Protecting the public from health threats

Birmingham researchers have received funding to support the nation to prepare for and respond to major or emerging health protection incidents including future pandemics.

Researchers from the University of Birmingham will lead on two of the 13 National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health Protection Research Units (HPRU) announced today.

The NIHR have allocated an £80 million funding pot to a range of experts who will research health threats. This includes long-term threats - such as antimicrobial resistance and climate change - and acute or emerging threats, such as pandemics and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear incidents.

Professor Jo Parish, Director of Research, College of Medicine and Health at the University of Birmingham said:

This is the first time the University of Birmingham has been awarded a Health Protection Research Unit. We’re delighted that in this round we have been allocated not one but two of these centres of excellence for multi-disciplinary health protection research. It’s a real vote of confidence in the relevance of our work and the forward-thinking, problem-solving nature of the teams here in Birmingham.

Detecting and controlling infections

Professor Nick Loman will lead an HPRU in Public Health Genomics with colleagues from the School of Biosciences and the College of Medicine and Health.

The teams’ vision is to harness genomic sequencing to help quickly detect and control infections caused by a wide variety of pathogens. By genome sequencing pathogens in humans, animals and the environment, data can be linked to build an understanding of where pathogens come from and how they are spreading, in turn helping to inform public health policies to protect our communities.

The researchers will look at the practicalities of using genetic data from pathogens routinely in clinical care and public health, focusing on required training, costs and the complexity of implementation of genomic and metagenomic approaches.

Domestic and international crises including terrorism

Professor Antonio Belli, from the School of Infection, Inflammation and Immunology, will lead the HPRU for Emergency Preparedness and Response, looking at scientific responses in major domestic and international crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, Ebola and acts of terrorism.

The team will focus on developing the best tools to monitor outbreaks and optimally responding to pandemic threats with solutions that the public can understand and trust. They will also consider how to handle large-scale emergencies, such as terrorist attacks. This includes improving coordination, figuring out how to distribute resources, and getting better at communicating during these events.

Partnerships

The HPRUs are partnerships between UK universities and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). By delivering high-quality collaborative research, the HPRUs support UKHSA in its objective to protect the health of the public, enabling it to prepare for and respond to major or emerging health protection incidents, as well as building an evidence base for health protection policy and practice.

The aims of the HPRUs are to:

• create an environment where world class health protection research, focused on the needs of the public, can thrive.
• focus on priority areas which will have the greatest impact on public health protection.
• provide high quality research evidence to inform decision-making by public health professionals, policy makers, those involved in operational delivery and service users.
• enable translation of advances in health protection research into benefits for patients, service users and the public.
• increase capacity and capability to conduct high quality, multi-disciplinary health protection research and facilitate knowledge exchange and expertise across universities and UKHSA.
• provide a flexible staff capacity in the event of a major health protection incident and retain a level of responsive research capacity to address emerging health protection research requirements.
• contribute to addressing health inequalities through an increasing focus on underserved communities including relevant interventions, improving health outcomes in the health and care sector and for broader economic gain.