The Tropical Infectious Disease Consortium has announced the successful projects that will be receiving an MRC Confidence in Concept Award to accelerate the transition from discovery science into therapeutic, diagnostic and vaccine development.
Thirteen successful projects have been selected from within the Consortium made up of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine; the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; the Jenner Institute at Oxford University and Public Health England Microbiology Services in Porton Down. The successful projects include vector control solutions, vaccine development, an e-Health tool, diagnostics and drugs development.
The awards of up to around £50,000 were allocated to eligible projects that were at the stage where sufficient preliminary data is available to establish the viability of their proposed approach. The successful projects were selected via an open, competitive and externally peer reviewed process carried out by an External Scientific Advisory Committee (ESAC).
“We are pleased that we continue to have strong industry partnerships within the Consortium, this year 90% of awarded projects partnered with industry", says LSTM’s Prof Giancarlo Biagini, a senior manager within the Consortium. “The objective of the Tropical Infectious Disease Consortium is to create a critical mass necessary for UK researchers who are interested in working collaboratively in translating their research into health benefits that will support them in an increasingly competitive international market. We are hopeful that the projects now have the opportunity to get to the next level of development, where they would be capable of successfully applying for larger external funding sources.”
Click here for the winning awards.