PhD Studentship (Basic)

Defining the role of Bacillus subtilis exoproteases during biofilm formation Biofilms are communities of microorganisms that attach to surfaces or interfaces which contain one or multiple species and can be beneficial or detrimental for human health. Biofilm formation is tightly regulated by controlling production of exopolysaccharides and extracellular proteins that combine with components including extracellular DNA and extracellular proteases to form a sticky matrix. I am interested in the role of extracellular proteases during biofilm formation. It has been hypothesized that extracellular proteases might be involved in matrix remodelling, cellular dispersal and/or in food acquisition in poor-nutrient conditions. Using the bacterium Bacillus subtilis, I will use biochemical and proteomics approaches to quantify how abundant and how active the extracellular proteases are during biofilm formation. I will also assess if extracellular proteases can be shared among the population and if they confer a selective advantage in certain nutrient environments. By combining live-cell imaging and mathematical modelling, I will also explore how extracellular proteases influence spatial distribution of mixed populations during biofilm formation. The insights garnered with this study will help to understand how exoproteases support biofilm formation in diverse environments and more globally help us to understand why biofilm can be so persistent.


PhD Studentship (Basic)

Dissecting molecular mechanisms mediating ERK1/2 regulation of neural differentiation During embryogenesis, that is the process of embryonic development after fertilisation, cells divide many times, and at some point, these cells become different from one another. This process requires turning on specific genes that make distinct cell types, such as nerve or muscle cells. My project aims to find out how this happens focusing on a specific cell type called neuromesodermal progenitors (NMP) that can contribute to two different embryonic tissues, depending on exposure to specific signals. One such signal is the Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) which regulates neural induction. It is known that inhibition of ERK1/2 activity, a protein controlled by FGF, is involved in the activation of neural genes in NMP cells. This process requires the removal of a protein complex called Polycomb, that blocks the activation of these genes. However, how the Polycomb protein complex is removed is unknown.  During my PhD project, an analysis of the proteins with changed activity upon ERK1/2 protein inactivation, will begin to dissect the molecular mechanisms regulating neural differentiation. My findings may facilitate improved protocols for directed differentiation of human cells in vitro and have wider implications for how cell state can be manipulated for therapeutic effect.

Grants awarded from 1 October 2005 to 30 June 2021

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)


PhD Studentship (Basic)

Investigating the biological function of the E3 ligase, HOIL-1 Ubiquitin is a small protein that is attached to different targets affecting their subsequent behaviour. This addition can ‘tag’ the target for destruction by the cell, affect its localisation or promote various interactions with other proteins. E3 ligases are a group of enzymes responsible for the addition of ubiquitin onto a target, and I am interested in an E3 ligase termed HOIL-1. People who lack HOIL-1 accumulate abnormal glucose deposits called polyglucosan in their cardiac tissue, leading to heart failure. These observations suggest that HOIL-1 has a critical role in preventing the accumulation of such deposits and the overall goal of my project is to discover how this is achieved. In my initial experiments, I found that HOIL-1 is able to attach ubiquitin to glucose and thus, I hypothesise that by tagging with ubiquitin, HOIL-1 marks this molecule for destruction. People lacking HOIL-1 cannot initiate destruction and therefore accumulate the abnormal polyglucosan deposits. My aim for this project is to gain insight into how ubiquitin is added by HOIL-1. Furthermore, I aim to identify additional targets associated with HOIL-1. By discovering its targets, we can further understand its role within the human body and consequently, its potential role in disease.


PhD Studentship (Basic)

The Role of SEMA3G in the Maintenance of Pulmonary Vascular Integrity Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a fatal disease in which the blood vessels of the lung thicken and narrow, causing an increase in blood pressure and eventually right heart failure. In order to develop new therapies for PAH the mechanisms underlying the progression of lung vessel damage must be determined. Many PAH cases are caused by a mutation of one of many components of the bone morphogenetic protein signalling pathway, however the effect of these mutations on blood vessel stability is still unknown. This project aims to examine the role of semaphorin 3G (SEMA3G), a protein that we have shown to be regulated by the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signalling pathway, in maintaining blood vessel integrity. Endothelial dysfunction is central to a number of pulmonary pathologies including PAH. I will investigate the role of BMP9 and BMP10 in regulating SEMA3G expression in the endothelium and specifically the functional role the protein plays in endothelial and mural cell interactions. In order to determine this, I will develop 3D co-culture assays using pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells and pericytes. These studies will further our understanding of the mechanisms controlling vascular homeostasis and potential pathways that can be targeted in the treatment of PAH.

Bone Morphogenetic Protein Receptors, Type II


PhD Studentship (Basic)

Role of median eminence oligodendrocytes in the development of obesity One’s appetite and body weight are primarily controlled by neurons in a brain region called the hypothalamus, which respond to signals from the organs involved in digestion and metabolism. These signals reach the hypothalamus after being transported through another brain reigon, the median eminence (ME). New evidence suggests that non-neuronal cells, called oligodendrocytes (OL), may contribute to the ME’s control of signal entry to the hypothalamus; OLs intentionally die and are replaced throughout adult life and express receptors for peripheral signals, both behaviours which change based on nutritional status (i.e. when one last ate) and coincide with changes in permeability of the ME.

We aim to determine how obesity disrupts the function of OLs in the ME, and how this may alter ME permeability. We will block certain functions of OLs in obese mice and identify the physiological consequences, identifying genes involved in these processes. We will use this data to identify candidate mechanisms which may alter OL function and influence healthy physiology. We will also explore the possibility that a new class of obesity drug, which mimic the signalling of hormones naturally released in the body, have their therapeutic effect by targeting OLs and changing ME permeability.


PhD Studentship (Basic)

Characterising adipocyte protein trafficking/secretion in response to fed and fasted signals in metabolic health and disease

   Fat tissue plays a key role in storing energy as fat after feeding, and releasing this energy when needed (fasting). In order to change between storing and releasing energy, fat cells have to change the proteins at its surface to allow transport of nutrients in and out of the cell. In addition, fat cells release proteins that signal to other tissues in the body depending on whether food has just been consumed (‘fed’), or if the body has not received any food for several hours (‘fasted’). In this project we will study how the hormones, insulin (present in a fed state) and noradrenaline (present in a fasted state) change how proteins are localised within fat to promote energy storage/release, and how these hormones change the proteins fat cells secrete. In obesity the ability of fat cells to store and release energy and secrete different hormones depending if the body is in a fed or fasted state appears to be disrupted. By also studying this in cells treated to mimic the obese-state we will shed light on how changes to these processes may contribute to the metabolic disturbances associated with obesity (e.g. type 2 diabetes).


PhD Studentship (Basic)

Investigating mechanisms and rescue of a novel microgliopathy caused by dysfunctional LRRC33/NRROS Recent discoveries have suggested a dysfunctional immune system of the brain plays a significant role in a set of diseases known as microgliopathies. New disorders of this type are still being identified, but ones which have so far been uncovered lead to significant brain damage and decreased lifespan. Our group has discovered a developmental microgliopathy-like disease in a patient caused by a defect in a protein named LRRC33. However, we do not fully understand the impact this defect has on the brain’s immune system, how it affects different types of brain cells, and how it leads to disease onset. We aim to investigate these questions using a combination of animal models and patient post-mortem tissue. We will also seek to determine whether we can repair brain damage in our animal disease model by suppressing the brain’s immune system. Strategies such as these, along with improved knowledge of the biology of the disease, could potentially lay the foundations for development of treatments for these microgliopathies, of which there are currently none.


PhD Studentship (Basic)

Neural mechanisms of attachment in early life. Kin recognition is an organism's ability to distinguish between genetically close or distant individuals1, which facilitates social attachment among kin2. This is crucial after birth when parental care is needed. Kin responsive neurons have been identified in the rat lateral septum3, a brain structure associated with human kin-affiliation4,5. Human and animal data suggest that endogenous opioids in the brain mediate social attachment and an endogenous opioid-releasing circuit extends from the hypothalamus to the lateral septum. 6–8 In my project, I will test to see if this circuit mediates maternal attachment in early life. I will first confirm preliminary findings from our team that opioid action in the septum is necessary for maternal attachment by activating/inhibiting the lateral septal opioid system and characterising the resulting effects on maternal attachment behaviour in rat pups. To understand the cellular mechanisms involved, I will characterise the activity of lateral septum neurons when endogenous opioids are released. Finally, to explore if the findings are translatable to humans, I will investigate associations between attachment types and septal structure and connectivity in infants. These studies may help elucidate the physiology of early attachment and ultimately provide a rationale for improving the environment of care in early life.


PhD Studentship (Basic)

Investigating microglial senescence in central nervous system health and disease Neurodegenerative diseases cause progressive loss of nerve cells in the brain, resulting in impaired cognition and/or movement. There are currently no treatments for these diseases and therefore, another approach to developing treatments is required. With ageing, dysfunctional or "senescent" cells accumulate in the body and are involved in various neurodegenerative diseases. Microglia are specialised immune cells in the brain responsible for keeping surrounding nerve cells healthy. Microglia can become senescent, meaning they struggle to maintain nerve cell health. We hypothesise that senescent microglia regulate neurodegeneration. However, how senescent microglia differ in ageing and neurodegenerative disease is unknown and it is unclear how senescent microglia contribute to neurodegeneration. I will explore this using immunofluorescence, whereby senescent microglia and associated neurodegeneration can be identified by staining cells with specific markers. I will also induce and prevent microglial senescence specifically, using two specially designed mouse models, and assess neurodegeneration. It is also unknown what causes microglial senescence but ageing and long-term inflammation throughout the body likely contribute. I will investigate how microglia become senescent in mouse models undergoing ageing or long-term inflammation. This work aims to improve understanding of the role of senescent microglia in neurodegeneration and provide alternative targets for treatments.


PhD Studentship (Basic)

Profiling neuroinflammatory signatures of disease heterogeneity in C9orf72-associated ALS-FTD Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) lie on a disease spectrum. Individuals affected by these conditions may have problems with movement (symptoms of ALS), thinking and behaviour (symptoms of FTD), or a combination of both. Even families with the same genetic cause, such as a C9orf72 mutation, can develop very diverse disease symptoms and there is currently no way of predicting how someone will be affected. This uncertainty is not only difficult for patients; it also affects our ability to conduct clinical trials, as some treatments may only work on a subset of patients, and disease heterogeneity may confound outcome measures. It has recently been suggested that neuroinflammation influences disease presentation along the ALS-FTD spectrum. I aim to explore this by creating a cohort of deeply clinically phenotyped post-mortem brain tissue. I will investigate neuroinflammatory gene expression in key tissues, aiming to create a holistic image of neuroinflammatory dynamics along the spectrum. Finally, I will validate my findings in a human stem cell-derived model and explore specific therapeutic approaches to target neuroinflammatory dysregulation. These studies will help shed light on methods to treat individual patients and symptoms, improving the outlook for clinical trials in this field.


PhD Studentship (Basic)

Contribution of macrophages to the different clinical manifestations of cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania aethiopica Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a neglected tropical disease with about 1 million new cases per year. It is caused by parasites that are transmitted by sandflies. There are a number of different forms of the disease, ranging from small, self-healing lesions on the skin, to permanently disfiguring facial lesions. It is not well understood how the parasite can result in such a wide range of outcomes.

Our aim is to gain a better understanding of the interaction between the human immune system and the parasite. We are doing this by investigating how key immune cells called macrophages interact with parasites isolated from different patients. This may reveal key differences between the different forms of CL. We are achieving this through a highly collaborative approach with experts in different fields.

We hope that this research will shed light on our understanding of the diversity of CL as a disease and why some patients develop severe, life-changing lesions.


PhD Studentship (Basic)

Investigating the microglial role of ALS/FTD risk gene TBK1 Neuronal dysfunction and degeneration are central to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and co-existent ALS/FTD. However, it is increasingly being recognised that non-neuronal cells actively contribute to disease pathogenesis. Recent genetic studies have identified several ALS/FTD risk genes with immune roles, highlighting immune dysfunction as a key early pathogenic mechanism. We aim to investigate the role of one of these genes, TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1), in microglia, the resident immune cells of the brain. We will use stable microglial cell lines and human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived microglia, along with pharmacological inhibition and genetic manipulation of TBK1, to investigate the role of TBK1 in key microglial functions. In particular we aim to determine the role of TBK1 in microglial immune signalling, phagocytic activity, autophagy and mitochondrial homeostasis using cutting-edge high content imaging techniques and cellular assays. By doing so, we hope to define the role of TBK1 in microglia and further understand how deficits in TBK1 function may drive neuronal loss in ALS/FTD, with the ultimate aim of identifying novel therapeutic targets.


Human Infection Studies (Full)

Dr Christopher Chiu, Prof Andrew Pollard

Defining the Protective Immune Response to SARS CoV2 Using a Human Challenge Model Understanding the nature, effectiveness and durability of the human immune response to SARS CoV2 is crucial for vaccine development and effective public health management. We are beginning to understand the pattern and kinetics of the humoral response to natural infection but are less certain about other aspects of the response. We are unable to establish with certainty whether an individual with a particular titre of antibody, or a particular T cell response, is likely to be protected from reinfection and, if so, for how long. These are central questions for the development of an effective vaccine. A controlled human infection model will provide a more detailed understanding of the protective immune response. It will provide the opportunity to interrogate the full extent of the immune response at the time of exposure and will also allow the evaluation of the durability of immune responses of all kinds and how they correlate with protection.

Key goals:

 To establish an MHRA-approved SARS CoV2 viral stock for use in a controlled human infection model
 To determine a challenge dose which is safe and allows virus to be recoverable from infected subjects


PhD Studentship (Basic)

Role of the bone marrow niche in regulating the haematopoietic stem cell response to infection During infections, such as malaria, which is caused by plasmodium parasites, platelets and red blood cells are destroyed. Hematopoietic stem cells, which are responsible for the production of all the cell types of the blood system, are then put under stress to produce high numbers of platelets and red blood cells. Hematopoietic stem cells are found in the bone marrow, surrounded by many types of other cells. This project aims to investigate how only a specific subset of stem cells becomes activated to replenish the platelet cell counts. I will study the expression and function of specific genes in cells of the environment of stem cells and in stem cells themselves using microscopy-based assays on tissue slices and genetically edited cells implanted into mice. I will use intravital microscopy to study behaviours of stem cells such as cell division and movement, in the bone marrow in the skull. The results of this project could lead to the development of improved treatments for malaria patients and patients with bone marrow transplants.


PhD Studentship (Basic)

Investigating how the presence of neutrophils in the lungs prior to infection with respiratory viruses can exacerbate disease severity in mice Respiratory viruses such as RSV, influenza viruses and the recently emerged SARS-CoV-2, represent a major global burden to public health. While infection with such viruses will often only result in mild "cold-like" symptoms, many will result in severe disease and require hospitalisation. Why some people get seriously ill while others only develop mild symptoms is not yet understood.

Recent studies in both humans and mice have suggested that the presence of white blood cells, known as neutrophils, in the lungs prior to infection with respiratory virus results in more severe disease. The aim of this project is to investigate how the presence of these neutrophils alter the immune response to respiratory virus and ultimately how this drives more severe disease.

To achieve our aims, we will use mouse models to characterise how and which parts of the immune environment in the lung that is changed by the presence of neutrophils prior to infection with respiratory virus and how this influence the severity of disease.

This work will help us to better understand why some individuals are more at risk of severe disease following respiratory viral infection and help the development of effective treatments and vaccines.


PhD Studentship (Basic)

Spatiotemporal host and viral transcriptomics, host restriction and DNA sensing at single cell and single molecule resolution During the earliest stages of infection, the initiation of transcription from an infecting virus genome is a critical event and essential for subsequent virus replication, progeny assembly and onward transmission. However, the same virus genome is simultaneously sensed by the host cell as a "pathogen-associated molecular pattern". This results in the activation of numerous cellular restriction processes to limit virus transcription and replication, as well as, stimulating anti-viral processes in surrounding cells. To understand the critical dynamics of these opposing processes, I will exploit innovative new techniques in bio-orthogonal chemistry and single molecule RNA analysis to investigate a model DNA virus, herpes simplex virus (HSV), at single cell and single genome level.  Using these techniques in relevant cell models, together with knock-outs in key cell DNA sensors and virus mutants, I aim to understand the processes that operate at the earliest stages of infection, the precise importance and role(s) of various host DNA sensors and viral antagonists, and identify novel restriction factors and associated mechanisms of viral suppression. From high resolution and quantitative investigation of these events, I aim to establish new insight into the early innate immune response and contribute to the development of novel anti-viral therapies.


PhD Studentship (Basic)

Mechanisms of CD4+ T Cell Dysfunction During HTLV-1  Infection Human T-cell Lymphotropic Virus type-1 (HTLV-1) infects 5-10 million people worldwide. The majority of people infected remain asymptomatic carriers (ACs), while 2-6% of those infected develop adult T-cell leukaemia and another 2-3% go on to develop chronic inflammatory diseases including HTLV-1 associated myelopathy (HAM). CD4+ T cells carry 95% of the HTLV-1 proviral burden. While CD4+ T cell dysfunction has been implicated in HAM pathogenesis, the mechanism of tissue damage is still unclear. Limited research has been done on the HTLV-1-specific CD4+ T cell immune response and little is known about CD4+ T cell dysfunction during chronic viral infections. The overall aim of this project is the identification and deep phenotypical and functional characterisation of live HTLV-1 specific CD4+ T cells in healthy individuals, ACs and HAM patients. We have optimised an ex vivo assay to identify and isolate live HTLV-1-specific CD4+ T cells. The results obtained in this project will have implications for vaccination approaches against HTLV-1 and for the development of strategies that could reduce inflammation and control disease, as well as providing mechanistic insights into HAM immunopathology.


Discretionary Award - Vaccines

Prof Gregory Hussey, Prof Rudzani Muloiwa

Regional Hub to Provide Scientific and Technical Support on Evidence-Informed Decision-Making for Vaccines in the WHO AFRO region In the WHO AFRO, there is a need for sustainable mechanisms to provide scientific and technical EIDM support for vaccines and immunisation. We propose to establish a Regional Scientific Hub (RSH) to support NITAGs with EIDM. The RSH’s mission is to enable NITAGs in the WHO AFRO to strengthen EIDM with respect to vaccines and immunisation practices. The RSH will offer the EIDM support to NITAGs in close collaboration with the WHO. Public health professional members working within immunisation programmes, technical partners and other health groups will also be supported by the RSH. The support provided by RSH will strengthen the effectiveness of African NITAGs, resulting to an enhanced access to existing and new vaccines in the region.

Through the provision of the EIDM support, the RSH key goals are:
- Enhance access and use of EIDM resources and tools by members of NITAGs
- Empower NITAGs to produce timely and independent evidence-based recommendations that inform national decisions on vaccines
- Foster an increased national ownership of immunisation programmes in the region.
- Accelerate the strengthening of national immunisation programmes

Achieving these goals will result to increased immunisation rates and improved introduction of new vaccines in the WHO AFRO.

Grants awarded from 1 October 2005 to 30 June 2021


Discretionary Award - Snakebite

Development of Target Product Profiles for Snake Antivenom Products Antivenoms are bespoke biologicals that have been the mainstay of snakebite treatment for 125 years. Requirements for production, safety and efficacy vary across regulatory environments. Shortages of effective antivenoms have emerged as important public health issues, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. The variability of current products in this market present substantial challenges. WHO is exploring a pathway for prequalification of antivenoms and identified a need to develop target product profiles (TPPs) to support optimisation of current and emerging products. TPPs can play a central role in the drug discovery and development process towards desired product characteristics, including access, equity and affordability considerations. At present, there are no available public-interest TPPs for snake antivenoms. We will develop public-interest WHO TPPs with preferred and minimally acceptable profiles for antivenom therapeutics, with an initial focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. The work will be a collaboration between WHO and DNDi following the 2018 WHO TPP Generic Methodology. The resultant WHO TPPs will be widely shared through diverse communication channels and publications, and listed in the WHO Health Product Profile Directory. TPPs will assist product standardization and guide more targeted research and development of antivenoms.


Open Access Award 2020/21

Not available

Open Access Award


PhD Studentship (Basic)

Integration of context and task rules by the nucleus reuniens. Deciding the best way to behave is often dependent on where you are. For example, cheering loudly when someone scores a goal is a good way to behave if you are watching a football match in the pub, but not if you are watching it on your phone in the library.

The ability to tell where you are is governed by a part of the brain called the hippocampus, while deciding the most appropriate behaviour is governed by the prefrontal cortex. By communicating intricately with each other, it is proposed that these regions allow you to modify behaviour based on your location. However, the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex are not connected to each other, and therefore we do not understand how they communicate so effectively.

In this proposal we will investigate that idea that this communication occurs through a region called the nucleus reuniens. We will investigate how this region connects with both prefrontal cortex and hippocampus; we will carry out computational modelling to investigate how this communication might occur; and then carry out behavioural experiments that will allow us to directly test how neurons in the nucleus reuniens allow the modification of behaviour based on where we are.


PhD Studentship (Basic)

Investigations into assembly, egress and virus-host interactions of Oropouche Virus Tri-segmented bunyaviruses, which includes Rift valley fever virus and Oropouche virus (OROV), are responsible for a variety of human diseases ranging from self-limiting symptoms such as acute febrile illness, to lethal encephalitis and haemorrhagic fever. OROV is the first example of a virus shown to recruit endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT) components to virus assembly sites in the Golgi, through unclear mechanisms. During this project, I will develop virus-like particle assays to determine whether ESCRT recruitment is conserved across representative tri-segmented bunyavirus families. Once this has been established, I will investigate the molecular mechanisms that drive ESCRT recruitment to sites of bunyavirus assembly. I will do this by employing a range of proteomic approaches, that will utilise exogenously expressed bunyavirus envelope glycoproteins to identify potential interaction partners that are involved in ESCRT recruitment. Finally, I will conduct experiments using live OROV in collaborative research trips to Brazil, to understand how the virus changes the proteome of the cell during infection using a variety OROV mutants. These studies will elucidate a potentially novel mechanism of ESCRT recruitment during virus assembly and provide detailed understanding of bunyavirus-host interactions. Such new insights into bunyavirus infections may aid in development of antivirals.


PhD Studentship (Basic)

The mechanical regulation of chemical signaling in axon pathfinding in the developing Xenopus laevis brain  During nervous system development, neurons extend their axons over long distances to predefined targets. Research from the last decade has revealed a plethora of chemical signals that are involved in instructing axon guidance. However, it is now becoming increasingly evident that axons also respond to the mechanical environment that they grow in and this affects axon guidance. Moreover, crosstalk occurs between chemical and mechanical signalling. Thus, a holistic understanding of axon guidance would involve understanding both chemical and mechanical guidance cues and the crosstalk between them. A variety of chemical signalling cues which mediate attraction or repulsion are known to regulate axon pathfinding. These include Slits, Semaphorins, Netrins and Ephrins. However, chemical guidance cues do not act alone. The mechanical environment that the axons grow in, also influences axon pathfinding. One of the ways axons respond to the mechanical environment is through mechanosensitive ion channels (e.g. Piezo1). My PhD project aims at exploring the crosstalk between mechanical and chemical signalling in axon pathfinding, using the optic tract (OT) of Xenopus laevis as a model system.


PhD Studentship (Basic)

Development and Evolution of Cichlid Pigmentation The cichlid fish in the African Great Lakes are incredibly diverse despite being genetically very similar to each other. We will study the development of colour pattern in Astatotilapia calliptera, which consist of arrangements of specialised colour-bearing cells, chromatophores. We will focus on the variable circular markings on the fin known as egg-spots, as these play a role in reproductive behaviour and therefore have direct consequences for species evolution. Four genes have been identified as associated with variation in egg-spots number and colour in A. calliptera. We will use CRISPR-Cas9 to knock-out these genes to identify their effect on egg-spot development. We will also check whether the same genes are associated with egg-spot variation between different cichlid species. We will then model the interactions between chromatophores - these interactions affect the movement, differentiation, and death of chromatophores during development, affecting the resulting colouration. We will use this model to test which mechanisms the genes act through. Understanding how the slight genetic changes between cichlids affect embryo development and lead to such different appearances can help us understand the huge diversity of species we see today, and how the porcesses of embryo development and evolution affect each other.


Hunt for the vaccine

Not available

Discretionary Award – C&S


PhD Studentship (Basic)

Chromatin state transitions during quiescence and reactivation of neural stem cells in Drosophila melanogaster In the adult brain, most cells that produce new neurons (neural stem cells) are found in an inactive state (quiescence). These cells can be awakened in response to various signals, including diet or injury. Importantly, active and inactive neural stem cells differ in the genes they express and the modifications present on histones, proteins that the DNA is wrapped around. Histone modifications play a crucial role in regulating gene expression. During my PhD project, I will examine these modifications in active and inactive neural stem cells in Drosophila, in which these cells are easy to identify and manipulate. Using Targeted DamID, a technique that makes it possible to identify protein-DNA interactions in vivo, I will profile the location of individual histone modifications neural stem cells and classify the chromatin in those cells into domains. I will use super-resolution microscopy to observe chromatin within the nuclei of neural stem cells. Finally, I will test the function of those genes that may be important for awakening neural stem cells or inducing them into the inactive state. Understanding the mechanisms that induce neural stem cell inactivity and reactivation can potentially give insights into new therapies for brain injury or neurodegenerative diseases.


PhD Studentship (Basic)

Modelling bronchopulmonary dysplasia through human lung progenitor organoids and mouse xenotransplantation Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a chronic respiratory system disease with a particularly high incidence in preterm infants who receive mechanical ventilation and oxygen supplementation. BPD is characterized by less developed alveoli, the main gas exchange region. Clinical studies and animal experiments have identified hyperoxia exposure, ventilation trauma and genetic susceptibility as risk factors of BPD, though their effects on human alveolar development at a cellular level remain unknown. Based on the established progenitor organoid system derived from human embryonic lung tips, I aim to build an in vitro alveolar differentiation model and investigate the effects of BPD risk factors on this process. I will also use a mouse xenotransplantation model to assess the in vivo differentiation potential of human lung progenitors affected by BPD risk factors. These studies will help to delineate the impact of current respiration-supporting methods on human alveolar development. The elucidated cellular and molecular mechanisms can assist to reduce the risk and damage of BPD on preterm infants and improve long-term health conditions.


PhD Studentship (Basic)

Cellular Dynamics and Tissue Mechanics during Junctional Neurulation in Avian Embryos During early development, embryos begin to develop what will become the future brain and spinal cord in a process known as neurulation or neural tube formation. Errors in this process lead to common birth defects such as spina bifida and anencephaly, which can differ in type and severity based on location along the future spine. This process differs between the head and tail ends of an embryo, with the head rolling up from a flat sheet and the tail end forming a solid rod that hollows in humans and chick. Whilst much is known about these two disparate processes, the region where they join is poorly understood.

We aim to generate a better understanding of this junctional region, and the cellular and mechanical changes that govern its formation, through studying the wider cell movements and then focusing on mechanics and hydrostatic pressure differences. Using advanced microscopy of live and fixed tissues, we will assess cellular and tissue movements and use the data gathered to create a computerised physical model to predict tissue mechanics.

This work will provide new insights on the basic processes of neural tube formation and may also help understand the causes of some neural tube defects.


PhD Studentship (Basic)

Delineating the unique functional contribution of the retrosplenial cortex in the hippocampal-diencephalic-cingulate network The retrosplenial (RSP) cortex  is a cortical area located behind the splenium, As a part of the hippocampal-diencephalic-cingulate network, it has been repeatedly implicated in episodic memory, spatial memory, and navigation. Pathologically, when damaged the RSP cortex produces both anterograde and retrograde amnesia. It is among the first regions to show neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment. However, despite the region's clinical and behavioral significance, its unique functional contribution to hippocampal-dependent processes is poorly understood. To delineate the RSP cortex functions from that of other structures, I will use a combination of chemogenetic and optogenetic manipulations in rats, to examine behavioral effects. Disentangling the RSP cortex functions will not only elucidate the intrinsic processes underlying cognitive function, but also potentially provide a new target for the treatment of memory disorders.


PhD Studentship (Basic)

Using hierarchical models of habitual and goal-directed decision-making to understand compulsive behaviour Two systems govern human behaviour: the ‘habitual’ system tends to repeat actions were previously rewarding, and the ‘goal-directed’ system relies on an understanding of how the world works in choosing the best action. Whilst there is evidence that this is true for simple actions (e.g. ‘eat cake’, ‘lock door’), we do not know if it holds when applied to goals (a collection of actions that work towards a goal, e.g. ‘start a business’). My research aims to investigate how we choose which goals to pursue.

To test whether the two systems above apply to goals, I aim to develop a new cognitive task that involves choices between actions and choices between goals, and study how these choices are controlled by the brain. I will use a combination of behavioural, neuroimaging, and neurochemical approaches to this end. I also aim to investigate whether there are differences in how goals are chosen between healthy individuals and patients with compulsive disorders including addiction and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The broader goal of my research is to understand how the brain optimises both short-term and long-term behaviour, and potentially inform clinical models of compulsive disorders.


PhD Studentship (Basic)

The effect of dominance status on hypothalamic processing of social stimuli Social hierarchies are ubiquitous among animals. They ensure efficient allocation of resources such as food, shelter, and mates, and reduce the need for physical confrontations within a group. Recent research has uncovered how representations of social status are learned and encoded in the brain, specifically in cortical areas. These representations of social status inform which social behaviours are shown by animals at different levels of hierarchy. For instance, subordinates are more likely to exhibit social avoidance and defensive behaviours such as fleeing, and show more restraint when presented with rewards. Despite these findings, it remains unclear how cortical representations of social status affect downstream areas that are more closely linked to controlling status-specific behaviours. My PhD project will investigate how cortical representations of dominance status affect the processing of social stimuli in hypothalamic areas, and how this leads to altered social behaviour in dominant vs. subordinate males. This work will help explain how social status is translated into appropriate social behaviour by specific brain circuits, and how dysregulation of these processes might contribute to maladaptive behaviours.


PhD Studentship (Basic)

Investigating mRNA transport granule composition and transport dynamics in motor neurons Neurons transport messenger RNA (mRNA) over long distances within RNA transport granules, which are made of one or more mRNAs coated by RNA binding proteins (RBPs). It is thought that such granules bind directly to motor proteins for transport, however, recent studies show that they can ‘hitchhike’ onto intracellular organelles for indirect mobilisation. The overall goal of my PhD is to uncover how these two distinct pathways are integrated to ensure coordinated transport along neuronal axons. Moreover, I will determine how these pathways are affected in motor neuron disease (MND). Specifically, I will focus on the RBP named Staufen, which is an important component for RNA granule assembly and transport, and which has been suggested to contribute to MND onset and progression.

I aim to identify the mRNAs transported via either route under normal conditions and in MND. I will use a novel method in which proteins representing each transport pathway are modified by an enzyme that "tags" nearby proteins. Tagged proteins and associated mRNAs can thus be identified and used to investigate RNA granule composition associated with each transport pathway in healthy and diseased neurons.


PhD Studentship (Basic)

Investigating Alzheimer’s Disease risk genes in Drosophila melanogaster Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia and over the last 10 years many genetic mutations have been identified that alter an individuals risk of developing the disease. In my research I will be using Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) to investigate genetic contributions to AD. I will manipulate levels of specific genes within the fly brain and investigate how this, in turn, effects levels of other genes throughout the brain using a technique called RNA sequencing. To complement this analysis, I will also be investigating the effects of such manipulations on behavioural traits associated with human AD, such as sleep and memory disturbances. Generating a greater understanding of these newly discovered risk genes will hopefully aid the pursuit for a successful therapeutic target.


Open Access Award 2020/21

Not available

Open Access Award

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine


Discretionary Award – C&S

Young People as Changemakers on Issues of Climate and Health Restless Development will identify, train and empower 20 Young Leaders (18-24) in Zimbabwe, working in pairs across 10 rural and urban communities in 2 districts, to develop evidence based solutions to address the impacts of global heating on health. These Young Leaders will bring unique perspectives from the communities in which they live and work, first using a youth-led research methodology to develop evidence on current levels of young people and their community’s knowledge and understanding of global heating and health as interconnected issues, then using that evidence to conduct global heating and health advocacy work to develop community-based solutions. Acting as agents of change, Young Leaders will translate knowledge and research to their communities in order to improve the knowledge of the global heating and health related issues. By the end of the 12 month initiative, the project will have investigated and tested different methods young people can use to increase the understanding of the links between global heating and health, the subsequent impact on their communities, and identified local solutions to identified challenges.


Discretionary Award - Policy

Health Policy Watch Reporting on Covid-19 Reliable, evidence-based media remains a key means of advancing public health literacy and bringing news, views and opinions from diverse regions of the world into the corridors of power. The vision driving Health Policy Watch, launched in 2019 as an open-access, non-profit health news service, is to create a new "network paradigm" that connects the dots between policy trends and realities in the global North and South. We provide coverage across 5 key themes, including: infectious diseases; non-communicable diseases; antimicrobial resistance; climate and environmental health; and health emergencies.

The key objective of this proposal is to foster a more balanced- and "solutions"-oriented approach to health policy dialogue around issues and choices that are critical to effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic - and to the broader global health agenda in light of COVID-19 realities.

Institutional sustainability is a second key objective. To realize its public service mission, Health Policy Watch is committed to ensuring that all potential readers can access our content free of charge.  As we work, with modest resources, to build a diverse array of donors and collaborations to advance that mission, Wellcome Trust support would empower us to develop a more sustainable and robust funding portfolio.


Discretionary Award - Snakebite

WHO Antivenom Stockpile Programme PHASE 1 Sub-Saharan Africa has a high snakebite burden, compounded by a lack of safe, effective and affordable treatments that are accessible to victims. Across seven East African countries (Ethiopia, South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi) there are an estimated 89,940 (95% Confidence Interval: 74,511-105,385) cases of snakebite each year, while in seven West African nations (Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad, Togo, Benin, Ghana and Burkina Faso) there are 70,712 (95% CI: 58,348-84,791) cases annually. Access to snake antivenoms for the treatment of snakebite envenoming in sub-Saharan Africa has been declining since at least the 1970’s and current data provided to WHO suggests that

Grants awarded from 1 October 2005 to 30 June 2021


PhD Training Fellowship for Clinicians

Understanding the evolution of pathology after traumatic brain injury using advanced magnetic resonance imaging Traumatic brain injuries result from falls, road traffic collisions, assaults or military activities. They are expected to affect every second person at some point in their lives and are a major cause of disability and death. Different people’s brains seem to react differently to similar injuries. Some people recover whilst others continue to deteriorate even after the initial event, for example by developing early-onset dementia. We plan to use magnetic resonance images to study how the structure of the brain changes in the days to years after injury. The types of images we use (in particular diffusion tensor imaging) can reveal fine details that are invisible on conventional imaging. We will study approximately 1000 patients who had repeated scans from 72h to two years after injury, which is the largest database of its kind. Importantly, we will not assume that everyone’s brain is the same but will strive to identify sub-types of response to injury. We will then compare how these structural changes relate to patients’ symptoms and see if we can predict early after injury which recovery trajectory a patient is likely to follow.


University Award in H&SS

Ethics and British public health law, 1920-2020 This research will investigate the ethics of British public health over the period 1920-2020, through the lens of public health law. In so doing, it will develop the ‘public health humanities’ as a mode of designing and implementing interdisciplinary research in public health. My goals are to discover how the implicit and explicit ethical frameworks of public health law have changed over the period in question; to analyse how and why these changes came about; and to explore methods for investigating public health ethics from interdisciplinary perspectives. I will use documentary and archival sources to locate and interrogate moments of morally inflected controversy in public health law, and will work collaboratively with public health practitioners and researchers to explore novel methods of data generation and analysis. Attention to ethics and public health law in Britain 1920-2020 disrupts assumptions that ethics in this time and place has been neutral and unchanging, and examines relationships between shifting ethical frameworks and factors including the post-war welfare state and its subsequent roll-back, decolonisation, migration, epidemiology, HIV/AIDS, and bioethics. The project will historicise ethics, connect past and present, and provoke cross-disciplinary interrogation and integration, for the benefit of the humanities and public health alike.


Research Fellowship in H&SS

Social Science and Bioethics Interview Committee

Mobilized, recruited, conscripted? Leveraging community health work, citizenship and public authority in northern Kenya Who delivers health care, where and why? The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored stark global inequalities in answers to these questions. ‘Community participation’, an enduring pillar of interventions in the Global South, has been leveraged in response to COVID in Africa via Community Health Workers (CHWs). Key agencies who recruit Africa’s army of Community Health Workers (CHWs) have declared them to be COVID’s emerging ‘first line of defence’. This research will examine the structural factors that lead to the recruitment of CHWs and which contribute to the persistent undervaluing of CHWs’ work in Kenya. The research will innovate in its combination of discourse analysis, informed by critical/feminist/postcolonial thought, with detailed ethnographic fieldwork in Kenya's marginalized north. The research will firstly provide a critical reading of the ‘imperial remains’ within CHW recruitment practices on the part of health agencies and INGOs. The research will secondly provide a historicized reading of (gendered) narratives regarding citizenship, public service and voluntarism in postcolonial Kenya. This research will then be brought into dialogue with detailed interviews with and ethnography of/by CHWs in Isiolo, northern Kenya, with implications for CHW policy but also for rethinking the desirability and justness of one of global health’s core assumptions.


Research Fellowship in H&SS

Interactions between Cognitive Impairment & Transport in Urban Environments (IN-CITU) Novel social and cognitive science, approaching people and places as indivisible assemblages, challenges dementia research’s traditional humanism (people as exceptional entities) and neuroreductionism (brains as cognitive supercomputers). However, these traditional ideas permeate current "dementia-friendly" strategies, positing that agentic persons inhabit inactive spaces. Resulting initiatives assume that architectural refinement will maximise individuals’ intrinsic cognitive capacities, overlooking the complex distribution of cognition throughout evolving atmospheric spaces. They often lack user perspectives and sophisticated theoretical grounding. In response, I will combine cutting-edge scholarships to explore cognition-environment relations through a sensory ethnography of Manchester’s public transport, a target for dementia-friendly initiatives. I will accompany 25 passengers with dementia, documenting the journeys through interviewing, fieldnotes, photography and mapping. Participants will capture photographs and videos for an exhibition across the transport network. The exceptionally rich dataset, comprised of audio-visual media, sensory ethnographic data and maps, will be made available to future researchers. The project will challenge outdated assumptions in dementia research and policy, developing proposals for improving each. It aligns with policy priorities and will propose service improvements in collaboration with key stakeholders. It will generate an unprecedented open-access dataset for analysing dementia-friendliness and cognition-environment relations, and pioneer methods for inclusive ecological dementia research.


Research Fellowship in H&SS

The Art of Colonial Medicine: Visual Cultures of Malaria in India, 1890-1940 My project will investigate images (drawings, illustrations, and photographs) as central to scientific research into causes of the disease and the mechanisms of its spread in British India between 1890 and 1940. Despite Ronald Ross’ own emphasis that his experiments on malaria were visual revelations, visual representations of malaria have remained neglected in historiography so far. I intend to explore how images informed research on malaria and influenced future inquiries into the development of tropical medicine and the processes of their institutionalisation. This project enriches the scholarship on malaria in colonial India by bringing into focus the importance of visuality in knowledge-making. This will facilitate an exploration of the power of images in strengthening, as well as shaping resistance to British imperialism; and also how medical visual culture gave meaning to human-animal relationships within an imperial context. In so doing, beginning with scientific images produced in the laboratory, I move into the domains of British administration and that of the vernacular reception, translation, and appropriation of the malarial iconography. By examining the interactions between the fields of arts and medical science, this project will be a major contribution to the historiographies of British colonial medicine and modern South Asia.


Research Fellowship in H&SS

The Child's Speech: speech therapy, stammering, and activism in Britain, 1906-2000 This project will produce a cultural and social history of speech therapy in twentieth-century Britain that is ambitious in seeking to account for the entwined relationship of speech therapy to stammering activism, not simply in a relationship of medical professional to patient. Municipalities employed speech therapists from c.1906 to ‘correct’ what (in contemporary language) were considered ‘defects’ of children’s speech. Early therapists were often female, trained in drama-school elocution and only later became medicalised. Consequently, they were as marginalised as the disabled subjects they sought to ‘treat’. Conversely, individuals who stammered long pointed towards the uniqueness of their position and voice to militate for improved therapy. In short, this project allows an ambitious study that cuts across normally polarised voices of ‘medical professional’ and ‘patient experience’ to explore the boundaries of what encompasses ‘the medical’ itself: both as practices (elocution therapeutics and activism) and as theories (what ‘stammering’ meant). ‘The Child’s Speech’ therefore offers a unique case study into the margins of disability studies which can point towards new frameworks for thinking about professionalisation; its relationship to competing, but also harmonising, forms of expertise, patient voice, experience and activism; and wider gender, race, class and disability dynamics within these.


Research Fellowship in H&SS

Care, infrastructures and antiblackness: the making of biomedicine in a Sierra Leonean hospital  The research project offers an in-depth analysis of the conflation between biomedical practice, care and antiblackness in the colonial wake. Using historical, geographic and ethnographic methods, it examines how the history of enslavement and colonialism is entangled with notions and practices of Western biomedical care and the spatial organisation of a postcolonial hospital. As a location for this study I have chosen Connaught Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Situated on Freetown's Northern coast between White Man's Bay and Susan's Bay, this was both the setting for mandatory quarantines for liberated slaves and the site of the British-built Colonial Hospital. Working with Sierra Leonean healthcare staff, I will examine the hold this violent past has on Sierra Leonean conceptions of care and trust in biomedicine. This allows me to 1) explore how biomedicine's conflation with antiblackness shapes biomedical encounters in postcolonial Sierra Leone and 2) examine how biomedical spaces and infrastructures perpetuate feelings of distrust and exclude other forms of care. In doing so I will 1) challenge the traditional geographical remit of Black Studies, 2) study how antiblackness weaves its way through medicine and care and 3) give Fanon's analyses of colonialism, racism and biomedicine a contemporary  &  geographic dimension.


Discretionary Award - Policy

Enabling Research Excellence by sharing between Diseases, Organisations and Regions In low-income countries there remains a lack of internationally competitive research leaders. The Global Health Network has analysed the barriers and enablers to health research and show that typical approaches to capability building have not delivered long-term capabilities that foster internationally competitive teams. The Network has built a novel mechanism to address this which works across all types of study, disease areas and organisations to share know-how and deliver training, guidance and methods using a digital platform alongside local programmes. The success and impact that arise from this combination of cross-cutting knowledge exchange and research capability building together provide a strong research enabling platform. This active exchange of knowledge, tools and processes is increasing quality and driving efficiency in health research. The Network is driving better methods, new skills and supporting career development through the creation of active communities of practice. These capacity building, methodology research activities and delivery costs cannot be met by our project-specific funding for knowledge exchange, yet these elements deliver success and impact by bringing the research community together. This application is part of our long-term strategic development plan that sets out to further develop our unique and impactful approach for which we require consortia funding.


Research Fellowship in H&SS

The environmental sustainability of data-driven health research: a case-study of genomics and digital phenotyping in the UK Data-driven health research, and the technologies it produces (DHRTs), are increasingly driving the UK health sector. DHRTs, which rely on advanced computing sciences and ‘big data’, have the potential to make a profound impact on society, and the pace of development is staggering. Equally, the databases, infrastructures, and software supporting DHRTs have important environmental and health impacts: their heavy energy requirements lead to high carbon dioxide emissions, and the reliance on minerals to develop their technological components can lead to unsustainable and/or toxic mineral extraction and e-waste disposal. While the environmental footprint of DHRTs may be considered unproblematic because of improvements in energy efficiency and the move to renewable energy, the speed of innovation is set to outpace the world’s renewable energy sources, leading to increases in carbon emissions when other sectors are decreasing their energy use. Moreover, issues of unsustainable mineral extraction/e-waste disposal still remain. It is imperative that the environmental footprint of DHRTs is considered through responsible innovation that targets environmental sustainability. This project’s aim is to use a UK perspective, qualitative case-study approach, that builds an empirical knowledge base that identifies the ethical, social and regulatory issues associated with DHRT’s environmental impacts.


Research Fellowship in H&SS

Multimorbidity and Knowledge Architectures: An Interdisciplinary Global Health Collaboration As people live longer, the coexistence of multiple conditions in one individual – ‘multimorbidity’ – becomes more common. Scholars across the biomedical sciences have expressed concern that research, training and care systems remain organised along single-disease and single-organ-system lines and that new ways of producing knowledge about multimorbidity are needed. Medical anthropologists, with well-established strengths in illuminating and unsettling dominant frameworks, are ideally equipped to collaborate with biomedical scientists to articulate and respond to the challenge posed by multimorbidity. Using the analytic frame of ‘epistemic infrastructures’, referring here to the fragmented global assemblages through which knowledge about (multi)morbidity is produced and legitimised, I will investigate how individuals in different settings and communities of practice understand and engage with multimorbidity. Further, I will co-produce with them a conceptual framework for responding to this complex bio-social phenomenon. To achieve this, I propose a collaborative multi-site ethnographic study in global health institutions in the UK and research, training and care institutions in Zimbabwe, involving participant-observation, in-depth interviews and participatory methods. These activities, culminating in a symposium, will iteratively build the proposed framework. By involving biomedical researchers throughout, my research will be uniquely positioned to open new pathways to influence research, policy and care.


Research Fellowship in H&SS

A Healthy Approach to Grief: The Emotional, Material, and Sensory History of Grief and Loss in Late-Georgian Britain, c. 1760-1830 This project will produce a history of grief and loss in late-Georgian Britain (c.1760-1830) that re-evaluates current perceptions of grief as unhealthy, and will redress the imbalance in historical and literary studies that have focused overwhelmingly on assessments of bereavement, mourning and mortuary rituals. It will recover the full range of Georgian experiences of grief to show how understandings of grief extended far beyond the immediate emotional upheaval associated with death, encompassing much wider definitions than those we attribute to grief today. Grief awarded meaning to interpersonal relationships, offerering avenues for self-reflection and providing comfort during periods of separation. This project will apply historical and literary research techniques to a linguistic and material culture analysis of grief, and engage with research in psychology, sociology and philosophy. It will interrogate grief across three main themes: Sadness and Separation; Bereavement; Loss and Abandonment – which are embedded within acts of resilience, remembrance and recovery. The main goals of this project are (1). to investigate what it meant to grieve in late-Georgian Britain (2). to examine the relationship between grief, loss, comfort and well-being, and to (3). assess to what extent experiences of grief were regulated by conventions and mediated through socio-cultural codes.


Not available

Joint Global Health Trials Award

Global Health Trials Award – round 10 – 2019/2020 Not available


Strategic Support: Science

Renewal of WT funding for Centre for Macaques Renewal of funding for Centre for Macaques (CfM) to August 2022


University Award in H&SS

On  TReND: Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and the Contentious Reimagining of Alzheimer Disease-Related Dementias as Environmental Diseases There is a growing recognition that Alzheimer’s-like dementias need to be understood in environmental, rather than simply genetic, terms. Head injury has been identified as one such environmental antecedent to dementia and a new class of dementias known as TReNDs – Traumatic brain injury Related NeuroDegenerative disorderS – has emerged. This recasting of Alzheimer’s-like dementias as environmental conditions has significant implications for professions, patients, and publics and potentially transforms the classification, diagnosis, treatment, and regulation of neurodegeneration.

This project is based around a multi-sited ethnography, undertaken with scientists in molecular neuroscience; neuropathology; and sports science. Sitting at the intersection of medical sociology and Science and Technology Studies, the project asks:

Q1: How does depicting Alzheimer’s-related dementias as environmentally-induced change understandings of the classification, cause, and diagnosis of neurodegenerative disease?

Q2: How is research into traumatic brain injury shaping novel therapeutic interventions for neurodegenerative diseases? What are the consequences for patients?

Q3: How are regulations embedded into research on environmentally-induced dementias? What are the envisaged risks, regulations, and wider policy implications of this biomedical research?

In asking these questions, this project is amongst the first to empirically explore the societal and scientific implications of these emerging sciences of dementia.


Discretionary award – DRI

Dr Clare Ling, Dr Samuel Akech, Prof Elizabeth Ashley, Prof H Rogier van Doorn, Mrs Naomi Waithira, Prof Yoel Lubell, Dr Japheth Opintan, Prof Iruka Okeke, Dr Abhilasha Karkey, Dr Nantasit Luangasanatip, Dr Raph Hamers, Prof Nicholas Feasey

ACORN 2.0 - A Clinically Oriented antimicrobial Resistance Network The ACORN project will establish a network of hospitals and clinical laboratories in Asia and Africa to implement efficient patient-focused antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance. Network data will be used to determine AMR disease burden, risk factors, and patient and economic impacts for key clinical syndromes and associated pathogens.

ACORN will address the need for better systems for linked clinical and microbiology data analysis to enable clinicians and ministries of health to understand and respond to the locally and nationally relevant AMR challenges and to engage meaningfully with international surveillance efforts. ACORN will provide simple to use data collection, visualisation, and analysis tools along with a framework for sites to improve clinician utilisation of diagnostic microbiology resources. Targeted clinical and outcome data collection will enable local use of pathogen and antimicrobial susceptibility data, for example by identification of high-risk patients and for development of empiric treatment guidelines.

Global AMR surveillance and mitigation endeavours are weakened as a result of limited active healthcare provider engagement via local data use. Project engagement efforts will focus on promotion of widespread adoption of ACORN, through collaborative links with key AMR stakeholders, to ensure that future global surveillance has meaning, from the ground up.


Innovations Psychosis Flagship

Science, Innovation and Translation Programme Advisory Group

Prof Atalay Alem, Dr Abebaw Fekadu, Dr Alexander Cohen, Prof Craig Morgan, Prof Crick Lund, Prof Solomon Teferra, Dr Tessa Roberts

A major barrier to innovation in treatment and care for people with psychosis in lowincome countries is the absence of rigorous epidemiological research into the aetiology, presentation, social context, associated physical health conditions and early course of psychosis. Through SCOPE, we will produce high quality, contextual evidence and use it to design
innovations in detection and treatment, to improve the lives of people living with
psychosis in a low-income country.
Our key goals are to:
1. determine the rate of new cases of psychosis in rural and urban settings in
Ethiopia; identify possible risk factors for onset; and characterise the needs of
people with psychosis and the factors that affect early course and outcome.
2. use this evidence to co-develop innovations to improve early detection and
optimise the recovery of people with psychosis. The innovations will be
applicable to rural, urban and homeless populations in Ethiopia, with potential
generalisability to other low- and middle-income countries.
We will pilot test interventions, develop strategies to overcome implementation
challenges and identify key intervention components to inform adaptation for other
contexts.

Grants awarded from 1 October 2005 to 30 June 2021


Innovator Award

Development of a S. Paratyphi A / S. Typhi bivalent vaccine through proof-of-concept (POC) in animals Salmonella Typhi and Paratyphi A have a high incidence worldwide and coexist in many
areas, especially in South and Southeast Asia. S. Typhi causes an estimated 12.5 million
cases and 149,000 deaths and S. Paratyphi causes about 3 million cases and 19,000 deaths
annually. There is urgent need for better and affordable vaccines against these infections.
The aim of this project is to develop a bivalent Typhi-Paratyphi A vaccine to prevent
systemic Salmonella infections and enteric fever. Specifically, we intend to identify a bivalent
conjugate formulation, arrived through determination of optimal formulation  &
characterization conditions, that induces equivalent or higher anti-OSP/Vi IgG titers than
monovalent OSP and Vi conjugate controls, and bactericidal activities against S. Typhi and
S. Paratyphi A, with/without adjuvants.


Discretionary Award - Policy

Strengthening Joint Scientific & Political Actions for Global Health The most pressing global health challenges of our time require strong partnerships for multi-stakeholder exchange and appropriate policy responses. Against this background, the World Health Summit would like to strengthen its collaboration with expert organizations such as Wellcome Trust, to make a greater contribution to policy-making in the field of global health research and strengthen scientific and political activity in Berlin and beyond in the spirit of the sustainable development goals.


Discretionary Award - Policy

Health Security Activities of the Munich Security Conference 2020-2023 Building on the expertise and support provided by the Wellcome Trust in recent years, the MSC wishes to create a direct continuation of existing work, sustainably strengthen its global health dimension and expand its reach with additional activities in response to COVID-19 and beyond.

During the MSC fiscal year 2020-2021 activities will include two follow-up Digital Conversations and various roundtables and side events within the scope of the 2021 Munich Security Conference, a 2021 Health Security Roundtable in Berlin and potentially a Health Security Roundtable on the sidelines of the MSC Core Group Meeting 2021 in Washington D.C.

Additionally, a Special Edition of the Munich Security Report, the "Stability Report" will address many current issues and challenges in global health security. As part of the grant proposal, the MSC will facilitate Wellcome Trust participation at the report launch and will give updates on report progress.

Events similar in number and design will take place in the fiscal years 2021-2022 and 2022-2023. Due to COVID-19, detailed plans will only be made at a later stage. The MSC will keep the Wellcome Trust up to date on its plans for new MSC health security activities as soon as they become available.


International Masters Fellowship

TCR/BCR repertoire sequencing in the conjunctival associated lymphoid tissue from trachoma longitudinal studies The primary aim of this study is to use next generation sequencing to investigate the T and B cell receptor repertoire in the conjunctival tissue in those susceptible to repeated ocular infection with Ct and those resistant despite similar exposures.

RNA samples selected from archived conjunctival swab samples from a 4-year longitudinal study of children with progressing trachomatous scarring and non-progressing will be used. Sequences will be aligned to their germline V-, D-, and J-genes and assigned according to the IMGT/GENE-DB reference directory. The average length of CDR3 regions, as well as the frequency of shared CDR3s will be compared. The usage of specific V genes, families and their frequency will also be compared. Initial analysis will be conducted on 25 progressors and 25 non-progressors at the final time points.  Based on the results of the data obtained, a sufficient number of samples will be selected for further analysis from earlier timepoints in the cohort.

The project has the potential to contribute toward the evaluation and progression of current and future human clinical trials of Ct vaccines.


Discretionary Award - Mental Health

Healthy Brains Global Initiative start-up funding Healthy Brains Global Initiative (HBGI) is a collaboration of global leaders in neuroscience, policy, and financing working to improve the lives of those living with mental and neurological disorders and bend the unsustainable US$3 trillion global cost curve borne today by all countries.  HBGI is developing an umbrella set of financing mechanisms to leverage billions in financing and fuel an unprecedented increase in brain science breakthroughs.  We are currently in the mobilisation stage with a view to a formal launch in 2021.

The Co-Founders and Co-Chairs of the Board are Victor Dzau (National Academy of Medicine) and Garen Staglin (One Mind), and Brad Herbert is the interim CEO.  The Wellcome Trust is involved in multiple ways.  Ed Whiting is a member of HBGI’s Interim Board, and Miranda Wolpert is Co-Chair of the Use of Proceeds Working Group and Andrew Welchman is also part of the group.

We value the expertise that the Wellcome Trust is providing to us and are requesting US$1.2 million to contribute to HBGI's running costs for the start-up phase.  This will fund us to design and launch a governance structure, determine the optimal use of proceeds, confirm metrics for ROI, and design and launch financing mechanisms.


International Masters Fellowship

Enteric Pathogens and Post-discharge Outcomes among Children in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (The EPPO-SASA Study) Enteric pathogens are a major cause of hospitalisation among children and are associated with diarrhoea, enteric dysfunction, dysbiosis, and increased risk of mortality and readmission especially in low- and middle-income countries. When admitted to hospital, treatment failure may occur despite following guidelines. Furthermore, carriage of pathogens or disturbance in the intestinal microbiome may be hospital-acquired and/or resistant to first-line antimicrobials potentially increasing the risk of readmission. I aim to determine whether molecular evidence of enteric pathogens and gut dysbiosis at hospital discharge, when children were judged as clinically well, is associated with readmission post-discharge among children across the nutritional stratum. This case-control study is nested within the completed CHAIN cohort study (six countries) that aims to characterise demographic, clinical, and social risk factors for mortality among children


International Masters Fellowship


International Masters Fellowship

Intra-host dengue virus genetic diversity among primary and secondary infections in Laos There are an estimated 100-400 million cases of dengue worldwide per year with the highest burden of disease in Asia. The virus (DENV) is a positive-sense single stranded RNA virus belonging to the genus Flavivirus. There are four serotypes: DENV1 to DENV4. Dengue virus RNA dependent RNA polymerase has no proof-reading activity, resulting in accumulation of mutations at each replication cycle.
Therefore, within an infected individual, there is diversification of the DENV genome sequence leading to the presence of intra-host genetic variants (quasispecies), which may then lead, under selective pressure, to the emergence of a new strain of higher virulence. Previous findings suggested that immune pressure drives intra-host diversity.
My research will explore whether serotype-specific past immunity influences intra-host DENV genetic diversity during acute infection.

Objectives:

 To describe intra host DENV genetic diversity in patients with primary and secondary infections
 To compare quasispecies profiles between primary and secondary infections
 To compare quasispecies profiles in secondary infections between two patient groups previously exposed to a different serotype.

Impact :
We expect the findings of this project would permit a better understanding of processes leading to viral genetic variation, and could eventually be useful for improving viral surveillance systems and epidemic forecasting.


Discretionary Award - Policy

Incentivising pharmaceutical companies to improve equitable access to healthcare interventions Equitable access is critical for maximising the impact of innovation and heavily depends on proactive actions by pharmaceutical companies, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to bring the pandemic to an end, achieve universal health coverage and protect the gains made on Sustainable Development Goal 3, the pharmaceutical industry will need to ensure that all scientific advancements benefit the maximum number of people, independent of the place they live or their ability to pay. The Access to Medicine Foundation (ATMF) has incentivised pharmaceutical company action to improve access to new innovations for more than a decade. By rewarding positive action, sharing best practices, and highlighting opportunities for change, the ATMF encourages companies to become willing partners to improve global access to their products. The ATMF will support Wellcome Trust’s approach to equitable access to healthcare interventions through a combination of research and policy initiatives that will (a) incentivise pharmaceutical company action on COVID-19, (b) support global efforts to mainstream access principles during product development and (c) untap the potential of generic medicine manufacturers in expanding access to innovations in low- and middle-income countries. The request from the ATMF is for €471,750 (£425,000) from October 2020 to September 2021.


Innovator Award

Dr Gabriela Kramer-Marek, Prof Paul Beard, Prof John Anderson, Dr Olumide Ogunlade

Novel image-guided therapeutics to improve surgical precision and loco-regional control in Neuroblastoma. Neuroblastoma (NB) is the most common extra-cranial solid cancer in children and contributes to 15% of childhood cancer deaths. Surgery to remove NB is often incomplete and poses high risks due to the significant involvement of vital organs and vessels.
We aim to develop a novel integrated surgical platform to eliminate cancer more efficiently and safely. With the synergistic use of highly innovative optical techniques, built around a core technology of using injectable probes, we aim to:
1. Specifically, "light up" cancer to help the surgeon in differentiating tumour from vital organs (colour-coded surgery).
2. Equip the surgeon with an innovative special scanner to chase small and non-visible cancer residuals.
3. Kill any minimal residual cancer, left by the surgeon, using a new technology based on light.
This original approach has the potential to improve the effectiveness of surgery in eradicating solid paediatric and adult cancers, leading to better survival and fewer complications.


Discretionary Award - OPOH

International Development Research Centre, Canada

Transitioning to a Zero Carbon Food System in Latin America Wellcome Trust and IDRC will be supporting the building of an agenda for action on the transition to a zero-carbon food system in Latin America. This work will be conducted in parallel to the work conducted by the Rockefeller Foundation and IDRC in East Africa, which aims to "improve the health and wellbeing of low-income and vulnerable populations who face the double burden of malnutrition and environmental threats like climate change" (see annexed document for more information). The work conducted in both regions are part of a growing initiative entitled "Catalysing change for healthy and sustainable food systems", launched by the three institutions. The initiative will provide research grants to leading evidence builders in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), with the aim of strengthening the contribution and engagement of LMIC research and civil society institutions in regional and global discussions about healthy and sustainable food systems.


Coronavirus

Dr Buddha Basnyat, Dr Abhilasha Karkey, Dr Sameer Dixit

Epidemic Inteligence: Understanding how returning migrant waves drive epidemic seeding and community transmission events in the South Asian context to inform epidemic preparedness Nepal, as for much of Asia, has high levels of labour migration, particularly to neighbouring India and the Middle East. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has caused a chaotic mass return migration event. While the government  has attempted to quarantine and test returning migrants the fragile infrastructure has been rapidly overwhelmed and repeated migration waves have occurred into remote rural areas.
 The  epidemic in Nepal is now entering the rapid escalation phase. Despite this surge, the government has been forced to raise the lockdown, imposed since March 24th, due to the economic and political consequences. There is limited understanding of the pattern and extent of transmission in this context due to limited and sporadic testing.

 Understand how return migration is influencing the epidemic dynamics in rural vs. urban contexts.
 Understand how the reported data from the core government testing system compares to estimated community prevalence dynamics to predict testing capacity gaps and refine future response.
 Determine sensitivity and specificity of GeneXpert Xpress testing using nasopharageal swabs or saliva against RT-PCR  for SARS CoV-2 infection.
 Sequence a cohort of 500 SARS CoV-2 samples to understand the patterns of repeated introduction, seeding and transmission occurring in rural and urban areas as the epidemic unfolds.


Prof Henry Mwandumba, Prof Mark Marsh, Prof Patric Turowski, Prof Tom Solomon, Prof Daniel Cutler

Clinical Research Career Development Fellowship

Investigating the mechanisms involved in HIV infection and cerebral endothelial dysfunction in a 3D human brain neurovascular spheroid.  Despite successfully suppressing HIV infection with antiretroviral therapy (ART), cerebrovascular disease, including stroke and cognitive impairment, remains a dominant complication in this population. I have shown that HIV is a leading risk factor of stroke in the young and can contribute to 15-30% of overall stroke presentations in endemic regions. There is good evidence that atherogenesis is part of the mechanism. Chronic inflammation and antiretrovirals are amongst confounders that obscure delineating the exact pathway to atherogenesis. The Neurovascular Unit (NVU) which consists of the cerebrovascular endothelium supported by astrocytes and pericytes is pivotal to maintaining blood vessel function and impeding HIV to enter the brain. To date, scientific advancement has been limited by developing experimental systems that replicates the NVU in its normal environment.  My fellowship proposes to use a powerful new in vitro multicellular 3D model of the NVU, with blood brain barrier (BBB) properties similar to those found in vivo, to investigate how HIV crosses the BBB, establishes NVU infection, and triggers endothelial dysfunction, a precursor for atherogenesis. Finally, I will exploit an established cohort of HIV patients with ART and phenotyped for cerebrovascular disease in Malawi, to verify the mechanistic insights from my in vitro findings.


Neuroinflammation and its role in precision physiotherapy for patients with entrapment neuropathies Entrapment neuropathies are the most common conditions causing nerve-related pain. Even though Physiotherapy is the recommended treatment, research suggests only modest benefits. A major road-block is the lack of adequate patient stratification. My fellowship will address this by investigating the role of neuroinflammation in precision physiotherapy. The key goals are to 1) characterise human neuroinflammation, 2) validate magnetic resonance neurography (MRN) as a non-invasive marker and 3) determine whether physiotherapeutic exercises (neurodynamics) can reduce neuroinflammation. I will use longitudinal cohorts of patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and Morton’s neuroma undergoing surgery as model systems with unparalleled access to injured tissues (e.g., nerve, skin, tenosynovium, blood). I will characterise neuroinflammation and its relationship to symptoms in these samples using gene/protein expression and histological analyses. By directly comparing MRN with histological findings, I will determine its validity as a non-invasive marker for neuroinflammation. I will then perform a mechanistic trial to investigate whether neurodynamic exercises reduce neuroinflammation by measuring MRN before and after exercises or control interventions in CTS patients. My project will provide novel biological insights into neuroinflammation, and may revolutionise its clinical detection. The development of precision physiotherapy has high potential to reduce patients’ suffering and decrease healthcare costs.


Prof Julian Knight, Prof Shiranee Sriskandan, Dr Ronald Gregg

Antibody gene variation and infectious disease susceptibility Antibodies are fundamental to defence against a wide range of infectious agents and yet antibody responses vary markedly from individual to individual. Although the reasons for this remain unclear, there is strong reason to suspect a role for immunoglobulin gene regions, not least because these are amongst the most variable in the human genome. In earlier work, I linked the immunoglobulin heavy chain (IGH) locus to susceptibility to the most serious diseases caused by Streptococcus pyogenes, a major global health concern, and I now wish to determine the biological basis for this association. This proposal therefore aims to test my hypothesis that common genetic variation in this locus impacts antibody-mediated immunity to S.pyogenes in a manner that alters disease susceptibility. To do this, using an innovative high-throughput long-read sequencing approach, I will establish the extent and nature of germline IGH variation in children and adults with and without severe infection. I will then assess the relationship between IGH variation and antibody-mediated immunity as well as susceptibility to severe infection. Moving forward, I plan to use this approach to identify and prioritise antigens for rationale design of highly targeted vaccines and antibody-based therapeutics to combat a range of infectious diseases.


The OpenSafely Research Platform

Discretionary Award – DSH

The OpenSafely Research Platform OpenSAFELY is a new secure analytics platform for electronic health records in the NHS, created to deliver urgent results during the global COVID-19 emergency. It is now successfully delivering analyses across more than 24 million patients’ full pseudonymised primary care NHS records, with more to follow shortly. All our analytic software is open for security review, scientific review, and re-use. OpenSAFELY uses a new model for enhanced security and timely access to data: we don’t transport large volumes of potentially disclosive pseudonymised patient data outside of the secure environments managed by the electronic health record software company; instead, trusted analysts can run large scale computation across live pseudonymised patient records inside the data centre of the electronic health records software company. This pragmatic and secure approach has allowed us to deliver our first analyses in just five weeks from project start.


Discretionary Award – C&S

Opening Knowledge Across Research and Entertainment (OKRE)

OKRE: Opening Knowledge across Research and Entertainment The proposal outlines the request for funding to support the set-up, operation and activities of OKRE: Opening Knowledge across Research and Entertainment over five years.

OKRE is a high-profile strategic initiative for working with the entertainment industries that has been developed in partnership with UKRI. OKRE enables Wellcome to build on the work it has done so far, to scale its impact and create a more sustainable transformation in the engagement of research with mass media.

A gap was identified between research and entertainment sectors for a body akin to the Science Media Centre but designed to address the particular challenges of working with the entertainment industries. OKRE's business model has now been developed and the organisation has been registered with Companies House and the Charity Commission.

Wellcome is uniquely positioned to establish such a body. Funding enables OKRE to deliver core services in line with Wellcome's new strategic vision. OKRE's objects include promoting research, advancing education of the public and advancing the arts in social, scientific and health-related issues, as well as promoting the efficiency and effectiveness of charities. By sharing infrastructure costs with other funders, OKRE will enable Wellcome to scale the impact of its funding.

Grants awarded from 1 October 2005 to 30 June 2021


Wellcome Leap Inc. – Main Award

Wellcome Leap Inc.

Wellcome Leap Inc. – Main Award Wellcome Leap Inc. has been established by Wellcome as a US, wholly owned not for profit entity with the aim of delivering breakthroughs in human health and demonstrate seemingly impossible results on seemingly impossible timescales. This will be achieved through the creation of a small portfolio of goal focused Programmes selected based upon their potential to improve health globally rather than by their potential financial or commercial return.

Wellcome provides initial funding of $306.9M to Leap to cover their first 10 years of operation (although further funding may be provided over this 10 years). This funding will support Leap’s operational costs and ‘Programmatic costs’ which will include (but not be limited to) the employment of Programme Directors to build and orchestrate large research programmes, subject matter advice and support to formulate a programme and the funding of sub-awardees to carry out research in pursuit of a programme goal.

Wellcome may provide further funding to Leap after 3 years of operation and it is anticipated that Leap will in time attract funding from third parties.


Dr Barbara Castelnuovo, Prof Saye Khoo, Prof Gary Maartens, Prof Mark Turner

Maternal and Infant Lactation pharmacoKinetics (MILK) Worldwide many women require drug treatment during breastfeeding, but data surrounding transfer of drug from mother to breastfed infant are scarce and of very low quality. This fellowship will provide robust pharmacological data to inform evidence-based decision-making, through collaboration between University of Liverpool, UK; Infectious Diseases Institute, Makerere University, Uganda (IDI); and University of Cape Town, South Africa (UCT).

The drug exposure of infants of breastfeeding mothers requiring treatment for TB (drug-sensitive or drug-resistant), malaria and peri-partum infection, identified as local priorities, will be described. Intensive pharmacokinetic sampling of maternal plasma, breastmilk and infant blood will be undertaken. Bioanalysis will be done in the country of study, with capacity building at IDI supported by Liverpool and UCT. Consolidation of an integrated clinical and modelling approach for clinical pharmacology at IDI will ensure the generation of high-quality, robust data, and a sustainable group generating fresh ideas and proposals alongside the fellowship.

South-north knowledge transfer will help define research priorities for the UK and build expertise in lactation pharmacology in Liverpool. Public engagement activities in both the UK and Uganda will communicate about study activities and harness the views and concerns of community members and healthcare workers about medication use in breastfeeding.


Dr Matthew Howard, Prof Karl Friston, Prof Timothy Griffiths

The predictive basis of intensity and loudness processing Generative models of perception, such as predictive coding, are mainstays of contemporary  neuroscience. Whilst there is abundant evidence and theory concerning what is predicted and when it is expected, little is known about how predictive models influence how strongly sensations are received (i.e. their intensity, or its perceptual counterparts such as loudness).

This proposal builds upon the handful of studies demonstrating the existence of predictive processing of intensity, and on my own published work demonstrating that pathological states of perception (i.e. tinnitus) can be understood, and objectified, as pervasive states of aberrant sensory predictions. Its goal is a clear picture of the function and neurobiological basis of predictive intensity processing, which might subsequently lead to diagnostic and therapeutic avenues for clinical disorders such as tinnitus, chronic pain and fibromyalgia.

The investigative approach is multifaceted, examining a range of hierarchical levels through a progression of paradigm complexity, and using complementary neuroimaging modalities, including electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography (MEG), electrocorticography (ECoG) and functional MRI. The predominant focus is auditory intensity (and loudness) in normal-hearing controls, with a subset of successful paradigms being run in clinical populations (to demonstrate the practical relevance of measures obtained), and in the somatosensory system (to demonstrate modality-independent commonalities).


Innovations Translational Partnership Award

Institutional Translation Partnership Awards ‘The University of Bristol Translational Partnership Award 3 This University of Bristol-Wellcome Trust Translational Partnership Award (TPA) will build on the successes and insights gained from the past three years of our partnership to deliver a sustained, impactful change in our translational research and culture. Our ambition is to turn University research into real world solutions which transform our society, economy and health. In this award we will continue to try new things, disrupt the status quo and advance the way we support and accelerate translation by taking a bespoke, personalised approach, driving culture change to maximise the impact of our research. We will use this funding to work with researchers at all stages of the career pathway (PhD to Professor) to develop and realise their ambitions to translate their research through: - A Translational Research Hub to enable straightforward access to expertise and funding and facilitate engagement with non-academic partners - Proof of Concept and Translation Accelerator project funding to meet gaps in the translational funding pathway - Early Career Translational Fellowships to provide bespoke support for the most promising individuals and projects - Developing Innovation Networks with partner organisations in priority modalities and areas - Exploiting the translational platforms developed from our cutting-edge synthetic biology and informatics technologies in TPA1 and 2 - Providing training to researchers that embeds learning into practice through follow-up support and individualised action plans


Institutional Translation Partnership Awards ‘The University of Cambridge Translational Partnership Award 3 The University of Cambridge will use the TPA funding to bridge the gap between discovery science and early stage translation of projects. The aim is to encourage and support basic scientists to realise the translational potential of their research by providing integrated facilitation for training, expert advice, funding and projects through creation of a virtual Therapeutic Hub, which supports the TPA within CATS. Our objectives are:
- To provide a gateway for translation into the therapeutics sciences pipeline through the creation of a virtual therapeutic hub;
- To facilitate early stage drug discovery and translational research
- To develop a community of Translational Champions across the University who will provide opportunities for Departments/Institutes to develop their own translational strategies
- To deliver training in early translation for research scientists and early career academics.


Innovations Translational Partnership Award (Manchester) The University of Manchester will use the three-year Wellcome Translational Partnership
Award (TPA) renewal to build on the successful initiatives launched and delivered through the
first TPA and continue to grow the translational research culture and develop the translational
ecosystem in Manchester. The TPA funding will be used to address four aims: 1) support
translational research; 2) connect across disciplines; 3) innovate with industry; and 4) change
the culture by embedding translational research across the University. The Translational
Research Facilitators will continue to bring together a network of support, facilities and
expertise to build better links between science, technology and innovation, by removing
barriers between disciplines to make the pathway to translation quicker and easier. The TPA
will support translational research across all the stages of the translational pathway through
pump-priming funding schemes, training (particularly informatics), symposiums and
workshops, with a particular emphasis on new initiatives to support early career researchers.
The Translation Manchester Research Network (TMRN), established under the initial TPA,
brings together groups and organisations that exist to facilitate translational research across
the One Manchester health innovation ecosystem, making it the ‘one-stop-shop’ for
translational research support. The TMRN will continue to play a key role in the delivery of the
initiatives set out in the TPA renewal. In addition, Innovation Labs will connect academics with
industry partners, and pump-prime new collaborations and innovation through seed corn
funding. The Research Connections Tool will enable researchers and clinicians to easily find
appropriate collaborators across the University and our partner NHS trusts. To support
delivery of these new initiatives a Translational Research Support Officer and a Translational
Research Bioinformatician will be recruited into the Translation Manchester team.


Translational Partnerships Award: 3 Year Renewal Since 2018, the University of Edinburgh has been in receipt of a Wellcome Institutional
Translation Partnership Award which has now been renewed for a further three years. The
ambition of the partnership is to engage Wellcome Trust funded researchers and all of those
working within the Wellcome Trust scientific remit, to identify and develop early stage
translational opportunities within their research. Edinburgh embedded its scheme within
Edinburgh Innovations building a small focused team, including two Entrepreneurs-in-
Residence with a successful commercial/translational background to nurture projects towards
translation through leveraging future funding, industry collaborations or commercialisation plus
a dedicated Project Manager. Since inception, the program has engaged with hundreds of
researchers, providing mentoring and support.
Renewal of the award will allow access to translational support and funding across the
University at scale. This will make beginning and navigating the translational journey for all
researchers easier and increase the diversity of the translational portfolio both in terms of
thematic area and forms of impact.