Quality of Research
Infection and Immunology
School of Medicine
Research Assessment Exercise (2008)
| Unit of Assessment | Staff submitted (FTE) | By percentage, research activity in the submission judged to reach quality standard | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infection and Immunology (A3) | 42.60 | 4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
UC |
| 10% | 40% | 45% | 5% | 0% | ||
(Overall quality profile in blocks of 5%)
Research Profile: Infection and Immunology
| Infection and Immunology | ||
|---|---|---|
| Institution | Research Power | |
| Imperial College London | 302.08 | |
| University of Oxford | 295.75 | |
| University of Cambridge | 140.30 | |
| University College London | 130.86 | |
| University of Liverpool | 127.71 | |
| University of Birmingham | 122.50 | |
| King's College London | 117.04 | |
| Cardiff University | 108.63 | |
| University of Glasgow | 105.30 | |
| London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine | 90.86 | |
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The Infection, Immunology and Inflammation Interdisciplinary Research Group (I3-IRG) undertakes internationally-recognised research excellence in the fields of Innate Immunity, Cancer Immunology, Microbial and Viral infection and Cellular and Molecular Immunology.
The Research Group fosters research initiatives, funds studentships and educational programs and promotes collaboration with other Schools in Cardiff University, the NHS Trust and the wider national and international community. The mission links cutting edge laboratory-based research with translational, cross-disciplinary clinical applications in microbiology, obstetrics and gynaecology, rheumatology, neurology, nephrology, respiratory disease, oncology, child health and diagnostic medicine.
One major initiative is the Healing Foundation UK Centre for Burns Research. The focus of this competitively-won project will be the immunology of burn injuries. This will drive translational studies for the benefit of burn injury patients, linking inflammation, infection and wound healing. The project links the group with colleagues in the Cardiff Institute for Tissue Repair and Regeneration, the Morriston Hospital NHS Trust and the School of Nursing and Midwifery Studies.
Professor Andy Sewell - whose team helped engineer immune cells that see through HIV’s many disguises. The findings were recently published in Nature Medicine.
Recent research by the group and international colleagues has led to the development of engineered immune cells which are capable of recognising the many disguises of the HIV virus. These cells have also been able to eradicate HIV-infected cells in laboratory conditions and clinical trials should begin shortly. These engineered t-Cells may also have applications in improving the immune system’s response to cancer.
The group is committed to further increasing its research capacity of both basic science and clinical academics. One part of this strategy involves maintaining the strong track record of individuals gaining fellowship support leading to career independence. We are expanding the number of studentships to support capacity building through locally generated funding, Medical Research Council Doctoral Training Grants and School of Medicine allocations. These strategies have led to sustained increases in postgraduate research numbers and successful fellowship applications.