Newcastle University receives funding for new research unit

Newcastle University is receiving almost £2 million for a cutting-edge research unit focused on organ donation to help improve the outcomes for patients waiting for and receiving transplants.

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) has launched a £20m set of research units in the UK across blood, organs, plasma, and stem cells. The five Blood and Transplant Research Units (BTRUs) – co-funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and NHSBT – are aimed at providing new technologies, techniques or insights that will benefit donation, transfusion, and transplantation.

Experts at Newcastle University are working with scientists at the University of Cambridge for the NIHR BTRU in Organ Donation and Transplantation research unit – which is receiving a total of £4 million. Their aim is to increase the number of organs available, improve long-term outcomes and enhance quality of life after transplant.

Andrew Fisher, Theme Lead for the BRC’s Training theme and Deputy Director of the new NIHR BTRU in Organ Donation and Transplantation comments:

We are delighted to be co-hosting this new BTRU, dedicated to increasing the quantity and quality of organ transplants performed and addressing inequalities in access to organ transplantation.

Our team of researchers from Newcastle University and Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, covering a wide range of disciplines, will continue to work closely with colleagues at the University of Cambridge and NHS Blood and Transplant to deliver on the unit’s aims.

Input from patients and the public will play a pivotal role in our work and forms an important partnership for achieving maximum impact from the research performed.

Read the full story here: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articles/latest/2022/05/bloodandtransplantresearchunit/