Month: May 2015

Imperial Confidence in Concept (ICiC) scheme awards funding to 22 projects

The Faculty is delighted to report the outcome of the third Imperial Confidence in Concept (ICiC) competition to support the College-wide development of novel devices, diagnostics and therapeutics for areas of unmet clinical need. A fund in excess of £1.3million was made available from the MRC (Confidence in Concept fund), NIHR Imperial BRC, Imperial Innovations, Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund, EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account and as well as support from NIHR BRC at The Royal Marsden and The Institute of Cancer Research and Chelsea & Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. This is the first year that Chelsea & Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has taken part in the scheme.  The ICiC scheme provides vital pilot funding to bridge the potential gap between discovery research and well-developed applications for MRC Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme / Developmental Clinical Studies Funding Scheme support. The Panel, including external members and chaired by Professor Roberto Solari, was delighted with the high quality and wide range of applications. 22 Awards were made.

The investigators who will receive awards of up to £70,000 are:

Professor Andrew Amis (PI), Professor Justin Cobb, & Dr Ferdinando Rodriguez Y Baena (Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Surgery & Cancer)

Dr Reza Bahmanyar (PI, Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering)

Dr Jeffrey Bamber (PI) & Dr Mengxing Tang (Division of Radiotherapy & Imaging, Institute of Cancer Research and Department of Bioengineering, ICL)

Dr Paul Bentley (PI), Professor Etienne Burdet, & Dr Michael Mace (Departments of Medicine & Bioengineering)

Professor Thomas Brand (PI) & Dr Katie Chapman (National Heart & Ling Institute and Domainex Ltd)

Dr Graham Cooke (PI), Professor Chris Toumazou, & Professor Myra McClure (Departments of Medicine & Bioengineering)

Dr Ernesto Cota Segura (PI), Dr Nathan Brown, Professor Ed Tate, & Dr Chiara Recchi (Departments of Life Sciences, Chemistry, Surgery & Cancer, and CRUK Cancer Therapeutics Unit, Institute of Cancer Research)

Dr Christina Fotopoulou (PI) & Dr Paula Cunnea (Department of Surgery & Cancer)

Professor Gary Frost (PI), Dr Rohini Sharma, Professor Mark Thursz, & Dr Edwards Chambers (Department of Medicine)

Professor George Hanna (PI), Dr Tanzeela Khalid, & Dr Melody Ni (Department of Surgery & Cancer)

Dr David Hodson (PI) & Professor Guy Rutter (Department of Medicine)

Professor David Klug (PI) & Dr Oscar Ces (Department of Chemistry)

Dr Christoph Lees (PI) & Professor Phil Bennett (Department of Surgery & Cancer)

Professor Nicholas Long (PI) & Professor Guy Rutter (Departments of Chemistry & Medicine)

Dr Stepan Lucyszyn (PI) & Professor Anthony Chu (Departments of Electrical & Electronic Engineering and Medicine)

Professor Danilo Mandic (PI) & Dr Sudhin Thayyil (Departments of Electrical & Electronic Engineering and Medicine)

Professor Jane Mitchell (PI), Dr Nicholas Kirkby, & Dr Mark Paul-Clark (National Heart & Lung Institute)

Dr Christopher Rhodes (PI) & Professor Martin Wilkins (Department of Medicine)

Professor Andrew Rice (PI) & Dr Kenji Okuse (Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, Departments of Surgery & Cancer and Life Sciences)

Professor Molly Stevens (PI), Dr Anthony Gordon, & Dr Robert Chapman (Departments of Materials, Bioengineering, and Surgery & Cancer)

Professor Ed Tate (PI), Professor Sebastian Johnston, & Dr Aurelie Mousnier (Department of Chemistry and National Heart & Lung Institute)

Dr Paul Turner (PI), Dr Mohamed Shamji, & Dr Robert Boyle (Department of Medicine and National Heart & Lung Institute)

 

Dr Kimberley Trim
Research Strategy Coordinator
Faculty of Medicine

Antimicrobial Research Collaborative (ARC) Early Career Research Fellowships

The Antimicrobial Research Collaborative (ARC) is a new Imperial network of researchers, primary care specialists and allied health professionals established to advance basic research in AMR and to translate research to novel prevention strategies and healthcare interventions. The ARC Early Career Research Fellowships scheme aims to attract and retain the most promising early career scientists to undertake multidisciplinary research projects in antimicrobial research within the College.

How to apply?

Full details of the ARC Early Career Research Fellowships and how to apply will be announced on 5th June, and will be available from: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/funding-opportunities/internal-funding-opportunities/issf/ There will be an opportunity to ask questions about the Fellowships at the ARC launch on 5th June (please see https://eventbrite.co.uk/event/17028140627/ for details of the event and to register). The closing date for ARC Fellowship applications will be 5pm on 3rd July 2015.

Creating new opportunities for collaboration – pharma speed dating

On 30th January 2015, the breakout space at the Wolfson Education Centre at Imperial’s Hammersmith campus was buzzing with more than 100 dates between 40 Imperial academics from different faculties, and representatives from 7 major Pharma companies.

The first Pharma speed dating @ ICL event was part of the launch program for the Imperial Confidence in Concept funding scheme, and was organized by the Corporate Partnerships team. Jonathan Weber, Vice-Dean of Research and Imperial College AHSC Director said

“The Pharma speed dating event fits with our strategy to strengthen Imperial relationship with the Pharmaceutical industry and to provide young PIs an opportunity to have their first industrial interactions”.

Academics had only 20 minutes to pitch their ideas to company representatives and discuss common interest for collaborations.

Both academics and company representatives enjoyed a day of interesting and open scientific discussions.

Silvia Santos, a starting group leader at the Imperial MRC-Clinical Science Centre said:

It was very informative to understand what a therapeutic target is to Pharma companies and the path to get into having a potential interesting target. But perhaps even more exciting was realising how complementary our approaches in the lab are with some of the companies and start discussions for potential collaborations.”

Following on from the event, the Corporate Partnerships team is busy following up with several companies who have opened opportunities for collaboration with the College.

The Corporate Partnerships team is expecting to run this event again next year. If your company is interested in participating in the next speed dating @ ICL event, please get in touch with us at enterprise-fom@imperial.ac.uk.

Imperial College Students win the Royal Society of Medicine’s Norah Schuster Prize for History of Medicine

Norah Schuster PrizeThe School of Medicine are very pleased to announce that two of our 5th year Medical students, Zeena Mougammadou-Aribou and Sam Tindall both won prizes at this year’s Royal Society of Medicine Norah Schuster Prize.

This prestigious prize is awarded for the best student essay relating to the history of medicine. Zeena and Sam (seen below at the Award Ceremony in April) won the prize for the mini-projects which they conducted during the History of Medicine specialist course, taken as part of their intercalated BSc. They each received a £100 book token and a year’s membership of the Royal Society of Medicine.

Zeena’s mini-project considered a surgical procedure which was marketed in the 18th century for the management of teething in children. Interestingly, until the 19th century a large portion of child mortality was attributed to teething, which was perceived to be a dangerous period in child development. The surgical procedure was invented by a man named Joseph Hurlock and it involved cutting the gums of teething children so the teeth could come through unobstructed. Hurlock used clever and innovative marketing techniques to ensure that his procedure became widely used. However, these techniques were also controversial; for example, criticising the reliability of nurses and the effectiveness of other techniques used for teething infants.

From left: Dr Michael Weatherburn (Sam's project supervisor), Zeena M-A, Dr Emily Mayhew, Sam and Dr Neil Tarrant (Zeena’s Supervisor and History of Medicine course head) a t the Norah Schuster Awards Ceremony
From left: Dr Michael Weatherburn (Sam’s project supervisor), Zeena M-A, Dr Emily Mayhew, Sam and Dr Neil Tarrant (Zeena’s Supervisor and History of Medicine course head) a t the Norah Schuster Awards Ceremony

Sam’s mini-project examined how a strong focus on the Western Front during World War 1 meant that the Italian Front was overlooked in historical writing and therefore in public perception. The war took place in the Alps between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The terrain and weather conditions made this battle unique in many ways when compared with the rest of WWI. The injuries and ailments afflicting soldiers fighting in this region are therefore very different to those perceived to have affected soldiers at the time. This includes frost bite and the risk of avalanche in the winter, and lightning strikes and malaria in the summer.

The School of Medicine would like to congratulate Zeena and Sam on their excellent achievement and to thank Dr Neil Tarrant, the History of Medicine Course Director, and his team for all of their work on the course.

Nicole Barnes
Curriculum Administrator (BSc Pathways)
Faculty Education Office (Medicine)

PG Connections June Event: Professor David Nutt – Why Scientists Must Also be Revolutionaries

Dear Faculty of Medicine Postgraduate Students and Staff,

I would like to invite you to our next PG Connections Event which is on Wednesday 10 June at 17:30 (registration opens at 17.00) in Room G16 in the Alexander Fleming Building (South Kensington Campus). The highlight of the event will be a talk from Professor David Nutt, titled ‘Why Scientists Must Also be Revolutionaries’. As with all PG Connections events, the talk will be followed by a complimentary drinks reception.

Abstract

Most people think that the biggest problem to scientific and medical advances is the failure of funders, governments and the public to understand the value of what they do. I will demonstrate with examples from my own research career and those of others, that scientists themselves are often the enemy of progress and argue that we should always be challenging ourselves to think more creatively about the future goals of our disciplines.

About the Speaker

profnuttProfessor Nutt is the Edmond J Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology and Head of the Centre for Neuropsychopharmacology in the Division of Brain Sciences at Imperial. In addition to his many career achievements (including sitting on a number of high profile NHS and governmental committees), he has published over 400 original research papers, a similar number of reviews and book chapters, eight government reports on drugs and 27 books including Drugs Without the Hot Air, which won the Transmission Book Prize in 2014.

The event is free to Faculty of Medicine postgraduate students and staff. However, we do ask that you register in advance to help us assess numbers for catering purposes: https://imperialmed.wufoo.eu/forms/pg-connections-10-june-2015/


Andrea Almeida

PGT Admin
Faculty Education Office (Medicine)

Appointment of Head and Deputy of Years 3 and 6 Assessment

I am pleased to announce two important academic appointments:

Dr Amir Sam has been appointed Head of Years 3 and 6 Assessment, with Dr Neil Mo as his Deputy.

Amir, as many of you know, is a Consultant Physician and Endocrinologist at Hammersmith and Charing Cross Hospitals.  He is heavily involved in education, holding a number of roles including Head of Curriculum and Assessment Development and Director of Clinical Studies at Charing Cross.  He also represents the School at the Medical Schools Council Assessment Alliance.

Neil is a Consultant Rheumatologist at Charing Cross Hospital, where he is also the Site Lead for Rheumatology.  He is involved in both undergraduate and postgraduate medical education, and has held posts as Lead for Simulation Training and Foundation Programme Director within his Trust.

Miss Susan English
Director of Education Management and Programme Director
Faculty of Medicine