
Driven by the health needs of the population, our goal is to work in partnership with local and national stakeholders, including the NHS, to adopt a system-wide approach to the discovery, development and delivery of innovation in P4 medicine in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.
Chronic inflammation underpins many common conditions including psoriasis, inflammatory arthritis, autoimmune connective tissue diseases and respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
In fact, it is thought that more than one in 20 people will develop a chronic inflammatory condition. This figure is set to rise as the population ages, resulting in a huge burden in terms of healthcare costs.
Mechanisms of inflammation are shared between conditions and they may also respond to similar therapies.
Understanding the similarities and differences underlying inflammation will allow us to target treatments to patients most likely to benefit from them.
We attract significant investment to support P4 (predict, prevent, personalised, participatory) and inflammation medicine research in Manchester.
Major research activities
Featured projects
See a selection of current research projects, which aim to make a positive impact on health and disease both nationally and globally.
Manchester Biomedical Research Centre (BRC)
The NIHR Manchester BRC connects world-leading researchers based at The University of Manchester and three NHS Trusts in Greater Manchester, with a joint vision to drive forward the transformation of scientific breakthroughs into life-saving treatments and care for patients.
MASTERPLANS MRC-funded stratified medicine award
The MASTERPLANS consortium will work to identify factors that predict which patients respond well on any particular lupus treatment.
MATURA MRC-funded stratified medicine award
Supported in partnership with Versus Arthritis (formerly Arthritis Research UK), the MATURA consortium aims to enable early, effective treatment and improve the cost-effectiveness of care for around 500,000 people in the UK who suffer from the painful inflammatory condition rheumatoid arthritis
PSORT MRC-funded stratified medicine award
The PSORT consortium aims to use existing knowledge about psoriasis, both clinical and scientific, and an unparalleled patient base, coupled to involvement of patient organisations and state-of-the-art investigative tools, to develop tests that can be used in the clinic to help direct personalised treatments.
IMIDBio-UK MRC-funded biobank initiative
The University of Manchester is part of a national consortium which has been awarded a £1.7 million grant to create the world’s largest Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Disease (IMID) Biobank, in excess of 40,000 patients.
Featured researchers
Professor Anne Barton
Professor of Rheumatology, NIHR Senior Investigator

Anne is Professor of Rheumatology at The University of Manchester, with an honorary position as a consultant in rheumatology at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. She is also Musculoskeletal Theme Lead for the NIHR Manchester BRC.
Professor Ian Bruce
Professor of Rheumatology, NIHR Senior Investigator

Ian is the Medical Director of the NIHR Manchester Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility and Centre Academic Lead for the NIHR Translational Research Partnership in Joint and Related Inflammatory Diseases. He is also Director of the NIHR Manchester BRC.
Professor Christopher Griffiths
Foundation Professor of Dermatology, NIHR Senior Investigator

Chris is Foundation Professor of Dermatology at The University of Manchester and Consultant Dermatologist at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust.
Professor Angela Simpson
Professor of Respiratory Medicine

Angela is Head of the Division of Infection, Immunity and Respiratory Medicine at The University of Manchester and an honorary consultant respiratory physician at University Hospital of South Manchester.

Training future scientists and doctors
We are committed to providing the highest quality teaching and research training to help develop the next generation of clinical and basic scientists.
Master's courses
Postgraduate research
Fellowships
Contact us
Dr Anu Suokas, Strategic Funding Manager
tel: +44 (0) 161 306 0562
email: anu.suokas@manchester.ac.uk