Centre for Biomarker Research

CeBioR

The CeBioR, led by Dr Patrick McHugh, looks to explore the underlying aetiology of many diseases, including CNS-related conditions. Our ambition is to develop biomarkers to help improve the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of such disease.

One of the major challenges facing society today is that as we age the incidence of disease increases. These diseases include neurodegenerative & neurological disorders, psychiatric disorders, cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and chronic pain. The UN ageing program and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention have projected that the number of older people (65+) in the world are expected to increase from 420 million in 2000 to nearly 1 billion by 2030, with the proportion of older people being increased from 7% to 12%.

A significant proportion of the ageing population will develop one of the aforementioned afflictions, for example research indicates that approximately 4% of the global population suffers from chronic pain, with incidence rate increasing complementary to age, and that the number of people affected with chronic pain is more than diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined (World Health Organisation, 2011-13).

The CeBioR looks to address some of these issues by exploring the underlying aetiology of the aforementioned diseases with a particular focus on chronic conditions relating to neuroinflammation including Pain, Multiple Sclerosis and Dementia, as well as explore the ageing process itself. By understanding these diseases we can develop tools to not only improve diagnosis, but also develop new therapeutics to improve disease treatment. We anticipate that the centre’s research will improve the quality of life of many people suffering with these highly debilitating diseases, providing a smooth and rapid translation from proof of concept to a tangible availability in the clinic.