often supported by EU Framework grants.   Many have strong collaborations in the USA, for example the team working for the NIH funded Center for HIV Vaccine Immunology (CHAVI) and there are also joint projects with teams in Kenya, South Africa, the Gambia, Thailand, Vietnam and Sri Lanka.