Our research aims to understand fundamental molecular and cellular biological mechanisms and investigate them in relation to human health and disease across all stages of the life cycle.
Research and innovation in the Faculty of Life Sciences
Welcome message from the Dean
The Faculty of Life Sciences is home to a pool of talented researchers whose skills and knowledge contribute to our understanding of the world around us. We host a wide range of research interests that use an equally wide range of technologies from qualitative interviews to highly technical world class laboratory research in the disciplines of archaeology, biology, chemistry, pharmacology and ophthalmology.
We believe strongly that interdisciplinary approaches are the best way to fertilise the imagination of researchers to develop the most exciting projects. For this reason, we have organised our research teams into four major themes that highly encourage interdisciplinary research projects. This multidisciplinary approach is complemented by the research in our three flagship research centres carrying out excellent research focusing on cancer drug development, skin sciences and pharmaceutical engineering.
Bradford’s Faculty of Life Sciences is a setting supportive of innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit. We are proud to be highly active and successful throughout the long impact pathway; from discovery science to the delivery of improved patient treatments to improved healthcare pipelines.
Professor Rob James, Dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences
Recent Life Sciences news
Meeting of Experts in Submerged Landscapes
Bradford’s AHRC project, Taken at the Flood, held a workshop to discuss prospection and site location in a submerged archaeological landscape. Attendees included project members and eminent guest speakers from around Europe, including Geoff Bailey from the University of York, Garry Momber from the Maritime Archaeology Trust and Hans Peeters from the University of Groningen. Debate centred around emerging landscape models and anamyses and it was discussed what might constitute a ‘site’ within the context of a submerged marine landscape.
Associate editor: Solid State Chemistry (Frontiers in Chemistry)
Dr Venu Vangala has been appointed as Associate Editor for the specialty section of "Solid State Chemistry" with the journal Frontiers in Chemistry.
Springboard Award (Academy of Medical Sciences)
Dr Peter Nicholls has been awarded the prestigious Springboard Award from the Academy of Medical Sciences for his project "Deciphering the rising incidence of germ cell tumours”. The Springboard Award is a highly competitive scheme that supports early-career researchers in biomedical sciences to launch their independent research careers.
FROLIC (Fun-day Related tO Learning about the Institute of Cancer Therapeutics) Festival
On World Cancer Day (4 Februar), staff and students from the Institute for Cancer Therapeutics (ICT) engaged with the public about cancer research and the research work being done at the Institute. The festival at the Bradford Broadway shopping centre was organised by Dr Amalia Ruiz Estrada and Dr Hannah Moody and was well attended by many children and their families taking part in the fun, family-friendly science activities raising awareness of cancer research and the ICT.
Northern Bioinformatics User Group (Northern BUG) meeting
This September the Faculty of Life Sciences Computational and Data-Driven theme and Bradford HPC Service hosted the Northern Bioinformatics User Group (Northern BUG) meeting. The community presented 10 short talks on HPC, workflow management systems such as Nextflow and Galaxy, clinical bioinformatics, FAIR data analysis and data stewardship training and community of practice. Further information is available on the website of the Computational and Data-driven Science theme.
Recent Appointees in Materials Science 2022 (RAMS-2022)
Sanjit Nayak, Debbie Crawford, Phil Drake, Nadeem Javid, Colin Seaton, Bev Stewart, Tom Swift and Richard Telford hosted the RAMS-2022 conference during 5-6th September at the University of Bradford. RAMS provides a national platform for early/mid career academics/researchers to share experiences and to create a collaborative network. The conference is partly sponsored and promoted by the RSC Materials Chemistry Division. Check the website for more details: www.rams-uk.com.
Northern Cardiovascular Research Group Meeting 2022
The 2022 meeting of the Northern Cardiovascular Research Group was held at Bradford University on 24th May. It was organised by Dr Matthew Hardy with the help of Dr Jacobo Elies, Dr Kirsten Riches-Suman and Dr Munir Hussain and attracted 102 registered delegates from across the UK. The keynote speaker of the meeting was Dr. Samantha Pitt from the University of St. Andrews who discussed how “Cellular zinc shapes calcium dynamics in the heart".
Commercialisation of novel technology
The Centre for Pharmaceutical Engineering has successfully commercialised its first cocrystal based innovation 'EfferShield'. The products will be on the market in the nutritional supplement and eco-cleaning sectors and will make an impact across manufacturing, healthcare, and the environment. To celebrate this success, Professor Gautam Desiraju, the world leader in the area of crystal engineering delivered a keynote address in a webinar on Friday, 29thApril at 1 pm.
Recent publications
Assessing student perception of the integration of portable wireless ultrasound imaging in undergraduate anatomy education
Edwards, H., Jones, H., Garner, P., Hardy, M., Wilshaw, S.-P., Bielby-Clarke, K., Farrow, M. (2023)
Clinical Anatomy. 36(5):742-753. doi: 10.1002/ca.24014
Atrioventricular node dysfunction in pressure overload-induced heart failure Involvement of the immune system and transcriptomic remodelling
Wilson, C., Zi, M., Smith, M., Hussain, M., D’Souza, A., Dobrzynski, H., Boyett, M.R. (2023)
Frontiers in Pharmacology, 14:1083910. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2023.1083910
Barriers and enablers to healthcare system uptake of direct oral anticoagulants for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation: a qualitative interview study with healthcare professionals and policy makers in England
Medlinskiene, K., Richardson, S., Petty, D., Stirling, K., Fylan, B. (2023)
BMJ Open, 13 (4), art. no. e069575. doi: dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-069575
Development and Optimisation of Inhalable EGCG Nano-Liposomes as a Potential Treatment for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension by Implementation of the Design of Experiments Approach.
Haddad F, Mohammed N, Gopalan RC, Ayoub YA, Nasim MT, Assi KH (2023)
Pharmaceutics. 2023; 15(2):539. doi: doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics15020539
Kinship practices in Early Iron Age South-east Europe: Genetic and isotopic analysis of burials from the Dolge njive barrow cemetery
Armit, I., Fischer, C.-E., Koon, H., Nicholls, R., Olalde, I., Rohland, N., Buckberry, J., Montgomery, J., Mason, P., Črešnar, M., Büster, L., Reich, D. (2023)
Antiquity, 97 (392), pp. 403-418. doi: https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2023.2
Mediating worlds: the role of nurses as ritual specialists in caring for the dead and dying
Büster, L., Croucher, K., Green, L., Faull, C. (2023)
Mortality. doi: doi.org/10.1080/13576275.2023.2198694
Metal–Organic Frameworks and Their Biodegradable Composites for Controlled Delivery of Antimicrobial Drugs
Lila A. M. Mahmoud, Tayah C. Livesey, Maria Katsikogianni, Sanjit Nayak (2023)
Pharmaceutics, 2023, 15(1), 274, doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics15010274
Metal-organic Frameworks as Potential Agents for Extraction and Delivery of Pesticides and Agrochemicals
Lila A. M. Mahmoud, Roberta A. dos Reis, Xianfeng Chen, Valeska Ting, Sanjit Nayak, (2023)
ACS Omega, 2022, 7, 45910-45934. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.2c05978
Peristomal Skin Complications: New Materials Needed to Ease the Ostomy Care Market
Thomas Swift (2023)
British Journal of Dermatology, 188: 455–456, doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/bjd/ljad006
The monks of San Millán: Investigating the transition between pre-monastic and monastic diet using carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in incremental dentine
Higuero Pliego, A., Beaumont, J. (2023)
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 49: 103981. doi: doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.103981
VEGF Stimulates Activation of ERK5 in the Absence of C-Terminal Phosphorylation Preventing Nuclear Localization and Facilitating AKT Activation in Endothelial Cells.
Mondru AK, Aljasir MA, Alrumayh A, Nithianandarajah GN, Ahmed K, Müller J, Goldring CEP, Wilm B, Cross MJ (2023)
Cells: 12(6): 967. doi: doi.org/10.3390/cells12060967
Research themes
The research in the Faculty of Life Sciences is organised into four themes. They provide our academics with a framework to explore their interests and share their expertise. The themes are interdisciplinary in nature, which enables innovative collaborative research across the Faculty and the University, as well as opportunities for collaboration with other academic institutions and research groups. The research themes and their scientific specialities are listed below.
Our research combines cell biology, genetics, medicinal chemistry and pharmacology to take medicines and diagnostics from concept to clinic. It also focuses on process development for the chemical and pharmaceutical industry.
Our research uses innovative computational methods to integrate, analyse, and interpret new and repurposed data. This allows us to extract value and scientific insights from vast and diverse amounts of data.
Our multidisciplinary research focuses on translational and applied health research within the community, educational, archaeological and forensic settings. It aims to address individual and societal challenges for the benefit of patients and the public.
Research centres
Highly innovative research focusing on specific areas of strength is carried out in our three flagship research centres. The research conducted in the centres is renowned nationally and internationally and it is part of the overarching University of Bradford research theme of Advanced Healthcare.
The focus of our research is to investigate, develop and commercialise new cancer treatments in order to progress anticancer medicines and biomarkers from concept to clinic.
Our research goals are to better understand the cellular and molecular processes underlying skin and hair biology in health, wound healing and skin disease to develop innovative new products for consumers and patients.
Our research is focused on investigating product and process optimisation as well as the development of innovative formulation technologies in the area of pharmaceutical and healthcare formulation.
Research services and facilities
Our research is supported by outstanding research support facilities providing excellent advice and services to our academics.
PhD Research
The Faculty of Life Sciences has a vibrant community of PhD students performing a range of exciting research projects. We always welcome new applicants to join our community of PhD students. Please have a look at our PhD projects pages for a list of available projects and their supervisors.
Join us at our Postgraduate Research Open Day on 13 July to delve into the world of ground-breaking research at Bradford. We have exciting sessions planned where you can find out about our projects, how to write a research proposal and what life could look like for you as a research student. The event can be attended both in-person and online. Book now: https://bit.ly/4cIGyAv
Main research contacts
Prof Sherif El-Khamisy
Associate Dean of Research and Innovation
Dr Krzysztof Paluch
Director of Postgraduate Research; Deputy Associate Dean R&I
Dr Jürgen Müller
Research Communication Lead
Research Directors
Dr Ritchie Williamson
Director of Research - The Life Course
Dr Krzysztof Poterlowicz
Director of Research - Computational and Data Driven Science
Dr Karina Croucher
Director of Research - Health, Society, People and Place
Prof Klaus Pors
Director of Research, The Interface of Chemistry, Biology and Materials
Business and knowledge transfer
The Faculty of Life Sciences has an excellent track-record, spanning over 30 years of performing collaborative research with external organisations including industry, the NHS and charitable groups. Our translational research activities improve the impact of academic research, promote innovation and entrepreneurship within industry, increase research funding and make a valuable contribution to the growth of the UK economy.
The Faculty’s research centres offer the opportunity for external partners to work with academic staff in a wide range of healthcare, bioscience and chemistry themes ranging from pharmaceutical materials analysis to the development of novel cancer therapeutics. We offer an impressive range of contract research services and consultancy and have an enviable record of delivering excellent project outcomes. Our academic staff are highly experienced in leading and delivering successful research projects to our industry partners in a timely manner using state of the art equipment housed in modern facilities. Our blend of unique affordable services can help you develop new products, processes and capabilities to give you a competitive edge.
We also offer our industry and NHS partners assistance in obtaining public grant funding for collaborative research and have many examples of successful joint grant applications to the NIHR, IUK and the MRC. The Faculty supports companies to access and utilize our in-depth knowledge and has an excellent record of working with industry partners through Knowledge Transfer Partnerships sponsored by Innovate UK.
Find us
Address
Faculty of Life Sciences
University of Bradford
Richmond Road
Bradford
BD7 1DP