MRC Translational Research
The Medical Research Council (MRC) supports research across the whole spectrum of medical sciences, with the aim of improving human health. The MRC’s translational research strategy, developed in partnership with the Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research (OSCHR) and partner organisations, aims to increase the scale and speed of progress from scientific discovery to clinical benefit.
The MRC and its funding partners are co-ordinating delivery of the translational research agenda through a combination of an integrated framework of funding programmes, infrastructure developments and training schemes. The MRC is committing an additional £250 million to deliver this important part of its mission.
- MRC’s translational research strategy
- Translation funding programmes
- Industry collaborations
- Infrastructure
- Methodology research
- Training
MRC’s translational research strategy
The MRC funds translational activities through its research boards, training panels and specific schemes.
The Translational Research Group (TRG) is responsible for ensuring that support for translational research is strengthened across the MRC and for overseeing delivery of the MRC’s translational strategy.
Translation funding programmes
Key to the delivery of the MRC’s translational research strategy are targeted funding schemes, designed to take fundamental discoveries through pre-clinical and clinical development up to proof-of-concept in humans.
The Biomedical Catalyst is a new integrated translational programme for MRC and the Technology Strategy Board (TSB). With TSB, MRC will provide support for projects ranging from feasibility / “confidence in concept” through to late stage R&D up to and including phase 2 clinical studies. Grants will be available to provide seamless support for both academic- and business-led research and development projects, with the aim of developing innovative solutions to healthcare challenges and supporting the maturation of ideas from concept to commercialisation. Business-led projects will need to apply via the TSB website.
To deliver the Biomedical Catalyst, MRC will build on and widen the DPFS funding model by providing additional funding to universities for confidence in concept studies and by providing grant support for academic-led early and late stage R&D projects. MRC intends to align its current funding mechanisms under the Biomedical Catalyst, and in due course subsume some or all of them into joint processes with TSB ensuring that the existing range of research is still supported. In the short term, MRC will deliver academic-led projects via the established mechanism of DPFS/DCS following the previously published deadlines. Academic-led applicants should refer to the existing guidance and forms for DPFS/DCS (linked below).
- The Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme/Developmental Clinical Studies scheme (DPFS/DCS) supports the translation of fundamental discoveries toward benefits to human health. It funds the pre-clinical development and early clinical testing of novel therapeutics, devices and diagnostics, including “repurposing” of existing therapies. The DPFS/DCS scheme combines the previous individual translational funding schemes, permitting a more flexible and integrated approach to the development of new interventions and diagnostics.
- The Translational Stem Cell Research Programme (TSCRP) funds investigator-led research proposals with clear translational goals aiming to apply stem cell technology to improve human health.
- The Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation programme (EME), funded by the MRC and managed by the NIHR, supports studies seeking to evaluate clinical efficacy of interventions where proof-of-concept in humans has already been achieved.
Industry collaborations
The MRC recognises the important role collaborations can play in helping to meet our priorities of translating research into healthcare improvements and enhancing economic prosperity. As such, the MRC welcomes applications involving academic/industry collaborations and has launched the MRC Industry Collaboration Agreement (MICA) - MICA applications can be submitted to any of our research funding schemes.
Infrastructure
The MRC and NIHR already have significant infrastructure dedicated to translational research. The translational strategy involves adding value to existing investments and evaluating opportunities for further investment.
Methodology research
Methodology research aims to strengthen the tools, theories and disciplines that underpin health research, and is a key component of the MRC’s translational strategy. The MRC is the lead organisation for methodology research under OSCHR and has created funding mechanisms to strengthen the methodological platforms behind health research.
The Methodology Research Programme (MRP) is led by the MRC and delivered in partnership with the NIHR. It supports methodology research underpinning biomedical sciences, experimental medicine, clinical trials, population health sciences, health services research and health policy. The programme has two funding modes; investigator-led and needs-led research.
The MRC and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) partner on the Methodological research to underpin NICE decision making funding programme, which supports research priorities identified in a Scoping Study to identify NICE’s methodological research needs.
Training
The MRC is enhancing the UK’s capabilities in translation research through new schemes and increased numbers of targeted fellowships, to deliver training and promote leadership. For more information about fellowships please visit our funding opportunities section.