Seven ways Earlham Institute’s research improves future health

Do you know the scale and breadth of our health research? 

From uncovering the mystery of DNA replication–a hotspot for mutations that cause genetic diseases such as cancer–to using single cell analysis to study rare liver disease, the combination of our technology and research expertise has huge potential to tackle complex questions in human biology. 

By studying the regulation of gene expression, we can gain insight into which cell types are present, where they’re located, and how those cells may be functioning at a given moment. Dr David Wright, Senior Computational Biologist at the Earlham Institute, uses epigenetics approaches to learn more about how cell development is regulated in the placenta as part of a collaboration with UEA and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

Meanwhile in the Papatheodorou Group, Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Dr Greg Wickham is developing computational models to understand disease trajectories in late-stage Crohn’s disease from single-cell transcriptomic data as part of the Gut Cell Atlas project.

Dr Christopher Quince, Group Leader at the Earlham Institute and Quadram Institute, has pioneered new methods for studying microbial communities. These approaches have driven progress on major health challenges – from understanding the spread of non-viral gastroenteritis in Pakistan and analysing the role of therapeutic diets in treating Crohn’s disease, to examining the impact of antimicrobial resistance in the environment and human gut.

Also Group Leader at the Earlham Institute and Quadram Institute, Prof Falk Hildebrand, harnesses microbial communities to interrogate conditions such as IBD and Parkinson’s disease. Recently identifying a set of common ‘signatures’’ of the human gut microbiome and the bacteria involved in these communities, Falk’s research in understanding how these complex communities could influence targeted treatments.

Dr Edyta Wojtowicz, Group Leader at the Earlham Institute, uses the latest single-cell genomics and imaging techniques to study the impact of diet on blood cell development in health and disease, particularly the influence of dietary components (protein, fatty acids, complex carbohydrates) on immunity and blood cell production. 

The impact of this research will enable health professionals to advise western populations on how to support their immune systems through their diet. 
 

Dr Wilfried Haerty, who leads the Cellular Genomics research programme at the Earlham Institute, is pioneering new approaches to identify therapeutic targets for serious mental health conditions, including schizophrenia. By combining genomics and computational analysis, his work is helping to identify the biological systems that could inform safer and more targeted therapies.

Dr Haerty also leads the Earlham Institute’s involvement in a ground-breaking project to develop personalised medicine to tackle cardiovascular disease, whereby prevention and treatment of disease is tailored to an individual’s unique genetic make-up and health information.

Earlham Institute Group Leader, Dr Richard Leggett, works on developing technologies, software, and methods to speed up pathogen detection and diagnostics in a multitude of environments. 
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 with a huge range of collaborators to enable and ensure our health research is grounded in the needs of the communities we serve. 

From sharing expertise, to working with patients contributing to research – every collaborator brings an essential component that enables greater health benefits.