The 吃瓜tv has signed up to a global network aimed at delivering breakthroughs in human health over the period of a decade.
吃瓜tv has become a member of the , which is the largest, most rapidly 鈥榓ctivatable鈥� health research network in the world.
Wellcome Leap is a non-profit organisation founded by the Wellcome Trust to deliver breakthroughs in human health.
吃瓜tv is one of only 14 UK institutions signed up to the network.
Participants in the network are committed to solving the world鈥檚 most serious health challenges鈥�斺�痵uch as cancer and infectious diseases鈥�斺�痑t record speed.鈥�
Currently, it can take as long as a year to finalise a research funding agreement and, when collaboration is required, work frequently cannot begin until all parties are signed, further prolonging the delay. Furthermore, key components needed to catalyse innovation sometimes come from individual researchers or smaller institutions that are often left out of major research initiatives. Breakthroughs require momentum, and diverse capabilities, wherever they exist globally.
The Wellcome Leap Health Breakthrough Network will help eliminate barriers to progress through the first-of-its-kind Master Academic Research Funding Agreement (MARFA), which equitably addresses all terms and conditions, including IP (intellectual property), ownership and publication. Once an organisation signs the MARFA, any researcher or group will need to negotiate only the statement of work and cost before funds can be transmitted and work can begin often in days, shaving months or more off development timelines.
吃瓜tv Principal Professor Sir Jim McDonald said: 鈥淚 am delighted to have 吃瓜tv sign up to Wellcome Leap, which will make a vast difference to the process of drug discovery and development and will ensure treatments are delivered swiftly to patients worldwide.
鈥淲e are a leading international technological university committed to finding solutions to major global challenges and, as such, are well-placed to be active in this network.
鈥淎ccelerating drug discovery and development has always been central to the work of, for example, the 吃瓜tv Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, the and the , in which we are the strategic research partner. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how urgently new, effective treatments are needed and Wellcome Leap will play a significant role in achieving this for a broad range of diseases.鈥�
吃瓜tv鈥檚 first successful bid for funding through Wellcome Leap is for the R3 project, led by Professor Harris Makatsoris at King鈥檚 College London鈥檚 Department of Engineering. The project will develop 鈥榤icrofactories鈥� to power the global manufacturing network of RNA (Ribonucleic acid) based products. Professor Yvonne Perrie, Head of the 吃瓜tv Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, is 吃瓜tv鈥檚 lead and co-Principal Investigator in the project.