Wellcome News 64 editorial
For both our Strategic Awards and Investigator Awards, we are asking applicants to consider how their research will address one or more of these challenges. This is particularly important because each challenge comes with intent - that the work we fund should make a difference. For example, 'maximising the health benefits of genetics and genomics' makes clear that if we and our partners are to be successful, genetics research must feed through into important improvements in the lives and health of patients and others. The last few months have seen the launch or funding of a number of projects that address our challenges directly. In the field of genetics, alongside the celebration of the human genome sequencing's ten-year anniversary in June came the launch of the ambitious UK10K project. As its name suggests, UK10K will decode the genomes of 10 000 people over the next three years and is expected to uncover many rare genetic variants that are important in human disease. The project will study 4000 people from TwinsUK and the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children - two extremely fruitful studies that the Trust supports - as well as 6000 people with extreme obesity, neurodevelopmental disease and other conditions.
In our challenge area of 'understanding the brain', two projects looking at stroke - the leading cause of adult disability in the UK - aim to help us understand and reduce the devastating effects it can have on the lives of those affected. At the University of Oxford, Dr Heidi Johansen-Berg has recently had her Senior Research Fellowship renewed and is looking at how the structure of the brain changes when we learn new skills as well as when the brain recovers from damage such as stroke. Meanwhile, Dr Parashkev Nachev at University College London has been funded to produce a system that marries automated brain imaging, to capture patterns of brain damage, with computers that can infer the relationship between the damage and the outcome in the patient. This will help doctors to determine the best treatment for the patient.
In our challenge on 'combating infectious disease', a Strategic Translation Award to Professor Andrew Pollard at the University of Oxford will help to take a new vaccine against meningitis B from preclinical studies to phase I clinical trials in humans. Meningitis B is the leading cause of bacterial meningitis in the UK, causing 1500-2500 cases each year, and is also a major infectious cause of death in childhood. Meanwhile, Professor Kaspar Althoefer at King's College London and colleagues are developing a way to combat the emerging problem of counterfeit medicines. In low-to-middle income countries, 10-30 per cent of medicines are fake, placing patients at extreme risk. Professor Althoefer's system uses radio waves to detect signals from medicines (or their imposters), even through packaging.
Under our challenge on ‘investigating development, ageing and chronic disease’ we have awarded £3.8 million to a team at the University of Bristol to develop a new painkiller for the severe chronic pain associated with diabetes, for which there are currently limited effective treatments. The new analgesic is based on galanin, a small protein that is made by nerve cells and that can reduce neuropathic pain. Finally, in our challenge on 'connecting environment, nutrition and health', I was very pleased that we could announce £10m of funding, through the Insect Pollinators Initiative, for nine projects investigating the decline of honeybees and other pollinating insects in recent years. These projects will be exploring the causes and consequences of threats to these insect populations.
Sir Mark Walport
Director of the Wellcome Trust
