PSMB programme
PSMB initiatives
By virtue of its broad remit PSMB plays a leading role in supporting most aspects of experimental medicine and clinical research. In 2005/06 and 2006/07 the board led two major MRC initiatives in experimental medicine and biomarkers research. Further details of these are below:
Trauma - Trauma is an area of significant clinical and scientific importance, both for civilian healthcare and for the military. Despite this, there is only a small amount of high-quality trauma research in the UK. The Medical Research Council committed £300k in January 2011 to increase capacity and leadership in trauma research, with the intention of allowing future investment by the MRC at a higher level. This investment will be administered by the University of Birmingham, which hosts the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine (RCDM), to identify research needs and collaborative opportunities (both within the UK and more widely) and to run four pilot projects in trauma research. This initiative will provide the basis for strong collaborative research with the NHS/NIHR, other funders, the military, and research institutes in the US and worldwide.
Experimental medicine – in the first tranche of support for experimental medicine £15m of new research was committed in 2005/06. The MRC is considering how to further underpin this important area of pre-clinical and clinical research and hopes to be in a position to announce its new plans early in 2007.
Biomarkers – building the recent PSMB international symposium on biomarkers, which highlighted a shortage in biomarkers that are ‘qualified’ for use in clinical studies, the MRC launched a call for proposals to evaluate potential biomarkers in: diagnosis of disease; disease heterogeneity and underlying mechanisms; or, response to interventions. A feature of this initiative is the promotion of academic-industry collaborations. The proposed biomarkers should be clinically plausible and of demonstrable mechanistic relevance (for example, showing clear evidence of a relationship to the pathogenesis of a disease, disease subtype(s), underlying mechanisms/pathways or mechanism of action of an intervention. Applications which address an area of unmet clinical need are particularly encouraged.
PSMB priorities
The board wishes to encourage high-quality proposals in translational and clinical research, and especially in:
- musculoskeletal research in particular research into the maintenance of musculoskeletal health, especially where such research could underpin the development of new diagnostic approaches.
- respiratory medicine – this priority is shared with IIB. PSMB is particularly looking to support research into: the mechanisms of chronic inflammatory lung disease; the early origins of lung disease; the aetiology of disease and the biological basis for the observed variation in disease progression.
- integrative physiology – PSMB has a longstanding interest in research at the levels of organs, systems and whole animals with the aim to help promote understanding of normal function and the physiology of disease, In an effort to consolidate and strengthen integrative physiology research in the UK, the MRC co-sponsored a joint workshop with the Wellcome Trust and, more recently, contributed to a major capacity building initiative in partnership with industry, the funding councils, and others.
- Population Health Sciences - PSMB plays a leading role in funding population-based studies into aetiology of disease, traditional epidemiology and social and behavioural medicine. The Board is keen to expand its research portfolio focused on improved measures of exposures/outcomes for use in population health studies.
MRC research centres supported by the PSMB
- MRC-Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma, London
- MRC Biostatistics Unit, Cambridge
- MRC Centre of Epidemiology for Child Health, London
- MRC/CRUK/BHF Clinical Trials Services Unit, Oxford
- MRC Clinical Trials Unit, London
- MRC Human Nutrition Research, Cambridge
- MRC Epidemiology Unit, Cambridge
- MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, Southampton
- MRC Centre for Reproductive Health, Edinburgh
- MRC Lifelong Health and Ageing Unit, London
- MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, Glasgow
- MRC Centre for Obesity and Related Metabolic Diseases, Cambridge
- MRC Centre for Inflammation Research, Edinburgh
- MRC Centre for Causal Analyses in Translational Epidemiology, Bristol
- MRC/Arthritis Research UK Centre for Integrated research into Musculoskeletal Ageing, Liverpool, Sheffield, Newcastle
- MRC/Arthritis Research UK Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing, Birmingham and Nottingham
Major cardiovascular research programmes are carried out at the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, London.