From the gut microbiome to stem cell biology, health-focused research at Earlham Institute is generating new knowledge to inform improved and more effective diagnostics, personalised treatments, and health interventions.
Many of the most pressing challenges in human health, from chronic conditions to immune disorders and rare genetic diseases, share common challenges rooted in complex biological systems.
Advances in single-cell analysis, microbial biology, genomics, and data science are changing the detail and scale of insight we can generate, and scientists at Earlham Institute are working together to apply these methods to a number of human health applications.
By combining world-class expertise and technologies across these disciplines, our scientists are uncovering the molecular and cellular mechanisms that underpin disease, identify new therapeutic targets, and inform the next generation of treatments.
Scientists at Earlham Institute are studying how complex communities of microorganisms living in our gastrointestinal tract influences our health.
Using the latest technologies, scientists are exploring links between the gut microbiome and therapeutic diets, for example in Crohn’s disease. In collaboration with the Quadram Institute scientists are also working to better define what a “healthy” gut microbiome looks like, profiling key signatures that characterise gut microbiomes.
Crohn’s disease is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that causes inflammation along the intestinal tract. As inflamed regions of the gut form scar tissue (fibrosis), the space within the gut becomes more restricted, leading to symptoms of gut obstruction.
There is currently no drug treatment available for this complication – eventually as fibrosis worsens, surgery becomes the only option. Scientists at the Earlham Institute are part of a collaboration to create the first Gut Cell Atlas - a research tool that identifies and characterises gut cells - enabling greater insight and faster resolution for diseases impacting the digestive system.
Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis is an extremely rare liver disease.
Characterised by inflammation, fibrosis and narrowing of bile ducts, this disease progressively reduces liver function resulting in the only course of action available: liver transplant.
There are no known treatments for this disease, other than management of the symptoms. Working closely with consultant radiologists at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, scientists at Earlham Institute are using single-cell and spatial technologies to generate new cellular insight into this disease.
Stem cells and platelets play an essential role in repair and defence of our bodies.
Platelets are produced by a small pool of cells called megakaryocytes, which reside in our bone marrow.
Megakaryocytes are born from stem cells. They are large, fragile, easy to find - but difficult to successfully isolate. Scientists in the Wojtowicz Group study these cells, and explore the impact of low protein diets on blood cell function, with a special focus on platelet production.
Schizophrenia is a neuropsychiatric disorder estimated to affect nearly 1% the world population, and yet most of the current treatments are not sufficient.
Scientists in the Haerty Group have been working on bioinformatic analyses to develop new knowledge and approaches for safe and effective treatment for serious mental health conditions.
They’ve been studying how a particular gene associated with risk for neuropsychiatric disorders responds to medication, identifying it as a potential target for drug development.
Real-time metagenomics, fuelled by the development of nanopore sequencing - can facilitate a much faster route from sample to results in time-critical situations such as point-of-care diagnostics.
Applied to clinical settings this research has the potential to accelerate the detection and monitoring of infection, particularly in monitoring pathogens and AMR resistance in human microbiomes. His group has collaborated with scientists and clinicians across the Norwich Research Park to pioneer a new method for profiling the microbiome of preterm babies that can significantly speed-up the identification of infections and indicate more effective treatments.
We work across academic, clinical, and industry partners to translate these genomic insights into solutions for patients to improve health and wellbeing. On the Norwich Research Park we are situated close to the University of East Anglia and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, specialising in clinical research.
Partnering with scientists and clinicians at the Quadram Institute brings together complementary expertise in gut health, microbiology, and food and nutrition.
And we work internationally, applying our expertise in single-cell genomics and data science to global cell atlas projects - mapping how cells behave across species, tissues, and disease states.
