The Proteus team are taking part in the Great Scottish Run in
October 2017 and will be raising money for a very special Edinburgh charity – Warren’s Wish.

The Proteus project (https://proteus.ac.uk/) is a major EPSRC funded “Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration” (IRC) composed of a multidisciplinary team of internationally recognised researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh, Bath and Heriot Watt. The Proteus project is working towards revolutionising how lung diseases are diagnosed and managed within the Intensive Care environment, where patients are most at risk of respiratory failure and bedside care is critical. In addition to this, the Proteus team are developing, implementing and validating novel real-time optical technologies to pave the way for a more scientific approach to the evaluation of lungs for transplantation. 

Warren’s Wish was set up by the mother of a cystic fibrosis patient, Warren, who sadly died waiting on the lung transplant list. Warren’s mum, Jacqui, has since set up a charity in Warren’s name (Warren’s Wish, http://www.warrenswish.org/) which is centered on making lung transplantation more accessible to those with end stage respiratory disease.

Lung transplantation can offer a new lease of life but patients typically have to wait several months for a suitable organ. Despite the best efforts of medical care providers, a significant proportion of these patients deteriorate and are therefore no longer eligible to receive a donor organ. Without increasing the number of lungs available and improving their condition before transplant, more patients will continue to lose their lives.