We are developing new materials to solve problems in healthcare and medicine.

Health Innovation Materials provide material-based solutions that enable:

• the early diagnosis of asymptomatic disease
• early invention
• new approaches to fight the rise of antimicrobial resistance
• the better understanding of disease

Our aim is better healthcare outcomes, and we differentiate from other national initiatives in dealing with the here and now, focusing on materials and engineering solutions that address pressing unmet patient needs.

To accelerate materials-based solutions in the clinic, this theme unites all four faculties at Lancaster University, from the mathematical, physical and engineering sciences to biology, health and medicine.

Why?

Globally, healthcare systems are under enormous strain to address the concurrent pressures from ageing populations and the growth in non-communicable diseases.

These diseases include:

• Alzheimer's
• diabetes and comorbidities, such as chronic wounds
• cardiovascular diseases
• chronic respiratory diseases
• cancers, pre-term birth
• multiple sclerosis and other neurological diseases)

As well as new challenges, such as the rise of antimicrobial resistance.

To develop more effective treatment strategies, we need earlier detection and earlier inventions to avoid later radical and costly interventions.

High-quality materials science and engineering provide new platforms that underpin novel emergent healthcare technologies that address unmet patient needs. This science provides the platform for novel detection and intervention technologies.