Seven international collaboration grants awarded to CIMIT investigators

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Science Bridges awards to promote innovation in healthcare technology

Seven international collaborations are receiving support for early stage research in areas of unmet clinical needs. These inaugural Research Council UK Science Bridges awards seek to exploit the synergistic potential of talent and expertise inherent in the research communities of Manchester, UK, and Boston, USA, in order to transform healthcare.

These awards will support the work of teams that were formed because of the strategic alliance between two world-renown centers of innovation - CIMIT and MIMIT (Manchester: Integrating Medicine & Innovative Technology). The aim of the MIMIT-CIMIT collaboration is to promote the advancement of technologies that have the potential to improve patient care by facilitating UK-US collaborative research.

The seven projects include:

Identification of pathogen-specific biomarkers in Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia
Principal investigators: Ashley Woodcock, OBE, MBChB, MD, FRCP, FMedSci, Professor of Respiratory Medicine and Consultant Respiratory Physician (University of Manchester and University Hospital South Manchester) and Jose Trevejo, MD, PhD, Senior Scientist Biomedical Engineering (Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Boston).

Multi-compartment carriers for fighting inflammation
Principal investigators: Nicola Tirelli, PhD, FRSC , Professor of Polymers and Biomaterials (University of Manchester) and Mark Grinstaff, PhD, Associate Professor Biomedical Engineering & Chemistry (Boston University).

Imaging of Functional Dynamics of the Lung
Principal investigators: Geoff Parker, PhD, Professor of Biomedical Imaging and Director Biomedical Imaging Institute (University of Manchester) and Ron Kikinis, MD, Professor of Radiology (Harvard Medical School).

Reducing ventilator-associated lung injury through the development of continuous non-invasive image guidance at the bedside
Principal Investigators: William Lionheart, PhD, FIMA, Professor of Applied Mathematics (University of Manchester) and Gerhard Wolf, MD, Associate in Critical Care Medicine/Anesthesia (Children's Hospital, Boston).

Using PET and diffusion weighted MRI in the OR to facilitate glioma tumour management
Principal Investigators: Karl Herholz, DrMed, Director of the Wolfson Molecular Imaging Centre and Professor of Clinical Neuroscience, and Ron Kikinis, MD, Professor of Radiology (Harvard Medical School).

Objective voice quality analysis by spectrogram entropy
Principal Investigators: Robert Hillman, PhD, Co-Director & Research Director (Center for Laryngeal Surgery and Voice Rehabilitation) and Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School, and Jarrod Homer, BMedSci (Hons), BMBS, MD, FRCS (Ed), FRCS (ORL-HNS), Consultant Otolaryngologist and ENT Surgeon (Manchester Royal Infirmary, and Manchester's Christie Hospital).

Making an 'IMPACT' (Integrated Measuring Platform for identifying and testing Anti-Cancer Therapeutics) on pediatric cancers
Principal Investigators: Guy Makin, BA, BM, BCh, PhD, MRCP, FRCPCH, Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Oncology (University of Manchester), and Muhammad Zaman, PhD, Assistant Professor (Dept. Biomedical Engineering and Dept. of Medicine, Boston University).

MIMIT™ is a consortium comprising the University of Manchester and six Greater Manchester NHS Trusts.