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A focus on tackling the challenge of multiple long-term conditions - which affect increasing numbers of patients - was the key theme of the 2024 Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre conference, held on Thursday at the city’s Albert Hall Conference centre.

Around 300 delegates joined leading scientists, academics and clinicians from Nottingham, along with experts from elsewhere in the UK, for a varied programme that highlighted some of the latest breakthroughs in translational research.

Among the sessions were:

• Interdisciplinary collaboration to tackle multiple long-term conditions. This session was led by key-note speaker Professor Rachel Cooper, McArdle Chair in Ageing, Professor of Translational Epidemiology and BRC Interdisciplinary Research at the University of Newcastle. Dealing with multi-morbidities is a strategic focus for the NIHR. Delegates also heard from Professor Guru Aithal, BRC Deputy Director, on the DEMISTIFI Study which looks at how fibrosis affects different organs within the body, and patients and public involvement representatives with a close personal interest in multiple long-term conditions
  • Professor Mike Slade from the Institute of Mental Health and Dr Julie Repper, CEO of ImROC, a registered charity that supports recovery focused practice, spoke about the transformative potential of citizen science in mental health
  • How Nottingham clinical academics won an NHS Parliamentary Award for establishing a new pathway to deal with hospital admissions of frail elderly patients
  • Designing a snake-like cholangiobotics robot for gastrointestinal patients. Led by Professor Guru Aithal, Dr Abdellhalick Mohammad from the Faculty of Engineering and Dr Frankie Rawson from the School of Pharmacy - both at the University of Nottingham - explained how a concept used in the aviation industry is being adapted for medical use within patients’ bile ducts
  • Andrew Haw, Programme Director of the East Midlands Secure Data Environment for Research, explained about the new secure single source for regional research data
  • Hearing and dementia – Senior Research Fellow Dr Eithne Heffernan from our BRC’s Hearing Theme presented on recent work with the James Lind Alliance to identify the top 10 priorities for research in co-existing dementia and hearing loss
  • There was a wide-ranging workshop looking at the opportunities and support available for research careers and training. Chaired by Nottingham BRC Director Professor Ian Hall, the contributors were: Dr David Humes, Nottingham BRC training lead, Clare McVicker from the Academy of Medical Sciences, Peter Thompson, Director of the NIHR Academy Programme and Kathryn Fairbrother, Director of Clinical Operations at the NIHR Nottingham Clinical Research Facility, who spoke about opportunities for delivery staff.

Professor Ian Hall said: “Multimorbidity is on the increase which is a significant concern for our health service - more than one in four of the adult population in England now lives with two or more conditions.

“People with multiple conditions are more likely to have poorer health, poorer quality of life and a higher risk of dying than those in the general population. Nottingham BRC is one of the major research centres contributing to initiatives to tackle multiple long-terms conditions, which is why we made this our key theme for our successful 2024 Conference.”

Professor Hall added: “This has been another highly productive year for our BRC, and we were pleased to arrange other conference sessions to highlight different aspects of research across our other BRC Themes.

“In the last year, we have started 550 research projects, involved 9,250 participants in our research, undertaken 140 collaborations with industry and supported £55 million in research funding bids.”

The conference also included a poster competition for early stage - and more advanced - clinical researchers to display their research work to peers.