Confidence in Concept
Background
The MRC ‘Confidence in Concept’ scheme awards universities grants of up to £1.2M to accelerate the transition from discovery research to translational development projects by supporting preliminary work or feasibility studies to establish the viability of an approach. These awards ‘pump-prime’ the translation of novel therapeutics, devices and diagnostics, including ‘repurposing’ of existing therapies towards clinical testing.
The College has been recently awarded £944,000 from MRC to support projects through the ICiC scheme to bridge the gap between discovery research and well-developed applications for MRC Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme (DPFS) support or similar follow-on funding schemes.
Together with support from the NIHR Imperial BRC, The Royal Marsden Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the Imperial College Wellcome Institutional Strategic Support Fund (ISSF) and Impact Acceleration Accounts, there will be a project-managed fund of £1.8M available in 2018 to identify early targets, not currently being developed, within the Faculties of Medicine, Natural Sciences and Engineering to enter the drug, devices and diagnostics development pathway.
In 2018 we will again be partnering with AstraZeneca to offer the AstraZeneca Innovation Fund as part of the Imperial Confidence in Concept call. The AZ innovation fund aims to enable drug discovery by facilitating the development of new technologies and the exploration of disease biology. In 2018 the scheme will fund up to 3 proof of concept collaborative projects between AZ and ICL. All projects must have a PI from Imperial and AZ to qualify. Projects should investigate new science or demonstrate proof of concept for new technology capabilities with the primary objective of seeding larger funding applications. Key areas of interest to AZ in 2018 are: Organ on a Chip (Microphysiological Systems), Next Generation Drug Delivery Technologies, Future Technologies for Early Drug Discovery, New Technologies for Patient Stratification and Diagnostics.’
Applying for the scheme
Current call - CLOSED
This call is currently closed to applications; the next call will be announced Jan/Feb 2019.
Guidance on the application process is available through the ICiC 2018 Guidelines (PDF) and ICiC FAQs 2018 (PDF). For further information and to submit your ICiC 2018 EoI form (Word) please contact confidenceinconcept@imperial.ac.uk.
ICiC Showcase Events - 5 March 2018
The ICiC 2018 launch event will take place on 5 March 2018, 10th Floor, Translation and Innovation Hub (IHUB), White City Campus.
The launch will form part of the wider ‘All You Can Innovate@Imperial’ event, a showcase of Imperial’s world-class innovation landscape. As well as communicating key information about the Imperial ICiC scheme, there will be an opportunity to engage key stakeholders through ‘surgery sessions’ (MRC, Research Strategy, Corporate Partnerships, Innovations, Apollo and the College’s Translator in Residence) as well as discussing potential partnerships with companies at the Corporate Speed Dating event. The Full agenda (PDF) is now available for this event.
If you would like to attend the ‘All You Can Innovate@Imperial / ICiC launch event’ please register at the following link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/all-you-can-innovateimperial-confidence-in-concept-launch-tickets-43105230906
To note, users should be aware of the Eventbrite terms and conditions and ensure they are happy to register using this service.
Please note that numbers are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis.
Previously supported projects
Year 1
| Principal Investigator | Project |
|---|---|
| Charles Coombes | Understanding the Role of CDK9 in mediating resistance to CDK7 inhibitors and optimisation of CDK9 inhibitors |
| Michael Edwards | Uncoupling harmful pro-inflammatory cytokine responses from beneficial anti-viral immunity in virus induced exacerbations of asthma and COPD |
| Georgios Giamas | Drug screening, crystallisation and structure determination of the human Lemur Tyrosine Kinase 3 |
| Uta Griesenbach | Airway epithelium as a factory for production of blood clotting factors |
| Pau Herrero Vinas | Clinical Validation of an advanced bolus calculator for diabetes |
| Prapa Kanagaratnam | ROTO-Mapping: A technique for detecting potential rotos of activation during human atrial fibrillation |
| Nicholas Long | Formyl peptide receptors: novel targets for imaging inflammation |
| Nick Oliver | Clinical Assessment of a Novel Microprobe Array Continuous Glucose Monitor in Type 1 Diabetes |
| Gregory Quinlan | Development of the haemolysis triple filter |
| Michael Schneider | Novel inhibitors of MAP4K4 (HGK), a therapeutic target in cardiac muscle cell death |
| Mohamed Shamji | IL-35 modulate allergen-driven memory human TH2 allergic responses and has a potential therapeutic value in patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis |
| Anita Simonds | Evaluation intelligent oxygen therapy [chronic hypoxaemia/COPD] |
| Robert Snelgrove | Manipulating the dual functions of LTA4H: one drug to target two pro-inflammatory mediators tightly implicated in neutrophilic lung disease |
| Shiranee Sriskandan | Novel protective antigens in pathogenic group A Streptococcus |
| Molly Stevens | A quantum-dot biosensor system for the detection of myocardial fibrosis biomarkers in clinical samples |
| Euan Stronach | Novel chemical modulators of platinum response in ovarian cancer: characterisation and development of DNA-PK/AKT pathway inhibitors |
| Simon Taylor-Robinson | A novel, low cost, urinary diagnostic test for liver cancer screening |
| Mark Thursz | Phosphodiesterate 12 (PDE12) inhibitors in-vivo proof-of-concept study in Dengue virus (DENV) mouse model |
| Sivaramesh Wigneshweraraj | Bacteriophage inspired antibiotics |
Year 2
| Principal Investigator | Project |
|---|---|
| Jake Baum | Towards an in vitro high-throughput translation-inhibition discovery platform for the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum |
| Maria Belvisi | TRPV4 antagonist: novel, effective treatment for asthma and COPD |
| Paul Bentley | A low-cost, portable ‘hand-and-brain training’ stroke rehabilitation aid |
| Bob Brown & David Cunningham | Stratified Medicine in oesophagastric (OG) cancers: DNA methylation and mutational profiles as predictive biomarkers |
| Tony Cass | Continuous monitoring of therapeutic drug levels using minimally invasive plasmonic nanosensors |
| Robert Dickinson | Is xenon combined with hypothermia neuroprotective following traumatic brain injury? |
| Andrew Edwards | Novel Antibiotics Activated By Beta-Lactamase: Treating and Preventing Infection By Directing Bacterial Evolution |
| Dan Elson | Calibration-free structured lighting for flexible gastrointestinal endoscopy |
| Matthew Fuchter | The Development of Highly Specific SIRT2 Inhibitors as a Novel Treatment for Parkinson’s Disease |
| Roger Gunn | Repurposing Low-Cost Consumer Technology for Motion Correction in Dementia Neuroimaging |
| Anastasios Karadimitris | Donor TCRVa24 iNKT cells in the prevention of acute-graft-versus-host disease in allogeneic haemopoietic stem cell transplantation |
| Maurits Kleijnen | Proteasome Envelope Agonists: Developing novel compounds for use against Multiple Myeloma |
| Spyros Masouros | Bespoke synthetic grafts for the treatment of an osteochondral defect that maximizes bone stock preservation |
| Thomas McKinnon | Application of a truncated Von Willebrand Factor molecule for gene therapy for Von Willebrands disease |
| James Moore Jr | Lymph node replacement tissue construct |
| Niamh Nowlan | A wearable sensor for monitoring fetal movements |
| Nicholas Peters | Identifying the critical concurrent sources for targeting ablation of atrial fibrillation through a novel spatiotemporal cycle-length decomposition |
| Piero Posocco | Towards a compact proton irradiator for in-vitro radiobiological studies |
| Robert Snelgrove | Manipulating the dual functions of LTA4H: one drug to target two pro-inflammatory mediators - Proof of concept in neutrophilic lung disease models |
| Molly Stevens | Quantum-dot DNA Biosensing System for Meningococcal DNA Detection in Human Serum |
| Ed Tate | Establishing the chemotherapeutic scope of novel, orally active inhibitors of human N-myristoyltransferases in cancer |
| Paul Turner | Intranasal diagnostics in food allergy: a feasibility study (INDY project) |
| Sivaramesh Wigneshweraraj | Characterization of two novel small molecule inhibitors of the bacterial transcription machinery |