MRC invests 4 million pounds to tackle pandemic influenza threat
22 May 2006
The Medical Research Council has awarded the first slice of its funding aimed at tackling the threat of pandemic influenza. The awards are part of the MRC’s research strategy for tackling emerging infections.
Following a mission to south-east Asia by MRC experts last year, the MRC’s decision-making body, the MRC Council, decided that up to ten million pounds be earmarked for research into potentially pandemic ‘flu, above the present annual investment of £1.6 million.
The research supported in this first round of awards is the first to be funded in response to the potential pandemic threat. Ten awards totalling £4 million were made. Research to be funded will take place over the next three years and includes:
- Understanding how flu virus targets human and bird cells. (Dr W Barclay)
- Understanding how H5N1 affects the immune system by studying patients in Vietnam. (Dr T Dong)
- Understanding how seasonal flu and potentially pandemic flu recognise and attach themselves to human cells. (Prof T Feizi)
- Studying the detailed way in which H5N1 viruses infect cells by recognising specific molecules on the cell surface. (Dr S Gamblin)
- Understanding the factors that help flu spread from one person to another. (Dr A Hayward)
- Understanding how the immune system can both damage and protect cells in the lung when infected with flu. (Dr L Ho)
- Using magnetic nanoparticles, to improve the diagnosis of flu in biological samples. (Prof I Jones)
- Improving the quality of new vaccine against the H5N1 strains of flu. (Dr J Robertson)
- Developing mock-virus as a safer and better test for H5N1 flu in biological samples. (Dr N Temperton)
- Developing new anti-influenza drugs to target drug resistance. (Dr Watts)
The MRC has set aside an additional £3.5 million for flu research later in the year. Another £5 million will be invested in 2007/08. Professor Deborah Smith, who chaired the panel that made the awards said: “We’ve been agile in our response to the threat posed by a potential flu pandemic. We’ve funded research that was academically excellent and urgently needed. In the coming months, we will work with our partners to look again for gaps in research and consider how best to close them. Once they’ve been identified, we’ll invest in more research later this year and next in our effort to combat the threat from H5N1 on all fronts.”
The call for proposals and the funding was informed by a mission of MRC experts to south-east Asia. The group were interested in discovering more about the spread of the avian flu virus.
Colin Blakemore, the chief executive of the Medical Research Council commented: “Vigilance is the key to our strategy. We’ve responded quickly to the potential health crisis posed by the H5N1 virus and this funding should lead to a much better understanding of the spread of the disease. This special call has drawn in the expertise of several scientists who don’t normally focus their research in this area. The investment has the potential to help find ways to reduce the effects of the virus in people and animals and possibly to develop ways to stop the spread of the virus.”
For further information, or to arrange an interview contact the MRC Press Office:
Phone number: 020 7637 6011
Out of hours: 07818 428 297
Notes to Editors:
- Professor Deborah Smith was trained in Biochemistry (BSc Hons and PhD at University of Southampton) before beginning postdoctoral work at the National Institute of Medical Research, Mill Hill. She joined Imperial College, London in 1979, becoming Professor of Molecular Parasitology in 1999. Her current position is as Professor of Molecular Parasitology in the Immunology and Infection Unit, a joint venture of the Hull York Medical School and the Department of Biology at the University of York. She chaired the expert panel as an independent voice from the Infections and Immunity Board.
- The Medical Research Council (MRC) is a national organisation funded by the UK tax-payer. Its business is medical research aimed at improving human health; everyone stands to benefit from the outputs. The research it supports and the scientists it trains meet the needs of the health services, the pharmaceutical and other health-related industries and the academic world. MRC has funded work which has led to some of the most significant discoveries and achievements in medicine in the UK. About half of the MRC’s expenditure of more than £500 million is invested in its 40 Institutes, Units and Centres. The remaining half goes in the form of grant support and training awards to individuals and teams in universities and medical schools.
