UK Cystic Fibrosis Innovation Hubs

The Translational Innovation Hub Network for CF Lung Health and Infection known as the CF Lung Health Network for short, will fast track new research and treatments to improve lung health and quality of life for people with CF. This £15 million programme is funded by Cystic Fibrosis Trust and LifeArc over five years from 2024 to 2029.

The network is made up of four Innovation Hubs, led by researchers at the Universities of Cambridge, Liverpool, Manchester and Imperial College London, as well as partners across the UK and internationally.

Read more about the CF Lung Health Network

The aim of the first Innovation Hub, based at the University of Cambridge, was to harness multidisciplinary world-class research to accelerate progress towards preventing lung damage in CF and subsequent loss of lung function. Researchers addressed four key areas that would improve lung health for people with CF, these were:

• Designing medicinal chemicals as treatments for M. abscessus and P. aeruginosa infections
• Developing better ways to manage lung health using home monitoring and machine learning data
• Investigating how future medicines could be personalised to individuals with CF (which may also be applied to repairing the lungs in future)
• Creating a national resource for future research

It was a five-year programme that began in 2018. Cystic Fibrosis Trust successfully raised £5 million over five years for the Innovation Hub, which the University of Cambridge matched pound for pound to £5 million.

As the programme draws to a close, you can read about the impact of this work here:

Cambridge Innovation Hub - Impact Report 2024