Centre for Inflammation - Projects

Inflammation discovery: New players in pathology

Understanding how inflammation is controlled is the first step in advancing diagnostics and treatments. Researchers are investigating receptors, signalling pathways, intracellular enzymes and secreted proteins involved in inflammation. We aim to confirm the novel genes, proteins and pathways that drive unhealthy inflammation.

Inflammation translation: New drugs to turn inflammation ‘on’ and/or ‘off’

Once we know how inflammation is controlled we can identify potential drug targets and therapies, or repurpose existing drugs, to treat chronic inflammatory diseases. These include some diseases that were not previously considered to have an inflammatory origin.

We aim to develop new chemical entities with novel anti-inflammatory drug profiles. These may ultimately lead to new treatments for inflammation-related diseases.

Tackling chronic liver disease: New therapies are urgently needed

Chronic liver disease is an inflammatory disease that affects up to 30% of the population. Its major causes are viral hepatitis, alcohol and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. In chronic liver disease, cell damage and inflammation drive liver fibrosis, which can progress to cirrhosis, liver cancer and other complications.

Currently, there are no approved therapies for chronic liver disease-associated liver fibrosis. We are collaborating with clinicians, scientists and industry to identify new candidate targets and potential biomarkers for this important disease.

‘Lighting up’ inflammation: New technologies to track inflammation

To enhance detection and monitoring of inflammatory processes in specific organs and accelerate drug development, new fluorescent probes and biosensors are being developed to track the migration and status of inflammatory cells and mediators.

These new technologies will help us to understand pathological processes and inflammatory targets in models of human inflammatory diseases. The aim is to lead to new approaches for diagnosis of inflammation-related diseases.