The Academic Urology Unit

Research overview

The Academic Urology Unit was established in Sheffield in 1999, following the appointment of the founding Chair, Freddie C. Hamdy. The Unit is now led by Jim Catto, a Clinician Scientist, who works jointly as a Senior Clinical Lecturer and a Consultant Urological Surgeon. Since 1999 the Unit has raised over £18 million of peer-reviewed research income from sources such as the Medical Research Council, Yorkshire Cancer Research, UK Department of Health through its Health Technology Assessment (HTA) panel and the European Union (both Framework 6 and 7). The Unit is a lead centre for the national ProtecT study and within the UK actively collaborates with groups from the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Leeds, York and Bristol. Internationally the Unit is active within the research community and shares projects with workers in Germany (University of Erlangen), The Netherlands (Erasmus University), Finland (Tampere and Turku Universities), United States (New York) and Australia (Queensland University, Brisbane).

Specific research within recent years has focused upon the biology of bladder cancer and the clinical application of this knowledge (lead PI: Catto). Recent publications reveal that loss of epigenetic gene control is an early event within this disease and affects the clinical behaviour of these cancers. As such, drugs to target epigenetic gene control represent a novel therapeutic strategy in this disease. The Unit has also developed a track record in the application of Artificial Intelligence to clinical data (lead PI: Catto). Using fuzzy logic based models, the workings of the human brain can be replicated to analyse clinical case data and produce accurate disease outcome predictions. Other areas developed within the Unit are focused upon the Quality of patient care (lead PI: Rosario) and the best strategy to detect prostate cancer within a screened population.

The Academic Urology Unit has laboratory facilities and expertise within the Division of Oncology. A laboratory refurbishment programme has been completed recently in the dedicated urological space. The Unit consists of a team of 21 staff dedicated to urological research. The mission statement of the Unit is to continue expanding its contribution to clinical and basic science urological research, and to foster international academic excellence in Urology. Training represents an important task of the Unit, including PhD students and Research Fellows.