Our Research: Health Care Technologies

Professor John Haycock takes an in-depth look at the problem of repairing peripheral nerve damage. Approximately 1 in 1000 people suffers serious nerve injuries due to road traffic or DIY accidents each year. Repairing this nerve damage surgically can be difficult as clean cuts are rare. The specialist team at Sheffield is overcoming this problem through the creation of new polymer scaffolds which guide new nerve growth, assist repair and provide an ‘off the shelf’ solution for surgeons.

Professor Giuseppe Battaglia takes a tour through the molecular biology and cell biology laboratories at the University of Sheffield and explains the role of the specialist analytic equipment available to students and researchers to enable world-class teaching and research.

Professor Sheila MacNeil discusses how the tissue engineering team is working with ophthalmic surgeons in Hyderabad, India to develop biodegradable polymers – similar to dissolvable sutures - which can be used to successfully deliver cells to the eye. This technique is crucial for repairing scarring of the cornea which affects 3% of India’s population. The team is also working on new scaffolds to grow new bone and soft tissue for cleft palate reconstruction.

Professor Paul Hatton discusses the work of the cell and tissue engineering laboratory and its role in the adaptation of the dental restorative material - Glass Ionomer Cement (GIC) – for middle ear surgery as well as the benefits of being adjacent to an NHS training hospital for students and researchers.

Professor Rod Smallwood explains how computational modelling can be used to understand the continuous process of renewal of human skin.

Bringing together the University’s engineers and biologists in high-tech labs to work on multi-disciplinary solutions is the aim of the ChELSI (Chemical Engineering at the Life Science Interface) institute. Professor Phillip Wright discusses how EPSRC and BBSRC funding is being used on a range of challenges – from pinpointing the early signs of colon cancer disease progression through to understanding how new sources of biofuels can be developed via synthetic biology and metabolic engineering tools.

This film discusses many of the new innovative assisted living technologies developed by inter-disciplinary researchers at Sheffield. These include: robotics for at home stroke rehabilitation; speech recognition devices for disabled people to enable everyday tasks such as opening doors and turning lights off; and handheld devices for chronic illness sufferers, which measure symptoms such as blood pressure and feed these directly to healthcare professionals who can analyse the data and intervene if necessary.

As the demographic of the UK population changes and people live longer, new pressures are being faced by the healthcare sector. It is therefore vital that university research responds to the challenges facing an ageing population to deliver better standards of healthcare without the burden of extra costs. Here at Sheffield, interdisciplinary working is at the forefront of our expertise to address healthcare issues from assisted living to regenerative medicine. The ChELSI Institute is an example of how clinical researchers interact with chemical engineers and industry partners to gain a better understanding of disease and develop new tools and therapies for their treatment.

As the demographic of the UK population changes and people live longer, new pressures are being faced by the healthcare sector. It is therefore vital that university research responds to the challenges facing an ageing population to deliver better standards of healthcare without the burden of extra costs. Here at Sheffield, interdisciplinary working is at the forefront of our expertise to address healthcare issues from assisted living to regenerative medicine. The ChELSI Institute is an example of how clinical researchers interact with chemical engineers and industry partners to gain a better understanding of disease and develop new tools and therapies for their treatment.