New research projects for 2008

 
We’re extremely grateful to all those who support our work and have made these new projects possible.

Leanne Male, Assistant Director of Research

This year we will be funding 14 new studies at a total cost of around £1.9 million over the next three years.

These projects range from cutting-edge scientific studies to understand what causes asthma symptoms, through to clinical studies to improve the quality of life for people with asthma.

Preventing asthma and understanding its causes

  • London researchers aim to discover how to predict which wheezy young children will go on to develop asthma.
    Find out more
  • In Nottingham, Asthma UK is funding a landmark study to investigate the genetic basis of severe asthma.
    Find out more

Discovering drug targets

  • Scientists at the University of Nottingham hope to uncover important information about a gene called uPAR.
    Find out more
  • Asthma UK funded scientists in London aim to understand exactly what causes severe asthma, hoping to create a new generation of treatments.
    Find out more
  • Researchers at the MRC-Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma hope to discover how ‘permanent changes’ in the lungs of people with asthma can be reversed.
    Find out more

Underpinning new treatments with cutting-edge science

  • Scientists in Southampton hope to uncover key information about ‘big-eater’ cells of the immune system to create effective new asthma treatments.
    Find out more
  • Asthma UK-funded scientists in London aim to discover crucial information about asthma attacks triggered by the common cold and other viruses.
    Find out more

Creating asthma treatments of the future

  • Scientists in Leicester hope to create new treatments for asthma by disrupting a crucial asthma-causing interaction between two types of cells.
    Find out more
  • A Wales/Belgium research collaborative are creating modified versions of natural TB molecules to treat asthma.
    Find out more
  • Scientists in London are developing new ‘small molecule’ treatments for allergic asthma that target IgE.
    Find out more

Improving existing treatments

  • Scientists in Cambridge hope to create a new imaging technique to track immune cells in the human body.
    Find out more
  • In London, Asthma UK is funding a clinical trial to discover whether vitamin D tablets might increase the effectiveness of current asthma treatments.
    Find out more
  • Researchers in Belfast are creating a test to discover which people with asthma could be helped to get their asthma under control.
    Find out more

Improving quality of life

  • Asthma UK researchers in Aberdeen hope to improve the diagnosis and treatment of depression and anxiety in people with asthma by supporting GP practices.
    Find out more