Adults
The project database currently holds 97 relevant grants.
- Allergic drug reactions - the immune basis
- Studying the mechanisms involved in allergic reactions to drugs which may lead to a treatment for people who develop allergic drug reactions and may provide a way of identifying those most at risk.
- Artificial limb comfort for below-knee amputees
- Pressure between the body and artificial limb during walking will be studied and the findings should improve artificial limb fitting, comfort and quality of life for patients.
- Back pain - posture control training
- Evaluation of posture control and co-ordination treatment for patients with low back pain for improved rehabilitation.
- Blindness — improving diagnosis
- Further dveloping an imaging technique called optical coherence tomography for non-invasive diagnosis of eye diseases.
- Blindness — investigating the causes of age related macular degeneration
- Bone healing measured with sound waves
- Developing an accurate measurement of fracture healing based on the transmission of sound waves (using ultrasound) along the broken bone
- Bone healing using cell therapy
- Investigating a novel technique to help repair problem fractures where bone forming cells are taken from the patients pelvis, grown and injected into the site of fracture.
- Bone marrow transplants - improving success
- To study tolerogenic dendritic cell therapy for the prevention of acute graft versus host disease.
- Bowel continence after spinal cord injury
- Evaluating and improving the management of bowel control during rehabilitation for spinal cord injured patients.
- Bowel control problems — a new therapy
- Scientific evaluation of whether electrical stimulation can increase the strength of the anal sphincter muscle and thus improve bowel control.
- Breast surgery — preventing wound infection
- Wound infection after surgery is a major cause of ill health and patient suffering. In this project, the researchers will compare the use of antibiotics with patient warming therapy on reducing the rate of wound infection following breast surgery
- Breathing problems — improving assessment and management of breathlessness
- Looking into more accurate assessment of breathlessness to assist patients with breathing problems.
- Cartilage repair
- Studying how cartilage cells survive and maintain their surrounding environment, in order to develop mechanisms to encourage recovery following traumatic injury.
- Cellulitis of the leg
- Cerebral palsy — new ways to get joints moving
- Studying a new way of increasing movement of joints using the combined effects of heat and stretching with a specially designed splint.
- Corneal transplantation preventing transplant rejection
- Studying mechanisms to prevent the immune system from attacking corneal transplants and prevent transplant rejection.
- Crohn’s disease - fibrosis
- Studying mechanisms of scar tissue formation in the intestine to improve understanding of Crohn’s disease, and looking for ways to block this process.
- Crohn’s disease vaccine
- Development of a vaccine against a bacterium that can cause chronic inflammation of the intestine and is thought to be a cause of Crohn’s Disease
- Diabetic retinopathy
- Researching the causes of diabetic retinopathy, a complication of diabetes that affects the light sensitive layer at the back of the eye called the retina.
- Dietary iron absorption
- Investigating the proteins involved in the absorption of dietary iron in health and disease.
- Ectodermal dysplasias affecting the skin, hair, teeth and nails
- Searching for the gene abnormalities which lead to poor development of these tissues.
- Elbow fracture surgery
- Fractures of the elbow are very common and current treatment with surgery may lead to an unstable elbow. The aim of this project is to assess a new approach to elbow surgery to see if elbow stability can be improved.
- Epilepsy
- Using modern genetic techniques to investigate processes in the brain following epileptic seizures.
- Epilepsy diagnosis
- Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders. If successful, this research will improve the sensitivity of techniques used to identify epilepsy in patients, leading to more certain and earlier diagnosis and treatment.
- Epilepsy — imaging causes and effects
- Evaluating two new methods to scan the brain of epileptic patients using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
- Epilepsy — imaging of brain activity
- Using brain scanning techniques this study will measure electrical activity in the brains of people with epilepsy to localise the area of the brain affected.
- Epilepsy, Episodic Ataxia and faulty genes
- To study molecular genetic and cellular expression studies of the calcium channel CACNA1A in human epilepsy.
- Eye infection
- Investigating how an interaction between Vitamin D and molecules called Toll-like receptors could help regulate the immune response to infections in the eye.
- Fracture healing - measuring blood flow in bone using MRI
- Using MRI to measure the blood flow to broken bones which is vital for bone healing, and comparing this with the clinical outcome of the fracture. The findings should help health professionals to select the best method of bone repair.
- Fracture healing - resorbable fracture fixation plates
- Studying fracture fixation plates made of biodegradable materials which will ‘vanish’ after the fracture has healed.
- Genetic basis of common diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis
- Genetic disease — the role of processing defects
- Investigating how defects in an essential part of the processing of genes, known as gene splicing, may cause disease. The findings may improve diagnosis, genetic counselling and ultimately treatment of genetic diseases.
- Guillain-Barré syndrome
- Investigating the molecular mechanisms causing nerve damage in Guillain-Barré Syndrome (which causes acute neuromuscular paralysis).
- Hip replacements — developing new evaluation methods
- Developing new methods for predicting the performance of hip replacements which may lead to fewer operations and longer lasting implants.
- Huntington’s Disease
- Investigating the inheritance of Huntington’s disease to help determine whether an individual with the disease gene will develop the condition by a specific age.
- Huntington’s disease - finding therapeutic targets
- Studying the genes that can influence the progression of HD, with the ultimate aim of finding suitable targets for drug treatment that delay the disease process. Successful treatments may also help those with dementia and Parkinson’s disease.
- Imaging bones, spines and faces — producing clearer CT images
- Further developing new computer programs to improve the imaging of bones with the aim of aiding the assessment of the healing process and improving treatment.
- Imaging of repaired limbs, spines and faces
- Developing new computer programs to improve the imaging of bones with the aim of aiding the assessment of the healing process and improving treatment.
- Incontinence
- Studying the mechanisms controlling the urethral muscle and how the urethra prevents the leak of urine from the bladder.
- Incontinence - improving treatment
- Investigating the use of pelvic floor exercises and electrotherapy for patients with stress incontinence to improve the strength and endurance characteristics of pelvic floor musculature.
- Infection by invasive candidiasis
- Development of novel diagnostic tests for invasive candidiasis, a life threatening infection caused by a yeast-like fungus called Candida.
- Inflammation in the spine
- Exploring why inflammation of the spine can occur at the sites where ligaments and tendons insert into bone in rheumatic diseases.
- Inflammatory bowel disease - better patient care
- Investigating the specific genes that cause IBD and determine the function of these genes. The findings may improve patient care, diagnosis and drug development and ultimately treatment of other diseases where genes play a role.
- Inherited emphysema
- This research team will be investigating how an inherited abnormal protein causes lung disease with aim of developing new treatments.
- Kidney stones — investigating the biological causes
- Knee joint replacement — developing a computer model
- Developing a computer model to measure the effect of surgical technique on the performance of total knee joint replacements with the aim of helping surgeons and improving implant design
- Learning to communicate after stroke
- Learning to communicate after stroke
- Limb lengthening and muscle repair
- Looking at muscle repair following surgical lengthening of bone to correct a discrepancy of limb-length.
- Liver disease
- Development of a completely new model of liver fibrosis using donated human liver tissue which can then be used to test new drug treatments for liver disease.
- Liver disease
- Studying what drives the persistent inflammation and scarring in chronic liver disease by examining how different types of cells in the liver interact. Identifying the mechanisms involved may lead to potential targets for drug treatment.
- Lung infection caused by Pseudomonas bacteria
- Investigating Pseudomonas bacteria - a major cause of life threatening lung infections — to identify disease-causing genes, which will help with developing therapies and screening tests.
- Lung infections
- Studying specific poisons or toxins produced by a particular bacterium that commonly causes lung infections with the aim of developing new treatments.
- Lung inflammation
- Further understanding how a chemical called TNF is involved in lung disease and inflammation.
- Meningitis - a possible new treatment
- Understanding more about our natural defence against a meningitis-causing bacterium.
- Meningitis - helping design a vaccine
- Investigating the bacterium, Neisseria meningitidis, that causes meningitis and septicaemia. This knowledge will aid the future design of an effective, safe vaccine for group B meningitis, the most common form of meningitis in developed countries.
- Metabolic diseases - new methods of treatment
- Developing a test to evaluate the effectiveness of new drugs used to treat metabolic diseases (where chemicals accumulate to toxic levels within the body causing widespread problems which can be life threatening).
- Migraine
- Migraine can seriously disrupt everyday life and quality of life. This team will investigate how visual triggers can cause migraine attacks in some people and may lead to screening tests and treatments.
- Motor Neurone Disease
- Studying the growth of new nerves and nerve connections in a laboratory model of motor neurone disease, with the ultimate aim of finding ways of enabling communication between surviving neurones as a treatment for this debilitating condition.
- Motor neurone disease
- Investigating the blood from patients with motor neurone disease to find the causes of nerve cell death that occurs in this debilitating condition.
- Motor neurone disease
- Studying mechanisms of nerve cell death in cell models and tissue-based studies to increase our understanding of motor neurone disease.
- Motor neurone disease (MND), other neurodegenerative conditions and brain injury
- Motor neurone disease is a progressive disorder of the central nervous system. These researchers will investigate whether natural protective mechanisms can be enhanced to prevent the process of nerve cell death associated with the disease
- MRSA (superbug) and MSSA bacterial toxin production
- MRSA - Novel Antibiotics against Superbugs
- Isolating and investigating novel antibacterial agents from the secretions of maggots for the treatment of MRSA and other ‘superbugs’.
- Muscular dystrophy - a drug based therapy
- Nerve regeneration and preventing muscle wastage
- Testing whether small proteins that promote survival and regeneration of nerve cells can be use to treat damaged nerves and thereby help prevent muscle wastage.
- Nerve repair
- Using carefully selected models of the major types of nerve injury to investigate nerve repair.
- Neurofibromatosis type 1
- Investigating the function of the gene affected in this relatively common genetic disease which causes significant abnormalities including learning difficulties, tumours of the central nervous system and skeletal deformities in children.
- Occupational and musicians’ dystonia - disabling muscle spasms in the hand
- Professionals such as musicians can suffer disabling muscle spasms of the hand. This is thought to be due to "overspecialisation" of the brain. These researchers will use specific training to re-educate the brain to treat this distressing condition.
- Osteoarthritis
- Investigating why cartilage no longer protects the joint in osteoarthritis which may lead to improved treatment.
- Osteoarthritis and osteoporosis — mechanical factors
- Osteoarthritis and Statin Treatment
- Investigating how statins, which are drugs used to lower cholesterol levels, may prevent damage to cartilage and whether they may benefit people with osteoarthritis.
- Osteoporosis
- Using a technique to identify patients at greatest risk of osteoporosis, which may allow preventative treatment to be used.
- Osteoporosis - studying the combined benefits of exercise and calcium
- Studying the benefits of calcium and exercise on growing bone in children.
- Osteoporosis - the production of bone models
- Creating replicas of bone samples which may increase our understanding of some bone diseases.
- Osteoporosis and spinal fractures
- Investigating whether vertebroplasty can restore the normal load-bearing properties of fractured vertebrae
- Osteoporosis and Strengthening of Vertebrae
- Investigating a new procedure which strengthens osteoporosis-damaged vertebrae, known as vertebroplasty, which will aid the development of this exciting new treatment and help doctors to know which patients will benefit most from it.
- Parkinson’s and MSA — development of an accurate diagnostic test
- Developing an accurate test which can distinguish Parkinson’s disease from another condition with similar symptoms.
- Parkinson’s disease — exercise programmes to reduce the risk of falling
- Evaluating the effectiveness of personalised exercise programmes for patients that are unstable and at risk of falling and injury.
- Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy & cerebellar ataxia - improving mobility
- Investigating whether walking and balance can be improved when patients rehearse their intended steps with eye movements.
- Sickle cell disease - preventing complications
- Looking at the causes and prevention of sickle cell ‘crises’ which can cause excruciating pain, stroke, bone, renal and lung disease.
- Sickle cell disease - studying blood vessels
- Improving our understanding of sickle cell disease by studying the regulation of blood vessels in patients with this condition.
- Skin itching
- Spasticity - a genetic study
- Identification and characterisation of genes causing a particular form of hereditary spastic paraparesis (a genetic condition causing weakness and stiffness of the legs).
- Spasticity — neurodegenerative conditions affecting the spinal cord
- Identification of the genes causing hereditary spastic paraplegias (HSPs) — a group of neurodegenerative conditions causing progressive weakness and spasticity of the lower limbs.
- Spasticity a reliable method of measurement
- Development of a method to assess spasticity, with the aim of providing a tool to help doctors in the clinic make a more accurate diagnosis
- Speech Disorders
- Developing special computer programs and investigating the use of the computer as a speech practice tool.
- Speech restoration
- Studying and developing new speech valves used to restore speech to patients who have had surgery to treat throat cancer.
- Spinal cord injury — enzyme treatment
- Studying the benefits of an enzyme treatment which digests scar tissue around the injury sites and may allow nerve fibres in the spinal cord to regrow.
- Stroke - re-connecting the brain and hand
- Studying the nerve connections between the brain and spinal cord which should provide valuable insight into what promotes effective rehabilitation for stroke patients.
- Stroke - alternative control of movement
- Investigating whether alternative pathways from undamaged parts of the brain play an important role in recovery from stroke.
- Stroke - strengthening weakened muscles
- Stroke and epilepsy - developing a wearable brain imaging system for diagnosis.
- The development of a lightweight portable system for neuroimaging in stroke or epilepsy using EIT (Electrical Impedence Tomography), using innovative wireless electrodes.
- Stroke and incomplete spinal injury — therapy with a tricycle
- Investigating the use of a specially adapted tricycle to provide rehabilitation for patients with stroke or incomplete spinal injury.
- Stroke and problems with food inhalation
- Determining how common it is to inhale food after stroke and whether it affects patient recovery.
- Stroke rehabilitation — exercise training
- Assessing the benefits of exercise which may strengthen arms and legs and help people to recover more quickly form stroke.
- Tendon Diseases
- Investigating the role and function of an enzyme that may be involved in the development of ‘tendinopathies’ - conditions which affect the tendons, causing pain and disability.
- Urinary incontinence — the role of interstitial cells
