Respiratory viruses, such as flu, can make asthma symptoms worse. The first barrier between viruses and the internal lungs is the outer layer of the airway, called the airway epithelium. This research aims to find ‘markers’ (called microRNAs) in the airway epithelium that are involved in its recovery after infection. This could help develop future treatments for asthma.

This study is being carried out by a team of researchers and clinicians at Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust and Manchester Metropolitan University.

Respiratory viruses such as flu can make asthma symptoms worse. The first barrier between viruses and the internal lungs is the outer layer of the airway, called the airway epithelium. This research aims to find ‘markers’ (called microRNAs) in the airway epithelium that can help identify and treat flu infection. This could help develop future treatments for asthma.

Healthy volunteers are needed to compare the results with people who have asthma.

This study is being carried out by a team of researchers and clinicians at Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust and Manchester Metropolitan University.

This study wants to test a new way to measure shear stress (rubbing on the feet) in people living with type 2 diabetes to help understand how to prevent diabetic foot ulcers. 

Shear stress on the feet is known to cause foot ulcers to develop, but there is currently no way to measure it. 

This study wants to find out if ‘sensing socks’ can tell the difference between people with and without impaired sensation (neuropathy), and whether factors such as walking speed affect shear stress.  

It is being carried out by researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University and Lancaster University. 

This study aims to investigate how hearing ability changes in healthy ageing and in Alzheimer’s disease.

Previous research has shown that people with Alzheimer’s disease have a build-up of abnormal proteins in the brain which affects normal brain function. As the same proteins also build up in the hearing (auditory) system, it is expected they would affect the response to sounds.

Researchers want to investigate how sounds are processed along the auditory pathway in healthy ageing people and in people living with Alzheimer’s Disease. Better understanding of the changes that take place, and when they occur, will help predict who is at increased risk of developing dementia.

This project has been funded by Deafness Support Network and the National Institute for Health Research Manchester Biomedical Research Centre (NIHR BRC).

This study aims to investigate how living with obesity affects skeletal muscle size, quality and metabolic function, and understand the processes that cause this.  Results from this study will be used to inform future research to help healthy weight loss and prevent weight regain.

It is being carried out by researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University and funded by the Academy of Medical Sciences.

This study will evaluate a new way to detect whether a person will develop heart failure or become unwell with it.

Heart failure happens when the heart is unable to pump blood around the body effectively.  Current methods of detection mean that heart failure is often diagnosed too late.  Developing better ways for earlier detection, means that treatments can be started earlier and prevent disease progression.

This study is being carried out by a team of researchers and clinicians at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and is funded by the Greater Manchester Innovation Accelerator.

The fovea is a specialised area of the retina, the tissue lining the back of the eye. The fovea is responsible for providing sharp, detailed vision, including reading and face recognition.

Previous research has shown the appearance of the fovea can differ significantly in the general population. This study wants to understand why differences in the structure occur, and how this affects vision.

This study is being carried out by researchers at the Manchester Centre for Genomic Medicine, part of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. It is funded by The Wellcome Trust.

This study is looking for healthy volunteers from a Black or Asian ethnic background to help develop an imaging system to measure oxygenation in the skin of the hands and help understand how oxygenation imaging varies in people with different skin tones. The results will help determine whether this system may be better than currently used techniques in the management of people with systemic sclerosis (scleroderma).

This research is being carried out by research teams from the Department of Rheumatology at Salford Royal Hospital and the University of Manchester and forms part of a PhD project. It is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

This study is looking for healthy volunteers to help understand why women living with SLE (systemic lupus erythematosus) develop blood vessel damage, leading to increased risk of developing heart and blood vessel disease. It will investigate  if there is an association between the function of small blood vessels and the amount of bioactive lipids in the surrounding tissue.

It is being carried out at Manchester NHS Foundation Trust by a team of researchers from The University of Manchester and  is funded by the British Heart Foundation.

This study is investigating why people with long Covid experience long term fatigue, and whether this fatigue is associated with fitness level.

It will use Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to look at the amount of blood flow to brain and muscle tissue, before and after exercise, in people who have long Covid and chronic fatigue. The findings will be used to help better understand why some people with long Covid develop fatigue.

This study is being carried out by researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University.

This study will investigate the mechanisms that cause ageing and loss of skin function, and determine the age at which these changes begin.

It is being carried out at Salford Royal Hospital (part of Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust) by a team of researchers from the University of Manchester. It is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

This study looks at the effects of physical activity on glycaemia and daily insulin dose in sedentary people with type 1 diabetes.

It is part of the Exercise for Type 1 Diabetes (EXTOD) programme, which aims to provide evidence-based support for people living with diabetes to be able to undertake safe, effective exercise.

EXTOD-Active is being carried out by a team of researchers at Liverpool John Moores University.