Research link up for hospital and university

Peterborough City Hospital to work with Loughborough University to facilitate early Alzheimer’s diagnosis work

Ground-breaking research into the diagnosis of diseases including Alzheimer’s will be carried out thanks to a new partnership between Peterborough City Hospital and one of the top British universities. The pathology team at the Bretton hospital is teaming up with the chemistry team at Loughborough University to conduct research into a new blood test to facilitate the early diagnosis of diseases such as Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) and Alzheimer’s disease.

The innovative research project will focus on using nanotechnology to develop a diagnostic kit for screening neurodegenerative disorders that result in the progressive loss of brain function and mobility.

Loughborough University has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme, putting it among the best universities in the world, and is regularly ranked in the top 10 universities in England for research intensity.

DrMuttuswamy Sivakumaran, consultant haematologist and chairman of the Trust Research and Development Committee at the hospital, said the partnership was an ‘exciting’ move for the department.

He said “We are all very excited about this new scientific research collaboration with an outstanding academic institution.”

As part of the research project, a PHD studentship has been set up and Matthew Healey has been appointed to undertake the research.

Matthew will be spending time looking at medical lab- oratory techniques and has already taken a tour of the department that he will be working in.

Matthew said he was ‘thrilled’ to be able to take advantage of the new partnership.

He said: “I have studied analytical chemistry, so it was great to see sensing and diagnostic testing being done on such a large scale.

“I am thrilled to be given the opportunity to use my knowledge and expertise to develop the diagnostic test using the state of the art laboratories at Peterborough City Hospital.

“I am confident that this collaborative project will produce ground-breaking results.”