Grant to help detection of disease
29 Jan 2020
The National Institute for Health Research has awarded a grant to a team aiming to set up a unit to use cutting edge genomics to tackle public health issues.
The £4 million funding from NIHR went to researchers led by the University of Warwick, to set up the Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU) in Genomics and Enabling Data. The research at the new unit aims to reduce the burden of infectious diseases, investigate the likely effects of control strategies, and make sure that healthcare resources, especially antibiotics, are used optimally.
Health Minister Nicola Blackwood said: “The UK’s achievements in public health to date have saved the lives of millions of people. This would have been impossible without world-leading research conducted by some of brightest minds up and down the country.
“The latest round of NIHR’s Health Protection Research Units, which have previously played a pivotal role in responding to major events such as the Novichok and Ebola incidents, will continue protect the health of the public and reduce inequalities – helping us all live healthier lives.”
Researchers from the School of Life Sciences, Mathematics Institute, Department of Statistics and Warwick Medical School at the University of Warwick will use this £4m grant in partnership with researchers from Public Health England, the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the University of Cambridge to use innovative techniques to protect the public’s health and minimise the health impact of emergencies from infectious diseases.
