Step by Step

We’ve funded £60,418 into a research study by Dr Chris Watson and his team at Queens University Belfast to find out.

Cardiac arrhythmia, or an abnormal heart rhythm, is where the heart beats too fast, too slow or irregularly. It can lead to more serious problems such as stroke or heart failure.

When it’s under stress, your heart will release small molecules or proteins into the blood. Dr Watson and his team aim to compare the proteins found in the blood of people with cardiac arrhythmia, with the blood of people without arrhythmia.

This research could lead to could lead to the development of a blood test for stroke and heart failure, which would reduce the risk of developing long term, life threatening conditions, for people living with an abnormal heartbeat.

It is a type of chest infection known as ‘ventilator-associated pneumonia’ (VAP) and a research study we are funding is aiming to find ways to prevent it.

People who are critically ill and in intensive care often need equipment called endotracheal tubes (ETTs) to be placed in their airways to help them breathe. Microbes can stick to the surface of these tubes and form biofilms that are very resilient to antibiotic treatment. We don’t know a lot about these microbes.

We’ve funded Dr Laura Sherrard and her team at QUB £79,535 to study the bacteria and microbes that develop in the biofilms, and whether they can be treated with antibiotics, to reduce the risk of VAP in patients.

Losing mobility in an arm or hand after a stroke can be devastating and can severely impact a person’s everyday life.

Some people may be able regain the use of their arm and hand as a result of therapy they receive in the first three months following their stroke. Many people who have survived a stroke and many stroke professionals feel that more rehab is needed beyond this three months.

Our Post Rehab Exercise Programme (PREP) (pictured before COVID-19) is a physio exercise programme which helps people rebuild their lives and confidence following a stroke.

We’ve funded Dr Katy Pedlow at the Ulster University £103,575, to test the benefit of adding arm exercises to our PREP programme. This will hopefully help to make our PREP programme even better and improve mobility and quality of life for people who take part in the long run.

Research also helps us to find out the best courses of treatment for people.

For example, we’ve invested We’ve funded Rd. John Busby, at Queen’s University, Belfast £70,485 to investigate whether people are less likely to keep using their asthma inhalers after they are treated with new biologic medicines.

These new biologic medicines are very powerful and are so good at reducing symptoms, some people may stop using their inhalers – but continuing them is still vital.

The research aims to find out who is most likely to lapse, so health professionals can identify the best treatment for different people, as well as other strategies to encourage people to use their inhalers and medication correctly, so more asthma attacks can be prevented and people with asthma can receive the best treatment for them.