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New innovations in CF lung health

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Over the next five years, our Translational Innovation Hub Network for lung health and infection in CF will address challenges around finding new lung infection treatment options, detecting and treating flare-ups, and developing new ways to diagnose infections. 

In 2024 we launched the new Translational Innovation Hub Network for Lung Health and Infection in CF, a £15 million research partnership between Cystic Fibrosis Trust and LifeArc which will fund four Innovation Hubs at universities across the UK.

Over the next five years, researchers will work to address challenges around developing new treatment approaches for lung infections, detecting and treating exacerbations or ‘flare-ups’, and developing new ways to diagnose infections. The Network builds on the success of the original Innovation Hub led by Professor Andres Floto, which was funded in partnership between Cystic Fibrosis Trust and the University of Cambridge. 

This research is vitally important because detecting and treating lung infections is still a big challenge in CF, as highlighted by the CF community in the JLA Research Priorities Refresh exercise. Our ultimate aim is to fast-track new research and treatments to improve health and quality of life for people with CF.

"These new Innovation 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.”

Sarah, who has CF

Let’s introduce the incredible lead researchers behind each Innovation Hub – and share their ultimate ambitions to make a difference for the CF community. 

Professor Andres Floto

Hub: Flare-CF 

Leader: Professor Andres Floto, University of Cambridge 

Ambition: To create a test that can be used by people with CF at home, to decide how and when to treat infections.

Find out more
Photo of Professor Jo Fothergill in the lab

Hub: Trailfinder-CF

Leader: Professor Jo Fothergill, University of Liverpool 

Ambition: To optimise treatments for exacerbations and develop phage therapy in the UK as an alternative to antibiotics

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Jane Davies

Hub: Precision-CF

Leader: Professor Jane Davies, Imperial College London 

Ambition: To develop predictive tests for lung infections in order to inform doctors about the best way to treat them.

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Alex

Hub: Pulse-CF 

Leader: Professor Alex Horsley, University of Manchester 

Ambition: To test ways to prevent exacerbations in the future, taking into account events that may trigger them for individuals with CF.

Find out more
Life with CF test 1

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