Protecting the public from health threats – University of Birmingham

Detection and control of infections

Professor Nick Lohmann will lead HPRU on public health genomics with colleagues from the School of Biosciences and the College of Medicine and Healthcare.

The teams’ vision is to use genome sequencing to help rapidly detect and control infections caused by a wide variety of pathogens. By sequencing the genomes of human, animal and environmental pathogens, the data can be linked to build an understanding of where pathogens come from and how they spread, in turn helping to inform public health policies to protect our communities.

Researchers will address the practicalities of using pathogen genetic data routinely in clinical care and public health, focusing on the training required, costs, and complexity of implementing genomic and metagenomic approaches.

Domestic and international crises, including terrorism

Professor Antonio Belli from the School of Infection, Inflammation and Immunology will lead HPRU’s Emergency Preparedness and Response, looking at scientific responses to major domestic and international crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, Ebola and acts of terrorism.

The team will focus on developing the best tools to monitor outbreaks and optimally respond to pandemic threats with solutions that the public can understand and trust. They will also consider how to deal with large-scale emergencies, such as terrorist attacks. This includes improving coordination, figuring out how to allocate resources, and improving communication during these events.

Partnerships

HPRUs are partnerships between UK universities and the UK Health Safety Agency (UKHSA). By delivering high-quality collaborative research, the HPRU supports the UKHSA in its aim to protect public health, enabling it to prepare for and respond to major or emerging health protection incidents, and to build an evidence base for policy protection health and practice.

The objectives of the HPRU are:

• creating an environment in which world-class health protection research focused on societal needs can flourish.
• focusing on priority areas that will have the greatest impact on protecting public health.
• provide high quality research evidence to inform decision making by public health professionals, policy makers, those involved in operational delivery and service users.
• enables the translation of advances in health protection research into benefits for patients, service users and the public.
• increasing the capacity and ability to conduct high-quality, multidisciplinary research in health protection and facilitating the exchange of knowledge and experience between universities and UKHSA.
• ensuring flexible staff capacity in the event of a major health protection incident and maintaining a level of responsive research capacity to address emerging health protection research requirements.
• contribute to addressing health inequalities through an increased focus on underserved communities, including appropriate interventions, improving health outcomes in the health and care sector and for wider economic gain.