University of Manchester Momentum Award - Dementias

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The University of Manchester (UoM) has significant strengths in dementias research but we also have a wealth of expertise across the University in other disciplines and/or new technologies. The aim of this Momentum Award application is to unlock UoM’s untapped potential for dementias research, open up new scientific areas, encourage innovative high risk projects, and bring high level expertise and novel ideas/technologies from other disciplines (e.g. nanomedicine, materials, bioengineering, vascular biology, cell matrix biology, physics, health informatics) in to the dementia field. Through bringing new ways of thinking and new approaches across disciplinary interfaces we aim to open up new scientific avenues for dementias research, involving novel science and technology, and the creation of enabling platforms.
We request £700k from the Momentum Award, matched with £380k of internal UoM funds, to pump-prime innovative cross-disciplinary biomedical dementia research. We will allocate this funding across a small number of projects (approx. 8) with particular emphasis on bringing new approaches to dementia research aligned with our areas of key strengths in proteostasis dysfunction, neuroinflammation, neurovascular dysfunction, cognitive-clinical neuroscience and neuroimaging, and discovery of endotypes, targets and biomarkers. Priority will be given to projects that bring innovative science, new approaches and/or someone new to dementia research and which are cross-disciplinary, involve new technology and/or create enabling infrastructure. We are keen to encourage the development of high flyers (both permanent and fixed term staff). The Momentum Award will enable us to build both capacity and connectivity in dementia research in UoM through rapidly accelerating the introduction of new ways of thinking, novel approaches and new technology into our core areas of dementia research strength, which ultimately will benefit the dementia research community in the UK.