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Cystic Fibrosis Trust and LifeArc launch new £15m Innovation Hub network
The network will be made up of four Innovation Hubs, led by the Universities of Cambridge, Liverpool, Manchester and Imperial College London, as well as partners across the UK and overseas from 2024 to 2029.
Guided by insights and experiences of people with cystic fibrosis, the new CF Innovation Hubs will address new ways to detect, diagnose, treat and manage lung infections and lung health and help to overcome some of the barriers that can prevent scientists from turning their discoveries into real outcomes for patients.
What is an Innovation Hub?
This new network will build on the success of the Trust’s existing Innovation Hub at the University of Cambridge which brought together multidisciplinary world-class research to speed up progress towards preventing lung damage in CF. The programme, which began in 2018, was generously funded by a number of donors, trusts, foundations and companies. We are particularly grateful to the Robert Luff Foundation for their continued support for our new Translational Network.
What is translational research?
It often takes many stages of research to get to a point where scientific findings can lead to practical solutions like new treatments or new tests. Translational research brings together researchers, healthcare professionals, policymakers and the wider patient and public community to exchange knowledge and experiences. This helps to speed up important innovation and developments. You can read more about this in our latest blog here.
We’re thrilled to be partnering with LifeArc and expanding our Innovation Hub programme, combining our expertise and exploring exciting areas of research to maximise the impact for people with CF.
Dr Lucy Allen, Director of Research and Healthcare Data at Cystic Fibrosis Trust
Those with the condition are particularly susceptible to lung infections, meaning they often have to spend time in hospital having IV antibiotic treatments and this has a huge impact on all areas of their life. These new Innovation Hubs will help transform our understanding and lead the way to new ways to test and treat lung infections.
What will the Hubs be researching?
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Cambridge
Led by Professor Andres Floto, researchers will use cutting edge methods including AI to analyse the very earliest signs of a flare up of infections (an exacerbation) and predict the best antibiotic combination to treat them. The hope is to eventually create a test that can be used by people with CF at home to decide how and when to treat infections -
Imperial College London
Led by Professor Jane Davies, this Hub will bring together microbiologists, healthcare professionals, breath scientists, cell and animal biologists, physiotherapists and even sniffer dogs to detect the germs that are often present in the lungs of people with cystic fibrosis and understand how these bugs are affected by other bacteria and fungi. The aim will be to develop predictive tests for lung infections to inform doctors about the best way to treat them. -
Liverpool
Led by Professor Jo Fothergill, scientists will develop the use of naturally occurring bacteria-killing viruses called ‘phages’ to treat infections. You can read more about this here. This ‘phage therapy’ aims to provide an alternative way of treating infections and reduce the negative effects of antibiotics, including antibiotic resistance. The Innovation Hub will also use cutting-edge technology to find the bugs that cause lung exacerbations, which will pave the way for other new treatment approaches in the future.
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Manchester
Led by Professor Alex Horsley, this Hub will study the cause of ‘flare-ups’ of infection (exacerbations) for people with cystic fibrosis in a different way. They will analyse blood, saliva, sputum and sweat samples from patients, gather lung function test results, record symptoms via an app and monitor pollution in homes. People with CF will play an important part in studying what triggers these flare-ups and who is most affected. Researchers will also look at why individual people with cystic fibrosis sometimes respond in different ways to IV treatments for flare ups, so that they can understand who will respond best to antibiotics and why. This research will hopefully lead to clinical trials testing ways to prevent these flare ups in the future.
Sarah has cystic fibrosis and experienced her first lung infection when she was a baby and has spent a lot of time in hospital over the years. Sarah explains: “This condition affects everything about my life, every single day. I have to adjust my life around my symptoms, in everything from work to friendships.
"The dream, for me, is to have less of a treatment burden and more time feeling like a valuable member of society. These new Hubs give me hope because improving research into the cause of exacerbations and the development of potential new treatments takes away a lot of my fears around what my health is going to look like in the future."
Dr Catherine Kettleborough, Head of Chronic Respiratory Infection at LifeArc, said: “Even with the development of new treatments like Kaftrio, people with cystic fibrosis still face many challenges which impact their quality of life and life expectancy. The Innovation Hub Network is a unique approach to addressing these problems, using shared knowledge, partnerships and investment to accelerate new tests and treatments for people living with CF.”
Since 1964, we've supported people with cystic fibrosis to live longer, healthier lives - and we won’t stop until everyone can live without limits imposed by CF.
Despite improvements in treatments, cystic fibrosis is still a cruel condition without a cure and there is still so much more to do to stop CF damaging and shortening lives.
Our generous partners and donors are helping us to fund these Innovation Hubs and harness world-class research to help improve the quality of life for people with CF. We need your help to fund more research , speed up progress, and make sure everyone with CF can live a life unlimited.
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