Infectious Disease Mission
Our Missions
Infectious Disease
Infectious diseases pose an ever-increasing threat to public health and wellbeing of humans across the globe. A quarter of the total deaths worldwide are attributed to infectious diseases, with serious consequences on individual health, healthcare systems, and economies. The impact extends beyond statistics, as these diseases (both novel and re-emerging) exacerbate social inequalities, disrupt communities and pose substantial threat to our healthcare systems. A recent example is the COVID-19 pandemic which has had a devastating impact worldwide across all sectors. The ‘silent pandemic’, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), is a major global public health problem with more than a million people dying each year due to drug-resistant infections. Climate change, global food chains, and international travel are key drivers behind the spread of infections, underscoring the urgent need for a coordinated global response.
Our mission is to advance the understanding and control of infectious diseases through rigorous scientific research and strategic partnerships. We are committed to developing innovative diagnostic tools, effective treatments, and robust prevention and preparedness strategies. Our ecosystem prioritises equitable and sustainable research and development, focusing on the protection of communities most at risk.
By generating data and evidence, we drive policy changes for regional, national and global health protection. Through collaborative science, we aim to mitigate the risk and impact of infectious diseases, ensuring that human health is safeguarded from these threats.
Challenges
Warwick hosts world class academics who are at the forefront of cutting-edge Interdisciplinary research that is tackling infectious diseases. The Medical School is home multiple research teams that span discovery research on human pathogens, to the development of new diagnostics and vaccines, through to next-generation public health interventions. The University-wide Antimicrobial Interdisciplinary Centre brings expertise from across the University together to battle the emerging threat of AMR. The Antimicrobial Screening facility is primed to aid in the discovery of new antimicrobial and anti-fungal treatments. The Sir Howard Dalton centre conducts Interdisciplinary, cross-scale mechanistic enzymology of bacterial cell wall research in silico, in vitro, and in vivo, with a focus upon translation and science policy to help tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The Zeeman Institute for Systems Biology & Infectious Disease Epidemiology Research (SBIDER) is home to leading mathematical epidemiologists who deploy quantitative approaches to population level changes, to deliver real world disease control: exemplified by contributions to predicting the COVID-19 pandemic. The Institute for Global Pandemic Planning (IGPP) combines world-class expertise in Mathematical Epidemiology, Public Health, and Behavioural Science to develop comprehensive solutions for global leaders struggling to respond to the health, social, economic and psychological impacts of pandemics. Our academics work in partnership with the UK Health Security Agency and University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (UHCW).
We have demonstrated national and international impact in infectious disease research spanning:
- Infectious Disease Surveillance and Data Science
- Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)
- Vaccinology and Immunology
Mission Leads
Professor Meera Unnikrishnan
Steven Laird (UHCW)
Challenges
Advance Surveillance and Data Science for Infectious Disease Control
Infectious diseases are evolving rapidly, making timely detection and response critical for public health. There is an essential requirement to utilise data science, syndromic surveillance, and evidence synthesis to predict, monitor, and control outbreaks.
Breakthroughs:
We are currently using novel methods to provide unique insights on a range of key infectious diseases, and utilising real time, syndromic surveillance to alert, and understand which infectious agents are causing changes in healthcare presentations.
Our data and evidence synthesis deliver the best available insights and evidence to decision makers on a range of infectious disease threats; ranging from antimicrobial resistance or vaccination strategies to health protection parameters of infectious diseases.
We use new methodologies such as machine learning to identify changes in levels of infectious diseases from what is expected, enabling rapid public health interventions, or predict winter health care pressures.
Challenge Lead
Dan Todkill
Challenges
Combat Antimicrobial Resistance
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a significant threat to global health, as it makes infections more difficult to treat and increases the risk of disease spread, severe illness, and death. By enhancing our understanding of pathogenicity and resistance mechanisms we hope to combat AMR to improve health and save lives. Alternative treatments such as phage therapy is being used to target specific bacteria strains.
Breakthroughs:
Our current research utilises cutting edge molecular and cellular technologies in order to understand host-bacterial interactions with particular interest in Intracellular survival of bacterial pathogens the role of the microbiome in infections. We are also looking at the potential for phage therapy inside the mammalian cell environment and have established an in vitro novel model system for phage therapy in mammalian cells
Challenge Lead
Dr. Meera Unnikrishnan
Challenges
Accelerate Vaccine Development and Immunotherapy
The development of vaccines is essential to prevent infectious diseases and control new outbreaks. Immunotherapeutics holds immense promise in the treatment of other intractable diseases such as cancer.
Currently vaccine and immunotherapy development can be costly and time consuming. Accelerating the development of broadly protective vaccines will allow for improved intervention to target variable and hard to treat pathogens and protect populations worldwide. The development of novel immunotherapeutics promises to provide treatments for current intractable diseases.
Breakthroughs:
We currently have research on going in the areas of 1) nucleic acid and drug delivery system development spanning polymer technology of molecular syringes, and 2) the next generation broadly protective vaccines against RNA viruses.
Challenge Lead
Craig Thompson
