Respiratory Infection

Respiratory Infection group primarily addresses pneumonia, Covid-19 and bronchiectasis.

Pneumonia is the commonest cause of emergency hospital admission worldwide, comprising 270,000 admissions to NHS hospitals in England every year (data from custom analysis of anonymised Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data for the calendar year 2018). The burden on patients and the healthcare system is extensive but pneumonia remains underrepresented in terms of research funding nationally. We are leading research looking at the burden of pneumonia as well as interventions that might reduce its impact

We integrate diverse research groups to span the gap from pathogen spread to molecular analysis: Bristol Aerosol Research Centre (BARC), School of Chemistry; Bristol Neutrophil Lab, School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit. We work within Bristol NHS Foundation Trust to embed research directly into front-line NHS services to ensure rapid translation into practice.

The UKHSA partnership provides the regulatory and strategic framework for national pandemic readiness. External Academic Partners include Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust and NIHR Biomedical Research Centres at Leicester & Oxford. Industry collaborations focus on the development of rapid diagnostics and host-directed therapies.

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