Transforming Industry Engagement at the University of Bristol
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bristol
Department Name: UNLISTED
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Technical Summary
The MRC Proximity to Discovery scheme awards universities funds to help develop new collaborations, and ways of exchanging knowledge and skills. The awards can be used to support activities that promote the value of academic-industry partnership, and enhance academic and industry researchers’ understanding of each other’s needs and capabilities. This may be through people exchanges, creation of technology demonstrators, showcase events, commercialisation workshops and ‘entrepreneurs in residence’ schemes. Such exchanges of knowledge and skills will boost the most fruitful collaborations between UK universities and life science companies.
People |
ORCID iD |
Publications
Bird TG
(2018)
TGFß inhibition restores a regenerative response in acute liver injury by suppressing paracrine senescence.
in Science translational medicine
Campana L
(2018)
The STAT3-IL-10-IL-6 Pathway Is a Novel Regulator of Macrophage Efferocytosis and Phenotypic Conversion in Sterile Liver Injury.
in Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950)
Greenhalgh SN
(2019)
Loss of Integrin avß8 in Murine Hepatocytes Accelerates Liver Regeneration.
in The American journal of pathology
Ho GT
(2018)
MDR1 deficiency impairs mitochondrial homeostasis and promotes intestinal inflammation.
in Mucosal immunology
Iredale JP
(2016)
BREXIT and science, where do we go from here.
in QJM : monthly journal of the Association of Physicians
Iredale JP
(2017)
Liver Fibrosis: Understanding the Dynamics of Bidirectional Wound Repair to Inform the Design of Markers and Therapies.
in Digestive diseases (Basel, Switzerland)
Kendall TJ
(2019)
Embryonic mesothelial-derived hepatic lineage of quiescent and heterogenous scar-orchestrating cells defined but suppressed by WT1.
in Nature communications
Lucendo-Villarin B
(2017)
Erratum to: Modelling foetal exposure to maternal smoking using hepatoblasts from pluripotent stem cells.
in Archives of toxicology
Lucendo-Villarin B
(2017)
Erratum to: Modelling foetal exposure to maternal smoking using hepatoblasts from pluripotent stem cells.
in Archives of toxicology
Lucendo-Villarin B
(2017)
Modelling foetal exposure to maternal smoking using hepatoblasts from pluripotent stem cells
in Archives of Toxicology
Lynch RW
(2018)
An efficient method to isolate Kupffer cells eliminating endothelial cell contamination and selective bias.
in Journal of leukocyte biology
McBride A
(2017)
In search of a small molecule agonist of the relaxin receptor RXFP1 for the treatment of liver fibrosis.
in Scientific reports
Murray IR
(2017)
av integrins on mesenchymal cells regulate skeletal and cardiac muscle fibrosis.
in Nature communications
Ramachandran P
(2019)
Resolving the fibrotic niche of human liver cirrhosis at single-cell level.
in Nature
Richardson TG
(2017)
Mendelian Randomization Analysis Identifies CpG Sites as Putative Mediators for Genetic Influences on Cardiovascular Disease Risk.
in American journal of human genetics
Smith JL
(2016)
Sex differences in the relationship between heavy alcohol use, inhibition and performance monitoring: Disconnect between behavioural and brain functional measures.
in Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging
Wilson K
(2017)
Detecting drug-target binding in cells using fluorescence-activated cell sorting coupled with mass spectrometry analysis.
in Methods and applications in fluorescence
Zou X
(2018)
11Beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase-1 deficiency or inhibition enhances hepatic myofibroblast activation in murine liver fibrosis.
in Hepatology (Baltimore, Md.)
| Description | Academy of Medical Sciences Springboard Scheme (Lavinia Paternoster) |
| Amount | £100,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | SBF003\1094 |
| Organisation | Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2018 |
| End | 01/2019 |
| Description | BBSRC IPA (Emma Robinson) |
| Amount | £573,135 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 12/2016 |
| End | 12/2020 |
| Description | BBSRC IPA (Richard Apps) |
| Amount | £411,555 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2017 |
| End | 12/2019 |
| Description | Innovate UK Investment Accelerator (Adam Perriman) |
| Amount | £150,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Innovate UK |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2018 |
| End | 02/2019 |
| Description | Innovate UK KTP with UCB (Moin Saleem) |
| Amount | £150,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Innovate UK |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2019 |
| End | 03/2021 |
| Description | NIHR Knowledge Mobilisation Fellowship |
| Amount | £267,592 (GBP) |
| Organisation | National Institute for Health Research |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2018 |
| End | 05/2020 |
| Description | People Exchange Project with BT and Nokia (Helen Baxter) |
| Organisation | BT Group |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | This is a unique opportunity for researchers working in the area of urgent care within the Centre for Academic Primary Care (CAPC) to understand more about the implications of the involvement of the telecommunications industry and how we may be able to work in partnership with them to improve healthcare in the broadest sense. Within the department we have very little knowledge of this industry and how the technologies are designed and piloted, which has prevented us from being able to interact with such industry partners. Potential areas for collaboration could be in the use of sensors for diagnosis, pre and post treatment in terms of how data can be managed and collected. How urgent care clinicians use existing technology and how this could be improved upon using by understanding some of the advances coming on to the market. There may be also potential to undertake small studies using our research methodologies to inform the development of some of the technologies being considered or feedback the research evidence to date. |
| Collaborator Contribution | EE has been selected by the Home Office to provide Britain's Emergency Services with a resilient national mobile network, giving 300,000 critical emergency workers access to 4G voice and data for the first time. Thus the telecommunications industry is now a pivotal part of urgent care system across the country. The Government's £1 billion Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP) will ensure that Britain is a world leader in Emergency Services communications, and a 4G pioneer. EE already has the UK's biggest and most mature 4G network, and will expand coverage and enhance resilience to meet the Emergency Services' critical communications requirements. One of the applications that the new network will enable for Britain's Emergency Services is for an ambulance crew sending vital patient data on to the hospital to allow staff to make the best preparations for a patient's arrival. British Telecom has recently acquired EE and will be supporting the network for the Emergency services. This company is keen to understand where the telecommunications industry can further assist in the area of healthcare and is keen to work with university partners to understand better the evidence on what the major challenges are. Nokia is a global leader in telecommunication technologies and includes the research and innovation company Bell Labs with UK bases in Cambridge and Dublin. Nokia is currently developing and testing technologies that have the potential to transform how we communicate with each other and how we share information. |
| Impact | NIHR Knowledge Mobilisation Fellowship for Helen Baxter |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | People Exchange Project with Brunelcare (Melanie Chalder) |
| Organisation | Brunelcare |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | In Bristol, ageing 'well' is a strategic priority for local commissioners, managers, researchers and healthcare providers. A number of NHS initiatives to improve care, quality of life and health outcomes for older adults and their families / carers already exist e.g. the use of admission avoidance schemes and early discharge services as well as dementia, falls and chest clinics. Similarly, a number of community-based, social care and voluntary sector services aimed at older adults also exist e.g. intermediate care teams and Age UK. However, the number of older adults who live with poor mental or physical health or experience unwanted social isolation continues to be unacceptably high. Support services for this particular population sub-group - whether related to health or social care - are of variable quality and are often fragmented. What is more, the longer-term costs of having so many unwell older individuals using NHS and other resources remains unknown. It is also clear that the topic of living well in older age is a priority area for the MRC and that considerable resource is being invested in research to understand how and why health and wellbeing varies within and between populations and across the life course, and how the health of the public can be improved through carefully targeted interventions. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The project aimed to explore some of the issues that affect service provision to older people in the South West and to consider how service providers might improve the range, quality, availability and cost-effectiveness of care on offer. I believe that exploratory conversations with key staff at Brunelcare, observation of their facilities and working practices as well as familiarisation with their business model could well 'unlock' some of the barriers experienced by academic healthcare scientists - both in terms of better understanding service delivery but also in terms of working with non-academic, non-NHS partners. I feel Brunelcare will make a strong industry partner for this specific project as they cover a wide geographic area (Somerset, Bristol and South Gloucestershire), offer a range of provision to their clients (care, support and residential services) and, perhaps most importantly, are enthusiastic about the prospect of collaboration with academia. |
| Impact | - £18,436 funding from Avon Primary Care Research Collaborative for RCF project, 'Medication optimisation in older patients with problematic polypharmacy' - £2,000 GW4 Crucible award for the Research Fellow, resulting in specialist training in collaborative working |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | People Exchange Project with GSK (Venexia Walker) |
| Organisation | GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) |
| Country | Global |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The aim of this project is to consider the relationship between Mendelian randomization estimates of effect and those we observe in practice at the first part of the drug pathway, i.e. at the cellular level. For example, in the case of statins, we would like to investigate how the Mendelian randomization estimates of their effect correspond to the percentage inhibition of HMGCR observed in preclinical and early phase clinical trials. It is hoped that by considering intermediate steps on the drug pathway, we will be able to fully understand the relationship between Mendelian randomization estimates of effect and observed drug effects in the future. |
| Collaborator Contribution | This project will consider data on up to half a dozen approved drugs in order to interrogate the relationship between their effect at a cellular level and their effect as estimated by Mendelian randomization. GSK provided access to those drugs. |
| Impact | £400,000 funding from GSK for Senior Research Associate |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | People Exchange Project with Sanofi (Tom Richardson) |
| Organisation | Sanofi |
| Country | Global |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The team are developing an analytical pipeline to take a candidate gene or genomic region of interest and inform the user on its role in disease aetiology using publically available data and ALSPAC data |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sanofi will make available it's current pipeline of drug development trials to test the analytical pipeline described above. |
| Impact | Sanofi have funded two collaborative projects to a value of £340,000 |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | People Exchange Project with UCB (Moin Saleem) |
| Organisation | UCB Pharma |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | A BBSRC case award between UCB and the University gave rise to a 3-cell, human glomerular fibrosis model that simulates the disease uniquely. |
| Collaborator Contribution | UCB aims to revolutionise preclinical drug discoveries by utilising this functional cell organoid system that (when exposed to clinically relevant disease stimuli) simulates fibrosis much better than current industry standards. A people exchange project enabled the first steps to be taken within that objective. |
| Impact | £1M investment from UCB into the National Unified Renal Translation Research Enterprise (NURTuRE) a kidney biobank for chronic kidney disease and nephrotic syndrome UCB extended the exchange project by 6 months with a value of £30,000 £150,000 award from Innovate UK's KTP scheme |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Travel award to visit Evotec (Moin Saleem) |
| Organisation | Evotec |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The mainstay of Bristol Renal's research are specialised resources to investigate these, including state-of-the-art imaging techniques, in vivo models and potential in vitro, in vivo and ex vivo screening assays to help identify novel therapeutic targets. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The cornerstone of Evotec's in vitro and in vivo pharmacology function is disease and target biology expertise coupled with state-ofthe- art technology platforms. Evotec have a strong focus on acute and chronic kidney disease and diabetic nephropathy. |
| Impact | - £500,000 investment from Evotec into the National Unified Renal Translation Research Enterprise (NURTuRE) unique kidney biobank for chronic kidney disease and nephrotic syndrome covering England, Scotland and Wales. - A strategic collaboration on microfluidics technology including induced pluripotent stem cell ("iPSC") differentiation to accelerate the discovery of novel drugs to treat kidney diseases called NEPLEX. The financial value of this collaboration is confidential. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Travel award to visit GSK Vaccines (Darryl Hill) |
| Organisation | GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) |
| Country | Global |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Pathogenic neisserial species, Neisseria meningitidis and N. gonorrhoeae, cause a range of focal and disseminated infections which lead to serious morbidity and all too often morality. Unlike the situation with other serogroups of meningococci, the lack of immune response to the capsule of serogroup B strains, the most prevalent meningococcus serogroup in Europe and America, has led to development of Bexsero® by Novartis/GSK Vaccines, a protein- and outer membrane vesicle-based vaccine. Whilst significant progress has been made towards the eradication of meningococcal disease it is accepted that no current vaccine can completely prevent all forms of the disease due to the variable nature of the antigens in existing vaccines. To this end our research group has identified two meningococcal surface proteins, Msf and Opc which enable bacteria to bind to vitronectin and in doing so avoid killing by the immune system. Our studies have shown that immunising with recombinant form of the vitronectin binding region of both Msf and Opc leads to the production of antibodies which are both function blocking and bactericidal. Our current studies are examining the population structure of Msf and Opc in order to inform vaccine design. Strains within N. gonorrhoeae are even more variable than those within N. meningitidis meaning we are still many years from a gonococcal specific vaccine, a concern given the evolution of multi-drug resistant gonococci. Given that Bexsero® contains antigens which are also expressed by gonococci it is possible that this vaccine may offer some cross protection against gonococcal infection. |
| Collaborator Contribution | to explore the possibility of establishing 2 arms of collaborative research, the first being the inclusion of our vaccine targets in the next generation meningococcal vaccine under development at GSK Vaccines, Siena. Second, we are building our gonococcal research programme in Bristol and would like to run a study evaluating the impact of Bexsero® on gonococcal carriage and disease. |
| Impact | GSK have co-funded two PhD studentships. Value is confidential |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | West of England Better Homes |
| Organisation | Brunelcare |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | ISCF Healthy Ageing Trailblazer Collaboration: Brunelcare have become involved in the collaboration as a direct result of a secondment from the University into Brunelcare funded by our Proximity to Discovery Award |
| Collaborator Contribution | Contributed to the development of the stage 1 business case |
| Impact | We were interviewed as a consortium at stage 1 and are awaiting the outcome. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Biomedical and Health Industry Day 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | - This showcase event contributed towards the developing culture change in our academic community in relation to industry engagement. It also demonstrated the rich translational potential of our health research to prospective industry partners. - 147 delegates attended including 54 from industry, investors and funders The event directly led to the following collaborations: o £573,135 BBSRC IPA with Boehringer Ingelheim; PI Emma Robinson o £411,555 BBSRC IPA with Takeda; PI Richard Apps Bristol Bridge Bridging the Gaps between Academia, Translation and Commercialisation £1,056.25 2016 award - The projects funded by our EPSRC BristolBridge project on |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |