Strategic Awards made
Strategic Awards provide flexible forms of support to facilitate research and/or training that is not possible under existing schemes. The aim is to add value to excellent research groups.
Grants awarded in 2011
Professor Kevin Brindle
University of Cambridge/CRUK Cambridge Research Institute
Real time clinical imaging of metabolism using hyperpolarized 13C magnetic resonance spectroscopy
Dr Thierry Diagana
Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases – Medicines for Malaria Venture
Drug discovery and clinical development portfolio for single dose cure of P.falciparum and curative modality of P.vivax
Professor Ian Goodyer
University of Cambridge
The Cambridge-UCL Mental Health and Neurosciences Network
Professor Keith Matthews
University of Edinburgh
Renewal of core support for the Centre for Immunity, Infection and Evolution
Professor Michael Parker
University of Oxford
A programme to build capacity in global health research ethics and community engagement across the Wellcome Trust Major Overseas Programme
Professors James Rothman and Daniel St Johnston
University of Cambridge
Nanoscopy of dynamics in the living cell
Professor Jason Swedlow
University of Dundee
The open microscopy environment – image informatics for biological sciences
Professor Timothy Wells
Medicines for Malaria Venture
New medicines against malaria – demonstrating activity in man
Karonga Programme – achieving disease control through understanding microbial transmission
Since 1996, with financial support primarily from the Wellcome Trust, the programme has studied tuberculosis and HIV using the unique compilation of demographic data and biological material collected over the quarter century of the project’s existence, during a period of immense change in disease burden.
Grants awarded in 2010
Professor George Davey-Smith
University of Bristol
Renewal of core support for ALSPAC (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children)
Professor Raymond Dolan
University College London
Renewal of core support for the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging
Professor Douglas Dougan
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Controlling infectious disease with camelid derived single domain antibody fragments
Dr Aled Edwards
Renewal of core funding for the
Structural Genomics Consortium
Professor Christopher Fairburn
University of Oxford
Internet-based training in psychological treatments
Professor Jeremy Farrar
University of Oxford
Wellcome Trust-Vietnam Initiative on zoonotic infections WT-VIZIONS
Tony Gilland
The Institute of Ideas
Strategic development of debating matters competition and biomedical aspects of the Battle of Ideas festival
Dr Chris Kirk
The Biochemical Society
Application for completion of Charles Darwin House to create a hub for UK Bioscience
Professor Kevin Marsh
Renewal of core support for the Wellcome Trust Major Overseas Programme in Kenya
Professor Kim Nasmyth
University of Oxford
Chromosome and RNA dynamics
Sir Paul Nurse
Rockefeller University/University College London
Networks for global cellular controls in fission yeast
Professor Daniel St Johnston
University of Oxford
Renewal of core support for the Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute
Professor John Todd
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) / Wellcome Trust Diabetes and Inflammation Laboratory (DIL)
The
DIL aims to improve our understanding of the aetiology of Type 1 diabetes and related immune-mediated disease using genetics to help identify inherited phenotypes. This knowledge may provide clues to the earliest precursors of disease and to the environmental factors that influence the penetrance of susceptibility alleles and the development of the disorder.
Professor David Tollervey
University of Edinburgh
Renewal of core support for the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology
Professors Trevor Robbins and Ed Bullmore
University of Cambridge
Renewal of core funding for the Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute (BCNI). The objective of this award is to maximise the scientific and clinical value of the BCNI, in order to maintain its status as one of the internationally leading institutes for translating behavioural and cognitive neuroscience, so as to have therapeutic impact on many common and important human brain and mental health disorders.
Nigel Townsend
Y Touring Theatre of Debate: a five year conversation
This project will create, develop and produce five new plays, each exploring a different facet of biomedical research and its implications for human health
Professors Albert Weale and Hugh Whittall
Renewal of core support for the Nuffield Council on Bioethics
Professor Paul Wyatt
University of Dundee
Discovery and development of drug candidates for neglected diseases
Grants awarded 2009
Professor Rory Collins
UK Biobank
Support for enhancements to the existing UK Biobank protocol
Professors Nick Day and Jeremy Farrar
Renewal of core support for the Wellcome Trust Major Overseas Programmes in Thailand (including Laos) and Viet Nam
Dr Patrice Dubois
University of Lausanne
Development and technology-transfer of a reduced-dose injectable polio vaccine containing adjuvants
Dr Richard Durbin and the late Professor Leena Peltonen
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
10 000 UK genome sequences – accessing the role of rare genetic variants in health and disease
Professor Dominic Kwiatkowski
University of Oxford
Resource centre for genomic epidemiology of malaria
Dr Laura Martin
Novartis Vaccines Institute for Global Health
Conjugate vaccine that protects against typhoid fever caused by the Salmonella enterica serovars Typhi and Paratyphi A (
more details)
Professor Mark McCarthy
University of Oxford
Next-Generation Disease-Association Analysis – low pass sequencing and high density SNP genotyping for Type 2 diabetes
Professor Gero Miesenböck
University of Oxford
This is a joint award with the Gatsby Charitable Foundation to provide support to develop the Oxford Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, which aims to increase understanding of the biological mechanisms by which valuations and error signals are constructed by neural circuits using a range of genetically tractable model organisms.
Professor Charles Streuli
University of Manchester
Renewal of core support for the
Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell-Matrix Research
Professor Ashok Venkitaraman
University of Cambridge
Enzyme regulation by allo-targeting – a strategic initiative for chemical biology and molecular therapeutics
Neurodegenerative Diseases Initiative: three Strategic Awards funded
Professor Peter St George-Hyslop
Cambridge Institute for Medical Research (CIMR), University of Cambridge
Mechanisms of neurotoxicity of amyloid aggregates
Professor Christopher Shaw
King's College London (MRC Centre for Neurodegeneration Research)
The role of RNA-processing proteins in neurodegeneration
Professors Nicholas Wood, John Hardy and Anthony Schapira
University College London (Institute of Neurology)
Understanding Parkinson's disease: lessons from biology
Grants awarded 2008
Professor Frances Ashcroft
Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford
and
Professor Nicholas Rawlins
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, London and MRC Harwell
Support for
OXION, the Wellcome Trust-funded Ion Channel Initiative, to build upon and maintain the consortium as a centre of excellence in ion channel research, to train talented young researchers in a range of multidisciplinary skills in integrative physiology and to strengthen the links between basic science and the clinic.
Professor David Barry
Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology, University of Glasgow
Renewal of core support for the Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology. The Wellcome Trust Centre aims to develop new approaches to the control of parasites and the diseases they cause and also to develop the field of parasitology through strong contribution to international research and training, in particular with disease-endemic countries.
Dr Ewan Birney
European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI)
Support for the strategic development of a 'Trace Archive' (sequencing data repository and management system) to accommodate the sequence information being produced by next-generation sequencing technologies; plus support for the EBI to act as the Data Coordination Centre for the 1000 Genomes Project.
Dr Chas Bountra, Dr Brian Marsden, Dr Udo Oppermann, Dr Tom Heightman, Dr Robert Klose, Dr Stefan Knapp
Structural Genomics Consortium, Oxford
and
Professor Christopher Schofield
Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford
and
Dr Tim Willson
GlaxoSmithKline
and
Dr Chris Austin
NIH Chemical Genomics Center, USA
Support to create an international public-private partnership for the generation of an open-access resource of chemical probes for use in disease association and target validation studies. Specifically the consortium will generate small molecule probes for the regulatory proteins in control of the epigenome.
Professor Anthony Costello
Institute of Child Health, University College London
Support for the development of a network of high quality scientists and population field sites to generate research evidence to improve policy and practice of maternal and child survival in high mortality settings such as India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Malawi.
Professor Shah Ebrahim
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Support for the creation of a South Asia Centre for chronic diseases in India which will establish a sustainable infrastructure for building research capacity and conducting innovatory, interdisciplinary research on the prevention and control of chronic diseases. This initiative is a collaborative venture between the Public Health Foundation of India and the constituent colleges of the Wellcome Trust Bloomsbury Centre for Clinical Tropical Medicine.
Dr Alison M Elliott
Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases,
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Support to establish the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) as a centre of excellence for research and training in infection and immunity for Makerere University, and to use this collaboration for high-quality capacity building of Ugandan and East African researchers in this field.
Professor Brian M Greenwood
Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases,
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Support for research and training for African scientists to undertake high-quality malaria research in African universities.
Professor Robert Heyderman and Professor Peter Winstanley
University of Liverpool
and
Professor Robin Broadhead
University of Malawi
Renewal of core support for the
Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research
Professor Kevin Marsh
University of Oxford and KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme
The
KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research programme aims to produce a cadre of researchers from Kenya and the east African region who are internationally competitive in developing and leading sustainable research programmes throughout the region.
Professor Stephen McMahon
School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, King's College London
and
Professor Anthony Dickenson
Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, UCL
and
Dr Andrew Rice
Imperial College Medical School
Continued funding of the successful Wellcome Trust-funded London Pain Consortium, which seeks to identify the determinants of chronic pain and provide a rational basis for better pain management and relief.
Professor Srinath Reddy
Public Health Foundation of India
Support for training of a multidisciplinary cohort of researchers, to be achieved through an academic partnership between the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) and a UK Consortium, comprising university departments of public health and the UK Faculty of Public Health. These researchers will help populate the eight new Indian Institutes of Public Health to be established by PHFI in order to strengthen the public health workforce and develop public health leadership in India.
Professor Janet M Thornton
European Molecular Biology Laboratory Outstation Hinxton, European Bioinformatics Institute, Cambridgeshire
Support for the purchase, maintenance and introduction into the public domain of a suite of previously privately-owned chemoinformatic databases. The data contained within the databases will provide other researchers with information on the properties and the activities of drugs and a large set of drug-like molecules.
Professor Robert J Wilkinson
University of Cape Town
Support for the creation of a Centre for Clinical Infectious Disease based in the University of Cape Town, South Africa, which will promote interactions at the clinical/basic science interface and increase research training opportunities for both clinical and basic scientists.
Grants awarded 2007
Professor Peter J Donnelly
Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford
and
Professor Panos Deloukas
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Continued funding for the
Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium. A collaboration of 24 leading human geneticists, who will analyse thousands of DNA samples from patients suffering with different diseases to identify common genetic variations for each condition.
Professor Christopher Goodnow
John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University
Support for the Immunity and Infection Genomics Consortium: The Consortium proposes to identify immunologically important genes by isolating and phenotyping mouse mutants with altered susceptibility to infection, immunisation, inflammation or autoimmune disease. The mutants will be an important resource for the international research community.
Professor Adrian V S Hill
Jenner Institute, University of Oxford
Support for infrastructure at the Jenner Institute in order to enhance potential synergies in the co-development of veterinary and human vaccines and to accelerate the development of new vaccines.
Professor Angus Lamond
Wellcome Trust Centre for Gene Regulation and Expression, University of Dundee
Support for the establishment of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Gene Regulation and Expression at the University of Dundee. The Centre aims to pioneer a new approach in the field of cell biology by bringing together advanced imaging and proteomics technologies, combined with enhanced data analysis tools, to provide a quantitative understanding of gene regulation and chromosome biology at the single cell level.
Granted
Wellcome Trust Centre status.
Professor Richard Maizels
Centre for Immunity, Infection and Evolution, University of Edinburgh
This Centre aims to take a multidisciplinary approach to the understanding of pathogens and their host interactions, and to undertake vaccine and drug development in the context of evolutionary processes.
Professor Kim Nasmyth
Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford
Capital support for contribution towards the building costs of the new Department of Biochemistry, with the aim of establishing an Institute of Chromosome Biology to be housed within the new building. The Institute will encompass research groups investigating the molecular mechanisms of chromosomal replication, recombination, repair and transcription.
Professor Marie-Louise Newell
University of KwaZulu Natal
Core support for the
Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies, based in a rural area of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa, which conducts population-based research on HIV and other important health questions affecting people in sub-Saharan Africa.
Professor Peter Openshaw
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Imperial College London
Core support for a Centre for Respiratory Infections based at Imperial College London. The aim of the Centre is to promote interactions at the clinical/basic science interface and equip researchers working on respiratory infections to respond to emerging infections.
Professor Linda Partridge, Dr David H Gems
Department of Biology, University College London,
and
Professor Dominic J Withers
Division of Medicine, University College London
and
Professor Janet M Thornton
European Molecular Biology Laboratory Outstation Hinxton, European Bioinformatics Institute, Cambridgeshire
Support for a collaborative programme of research into the genomic and biochemical mechanisms of ageing and age-related disease, with emphasis on ageing as a risk factor for disease, focussing particularly on neurodegenerative diseases.
Professor Alexander J Trees
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Support for the development of a framework of research training opportunities, to engage veterinary undergraduates in research involving all UK veterinary schools and including the establishment of a Wellcome Trust administered fellowship scheme.
Professor Jonathan Weber
Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London
and
Professor Rodney E Phillips
Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford
Additional support for SPARTAC, a randomised clinical trial of a short course of combination anti-retroviral therapy, commencing as early as possible following primary HIV infection, to determine whether there is a delay in disease progression. SPARTAC was originally funded in 2003 and this additional support meets the increased cost of recruiting patients overseas, mainly in Africa.
Professor Jonathan Weber
Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College
Support for the
UK HIV Vaccine Consortium, which consists of an integrated and project-managed collaboration of UK academic groups studying potential HIV vaccine constructs and immunisation strategies.
Professor Semir M Zeki
Faculty of Medical Biosciences, University College London
Neuroesthetics
Support for the establishment of an academic unit of cognitive scientists, social scientists and researchers in the arts to look at how the brain processes information pertaining to emotion, in particular the neural bases of aesthetic appreciation and creativity.
Grants awarded 2006
Professor Raymond J Dolan and Professor Karl J Friston
Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London
Core support for a world-leading laboratory in the field of imaging neuroscience. The ultimate aim of the laboratory is to provide a high level understanding of human brain function that will inform understanding of the underlying mechanisms of common neurological and psychiatric diseases.
Granted Wellcome Trust Centre status.
Professor J Paul Luzio and Professor David A Lomas
Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge
Core support for the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research and for the establishment of two new training programmes, with the major objective of providing a better understanding of protein localisation, function and metabolism in a range of diseases in which genetic studies have identified causative genes.
Professor Austin G Smith and Professor Fiona M Watt
Wellcome Trust Centre for Stem Cell Research, University of Cambridge
Core support for an international centre of excellence in fundamental stem cell research, with focus on definition of the genetic and biochemical mechanisms that control stem cell fate, providing foundations for applications in disease modelling, drug discovery and regenerative medicine.
Granted Wellcome Trust Centre status.