Partners & Collaborators
The following profiles illustrate our strength and breadth of capability and collaboration, with promising implications for improved patient treatments and outcomes:
Partners
Eye & Vision Science Group
The Eye and Vision Science Group is a partnership between the Department of Eye and Vision Science and St. Paul’s Eye Unit, RLBUHT studying the mechanisms, prevention, early detection and treatment of eye diseases. Clinical and non-clinical researchers, from a range of scientific backgrounds, work closely together on translational research for the benefit of patients.
- Basic, applied and clinical research from basic molecular interactions through to health service implementation
- Internal partnerships in Liverpool across engineering and biological sciences, orthoptics and vision science, mathematics, psychology
- Biotechnology collaborations with NHS Blood & Transplant, development companies and the pharmaceutical industry in product development
- Collaboration within & outside the University both nationally & internationally
- Key researchers: Professors Simon Harding, Ian Grierson, Paul Hiscott, David Wong and Stephen Kaye, Drs Rachel Williams, Paul Knox, Luminita Paraoan and Carl Sheridan
- Research focused specialist services including: Ocular Oncology (Professor Heinrich Heimann), Cornea (Stephen Kaye), Surgical retina (Theodor Stappler), Medical retina (Jayashree Nair Sahni, Heimann), Glaucoma (Anshoo Choudhary)
- Actively developing new diagnoses & treatments
- A purpose built centre underpins the translational research theme creating a clear pathway from 'bench to bedside'
- Diagnostic technologies, grading & assessment, new treatment modalities, consequences of new therapeutic regimes on disease mechanisms
- The Trust’s Medical Physics & Clinical Engineering supports clinical and research ophthalmology
- Image Analysis & application to early detection of eye disease (Ophthalmology Reading Centre with trained graders, computer scientists, engineers & mathematicians)
- Stem Cell & Cell Based Therapies – new technologies for advanced eye treatments (biologists & engineers)
- Molecular & Cell Biology (range of diseases)
- Biomarkers (electrophysiology, high end eye imaging)
- Psychophysics & Eye Movement
- Clinical Trials
- Health Services Research
- Tropical Diseases
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Hong Kong partnership, joint appointment of Professor David Wong
- IOBA, University of Valladolid, Spain, partner translational research group - Professor Carlos Pastor
- University of Malawi, Blantyre (Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Research Centre). Disease (Malaria, Diabetes)
- Universities of North Texas and of Gainesville, USA and University of Erlangen-Nurnberg, Germany
- Novartis/Alcon (Glaucoma therapeutics)
- Agepha (Nutrition in Age-related Macular Degeneration)
- Abbott (Corneal therapeutics)
- Fluoron GMbH (Development of emulsification resistance tamponade agent)
- Pfizer – Faculty leads to EYECAMPUS (Harding, Stephenson): rapidly expanding UK interdisciplinary educational initiative
Infectious Diseases, including HIV
Liverpool has an international reputation in the fields of drug safety research & personalised medicines. The common theme is new approaches that maximise the benefits of existing drug therapies.
- The Trust, with its partners University of Liverpool & LSTM, awarded a NIHR BRC by the Department of Health - one of only twelve in country
- Emphasis on translational research – taking advances in basic medical research out of the laboratory and through commercial partnerships into the clinical setting
- Current projects include a new test for the early diagnosis of sepsis, an innovative plantain extract (see case study on Provexis) treatment for Crohn’s disease, and a new TB drug therapy developed at the LSTM
- Improving effectiveness of HIV therapy including a project to tailor treatment to individual patients
- Collaboration with commercial partners
- Largest research programme of its kind in the UK
- Aim to define mechanisms of variability in drug response & translate findings into clinical care
- Wolfson Centre, funded by UoL & a £2million donation from the Wolfson Foundation opened in 2009
- Collaboration with researchers locally, regionally, nationally and internationally
- Developing techniques for using nanoparticles in drug delivery
- Focus on HIV, in conjunction with Dr Andrew Owen (Department of Pharmacology) & Professor Saye Khoo (Pharmacology & RLUH infectious diseases team)
- Collaboration with IOTA NanoSolutions based in the MerseyBIO incubator (managed by 2Bio Ltd)
- Joint venture Universities of Liverpool & Manchester
- Critical mass of knowledge & technologies
- Advance understanding of adverse drug reactions
- Strong links to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) with Professor Munir Pirmohamed and Professor Kevin Park being Commissioners on Human Medicines
- Collaboration between researchers, industry & regulatory bodies
- Glaxo Smith Kline
- Merck Sharp & Dohme
- Astra Zeneca
- Novartis
- Pfizer