Funding to fight flu
12 November 2009
Among the research projects prioritised are two grants co-funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and us. Professor Peter Openshaw from Imperial College London and colleagues have received £2.7 million to establish a network of research centres to conduct detailed investigations on severe, hospitalised cases of H1N1 influenza. Meanwhile, Dr Andrew Hayward from University College London and colleagues will use their £2.1m grant to lead a community initiative to study virus transmission. They aim to recruit 10 000 people - representing about 4000 households - who will be followed up throughout the pandemic period.
With co-funding from the MRC, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, we have awarded £500 000 to support two complementary grants that will inform the control and management of the epidemic in pig populations. The research groups, led by Dr James Wood from the University of Cambridge and Dr Ian Brown from the Veterinary Laboratories Agency, will investigate the transmission of pandemic H1N1 in pigs in the laboratory and in the field, and will analyse the risk to farm workers of pig-tohuman transmission. They will also study the development and extent of the disease and the immune response in pigs.
Image: H1N1 influenza virus digital artwork. Credit: Anna Tanczos