Old age need not be barrier to an active life
They can’t turn back the clock, but Leeds scientists will play a crucial role in developing new biomedical therapies to keep our bodies younger – allowing people to enjoy active and healthy lives as we get older.
This autumn the University of Leeds is to launch a new £11 million research centre that will look at pioneering ways to repair the damage caused by ageing to our bones, teeth, muscles, heart and blood vessels, with a special focus On musculoskeletal and cardiovascular disease.
The Wellcome EPSRC Leeds Medical Engineering Centre – or Welmec for short – is directed by Professor John Fisher and involves 40 researchers across the University, as well as clinicians from Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
“Our work is driven by the concept of 50 more years after 50 – that is, making our second 50 years of life as healthy, comfortable and active as our first, so we can enjoy a higher quality of life,” explains Professor Fisher, who is an expert in artificial joints and tissue regeneration.
Although most of us will live longer than our parents and grandparents, Britain’s ageing population means that in the coming decades there will be a sharp rise in the number of people suffering from osteoarthritis, heart disease and chronic back pain. Obesity and increased physical activity also put more pressure on our joints, causing them to wear out faster.
Professor Fisher says: “We now have the technology available to do astonishing things, such as repairing the body by growing healthy new tissue through biological scaffolds and stem cell therapy. And a new generation of prosthetic hip and knee joints that last longer will avoid the need for further replacements.”
“Moreover, advances in medical imaging and 3D virtual pathology will allow clinicians to clearly see what’s going on inside the body and make a better diagnosis, leading to more targeted treatment and less invasive surgery.”
Professor Fisher says the centre also hopes to gain a better understanding of degenerative diseases to allow for early diagnosis, rather than having to treat someone when they are already in crippling pain. “For example, we’re developing biosensor tools that can detect the presence of antibodies and proteins in the blood. All of these technologies will ultimately reduce suffering in patients through more timely interventions, shorter hospital stays and quicker recovery times.”
Funding for the centre has come from the Wellcome Trust and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council as part of its £41 million research programme to find high-tech solutions to medical challenges.
Welmec will build on the world-leading reputation of Leeds’ Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (iMBE), also led by Professor Fisher, which invented the ceramic-on-metal hip replacement used in thousands of patients across the globe. The scope of its activities will expand to include the work of seven other research peaks across campus, drawn from engineering, computing, medicine, dentistry, physics, chemistry and biological sciences.
By 2015, Welmec is expected to have created jobs for up to 200 doctoral researchers and established a £100 million research and innovation programme, making it the largest and most respected centre for medical engineering in the world. It has pledged to deliver a host of innovative new medical devices and regenerative therapies from the lab to clinical trials within five years. These will include:
- Longer-lasting joint replacements in the hip, knee and spine, with improved natural movement and less wear and tear. At present one in ten patients need a second operation later on to correct bone damage, with the risk of dislocations and long-term mobility problems.
- Biological and biomimetic scaffolds to repair knee joints and cartilage, using patients’ own cells to grow new tissue.
- Earlier diagnosis of disease through protein biosensors.
- 3D virtual pathology and high-res medical imaging.
- Regenerative heart valves and blood vessels with reduced risk of infection or failure.
- Advanced tissue engineering for bones and teeth using nano-biomaterials.
- Advances in stem cell therapy.
- Improved safety and effectiveness of products through computer simulation modelling.
“Some of these technologies are quite expensive to deliver upfront, but if you can eliminate the need for patients to have ongoing treatment and drugs, then it makes sense from a health economics perspective as well,” says Professor Fisher.
For details see www.imbe.leeds.ac.uk
