Exploring inflammation as a driver for post-operative complications

One in seven patients develop a serious medical problem after surgery. These types of complications commonly affect the brain, heart and/or kidneys. We do not fully understand why these complications develop, and our ability to predict which patients are more likely to experience them is also limited.

It is possible that collecting additional information about patients before surgery, such as their genetic make-up, could help us understand more about the processes taking place after surgery.

Project aims

During this project we will explore:

• Inflammation as a driver for negative outcomes after surgery
• Using multi-omics to improve care for patients before, during, and after surgery

The aim of multi-omics is to identify and measure the biological molecules involved in how our cells are built and how they function. For example:

• Metabolomics studies the metabolites found in an organism, cell, or tissue (metabolites are small molecules the body creates or uses when it breaks down food, drugs, chemicals or its own tissue)
• Genomics studies the genes in our DNA, how they work and what impact they have on our body

What we hope to achieve

Being able to better predict which patients are at risk of surgical complications and understanding the processes that lead to complications developing will help us to:

• Find new ways of treating and preventing surgical complications
• Improve outcomes for patients

This PhD project is being undertaken by Richard Armstrong, as lead researcher, with Dr Paul Yousefi, Professor Golam Khandaker, Professor Tom Gaunt, Professor Jonathan Mill (University of Exeter Medical School) providing supervision.

Our partners: University of Exeter Medical School, Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, National Cancer Center Japan.