DPFS Resource Request (University of Glasgow)

The development of new treatments for a range of diseases requires both an ability to understand the disease as well as an ability to take this understanding and to use it for the development of new therapies. We have been active in this area and have moved, in a number of disease areas, from basic research to therapies which are almost at the point of being of patient benefit. We now wish to develop these therapies further and to take them to the stage at which they will be accepted as being of sufficient value for further clinical trials. To do this we need the help of experts who will be involved in managing these sometimes very complex projects. We have 3 main disease areas that we are interested in: cancer, heart disease and inflammatory diseases such as diseases of joints and lungs. These experts will develop our projects and will ensure that their potential entry into clinical practice is carefully and efficiently handled. In addition, some of the therapeutics we are interested in are experimental and we are also requesting some items of equipment which will be important in helping us to assess the effectiveness of these therapies.

Cancer, Cardiovascular and Inflammation are the three areas of strategic priority for translational medicine within the University of Glasgow. These represent priority areas for basic research as well as for translational and clinical research and we aim to foster bi-directional bench to bedside and population ethos within our university. As a result of our existing collaborative efforts, we are now at an advanced stage of development of a number of potential therapeutics which show promise in each of these 3 key areas. We believe that with the help of an integrated project management team and strategic advisory group we will be able to expedite the translation of our research findings in each of the above areas into the clinic. We request 3 Translational Research Managers, working in conjunction with a Translational Research Advisory Group, to provide experienced and dedicated project management support for translational projects in each of our three priority areas; to develop and support the interfaces between these areas; to develop and support the interface with researchers in the MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit; and to facilitate the basic to translational pipeline within our key thematic areas. In addition, we request small items of capital equipment to be used across translational medicine projects, including Laser Dissection Microscopy, 2 Ultrasound Scanners, a Dimension Xpand Plus Analyser, an Endo-PAT2000 and a Zeiss LSM 5 Exciter Confocal Microscope. The pieces of equipment would be immediately employed for rapid gains thus further enhancing our international competitiveness in key fields.