Close
The UCL Therapeutic Acceleration Support (TAS) Fund - Rare Diseases Call result announcement
27 April 2023
We are pleased to announce the successful awarded projects from the recent UCL Therapeutic Acceleration Support (TAS) Fund Rare Diseases Call supported by a £500K LifeArc Pathfinder award.
The quality of the 19 applications was extremely high which made the panel decision very difficult, resulting in an extra £281K being used from the MRC IAA, GOSH and UCLH BRC’s to support a total of 10 projects.
Each project awardee will have access to £60 to £80k to run their projects for up to 12 months. All projects aim to accelerate the transition from discovery science to the early stages of therapeutic, device and diagnostic development allowing them to de-risk their projects and prepare applications for further, larger translational funding schemes.
Applications were assessed based on (1) the unmet medical need and the likely hood of delivering impact to patients, (2) target validation/ prototype component validation, (3) originality, (4) feasibility and traceability, and (5) the potential for further development.
We thank the tremendous effort of the selection panel in driving the vigorous selection process.
Projects awarded:
Principal Investigator | Department/Institute | Modality | Project Title
|
Jenny CHANDLER | Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health | Cell & Gene Therapies | Accelerating AAV gene therapy for paediatric kidney disease |
Julie DUMONCEAUX | Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health | Biologics | A tricyclo-based antisense oligonucleotide for the treatment of Facioscapulohumeral dystrophy |
Giovanni GIOBBE | Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health | Regenerative Medicine | Extracellular matrix hydrogel for Short Bowel Syndrome treatment |
Wendy HEYWOOD | Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health | Devices & Diagnostics | Development of a specialised, high throughput Targeted Anti-Drug Antibody Immuno Multiplex Assay (TA-DA ImmunoMA) for measuring anti-drug antibodies |
Phillipa MILLS | Biologics | siRNA therapy for the treatment of inherited paediatric lysine catabolism disorders | |
Joanne NG | Cell & Gene Therapies | Gene therapy for DNAJC6 juvenile parkinsonism | |
Geoff PARKER | Devices & Diagnostics | Oxygen-enhanced MRI for early detection of chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD) in children following lung transplantation | |
Shamima RAHMAN | Cell & Gene Therapies | Gene therapy for deoxyguanosine kinase deficiency | |
Karin TUSCHL | Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health | Small Molecules | Drug development for the treatment of manganese overload to alleviate neurological disability |
Haiyan ZHOU | Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health | Biologics | Preclinical study of antisense oligonucleotide therapy in a humanized mouse model of SPTLC1-related hereditary sensory neuropathy |
- Dr Jane Kinghorn (Chair) - Director, UCL Translational Research Office
- Prof Trevor Smart (Vice-Chair) - Professor of Pharmacology, Division of Bioscience & Neuroscience Domain Chair
- Dr Rick Fagan - Director of BioPharm, UCL Business
- Prof Geraint Thomas - Professor of Biochemistry, Division of Bioscience
- Prof Rachel Chambers - Professor of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, Director of the Centre for Inflammation and Tissue Repair (CITR)
- Prof Thomas Voit - Director of NIHR GOSH UCL Biomedical Research Centre, Vice Dean Enterprise FPHS
- Prof Julie Daniels - Professor of Regenerative Medicine and Cellular Therapy, BRC Theme lead for Rescue, Repair and Regeneration
- Prof Ijeoma Uchegbu - Professor of Pharmaceutical Nanoscience, UCL School of Pharmacy
- Prof Umber Cheema - Professor of Bioengineering, Division of Surgery & Interventional Science & Vice Dean Enterprise FMS
- Prof Geoff Parker - Professor of Healthcare Engineering, Imaging and Enterprise, Deputy Director UCL Institute of Healthcare Engineering
- Dr Stephen Hobbiger - Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence - Drug Development
- Dr Preeti Bakrania - Senior Principle Scientist, LifeArc
- Prof Simon Waddington - Professor of Gene Therapy, UCL EGA Institute for Women’s Health
Read more:
TRO endeavours to support our academics drive change for those living with a rare disease
Interested to stay informed of upcoming news, events and funding calls?
- Subscribe to our newsletter and you would automatically become a member of UCL TINs (Therapeutic Innovation Networks) and be the first to receive our event invitations
- Follow us on social media (LinkedIn, Twitter) and stay tuned to our news and updates.
TRO has created an online, internal portal (UCL sign-in required) to showcase the breadth of biomedical expertise at UCL and our partner hospitals, aiming to facilitate multidisciplinary collaborations and capabilities mapping.
- Input your profile to get your capabilities visible across UCL experts and potentially external partners facilitated by TRO, leading to collaboration and funding opportunities.