Research
Academy of Medical Sciences awards funding to emerging scientific leaders
The Academy of Medical Sciences has announced £7.6 million funding for early-career researchers across the UK through its Springboard programme, including two awards funded by us.
The record investment will support 62 scientists at 41 UK institutions. It has been made possible with funding from us, alongside the UK Government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and the Wellcome Trust.
Each researcher has been awarded up to £125,000 for their research, alongside mentoring and career development support to help establish their independent research careers.
Future leaders
Professor Bryan Williams, our Chief Scientific and Medical Officer, said: “We’re pleased to continue our long-standing partnership with the Academy of Medical Sciences and support more scientists to establish themselves as independent researchers.
“In the UK we lose too many talented scientists at this pivotal stage due to lack of opportunity to launch their careers. That’s why partnerships like this are so critical, to help us retain the best and the brightest early-career researchers and set them on a path to becoming our future research leaders.”
Early-career researchers
Our funding will support Dr Katharine Mylonas at the University of Edinburgh and Dr Alex Bye at the University of Reading.
Dr Mylonas’ research will investigate senescent cells in cardio-renal disease. Senescent cells are ‘old’ cells that have stopped dividing. These cells don’t work as they should, and they can release molecules that can impact neighbouring cells and cause inflammation and scarring. Dr Mylonas hopes to understand more about senescent cells in the kidney and heart and find new ways to prevent this harmful process.
Dr Bye will study cells called megakaryocytes – large cells that live in our bone marrow and produce the platelets that help our blood to clot. People with low platelet counts may need transfusions to prevent or stop bleeding, and every year there are hundreds of thousands of platelet transfusions carried out.
Maintaining stocks of platelets is challenging, and megakaryocytes don’t produce platelets as efficiently in the lab as they do in the body. Dr Bye’s study will look at bone marrow in mice to improve our understanding about how platelets are produced. This can help to make platelet production in labs more efficient.