UK: Campaigns for other illnesses where funders encouraged researchers to apply for funding?

Andy

Andy

Retired committee member
Can anyone think of any examples where the UK research funding bodies have, collectively or individually, either initiated or taken part in an awareness campaign which encouraged researchers to apply for funding from them for particular illnesses?
 
InitialConditions said:
I would search the UKRI website for highlight notices / opportunities (https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/ — be sure to include 'Closed' in your search criteria). Here is one for ME/CFS: https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/researching-me-cfs-highlight-notice/

And then do the same on the NIHR website if there's a good search facility.
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Thanks. Interesting to note that this is the existing one, dating back to 2003, updated. It looks good but manages not to talk about PEM at all.
Myalgic encephalomyelitis, or chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a complex and serious debilitating medical condition with a diverse range of symptoms.

The most well-known symptoms are profound physical fatigue and mental fatigue, while others include pain, disturbed sleep patterns and gastrointestinal problems. Each patient experiences their own personal combination of symptoms, but certain ones dominate.

Building our portfolio of ME/CFS research has been a high priority for MRC for a number of years.

This highlight notice, which has been in place since 2003, seeks to encourage high-quality funding applications to any of our research board grant or fellowship opportunities

MRC research strategy and funding history for ME/CFS

Scope
Through this highlight notice, applicants are invited to submit innovative research proposals that address the mechanisms underlying chronic changes related to ME/CFS in one or more of the areas shown below.

Applications should seek to improve mechanistic understanding in these areas through the study of cross-disease symptomatology, and pathways, in the clinic or laboratory.

Immune dysregulation
There is evidence for a disturbance in innate and adaptive immunity in ME/CFS including:

  • alterations in cytokine profile
  • absolute and functional alterations in T cells and NK cells
  • occurrence of autoantibodies and allergic reactions that may explain some of the manifestations such as fatigue and flu-like symptoms.
A number of infectious and environmental exposures have been associated as triggering these changes.

Pain
Headache, facial pain and myalgia are reported symptoms of ME/CFS that may involve altered sensory and cognitive processing in the relevant neural pathways.

Improved sub-phenotyping and stratification of ME/CFS
ME/CFS is often considered a broad-spectrum disorder or syndrome and, as in other disease areas, it may be that the causes and mechanisms underpinning diverse symptom profiles are different.

Better patient phenotyping and stratification could provide valuable new insights into the natural history of the disease and enable the development of more effective, better targeted treatments.

Mechanisms of ME/CFS in children
The manifestations of ME/CFS in children represent a major clinical management challenge. There is a need for research aimed at improving understanding of the mechanisms that lead to the early onset of the disease.

This knowledge can then be used for the development and evaluation of new treatment options, as a prelude to their assessment in large-scale clinical trials.

Neuropathology
There is now preliminary evidence supporting the view that inflammatory mechanisms in the brain and spinal cord may underlie the pathophysiology of some severe disease ME/CFS phenotypes. The availability of biobanks creates a unique opportunity for interrogation.
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What I'm hoping to find though is evidence for the funders being more proactive than this in other diseases. Despite the claim, "Building our portfolio of ME/CFS research has been a high priority for MRC for a number of years.", the last 20 years has seen them fail, so it would be good to find examples where they have succeeded by doing things differently.
 
The MRC funds the Dementias Platform, https://www.dementiasplatform.uk/

and are listed as one of the founding partners for the Accord Collaboration, "The national ACORD collaboration was formed in 2021 to encourage and support the development, running and reporting of Multi-arm, Multi-stage Platform Trials (with their associated scientific and infrastructure projects) in four major neurodegenerative diseases: MND, Progressive MS, Parkinson’s Disease and ultimately Dementia.", https://www.mrcctu.ucl.ac.uk/our-research/neurodegenerative-diseases/acord-collaboration/
 
£50m to accelerate Motor Neurone Disease (MND) research

"The NIHR will play a critical role in new government action speeding up research into Motor Neurone Disease (MND) across the UK, with immediate investment so patients can benefit from cutting edge treatment and medicines sooner.
Last year, £50 million was committed to MND research over the next five years by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, reinforcing progress being made by the UK’s world-leading scientists.

The government is now accelerating £29.5 million of the committed funding into specialist research centres and partnerships with leading researchers to reduce bureaucracy and help researchers access funding as quickly as possible."

https://www.nihr.ac.uk/news/50m-to-accelerate-motor-neurone-disease-mnd-research/32226
 
Andy said:
£50m to accelerate Motor Neurone Disease (MND) research

"The NIHR will play a critical role in new government action speeding up research into Motor Neurone Disease (MND) across the UK, with immediate investment so patients can benefit from cutting edge treatment and medicines sooner.
Last year, £50 million was committed to MND research over the next five years by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, reinforcing progress being made by the UK’s world-leading scientists.

The government is now accelerating £29.5 million of the committed funding into specialist research centres and partnerships with leading researchers to reduce bureaucracy and help researchers access funding as quickly as possible."

https://www.nihr.ac.uk/news/50m-to-accelerate-motor-neurone-disease-mnd-research/32226
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£8m to speed up research into new treatments for Motor Neurone Disease (MND)

"NIHR is announcing its next major step in new government action to speed up research into Motor Neurone Disease (MND). This is part of a £50 million commitment to MND research over 5 years - by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

Subject to contracts being signed, NIHR will be investing almost £8 million into early phase clinical research for MND. This will seek to speed up innovative new treatments for patients."

https://www.nihr.ac.uk/news/8m-to-s...reatments-for-motor-neurone-disease-mnd/33749
 
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