Monday 30 November 2015

ISTM Translate - Issue 3: Rehabilitation

The latest issue of the ISTM Translate magazine is now available in digital and print format.  The theme focus for this issue is rehabilitation.

http://www.joomag.com/magazine/translate/0526937001445596107

There are contributions from Dr Dimitra Blana, Dr Ed Chadwick, Professor Peter Ogrodnik, Professor Anand Pandyan, Dr Claire Stapleton and Dr Caroline Stewart, among others.  Articles include...
  • Long term results in novel surgery:  Improving walking in children with cerebral palsy
  • Moving forward in partnership:  Updating the clinical biomechanics & movement lab
  • The Internet of Orthopaedics:  Developing a faster and cheaper alternative to fracture clinics
  • Personalising rehabilitation:  Computer models designing personalised interventions
  • Visualising blood flow:  Working towards a clinical tool using ultrasound
  • Rehabilitation Science Launches Innovative, new programme
  • Spotlight:  The people behind ISTM
  • Global outlook:  Developing closer ties with Saudi Arabia
  • Local outreach:  Promoting research in the local community
By clicking here you can access the online digital version of Translate Issue 3.  Alternatively you can request a paper copy by contacting:
Joseph Clarke (+44 (0)1782 674998  |  j.clarke@keele.ac.uk) 


Thursday 19 November 2015

MAGNEURON project attracts €750,000 to Keele

Dr Neil Telling, Prof Alicia El Haj and Dr Rosemary Fricker.

A new funding award to the Institute for Science & Technology in Medicine through the Horizon FET–OPEN programme aims to tackle neurodegenerative diseases, using innovative cell replacement therapies. Titled “Hijacking cell signalling pathways with magnetic nanoactuators for remote-controlled stem cell therapies of neurodegenerative disorders", the 4-year project is known by the short name "MAGNEURON”. Co-ordinated by Dr Maxime Dahan at the Marie Curie Institute in Paris, MAGNEURON is one of only 11 projects funded by the European Commission's Horizon 2020 program out of 650 applications that supports early-stages of the science and technology research and innovation around new ideas towards radically new future technologies. The aim of the project is to introduce and apply a fundamentally new concept for remote control of cellular functions by means of magnetic manipulation of nanoparticles functionalised with proteins involved in key cellular signalling cascades. This technology has been developed within ISTM for orthopaedic applications and this new project explores applications in the field of brain repair following degenerative diseases.

The project lead by Prof Alicia El Haj collaborates with Dr Neil Telling and Dr Rosemary Fricker who together bring world-leading expertise in regenerative medicine, nanosciences and neurobiology. Other partners contributing international expertise in physical chemistry, biochemistry and biophysics are the University of Osnabrueck and University of the Ruhr, both in Germany, the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and Efficient Innovation, which are both in France.

Wednesday 11 November 2015

Health Foundation grant to improve scan results

The Health Foundation’s Innovating for Improvement Programme has made a grant of £74,996 to Dr Fahmy Hanna and Prof Tony Fryer to improve the way unexpected test results are handled in the NHS.
Dr Fahmy Hanna
The three-year study focusses on Adrenal Incidentalomas, or AIs. As scanning with CT and MRI becomes more common, unexpected additional masses called AIs are increasingly being discovered. Whilst some may not need further testing and require no treatment, others could develop into cancer.

The team based at University Hospital of North Midlands Diabetes and Endocrinology Department will work in partnership with the University Hospital of South Manchester, and aims to find a new way of working that could be used across hospitals all over the UK.


Professor Anthony Fryer
Prof Fryer, Keele’s chair of Clinical Biochemistry in ISTM since 2008, said: “There is currently no recognised pathway for treating people with AI and it varies from hospital to hospital. This is a really innovative research project in that it could potentially change practice in the NHS because it is looking at ensuring the right tests are done at the right time and the right people get the information they need to help their patient.”

A new practical system to improve ways of working will be developed with a key innovation of an electronic management system (eAIMS) built in so that the project could then be rolled out in other NHS organisations.

Dr Hanna, Keele Honorary Clinical Lecturer and a UHNM Consultant and Endocrinologist said: “At UHNM there has been a four-fold increase in the number of scans over the last few years. The main benefit of having an electronic results system is that we hope to reduce what is an extremely stressful situation for patients who have found themselves in a potentially nightmare scenario of having a test for one condition that has then found something else for them to worry about.”