New research collaboration will develop precision cell therapies for blood disorders – University of Birmingham

The Universities of Birmingham and Oxford are to take part in one of five new NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) research units.

Published 17 May 20223 min read

The 20m programme, co-funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and NHSBT - are aimed at providing new technologies, techniques or insights that will benefit donation, transfusion, and transplantation. The NIHR BTRUs are partnerships between universities and NHSBT.

Many of the work strands in the new units could result in new technologies and practices that can then be delivered at scale by NHSBT, helping to save and improve even more lives. Much of the work will be aimed at reducing health disparities and improving access to new treatments.

Researchers at the Universities of Birmingham and Oxford are part of the NIHR BTRU in Precision Cellular Therapeutics - also working in collaboration with University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and Aparito Ltd.

Professor Melanie Calvert, of the University of Birminghams Institute of Applied Health Research, said: Were delighted to be working with colleagues at the University of Oxford, NHSBT, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and Aparito Ltd and our patient partners in this innovative research unit. Our expertise in health data and patient-facing technologies has real potential to improve access to new therapies and also improve outcomes for patients receiving treatment.

The aim is to develop new kinds of cell therapies for blood disorders and blood cancer, and improved systems for following up patients receiving treatment to better support their care.

Our expertise in health data and patient-facing technologies has real potential to improve access to new therapies and also improve outcomes for patients receiving treatment.Professor Melanie Calvert, School of Health and Population Sciences

The BRTUs are funded by 16m from the NIHR and 4m from NHSBT, with research goals set to meet NHSBTs requirements, to be delivered between 2022 and 2027.

The products could be manufactured at the latest NHSBT sites including major new centres such as the new cellular therapies laboratories in Barnsley and the forthcoming Clinical Biotechnology Centre in Bristol.

Dr Gail Miflin, Chief Medical Officer for NHSBT, said: By collaborating with academia, these five new Blood and Transplant Research Units will help us to deliver on our mission to save and improve even more lives and drive innovation to inform future clinical practice and improve patient outcomes.

For example, the supply-demand gap for solid organs continues to grow. We will explore the use of organ perfusion technologies to maintain and enhance the quality of organs, improve organ preservation and increase organ utilisation. This will enable more patients to receive the transplant they need.

And by building and analysing new data sets to track and demonstrate the impact of our interventions will lead to better understanding and improved outcomes. We already do this well for solid organs, but do not currently understand the outcomes for people who receive blood or stem cells. We will work with partners to build integrated data sets for these patients, focusing on the multi-transfused, especially those with sickle cell disease where a clear health inequity exists.

To maximise the value and impact from our research, we will accelerate the translation of innovation into practice. The NIHR BTRUs will be an important vehicle for this in the longer term.

NIHR is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care. Its work in low and middle income countries is principally funded through UK Aid from the UK government.

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New research collaboration will develop precision cell therapies for blood disorders - University of Birmingham