Director: Matthew Sutton

This domain is a focus point for applied health research across The University of Manchester. Our research is concentrated in several Divisions within the School of Health Sciences, but there is also significant expertise across the whole Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health.

We also have a presence in the other faculties at the University, meaning that there is excellence in many areas. Consolidation of this broad-based research via the domain is a great opportunity, both externally and internally.

The University has major strengths in applied health research, as proven by our membership of the NIHR Schools for Primary Care and Social Care, our hosting of two DHSC Policy Research Units, and our leadership of the GM CLAHRC and the NIHR Patient Safety Translation Research Centre. We also possess world-leading experts in methodology, including evidence synthesis, qualitative research, biostatistics, health economics, epidemiology and clinical trials.

Director: Rob Bristow

The cancer domain spans all cancer-related activities in the University from the research dedicated to understanding the origins and beginnings of the disease to the provision of all aspects of treatment and care for the patients and the follow up and long term care of those who survive.

We are committed to making a major contribution to the development of new approaches to the understanding of the causes, the biology, the prevention and the early detection and treatment of cancer.

The main objective of the domain is to ensure the most effective interaction between scientists and research groups working on cancer related problems in order to maximise synergisms and achieve high-quality scientific output.

In seamless interaction with the cancer domain of MAHSC we will also facilitate the efficient translation of scientific results into medical practice for the benefit of patients and the population in general.

Director: Bernard Keavney

Cardiovascular disease, stroke, nutritional and metabolic disease will account for the largest proportion of deaths this century, chiefly driven by the explosive worldwide increase in prevalence of obesity and diabetes.

The Cardiovascular, Endocrine and Metabolic Sciences domain adopts a multidisciplinary, integrative approach to these problems, grounded in mechanistic cellular and molecular studies of the heart and circulation, the control of energy balance, and the endocrine and metabolic systems.

We conduct experimental medicine studies, clinical trials and implementation science with our NHS partners in the cardiovascular domain of MAHSC, and population-based studies of genetic, environmental, and behavioural determinants of risk.

The domain has an international outlook, collaborating effectively with colleagues in the low and middle income countries suffering the most dramatic increases in disease prevalence. Our work spans the lifecourse, from developmental influences on subsequent health trajectories, to studies of ageing and disease risk.

The common thread running through research in the domain is to deliver novel therapies by improving our mechanistic understanding of health and disease.

Director: Karl Kadler

The cellular and developmental systems domain is concerned with the understanding of how basic cell and developmental biology processes such as cell differentiation, cell division and cell movements are achieved, how they are affected by cell-cell signalling and cell matrix interactions (Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell-Matrix Research), and how they are coordinated in space and time to make and maintain a complex multicellular organism; processes that are fundamental to our understanding of life. Furthermore, in most if not all cases, disease is caused by cellular dysfunction. Consequently our ability to treat disease has, and will continue to be, greatly enhanced by understanding how alterations affect cells, their behaviour and their interactions.

Investigating the fundamental mechanisms underlying normal cell function and development, thus offers a route to understand how their failure can lead to disease and to discover novel therapeutic strategies for regeneration.

Similarly, the study of the cellular basis of human disease can provide fundamental insights into the principles of cellular and developmental systems.

Director: Niels Peek

As digital technologies continue to pervade our personal and professional lives, opportunities increasingly emerge to use these technologies for studying and improving health. These opportunities include the use of routine electronic health record data for research, application of artificial intelligence to improve clinical decision making, and connected health technologies for providing healthcare services remotely.

Digital health is one of most vibrant research areas at The University of Manchester, building on an exceptionally strong track record with more than 40 years of interdisciplinary research.

The domain connects researchers from disciplines across our schools and faculties, including:

• health sciences
• informatics
• computer science
• biology
• clinical medicine
• nursing
• statistics
• epidemiology
• mathematics
• social and behavioural sciences
• health economics

The University has world-leading capabilities in engineering and research methodology for digital health technologies, as shown through the bio-health informatics research programme at the School of Computer Science. Manchester has also recently joined the Alan Turing Institute, the national institute for data science and artificial intelligence, with a specific focus on health.

We also have particular strengths in applied digital health research with tangible impacts on health and society, carried out at the Health Economics Research Centre (HeRC), the NIHR Greater Manchester Patient Safety Translational Research Centre, and the NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre.

We have strong links with health practice. This includes Health Innovation Manchester; Salford Clinical Commissioning Group; Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust; The Christie; Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust; and the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership.

These are leveraged through our links with major healthcare systems suppliers such as EMIS, TPP, Vision, System C and Cerner, and global technology companies including Microsoft, Google and IBM.

The University of Manchester also plays a major role in local, regional, and national capacity building programmes in digital health and informatics, such as the MSc in Health Data Science in Manchester, the MSc in Health Informatics (with UCL), and the capacity building programme of Health Data Research UK.

Director: Simon Lovell.

The evolution, systems and genomics domain concerns itself with the understanding of gene and genome function, structure, sequence variation and long-term evolution.

We use highly interdisciplinary experimental, statistical and computational methods.

The domain encompasses the broad scope of genetic diversity from viruses and bacteria, fungi and protozoans, plants and animals, including humans.

Genetic and genomic work includes neonatal testing through the women and children’s domain of MAHSC and working with data from millions of completed genomes.

We use massively parallel computing infrastructures for genome assembly, annotation and analysis, and develop algorithms and computer code for data analytics.

The domain is not only concerned with basic science, but also the practical applications of this understanding as it relates to issues of global importance such as the spread of antibiotic resistance, the impact of human genetic variation and the underlying causes of disease.

Methodological approaches range from studies on the control and functions of individual genes to models of how whole systems operate and evolve.

Director: Tracey Hussell

This domain spans basic, clinical and translational innovation at the interface of infection, immunity, inflammation and repair.

It focuses on:

• the molecular mechanisms of immune health and how it is perturbed in disease;
• the influence of underlying genetics and infectious, non-infectious and auto-reactive stimuli;
• the consequences of aberrant repair;
• the interaction of immunity with matrix, metabolites and the nervous system;
• the development of novel therapeutics and vaccines and state-of-the-art delivery systems to combat global diseases affecting high, middle and low income countries;
• the use of epidemiological approaches to understand complex disease mechanisms;
• discoveries in the initiation and treatment of complex wounds.

In collaboration with the inflammation and repair domain of MAHSC we will improve the treatment, management and care of patients with inflammatory disease. Forming close partnerships with the University Hospital of South Manchester, Salford Royal and Manchester Royal Infirmary will ensure collaborative research on well characterised patient cohorts bringing discoveries from the laboratory bench to the bedside, and vice versa.

Allied centres of excellence

• Manchester Collaborative Centre for Inflammation Research (MCCIR)
• Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell-Matrix Research
• NIHR Manchester Musculoskeletal Biomedical Research Unit
• Arthritis Research UK Centre for Epidemiology
• Arthritis Research UK Centre for Genetics and Genomics
• Cochrane Wounds

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Director: Stuart Allan

The neuroscience and mental health domain spans the whole breadth of research in the neurosciences, psychology and psychiatry across the University.

From studying brain function at the molecular, cellular and systems level, through to applied clinical research the domain is committed to supporting and developing the very best research to gain a greater understanding of the nervous system in health and disease.

The domain will provide an ambitious environment that maximises opportunities for collaboration between scientists and clinicians, to grow existing areas of strength, and to develop exciting new programmes of research, some of which will cut across domains.

In doing this we aim to address fundamental questions in neuroscience and psychology, and to improve the treatment, management and care of the large number of individuals with neurodevelopmental and neurological disease or mental illness. The latter will be achieved through close partnerships with the mental health domain of MAHSC and other organisations, including Clinical Neurosciences at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust.

Ultimately the overall ambition of the domain is to make Manchester a leading centre of neuroscience and mental health research both nationally and internationally.