DPFS Resource request (University of Edinburgh)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Edinburgh
Department Name: College of Medicine and Veterinary Medic
Abstract
Translation, the conversion of fundamental medical research into practical gains for human health and community wealth, has been a tough nut for the UK medical schools to crack. Edinburgh University has been trailblazing in this important activity. Our recent award of an MRC translator allowed us to take on the services of a well-known entrepreneur who has reorganised our approach and galvanized our capacities. This has already led to the formation of 3 new companies in the last 6 months. However, fully to realise our potential to develop treatments for major unmet needs such as cancer pain, memory loss, mental illnesses, clostridium difficile, heart disease and cancer, we need, firstly, to establish a small team in support of our MRC translator to speed up progress, and, secondly, to build a core laboratory to train and support our staff in their efforts to discover and develop new drugs. Overall we hope vastly to improve the translation of our globally-leading research to benefit people and thus to provide clear evidence that this can be done effectively in a UK Medical School, given the right approach and some pump-prime funding.
Technical Summary
Our long-term aims are to (1) maximise economic deliverables from the massive translational research opportunities at Edinburgh s College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine (CMVM), (2) train and mentor a cohort of basic and clinical scientists and nascent bioentrepreneurs in translational biomedicine.
To galvanise translation for patient benefit we have 2 immediate needs:
(1). Our existing MRC Translational Entrepreneur (Dr Howard Marriage) has over 12 months been spectacularly successful (3 start-up companies), but is saturated with opportunities and urgently needs support to realise the full potential. We already have 10 new therapeutic opportunity projects at or approaching readiness for DPFS applications, including novel approaches to chronic cancer pain, metabolic syndrome, memory impairment with ageing, schizophrenia, chronic lung inflammation, menstrual disturbances and stem cells for drug discovery and regenerative medicine; all Governmental/NHS priorities.
(2). Our globally-leading experimental medicine research is ripe for translation but needs professional unit support to develop GLP-standard assays, screening cascades and chemical discovery to find hits and drive (externally funded) links with medicinal chemistry to develop leads and establish preclinical evaluation capacities.
All other facilities exist in Edinburgh, but we need some crucial glue to optimise pick-up and translation from proof-of-concept to lead optimisation and into humans.
To galvanise translation for patient benefit we have 2 immediate needs:
(1). Our existing MRC Translational Entrepreneur (Dr Howard Marriage) has over 12 months been spectacularly successful (3 start-up companies), but is saturated with opportunities and urgently needs support to realise the full potential. We already have 10 new therapeutic opportunity projects at or approaching readiness for DPFS applications, including novel approaches to chronic cancer pain, metabolic syndrome, memory impairment with ageing, schizophrenia, chronic lung inflammation, menstrual disturbances and stem cells for drug discovery and regenerative medicine; all Governmental/NHS priorities.
(2). Our globally-leading experimental medicine research is ripe for translation but needs professional unit support to develop GLP-standard assays, screening cascades and chemical discovery to find hits and drive (externally funded) links with medicinal chemistry to develop leads and establish preclinical evaluation capacities.
All other facilities exist in Edinburgh, but we need some crucial glue to optimise pick-up and translation from proof-of-concept to lead optimisation and into humans.