What Liverpool Offers

Our mission is to create a world-class centre for developing researchers in priority skills areas of importance to modern health and biomedical research, where fellows undertake excellent research in a high-quality training environment. The University recognises the importance of interdisciplinary research in its cross-cutting research themes including Personalised Health, Infectious Diseases and Liverpool Digital.

Statistics

UoL has one of the largest departments of Biostatistics in the UK, with 46 academic staff and 48 PhD students (20 co-supervised between biomedicine and biostatistics) undertaking research in statistical genetics, pharmacogenetics, joint modelling of longitudinal and time-to-event data, multivariate data analysis, stereology, multi-source evidence synthesis and clinical trials. Combined with a strong group of geographers with expertise in spatial statistics and a cross-Faculty Bayesian Statistics Group, this provides an advanced statistical training environment. The Department of Biostatistics has a sustained track record of funded research, including MRC projects in joint modelling and multivariate discriminant analysis, Wellcome Trust funding for statistical genetics, Horizon 2020 projects in regenerative medicine and NIHR funding for biomarker-guided clinical trials. Staff have undertaken high-impact research: methodologies for the analysis of genome-wide association and sequencing studies have been developed and applied across international collaborative efforts, advancing understanding of the molecular and pathophysiological basis of common diseases including type 2 diabetes, resulting in publications in Nature; identification of a pharmacogenetics-guided warfarin dosing protocol for improved anticoagulation control, shown to reduce hospital admissions in the international EU-PACT trial (NEJM); development and application of methods for joint modelling of longitudinal dose and competing risks time-to-event data has influenced anti-epileptic drug prescribing practice (Lancet).

For more information on this area of research, contact:
Professor Paula Williamson, prw@liv.ac.uk

Computer Science

The Department of Computer Science at UoL is renowned internationally for excellent research in Algorithms and Artificial Intelligence, with nine specialised research groups on topics directly related to or spanning these areas. In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), Computer Science at UoL was ranked 1st in the UK for combined world leading and internationally excellent research outputs, and 97% of its overall research being rated as world-leading or internationally excellent. The Department has 62 members of academic staff and around 70 PhD students. Its education programmes are in high demand and the Department’s research strengths are reflected within its degree programmes. Staff in the Department work in a number of health areas, for example combining game theory, cognitive psychology, neuroimaging and biostatistics to investigate social and strategic reasoning in individuals with and without autism, and using text mining to support evidence-based public health interventions, funded by the MRC.

The School of Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Computer Science has broader themes covering Autonomous Systems, Data Science, Sensors, Biomedical Science and Engineering.

For more information on this area of research, contact:
Professor Katie Atkinson, katie@liverpool.ac.uk

Applied Mathematics

The Department of Mathematical Sciences has international research expertise in applied and pure mathematics, and theoretical physics. There are 67 members of academic staff, including three new posts in maths for healthcare, and 71 PhD students. Research interests include mathematical imaging (within the unique Centre for Mathematical Imaging Techniques), partial differential equations, waves and solid mechanics, and mathematical biology. The Department hosts the Liverpool Centre for Mathematics in Healthcare (LCMH, Director: Chen), one of only five EPSRC-funded centres nationwide, bringing applied and pure mathematics expertise to tackle problems within three major healthcare challenges (multiscale modelling, multi-modal imaging and data integration, and disease networks). Initial projects include 3D variational segmentation models for medical imaging; forecast of fatigue damage for endovascular stents in the abdominal aorta, and extrapolation of in-vitro experiments to drug toxicity predictions. An MRC SDF award, with its focus on career development for early postdoctoral researchers, would add value to the EPSRC LCMH, which provides opportunities for more experienced researchers to work on specific funded projects. This MRC SDF application proposes greater engagement across a wider number of quantitative areas and healthcare challenges, bringing benefits to the LCMH.

For more information on this area of research, contact:
Dr Rachel Bearon, R.Bearon@liverpool.ac.uk

Stratified Medicine

Integration of multi-omics data for patient stratification is a major theme in the Department of Biostatistics, drawing on statistical genetics, pharmacogenomics, multivariate and longitudinal data analysis. Staff are members of the GeCIP domain “Machine Learning, Quantitative Methods and Functional Genomics” for the 100K Genomes Project, which brings together experts in bioinformatics, computational biology, statistical genetics and mathematical modelling to better understand the relationship between changes in the genome and human diseases, and provide training for the next generation of genome analysts. UoL hosts the Wolfson Centre for Personalised Medicine (Director: Pirmohamed), MRC Centre for Drug Safety Science (CDSS, Director: Pirmohamed) and the UK Pharmacogenetics and Stratified Medicine Network.

The University hosts the MRC North West Hub for Trials Methodology Research (Director: Williamson), developing novel approaches to biomarker-guided e-trials. Ongoing research within Liverpool is exploring methods for robustly demonstrating evidence of biomarker validity prior to embarking on a biomarker-guided trial, as well as methods for utilising observational data as supportive evidence for translation of a biomarker-guided approach to treatment. Linkage of our work in ‘omics technologies to health informatics resources is crucial for identification of endotypes, the development of clinical stratification markers, deep clinical phenotyping and the identification of patients for enrolment into stratified medicine cohort studies and randomised trials.

For more information on this area of research, contact:
Professor Munir Pirmohamed, munirp@liverpool.ac.uk

Infection

Major interdisciplinary research programmes include (a) the "Integrate" programme (Wellcome Trust/DoH-funded, Director: O’Brien) to accelerate recognition, investigation and control of gastroenteritis outbreaks by analysing together real-time regional and national syndromic data from human and animal surveillance systems in combination with rapid molecular diagnostics and next-generation sequence bioinformatics data on pathogens causing diarrhoea; (b) the Small Animal Veterinary Surveillance Network (SAVSNET, Director: Radford), a unique surveillance system for companion animals established in collaboration with the British Small Animal Veterinary Association, essential for understanding national human risk for zoonotic pathogens including antimicrobial resistance; (c) the development of efficient methods for evaluating new vaccines both in the pre-licensure stage and after introduction to assess their effectiveness; (d) assessment of the effects of future climate change on the spread of infectious disease and its impact on human health and wellbeing; (e) modelling spread and evolution of infectious diseases and complex networks led by Sharkey. UoL hosts two NIHR Health Protection Research Units, one in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections (Director: Solomon), one in Gastrointestinal Infections (Director: O’Brien).

For more information on this area of research, contact:
Professor Sarah O’Brien, sjobrien@liverpool.ac.uk

Regenerative Medicine

The Regenerative Medicine Network at the University of Liverpool is dedicated to harnessing the curative potential of stem cells to improve human health. The Liverpool team is highly multidisciplinary, comprising biologists (stem cell, renal and molecular biologists, pharmacologists, a biostatistician and pathologist), imaging scientists, chemists, physicists and mathematicians. The University is host to the cross-council UK Regenerative Medicine Platform Safety and Efficacy Hub (Director: Park). The Hub is developing quantitative methods to monitor the biodistribution and behaviour of transplanted cells over time using state-of-the-art multimodal imaging platforms, and cutting-edge quantitative bioanalysis technologies, to relate the disposition of administered cells to the physiological, pharmacological and pathological responses of the host tissues that the cells populate. Key aims are to develop novel multi-modal imaging strategies and molecular biomarkers to assess the safety and efficacy of cell-based regenerative medicine therapies in models of liver, kidney and brain injury. A current bottleneck with these studies is that we require new statistical methods and mathematical tools for analysing the data. For instance, complex statistics are required to integrate the data obtained from the various imaging techniques in order to determine the risk:benefit ratio for each cell therapy under test. This information is crucial to decide whether it is appropriate for a cell therapy to be translated to the clinic. Furthermore, some of the new imaging strategies we are developing require new mathematical tools for data modelling that take into account the physiology and pathology of the particular disease model.

For more information on this area of research, contact:
Professor Trish Murray, p.a.murray@liv.ac.uk

Public Health

The Department of Public Health and Policy is designated a WHO Collaborating Centre for Policy Research on Determinants of Health Equity; and a member of the NIHR School for Public Health Research (SPHR) and the DH Public Health Research Consortium (PHRC). Our team, ranked 3rd for 4* impact on policy and practice in REF 2014 has multidisciplinary expertise linking clinical and social epidemiology, health inequalities, statistics, mathematics, modelling, engineering, social science and policy, systematic reviews, health promotion and nutrition. We are applying modern methods for causal mediation analysis in longitudinal child health data; applying innovative modelling and simulation techniques to investigate the impact of structural policies to improve diets on disease burden and equity; have unique expertise in the use of local authority and other routine datasets for the evaluation of natural policy experiments; and have developed validated models for predicting the future burden of disease and inequalities, and to compare the potential benefits of diverse policy and therapeutic interventions.

For more information on this area of research, contact:
Professor David Taylor-Robinson, David.Taylor-Robinson@liverpool.ac.uk

The Faculty of Health and Life Sciences

The University of Liverpool has been at the forefront of Health & Life Sciences research for 130 years and continues to build on the impressive research knowledge, experience, resources and partnerships that have been amassed. The Faculty has over 1,850 staff, 5,000 undergraduates and 1,000 postgraduate students who, together with many alumni and partners, are helping to build the University’s reputation every day.
The Faculty has eight Institutes:

• Ageing and Chronic Disease (IACD)
• Clinical Sciences (ICS)
• Infection and Global Health (IIGH)
• Integrative Biology (IIB)
• Life and Human Sciences (ILHS)
• Psychology, Health and Society (IPHS)
• Translational Medicine (ITM)
• Veterinary Science (IVS)

The Faculty’s Technology Directorate helps to ensure that staff have access to the world-class equipment and expertise to pursue outstanding science. It has established a group of Shared Research Facilities (SRFs) run by experts, supported by dedicated technical staff and available to our staff and to external collaborators through a flexible model of engagement.

The Faculty of Science and Engineering

The Faculty of Science and Engineering connects research strengths, technologies and experts from a unique, broad mix of disciplines. This places us in a strong position to develop innovative solutions and approaches to tackle many of today's complex social, economic and environmental challenges.

The Faculty consists of the Schools of Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Computer Science, Engineering, Environmental Sciences and Physical Sciences. Alongside these Schools, a number of inter-disciplinary initiatives are maturing. The Stephenson Institute of Renewable Energy occupies custom built laboratories, and is host to the new EPSRC CDT in Photovoltaics. The Risk Institute includes members from 8 different Departments across the three Faculties, and is home to the new, Liverpool-only, CDT on Risk. The Faculty is also home to the Liverpool Centre for Mathematics in Healthcare. New activities in Biomedical Science and Engineering, Autonomous Systems, Network Science, Coasts and Oceans, the Liverpool Earth Observatory, Nuclear Science and Engineering and Big Data are in development.

In recent years excellent facilities for teaching have been developed, including the Active Learning Laboratory within the School of Engineering, and the Central Teaching Laboratories for Physical Sciences and Environmental Sciences.

The Faculty is in a good position to strengthen on a number of important measures, continuing the progress that has seen in the last 5 years the PhD student numbers increase by a factor of 2.26, research income by 20%, and student numbers by 40%.

Further information on the Faculty can be found at https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/science-and-engineering/

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