Herts Uni awarded £13.5m research grant into airborne disease detection
The University will be working in partnership with other institutions across the country
Last updated 19th Jan 2024
An impressive £13.5m grant was awarded to the University of Hertfordshire to expand their research into airborne diseases.
The funding, awarded by Research England’s Expanding Excellence in England Fund (E3), will help the University of Hertfordshire work collaboratively with Cranfield, Manchester and Leeds universities to come up with the best possible approach in the detection of pathogens in the air.
The institutions will be working closely with agencies such as Defra, the Met Office, the Environment Agency or UKHSA to identify their research needs and develop advancements into the protection of the environment, human health, and the climate.
"Any of our technologies might enable us to be one step ahead of whatever the next pandemic might be."
The University of Hertfordshire has been conducting thorough research into biodetection research for years, with this grant allowing them to pursue research into harmful pathogenic material, fungal spores or disease.
Professor in Aerosol Biodetection Technology and Dean of the School of Physics at the University of Hertfordshire, Daniel McCluskey, said: "This grant has given us the opportunity to expand the excellent research work that we already do in the world of biodetection, it's enabled us to collaborate with key players academically across the country, but also across our collaborators as well."
"We develop the technology, and many of our partners exploit that technology to advance science, and this grant gives us the opportunity to work directly with them."
In actual terms, the collaboration will enable Professor of Microfluidics and Biodetection Ian Johnston, who is leading this research, and his team, to develop a technology.
Other institutions will then test it on samples collected, with the ultimate aim of supporting national agencies in achieving protection goals.
"We also have many vulnerable individuals in hospitals and it's our aim to take that insight that we have to develop new technology to be able to support people..."
Pr McCluskey said: "Any airborne bacteria or virus or spores that end up on the wind and then are transported through the air, the technology is designed to be able to sample that."
"What we're trying to do is to capture the smallest possible amount of disease present in the air and inform us as early as possible so that we can take action."
There are further hopes this unique collaboration could stop future pandemics before they get the chance to spread, ensure food security by protecting crops, or identify climatic patterns.
Pr McCluskey said: "Anything from diseases coming into our farmers' crops affects our food security, and the ability to be able to monitor that ingressive disease into the field as early as possible could enable us to take action and protect the crop."
"We also have many vulnerable individuals in hospitals and it's our aim to take that insight that we have to develop new technology to be able to support people in a hospital setting."
"Any of our technologies might enable us to be one step ahead of whatever the next pandemic might be."
The project will be developed over the next five years and will offer PhD students the opportunity to get involved in leading research work.