Child health
Childhood illnesses are a key area for the translational research that we carry out. Our research spans many complex childhood problems, and is undertaken within Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, the largest single-site children’s hospital in the UK.
Paediatric medicine covers a wide range of specialty areas, all focusing on the management of disease in a person who is growing and developing. Many of the complex disorders managed at the hospital are determined by genes.
Our focus is on using new technologies to improve diagnosis and management of developmental disorders, and using understanding of genetic risk to avoid drug-related side-effects. It is only in recent years that therapies have been shown to have an impact on the long-term health of patients with genetic disorders previously thought to be untreatable.
Our leading research areas in child health include:
- Biochemical genetics
- Growth disorders
- Nephrology
- Cleft lip and palate
- Disability:
Our new Wellcome Trust Children’s Clinical Research Facility is one of only a small number of specialist paediatric research facilities across the country. It is the only one of its kind undertaking inpatient studies. The facility carries out clinical research in all areas of child health, with a special interest in the testing of new medicines in children and young adults, to ensure that they are both safe and effective.
We work closely with the NIHR Greater Manchester, Lancashire and South Cumbria Medicines for Children Research Network, which is also based at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.
