Impact
Together, our researchers are having a global impact on society in Northern Ireland, the UK and across the world. They are advancing and expanding knowledge, and helping to define attitudes to some of the great social issues of our time.
Dr Damian Downey
Transforming the lives of people with Cystic Fibrosis through novel therapies
There are over 10,500 people with Cystic Fibrosis (pwCF) in the UK, accounting for 9,500 hospital admissions and over 100,000 bed days a year. Our research has transformed the lives of thousands of pwCF by leading on the clinical development of treatments that address the underlying genetic deficit. These transformative therapies improve lung health and have underpinned the regulatory approval and marketing of 4 breakthrough CF therapies. The most recent, Trikafta/Kaftrio, targets mutations present in 90% of pwCF, hailed by the FDA as a “landmark approval”. It generated approx. $4,000,000,000 in sales revenue in 2020.
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Professor Bronagh Blackwood
A new approach to weaning critically ill patients from mechanical ventilation
Critically ill patients having long periods of mechanical ventilation are at higher risk of morbidity. The research by Professor Blackwood identified ways to optimise inter-disciplinary collaboration in weaning infants and children from mechanical ventilation and, by July 2020, nearly two-thirds (18/28) of UK paediatric intensive care units had adopted the protocolised weaning intervention that was designed based on this research.
Read more about Professor Blackwood's research