News

Manchester leads on joint AHSC developments to tackle priorities in relation to Hospital Acquired In

Manchester Academic Health Science Centre (MAHSC) has joined forces with the National Innovation Centre and the four other Academic Health Science Centres in England (Cambridge, Imperial, Kings and UCL), to scope, validate, prioritise and seek solutions to unmet healthcare needs. The first priority of the collaboration has been to address unmet healthcare needs in relation to Hospital Acquired Infection. This initiative, led jointly by Manchester: Integrating Medicine and Innovative Technology (MIMIT) and the University of Manchester Intellectual Property (UMIP) in collaboration with TrusTECH, has resulted in Manchester taking the lead in scoping unmet needs across all Academic Health Science Centres and MAHSC receiving two out of the three national funding awards made via this scheme.

These include:
Early visual detection of bacteria in catheters using a colour-coded ‘traffic light’ indicator. Prof Nicola Tirelli and Dr Mat Upton, MAHSC.
Rapid ‘fingerprinting’ identification of bacteria to determine the best antibiotic for treatment in a point of care testing device. Prof Roy Goodacre and Dr Mat Upton, MAHSC.

The longer term aspiration of the collaboration is to accelerate and enhance the quality of innovative technology solutions that will address MAHSC priorities and enhance the healthcare needs of people in Greater Manchester and beyond. A new scheme to be announced by MIMIT and UMIP late 2011 will focus on unmet needs in relation to maintaining functional independence. This will be funded jointly by the National Innovation Centre and Arthritis Research UK.

Professor Ian Jacobs, Director of MAHSC and Dean of the Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences at University of Manchester said: “I am impressed by the approach taken by MIMIT in identifying unmet clinical needs and then finding technological solutions. This is precisely the type of challenge the AHSCs were set up to address. This collaborative link between MIMIT, UMIP, the five national AHSCs and the National Innovation Centre has enormous promise in our shared efforts to improve the quality of patient care.”