Funding opportunity information session (Food Research)
28 Jan 2016
KTN Seminar on Health & Wellbeing with Professor A Bryan Hanley on Friday, 26 February (12-1pm) in Manchester Institute of Biotechnology (MIB) Lecture Theatre
Bryan Hanley is a specialist working in ‘Food’ at the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN). Bryan is also a visiting Professor at the University of Ulster (Coleraine) and President of the Industry and Technology division of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He was previously Director of Scientific Discovery at Wm Wrigley in Chicago.
KTN was established to foster better collaborations between science, creativity and business. During his presentation Bryan will give an overview of the work KTN is currently involved with in the area of health and wellbeing.
Seminar abstract
The importance of long term health and the various components that contribute to this has been recognised for a number of years. On the one hand, preventative medicine has become a major goal, particularly in societies where chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and age-related cognitive impairment have become important and costly issues. This has taken a number of forms including the increased use of drugs to control blood pressure, cholesterol and other avoidable deleterious conditions. Increasingly, however, a non-pharmaceutical, lifestyle related intervention strategy has been adopted. In this case the use of diet to control physiological endpoints and to improve overall health has been advocated.
While such approaches are tempting and indeed have led to substantial testing of minor dietary components such as phenols, plant stanols and sterols, isothiocyanates and others, it remains stubbornly the case that the best dietary advice for many people suffering from chronic disease would be to eat less, reduce their weight and take more exercise.
It is against this background that the KTN works to ensure the best new technologies across a range of disciplines from food & agriculture, health, medical and medicinal interventions, remote sensing and biomarker technology and epidemiology and consumer awareness are supported by ensuring the free flow of information between research providers and user communities both within and between disciplines. The adoption of the best technologies and their application will ultimately lead to improvements in health, reduction in healthcare costs and increased profits for companies in the sector. This latter point is particularly important since it is by rewarding innovative and innovating companies that new ideas will be generated and the best and most nimble minds will congregate.
Registration
If you would like to attend the seminar, please complete:
If you are interested in a one-to-one meeting with Bryan during his visit to discuss how KTN can help with your research in this area, please indicate this on the registration form.