Seven research projects have received £600k in funding from a new award programme created by the University’s Faculty of Health and Life Sciences (HLS).
The Translational Research Access Programme (TRAP Awards) was established by HLS to provide pump priming funding to research projects with the aim of developing meaningful partnerships between staff at Liverpool and clinical colleagues in Liverpool’s healthcare trusts.
The funding is intended to provide an opportunity for researchers to mutually develop new areas of research and to foster them to a point where a more substantial translational grant application can be made.
HLS is the only English university Faculty with full life science coverage spanning biosciences, clinical medicine, health sciences, dentistry, veterinary science and global health.
The selection of the awards was through an internal, peer-reviewed competition, which resulted in seven projects being funded. The researchers will commence work on their two-year projects in August 2019.
Individually the award winning projects aim to:
- Develop a system to predict surgical outcomes for patients with lower back pain, combining demographic, medical and psychological predictors with psycho-physiological markers of pain chronicity, to improve the success rate of spinal surgery with Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust
- Prevent the high number of dog bites to children in Merseyside with Alder Hey Children’s Hospital
- Develop a personalised cell therapy approach to cardiovascular related disease with Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital
- Harness electronic health record data for improving outcomes in cardiovascular diseases with Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital
- Better understand the prevalence and distribution of different patterns of multimorbidity in Liverpool and the effect on healthcare utilisation and prognosis between clinical and non-clinical staff at the University
- Patient Stratification through Molecular Immune Phenotyping in Psoriasis and Psoriatic JIA with Alder Hey Children’s Hospital
- To explore the visual and mobility characteristics of people with hemianopia in a prospective cross-section cohort study between clinical and non-clinical staff at the University
Executive Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Professor Louise Kenny said: “Our research environment is first rate, with unrivalled access to technology platforms and associated academic expertise to turn good ideas into ground-breaking research.
“The University of Liverpool sits in the centre of a vibrant city with a rich heritage. Liverpool is the UK’s fastest growing city outside London with a projected 15% growth in knowledge economy by 2022. Nevertheless, the population of Liverpool and the wider city region experiences excessive rates of morbidity and mortality from all causes and in all age groups compared with the national average.
“We are determined to develop, promote and fast-track high quality and impactful research leading to innovations which will help address these challenges by harnessing the considerable scientific expertise within the Faculty and the clinical knowledge of our partners within the wider health ecosystem of the Liverpool region.”
More information about the TRAP awards can be found here.