Let's Talk About Health: Understanding Disease

The following recorded public lectures were given by researchers in the Centre for Inflammation Research (CIR) in the last four years. If you enjoy the lectures and would like to see more from around the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, they can be viewed on the Let's Talk About Health (LTAH) video collections page.

View the full LTAH video collection

'Healing the damaged gut in inflammatory bowel diseases - from the scientist, the patient and the doctor.'

Dr Gwo-tzer Ho, Dr Kris McGuire and Emily Thompson talk about current research and clinical trials in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Summary

Our gut is responsible for the digestion of food to provide energy and nutrients. Despite containing 100 trillion bacteria and exposure to a daily array of foreign particles, additives and toxins, it remains remarkably healthy. But in  inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), this fine balance breaks down and the gut becomes inflamed giving rise to many debilitating symptoms. 

Lecture held on 19 February 2020.

 

 

'New kidneys for old: a challenge for surgery and tissue engineering'

Professor Lorna Marson and Professor Jamie Davies (Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences) talk about the need to improve the number and quality of kidney transplants in the UK.

Summary

5000 patients are currently waiting for a kidney transplant in the UK. Although we transplanted just over 3000 kidneys last year, a large number of patients are still waiting for this life-saving and life-changing operation. What else can be done to improve the lives of those people with kidney disease?

Lecture held on 23 January 2019.

 

 

'Fat Lot of Good! Appendicitis & the Benefits of Specialised Fat Tissue.'

Professor Damian Mole and Dr Cecile Benezech talk about inflammation, appendicitis and the omentum. 

Summary

Appendicitis is the most common abdominal emergency needing surgery. One in 13 people will suffer from appendicitis at some point in their lives. During appendicitis, the appendix becomes inflamed and swells. The omentum, which is a large piece of abdominal fat tissue rich in immune system cells, detects this inflammation and wraps itself around the inflamed appendix. 

Hear about how the omentum can be used by surgeons during surgery, what we are doing to understand its function, and how we are planning to use this in the future to help patients with peritonitis.

Lecture held on 24 January 2018.

 

 

'Vitamin D: Hope or hype?'

Professor Richard Mellanby and Dr Iris Mair discuss how studies on dogs were pivotal in the discovery of vitamin D, and how research on man’s best friend continues to illuminate the ongoing debate of the importance of vitamin D on health beyond the skeleton.

Lecture held on 15 November 2017.