Smoothing a path for innovation
29 January 2009
The MRC has selected five universities to take part in the Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme (DPFS) devolved portfolio pilots. These portfolios - block awards for universities to use to support goal-orientated translational research projects – represent a completely new way of driving through translation in academic settings.
In due course, universities will be able to apply for devolved funding under the scheme. The aim is to allow universities to allocate money to different projects more responsively based on their relative progress. The pilot will aim to assess the effectiveness of local decision-making in the fast-paced world of translational research – converting discoveries into medical tools and treatments.
Chris Watkins, the MRC’s Translation Theme Leader, says: “Some universities clearly have high ambitions in this area. The universities we have selected to work with in the pilot will be able to respond more quickly to the needs of their projects. We will monitor the pilot portfolios closely and those universities in the pilot will be accountable to the MRC for all the decisions they take. The money should allow universities to make their own translational funding decisions and develop project management arrangements most suitable for them.”
The five universities selected to take part in the DPFS Devolved Portfolio pilot are:
- King’s College, London
- University of Dundee
- University of Edinburgh
- University of Nottingham
- Severnside Alliance for Translational Research, a partnership between the Bristol and Cardiff universities.
Professor Stuart Bevan, of King’s College London, says: “We have already identified a rich vein of potential projects with the support of the MRC. The devolved portfolio will allow us to use staff skilled in project management to work closely with our scientists at the early stages, to develop their research ideas and structure milestone-driven project proposals. Portfolios should help ensure our discoveries are quickly converted into tools for combating disease.”
Chris Watkins adds: “Our goal is to be as agile and responsive as possible in allocating funding for translational research, and we accept that some decisions could be made at the local level, especially in universities with substantial translational activity. For example a university might decide to stop a particular project and recycle the money allocated to it into other proposals. Or they could decide to raise private funding as soon as a project becomes commercially interesting while channelling unspent funds to the rest of the portfolio. If the Devolved Portfolio pilots are successful, they will be rolled out in summer 2010. DPFS funding for individual projects will remain available to all those in non-participating universities and in our Units.”
You can listen to Chris Watkins and Professor Bevan in this MRC podcast
Phone: 020 7670 5139
Email: press.office@headoffice.mrc.ac.uk
About DPFS
Launched in April 2008, DPFS is the flagship of the MRC’s translational research strategy. It is funded from the £132 million extra investment from the government’s last spending review to support outcome-driven research. Its goal is to help universities translate their researchers’ discoveries into benefits for patients by ensuring the development of ideas from fundamental research towards proof of concept.
DPFS applications are assessed by a panel with experience in taking discoveries forward and who have a desire to encourage innovations. Applications are assessed both on the quality of the science proposed and on the ability to deliver. The scheme’s popularity and success shows that the MRC is meeting the challenge of delivering not only grant funding, but also infrastructure and resource support to tackle bottlenecks hampering pre-clinical research. A key aspect of DPFS is that it builds on the expansion of MRC Technology’s Drug Discovery Group to assist extramural scientists, allowing the MRC to provide significant levels of funding for developing ideas towards large scale evaluation.
The scheme - developed in discussion with universities and industry - is radically different from traditional MRC grant funding: it is designed to address currently unmet needs, it is goal-orientated (not hypothesis-driven), and it is milestone-driven. This allows the MRC to fund higher risk proposals. To date awards have mainly been large investments of around £500,000 for next-stage development of the most exciting new therapies, interventions and diagnostics, and research tools.
The awards made so far have focused on “high-risk, high payoff” projects, particularly using approaches that are not yet being actively pursued by industry. Successful proposals had clearly defined milestones, outcomes and evidence of future value. Applications coming in to DPFS cover a wide range of potential interventions from pharmaceuticals to devices. They address a wide spectrum of clinical conditions including cancer, inflammatory and immune system diseases, cardiovascular disease, infections, mental health and neurological disease.
The MRC has been working hard to help universities make the most of the potential that DPFS provides. In January, a workshop was held for applicants to explain the rationale and background to the scheme and help them to improve the quality of their applications. More workshops are expected to follow later in the year.
Further details of the Development Pathway Funding Scheme and how to apply can be found at: www.mrc.ac.uk/Fundingopportunities/Grants/DPFS/index.htm.
