An Ulster University research unit, the Personalised Medicine Centre, represents the next step in medical science, developing treatments and clinical tools that take account of a person’s individual genetic and molecular constitution. By understanding the interplay of disease with the sequences, levels, and states of genes and other molecules within our bodies, we are creating a new generation of treatments and robust diagnostics to inform clinical decision-making across a range of chronic and degenerative diseases. Research and teaching go hand-in-hand in the centre, with more than 200 students now trained through our undergraduate and postgraduate courses and many working in the Biotech, Pharma, and Data analytics sectors or in academic research.
The centre combines deep expertise in disease pathogenesis, data analytics, biomarker discovery, and translational medicine to achieve this.
Our disease expertise spans across mental health, blood cancers, COVID-19, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, vision, cardiovascular health, Diabetes, and neuromuscular health. Disease teams are supported by cutting-edge data analytics and a diverse array of lecturers, clinicians, research associates, and doctoral researchers. Our PhD graduates have gone on to postdoctoral positions in Cambridge, Harvard, University College London, Defence HQ UK, and industry.
Established in 2013, the centre boasts upwards of £24m in awarded funding and more than 380 publications in prestigious top-quartile journals. An emerging vehicle of innovation, the centre has secured 14 patents in novel therapeutic and diagnostic advances. The centre contributed to Ulster University’s ranking in the top five universities in the UK in research power in biomedical science, with 95% of our impact in REF2014 judged to be world-leading or internationally excellent.
Across a broad scope of world-class research, the centre has partners and collaborative relationships with leading institutes and industries in the academic, biotech/diagnostic, pharma/CRO, data analytics, and healthcare sectors.
