Maintaining and improving older people's quality of life, the increasing threat posed by antibiotic resistance and hospital-acquired infections, the worldwide rise in tuberculosis and cancer, and the fight against HIV/Aids are just some of the major areas where scientists and clinicians at the university are pioneering new treatments and approaches.
Much of this research is conducted in the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences and the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, but Brighton's medical research strength is also significantly enhanced by the joint Brighton and Sussex Medical School, and by collaborations with the University of Sussex and with local authorities.
One approach to solving a major medical problem involves using nanotechnology to create a filter which can remove the poison that causes sepsis. This condition costs the NHS an extra £6,000 to treat every sufferer and kills one third of patients within 28 days and half within six months.
Researchers are also developing innovative approaches to killing bacteria using viruses. Every year non-treatable infections kill at least 5,000 people and cost the NHS over £1bn.
At the cutting-edge of medical research is gene therapy and Brighton's researchers are looking at ways to use this to combat diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) and ensure some of the 200 million people who develop TB symptoms, whose immune systems are affected by faulty genes, have their function restored so they can better fight the disease.
Brighton's researchers are also working with new technology on issues such as personalising the treatment patients receive. This includes the development of medical scans that can be used to tailor cancer treatment for each individual patient, understanding how different patients respond to asthma treatments and developing exercise regimes based on the study of an athlete's physiological response to exercise.
Other research focuses on the impact of ageing on blood flow in order to understand the causes of heart attacks and strokes and biomechanical ways of predicting spine motion. In psychiatry, pioneering research is being done to understand how eyes can unconsciously reveal different levels of empathy.
Health promotion researchers are broadening approaches to HIV/Aids prevention by providing information for men who have sex with men through targeting varying business sectors across Europe.
