Funding for Maths Centres to Tackle Life-Threatening Diseases

A £10 million investment in five new research centres around the UK, announced by Life Sciences Minister George Freeman will explore how mathematics and statistics can help clinicians to tackle serious health challenges such as cancer, heart disease and antibiotic resistant bacteria.

Located at universities in Liverpool, Glasgow, London, Cambridge and Exeter, researchers at the centres will develop new tools from predictive mathematical models to enable earlier diagnosis of chronic diseases such as epilepsy, and new systems to make clinical imaging more accurate and efficient.

Funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the centres will enable mathematicians and statisticians to work closely with healthcare planners, clinicians, policy makers and industry partners across the UK to deliver high quality, multidisciplinary research that will help overcome some of the big challenges facing the NHS.

Professor Philip Nelson, EPSRC's Chief Executive, said: Maths research provides the foundation for so much of science and engineering, and new technologies, but this often goes unrecognised by those who benefit from results. These five new Mathematical Sciences in Healthcare Centres will lead the way in developing mathematical and statistical modelling for predicting the progression of diseases both in individuals and populations, as well as planning treatment strategies. The Centres will help us deal with the clinical and economic challenges facing the UK's healthcare system as the population ages.