Our Research

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The global challenge faced by the Florey Institute

Antibiotics have been a crucial part of human healthcare for over 70 years.  Much of their use is in the direct treatment of serious infections but they also have a great supporting role in outpatient care, touching almost every aspect of modern medicine. Globally the effectiveness of antimicrobial compounds is decreasing as infectious species become increasingly resistant. It is against this backdrop that the Florey Institute for Host-Pathogen Interactions has been established.
 
As part of the University of Sheffield’s 2022 Futures initiative The Florey Institute aims to create a world-leading focus on antimicrobial resistance from fundamental science to translation, bringing together scientists and clinicians to tackle this most important of problems.
The Florey Institute at our Launch event in 2017 '#TDDW'
Inspired by the work of Nobel Prize winner Sir Howard Florey, we are striving to save lives by understanding how infectious agents interact with our own immune systems. Howard Florey was a former Chair of Pathology at the University of Sheffield. He went on to carry out the first clinical trials for penicillin – a drug which has saved millions of lives worldwide.

Sir Howard Florey warned of the possible impact of antibiotic resistance in his acceptance lecture in 1945. Since then, antibiotic resistance has risen from scientific observation to major global threat. You can read more about Florey's life work and his full Nobel prize acceptance lecture online at: www.nobelprize.org.
Research Synopsis

The Florey Institute is tackling one of the world’s major biomedical challenges – infectious disease. Set against the backdrop of emerging antibiotic resistance, we study the complex interactions between disease-causing organisms and their hosts. By working together with our collaborative partners we are ‘bridging the gap’ between science and patient care to tackle the global threat of antibiotic resistant infections.

Read more about our research Here:          Florey Insitute Publications Page

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STORM image of S. aureus (also called MRSA)
A giant inflatable E. coli bacteria hanging in the Sheffield Winter Garden as part of our #MicrobeSafari Launch Event in 2017. 
Streptococcus pneumoniae seen here growing on an agar plate is the most common cause of pneumonia, which is one of the leading causes of death worldwide.
How the Florey Institute works
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The Institute is based on interdisciplinary research carried out by an integrated team from across the University of Sheffield and beyond.  We have recruited new academic and clinical personnel to make significant progress in our endeavour.  This is further catalysed by an active cohort of PhD students and Research Staff who together link our specific research areas and interact with our global partners. This unique environment has already been pivotal in capturing significant programme and other grant funding from the UK AMR initiative, providing a firm foundation to launch the success of the Florey Institute. Moving forward, the Florey Institute is setting up an interdisciplinary MSc in Antibiotic Resistance, to start in 2019, to further our academic standing and help us build ever stronger international collaborations in this expanding research area.

The Florey Institute: Collaborative partners (in orange) and outputs (in blue)
Links with the Imagine institute
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The Florey Institute has close links with Imagine: Imaging Life, a revolutionary biological imaging project at the University of Sheffield. Imagine aims to answer fundamental questions in biology and healthcare by harnessing and combing three advanced imaging techniques – super-resolution optical microscopy, electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. These super-resolution imaging techniques will help us better understand the disease process by elucidating the structure of pathogenic bacteria.
Our Research
Publications
The Team
Global Strategic Alliance
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