New hub to develop new treatments for lung infection and inflammation

A new research and partnership hub is to help tackle the growing challenges of infection and inflammation.

The hub will initially focus on speeding up the clinical development of new treatments for infections and inflammation in the lung, which are among the world’s leading causes of illness and death.

The Research and Partnership Hub in Microscale Science and Technology to Accelerate Therapeutic Innovation (MicroTex) unites engineering with robotics, AI, chemistry, physics, biology and clinical medicine.

It has been allocated a £27.6 million funding boost to develop innovative technologies to rapidly advance drug development by delivering tiny amounts of drugs to precise locations in the body.

MicroTex is led by the University of Edinburgh and will be based in the Baillie Gifford Pandemic Science Hub in the Institute of Regeneration and Repair. Partners include the University of Bath and Heriot-Watt University, LifeArc Rare Respiratory Diseases Centre, Baillie Gifford, patient groups, international and industrial collaborators.

Heriot-Watt University will utilise its world-leading expertise in applied photonics to develop transformative new technologies for experimental medicine, with the specific aim of accelerating the development of new therapies for inflammation and infection in the lung.

Microdosing

These technologies will enable precision “microdosing”, where small quantities of candidate therapies are delivered directly to tissues to measure their effectiveness, to enable a new wave of small and streamlined clinical trials, experts say.

The approach, which has already shown promise, has the potential to help experts identify and develop new treatments for infection and inflammation more quickly and efficiently than before.

Researchers expect microdosing to limit the need for animal research, by allowing new drugs to be tested more safely for the first time in humans.

The team also hope to reduce the costs of developing new drugs to treat infection and inflammation, which is currently an expensive, lengthy and highly resource intensive process.

Professor Robert R. Thomson, MicroTex photonics lead and co-lead of Heriot-Watt University’s Global Research Institute in Health and Care Technologies, said:

“Drug development is slow and expensive due to over reliance on animal models that poorly replicate human biology. Experimental medicine could transform this by “microdosing” candidate therapies to tissues in humans to test their effect.

“Working with an interdisciplinary team integrating patients, industry and academics, our MicroTex Hub will leverage Heriot Watt’s expertise in applied photonics to develop new tools for experimental medicine in the lung, accelerating future therapies for inflammation and infection.”

Antimicrobial resistance

MicroTex will help tackle challenges of drug development including staying ahead of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which occurs when bacteria, viruses, and parasites no longer respond to antimicrobial medicines.

An increasingly serious consequence of AMR is to make common treatments such as chemotherapy, caesarean sections, and organ transplants much riskier.

AMR has been identified as a top global public health threat by the World Health Organization and is considered by experts as a threat to many of the gains of modern medicine.

The Hub will be funded for the next six years by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). It will receive £11 million from the government supported by £16.6 million from partner funders.

Professor Ian Underwood, of the Institute of Integrated Micro and Nano Systems in the University of Edinburgh’s School of Engineering, said: “By innovating at the microscale, the Edinburgh-led MicroTex Hub is set to transform the fight against drug-resistant diseases, harnessing the power of advanced technology to accelerate the development of life-saving treatments. By bringing together experts across medicine, science and engineering, we will collaborate to develop solutions which will help safeguard the future of global health.”

Professor Kev Dhaliwal, of the Baillie Gifford Pandemic Science Hub, Institute for Regeneration and Repair, Edinburgh BioQuarter, said: “In a post-Covid world, the urgency to outpace infectious and inflammatory diseases and be prepared for the next pandemic, has never been greater. The MicroTex hub will deliver a critical leap forward in this race. The Hub brings together a highly diverse team of researchers and a wide range of partners to innovate, collaborate and transform drug development with microdosing in inflammatory diseases. ”

Science Minister Lord Vallance said: “These innovative technologies have the potential to improve patient care in the UK and around the world. By investing in this research, we are enabling scientists to develop life-changing technologies.

EPSRC Executive Chair Professor Charlotte Deane said: “The five new hubs bring together a wealth of expertise from across academia, industry and charities to improve population health, transform disease prediction and diagnosis, and accelerate the development of new interventions.

“They represent an exciting range of adventurous techniques and approaches that have great potential to improving the lives of millions of people here in the UK and across the world.”