Congratulations to Sumana Sharma, Chris Toepfer and Hal Drakesmith. Pump-priming projects run for 6–12 months, with lead applicants able to apply for up to £50,000 each.
Establishing a pilot T-cell manufacturing and training platform
Sumana Sharma and Ronjon Chakraverty will establish a pilot platform for manufacturing and optimising T-cell therapies within the Radcliffe Department of Medicine. By combining staff training, standardised manufacturing processes and data-driven optimisation, it will create the infrastructure needed to move promising T-cell therapies from the lab towards clinical development and external funding.
Sumana Sharma said: 'I am very excited about establishing a cell manufacturing platform within RDM. Manufacturing pipelines often differ substantially from routine laboratory cell culture conditions and are very expensive, making it uncertain whether experimental findings will translate to therapeutically relevant settings. We are aiming to develop manufacturing platform by performing pilot production runs, which will ultimately enable researchers to evaluate their lead candidates under manufacturing-relevant conditions and generate robust preclinical data packages to support further development.'
Developing safer, non-viral gene editing for heart disease
Current gene therapies for inherited heart disease rely on viral delivery systems that can cause serious side effects at high doses. This project, led by Chris Toepfer with Jakob Haldrup and Samuel Jones, aims to overcome that limitation by developing a new, non-viral way to deliver gene-editing tools directly to heart muscle cells. The approach is designed to provide a short, controlled burst of editing activity and then rapidly break down, improving safety and accelerating the translation of one-off genetic treatments for conditions such as cardiomyopathy.
Chris Toepfer said: 'For mechanism-targeted gene therapies we need to overcome delivery and editing hurdles, novel ways to effectively target the heart and then turn off the editing therapy are integral to progress these approaches to the clinic.'
Imaging metabolism in the spleen and heart during autoimmunity and iron deprivation
Hal Drakesmith, with Damian Tyler and James Grist, will investigate how iron levels shape metabolism during autoimmune disease, focusing on the heart and immune organs. Using advanced imaging to track metabolic changes in real time and at single-cell resolution, the study aims to reveal how iron deprivation alters harmful immune activity and organ function, potentially pointing to new therapeutic strategies.
Hal Drakesmith said: 'We're excited to combine imaging approaches to understand how changes in iron due to inflammation, influence metabolism at the level of single-cells and live organs. Together, MRI and mass cytometry should provide complementary new information relevant to immunology, haematology and cardiology in disease settings.'
RDM's Cross-Cutting Research Themes were established to promote cross-disciplinary collaboration and support the development of new research ideas across the department.
Top Tips for applying for pump-priming funding
The next round of pump-priming is now open, and applications can be submitted by midday on Tuesday 5 May. If you're thinking of applying, read some top tips below from our Cross-Cutting Theme Leads:
- Make the scientific rationale crystal clear, and be precise about how the work will provide a basis for future specific grant applications. (Hal Drakesmith, Theme Lead for Metabolism)
- Be specific about how the planned studies will be used to improve your chances of getting follow-on funding – more than "the studies will provide preliminary data". Name specific follow-on research funding programmes, their timelines for you to make an application, and when you might reasonably receive funding. (Steve Hyde, Theme Lead for Cell and Gene Therapy)
- We encourage proposals to explore innovative ideas and/or develop the necessary environment within RDM that will open up a new line of collaborative research, increasing our competitiveness to attract major external funding. (Charalambos Antoniades, Theme Co-Lead, AI and Medical Big Data)
- Clarify your team's strengths, for example data or expertise, in supporting AI and big data research, and how your proposal addresses a gap or amplifies strength in RDM.
- Add how the cross-cutting research theme will support the career development of the applicants and co-applicants and the plans, as this can naturally lead to further funding through fellowships. (Qiang Zhang, Theme Co-Lead, AI and Medical Big Data)