Rapid diagnostic tests for deadly global viral threats, repurposing antibiotics to tackle neglected tropical diseases and a potential solution to the limitations of cold storage for medical samples in low- and middle- income countries will be developed through a £2.7m medical research charity and university partnership.
The Translational Development Fund (TDF) is a collaboration between Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Infection Innovation Consortium (iiCON) and the self-funded medical research charity, LifeArc.
First announced last year, the fund was opened to LSTM and iiCON researchers in response to a growing need for new and innovative treatments and diagnostic technologies to help tackle growing threat of infectious diseases across the globe. The four successful projects have now been announced, all led by Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine academic staff and partners. They include:
- Development of a rapid diagnostic test (RDT) for Rift Valley Fever (RVF), a deadly viral zoonotic disease widespread in Africa. RVF is recognised as a priority disease by the World Health Organization due to their lack of countermeasures, high mortality rates and epidemic potential. RVFV causes periodic widespread outbreaks in livestock resulting in severe public health consequences, taking the lives of infected people, and causing an economic burden as high as $300 million in low- and middle-income countries. Current diagnostics are slow, leading to increased transmission, poor outbreak management and patient outcomes.
- A low-cost, user-friendly testing kit to help address the lack of cold-chain storage and transport facilities for biological samples in many low-resource settings. In this project, led by the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme, an international consortium of researchers, technical experts and product designers will develop a dried spot kit prototype to preserve a range of specimen types during transportation to testing facilities to help diagnose life-threatening central nervous system infections, including meningitis and encephalitis.
- Two projects aiming to develop short-course drug treatments to tackle the neglected tropical diseases Onchocerciasis (river blindness) and lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis), parasitic infections that can cause severe disability which impact more than 90 million people globally. Whilst both diseases are prioritised for elimination, current efforts are hindered by the lack of a safe adult parasite killing (curative) or permanently sterilising drug.
Dr Becky Jones-Phillips, Director of Enterprise and Innovation at LSTM, said: “It is fantastic to see these projects advance, specifically as they tackle unmet public health needs that have long been neglected in low-resource settings. Our unique multidisciplinary approach of pioneering disruptive innovation whilst developing robust equitable access pathways will ensure these programmes have the best possible chance of success, accelerating them to market, and ultimately improving health outcomes for the most disadvantaged patient populations globally."
Julie Brady, Interim Head of Global Health at LifeArc, said: “These research projects have the longer-term potential to transform millions of lives and reduce the staggering economic burden that neglected and tropical diseases place on low-and-middle-income-countries. We will leverage our expertise in translational science to help the researchers overcome common barriers and turn their lab-based discoveries into medical breakthroughs.”
Translational Development Fund
Infectious diseases cause millions of deaths globally each year with the impact expected to worsen due to factors such as climate change, migration and intensive farming. The COVID pandemic highlighted the potential health, social and economic effects of new viruses.
The Translational Development Fund was made available to LSTM and the Infection Innovation Consortium (iiCON), including its partners, collaborators, and research organisations in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs). Funding proposals were required to support the development of interventions that are appropriately aligned with deployment and treatment of patients in LMICs.