A wide range of studies are taking place across our sites, some of which are looking into more effective treatment methods, whilst some support better understanding of the disease. Two of these are running in Intensive Care settings in the Trust.
A pioneering research study which aims to make operating theatres safer places during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond is underway at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust (UHDB). UHDB is working in partnership with Rolls-Royce and Lancaster University to understand the spread of droplets in the air, generated when conducting Aerosol Generating Procedures (AGPs).
A Renal Consultant and his colleagues have published the first piece of research in the UK and only the second in Europe about how Covid-19 patients who also develop Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) are adversely affected by the virus.
UHDB is taking part in a national trial aiming to find out whether healthcare workers who have evidence of prior COVID-19, detected by antibody assays (positive antibody tests), compared to those who do not have evidence of infection (negative antibody tests) are protected from future episodes of infection.
University of Nottingham researchers based at Royal Derby Hospital are set to send worms into space in a bid to further understand the effects of muscle loss during space flight – which could also benefit patients. The Molecular Muscle Experiment is being led by the University of Nottingham’s Professor of Space Biology, Nathaniel Szewczyk, and involves sending tiny worms of about 1mm in length, which are cultured on-site at Royal Derby, to the International Space Station where their condition will be monitored by a team of experts who analyse how being in space effects their muscles.