Kent Health News and Events

The School of Engineering and Digital Arts at University of Kent and its industrial collaborator, Silverfit (http://silverfit.nl/) hosted a jointly-organised workshop on “Games for Health” to explore how computer games can be used to support older people with dementia.

In recent years, we have witnessed unprecedented advances in computer game technologies; these include photo realistic 3D graphics, low cost facial and gesture recognition devices, and myriad bio-sensors. They offer tremendous opportunities to transform health and social care provision. For instance, using motion sensors, we are able to track people’s body movement, and provide visual feedback in form of interactive games to support physical rehabilitation. This kind of game solution not only reduces the workload of therapists, but also sustain patient’s long term motivation, which is a crucial factor in rehabilitation. Most importantly, these sensing technologies support “natural user interfaces”, removing technological barrier for older users, motivating them to engage with digital technologies.

The workshop held in October 2012 attracted participants from a wide range of areas, including occupational therapy, ageing research, dementia care, technology companies, NHS, Kent County Council and care home providers.

James Porreca from Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust described the event as “an interesting and informative discussion on potential uses for technology to assist in health care”

The School and Silverfit are currently collaborating on a project funded by EPSRC (led by Dr Jim Ang) in the use of 3D virtual world for health ageing.

The second of the Tizard Research Seminars will take place on Wednesday 17 October.

Read the full article for more information.

The University of Kent is to undertake a half million pound research project with pharmaceutical company Pfizer to develop new therapies for patients who suffer Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) after kidney surgery.

Dr Claire Peppiatt-Wildman, of the Medway School of Pharmacy, will collaborate with Dr Nick Pullen at Pfizer’s US research base on the three-year research project.

It is hoped that the research will lead to a better understanding of the precise pathophysiology underlying AKI and aid the development of effective therapies.

Dr Peppiatt-Wildman said: ‘Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) is associated with mortality, increased lengths of hospitalisation, chronic morbidity and increased healthcare costs.

‘It usually results from ischemia reperfusion injury, which is encountered during surgical procedures such as kidney transplantation, in response to septic shock or severe haemorrhage in both transplanted and native kidneys.

‘The body’s immune system is known to be activated in response to, and play a role in the progression of AKI. The purpose of this collaboration is to investigate whether the body’s first line of defence acts to actually cause AKI following ischemia reperfusion injury or is activated in response to the original ischemic insult.’

Jointly run by the universities of Kent and Greenwich, Medway School of Pharmacy is based at the institutions’ shared campus at Chatham Maritime.

In a development that may lead to new drugs to treat cancer, scientists at the University of Kent have discovered the process by which a key vitamin (B12) is made in cells.

A team at the University’s School of Biosciences led by Professor Martin Warren devised a method that allows them to study how the individual steps for vitamin B12 construction are pieced together. B12 is an essential nutrient that plays an important role in the formation of red blood cells and the maintenance of the nervous system. Deficiencies are associated with anaemia, cardiovascular disorders and dementia.

Using techniques of the new discipline of synthetic biology, researchers engineered a conveyor belt of molecular machines for the construction of the vitamin within bacteria. By varying the length of the assembly line, they were able to unravel how the vitamin is manufactured.

Significantly, the team were also able to alter some of the molecular machines on the conveyor belt and change the form of the vitamin that is made. It is hoped that these novel variant forms of the vitamin will act as important new drugs to treat diseases such as cancer and infections such as tuberculosis (TB).

The team’s research paper An enzyme-trap approach allows isolation of intermediates in cobalamin (vitamin B12) biosynthesis is published in the current edition of the journal Nature Chemical Biology, the leading scientific journal in the field.

Professor Warren, who is Head of the School of Biosciences, said: ‘This is a really important step forward. Vitamin B12 is a nutrient that is only made by bacteria and is not present in plants. Therefore a significant proportion of the world’s population, including vegetarians, are at risk of B12 deficiency.

‘Our work will assist in the generation of better ways of making more of this vitamin available and is also permitting us to make new compounds that will literally allow us to throw a spanner in the works of infections such as TB and diseases such as cancer.’

The Kent team worked with several partners including new biotechnology company Cangenix, based at the School of Biosciences, and researchers at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). The research was funded by a research grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council to Professor Warren and Professor Richard Pickersgill of QMUL.

Three University students have been working for 10 weeks over the Summer vacation within research projects in local hospitals as part of a work experience scheme administered by KentHealth and the NIHR Research Design Service (SE).  Samantha Rennells from the School of Psychology spent time working with Dr Mohamed Sakel in the neurorehabilitation unit at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust (EKHUFT) in collaboration with Dr David Wilkinson from the University on a project investigating novel therapies for hemi-spacial neglect disorder. Mohamed also hosted Scott Yang, a PhD student from the School of Engineering & Digital Arts. Scott was involved in a project with his EDA supervisors, Dr Farzin Deravi and Dr Jim Ang, and Aida Malovic reviewing the use of new technologies to alleviate severe neurological disorders. 

 Dr Sakel said ‘These 2 projects fostered collaboration between the neurorehab Unit of EKHUFT and The University of Kent and will lead to novel publications, set a track record for future grant applications and contribute to evidence-based policy’.

A third student, Jessica Jenner from Biosciences, spent time at Medway Maritime Hospital working with Dr Richard Patey on a project researching  into feeding difficulties in young infants.

The 2 students at EKHUFT were jointly funded by KentHealth and EKHUFT whilst the student in Medway was funded by KentHealth.

Leading health studies expert Professor Stephen Peckham has joined the University of Kent as Director of the Centre for Health Services Studies (CHSS).
Professor Peckham’ s areas of research specialism include commissioning for people with long-term conditions, public health and general practice, integrated care in primary care. He is also involved with a number of international collaborations on primary care and public health systems.

Professor Peter Jeffries, Director of KentHealth, the University agency co-ordinating all its health-related activities, said: ‘Stephen Peckham’s appointment at Kent demonstrates our commitment to health care research.

‘He brings with him an enormous wealth of experience in the field and will provide a catalyst for increased research activity. This also represents part of a larger investment in CHSS by the University to expand the work of this prestigious centre’.

The Centre for Health Services Studies delivers high quality local, national and international research to support provision and innovation in health and social care and inform policy and practice. It enters into collaborative partnerships with service users, professionals and policy-makers in health and social care nationally and internationally to undertake research which is theoretically and empirically grounded.

As part of his role at Kent, Professor Peckham will continue to direct the Department of Health Policy Research Unit in Commissioning and the Healthcare System, which is based at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and also the University of Manchester.