New stem cell partnership between the MRC and the National Natural Science Foundation of China
17 January 2012
The UK Medical Research Council (MRC) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) have announced a new funding initiative, which will help the development of collaborative links between stem cell scientists in the UK and China. Both China and the UK have been pioneers of stem cell research in recent years, and by bringing together eminent research groups between the two countries, the initiative will build on their strengths and accelerate progress in this area.
The scheme will provide financial support to establish pilot studies between research laboratories in the UK and China, and will be targeted at increasing our understanding of stem cell biology and undertaking preliminary studies to underpin therapeutic development in the future. For this initial phase of 10-12 pilot studies, the MRC will provide £400,000 for UK applicants, with matched funding of 3,000,000 RMB provided by the NSFC for Chinese applicants. It is anticipated that in the longer term the awards made under this initiative will provide a foundation for the development of more substantive stem cell research programmes between the two countries.
This announcement follows from partnership workshops carried out in China and most recently the UK, which clearly demonstrated the strength and breadth of stem cell research in both countries and the potential for establishing collaborative activity that would help advance the field.
Dr Rob Buckle, Head of Regenerative Medicine at the Medical Research Council said: “The rapid-development of stem cell research over the last decade has already led to many fruitful international collaborations. We look forward to maximising the opportunities for UK and Chinese researchers to establish long-term partnerships which we hope will increase our basic understanding of stem cell biology and how it can best be exploited to improve human health, through both the modelling of disease in the laboratory and the development of new treatments.”
Further information on the initiative and details of how to submit an application are available on the MRC Calls for Proposals page.
Notes to editors:
The UK is China’s largest research partner within Europe and the third largest overall. Joint research papers with China have also been increasing more quickly for the UK than for Japan, Germany or France. China is also a key partner for the UK, already being a top two or three research partner in engineering, materials, mathematics and computer science with overall collaboration quadrupling in a decade.
For almost 100 years the Medical Research Council has improved the health of people in the UK and around the world by supporting the highest quality science. The MRC invests in world-class scientists. It has produced 29 Nobel Prize winners and sustains a flourishing environment for internationally recognised research. The MRC focuses on making an impact and provides the financial muscle and scientific expertise behind medical breakthroughs, including one of the first antibiotics penicillin, the structure of DNA and the lethal link between smoking and cancer. Today MRC funded scientists tackle research into the major health challenges of the 21st century. www.mrc.ac.uk
