Grants Policy

Information on our Grants Policy is contained in the following documents:

  1. Research Strategy
  2. Scientific Advisory Committee Constitution
  3. Conflict of Interest Policy
  4. Use of Animals in Research
Wessex Medical Trust is a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC). All AMRC members support the AMRC policy on the use of animals in research which can be found at  http://www.amrc.org.uk/position-statement-on-the-use-of-animals-in-research

Current Grant Offers

Applications are invited form early career researchers for five Innovation Grants of up to £20,000 each.  The Notice for Applications is attached here and the Application Form is attached here.

Recent Grants Awarded

2024

Dr Matthew Blunt  (supervisor)  £110,000

Faculty of Medicine

PhD studentship 

Spatial Transcriptomic Analysis of Immune Cell: Cancer Cell interactions in a 3D Lymph Node Model.

Dr Tim Fenton  (supervisor)  £59,880

Faculty of Medicine

PhD studentship jointly funded with the Centre for Cancer Immunology

Establishing 3D culture model systems to study how inflammation subverts control of cell fate during carcinogenesis.

Dr Emily Gwyer Findlay  (supervisor)  £53,988

Faculty of the Environment and Life Sciences

PhD studentship jointly funded with Rosetrees Trust

Investigating human T cell development in lymph nodes.

Professor Mark Young  (supervisor)  £47,014

Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences

PhD studentship jointly funded with a Tizard studentship

Fatigue risk management in healthcare: a wake-up call.

2023

Dr Jane Cleal  (supervisor)  £50,000

Faculty of Medicine

PhD studentship jointly funded with Rosetrees Trust

Can endometrial gland structure and function help us understand why some women are more at risk of miscarriage than others?

Dr Jane Gibson  (supervisor)  £55,000

Faculty of Medicine

PhD studentship jointly funded with the Centre for Cancer Immunology

Investigating the genomic structure, regulation and function of the low affinity FCGR cluster to improve cancer immunotherapy

Professor Jonathan Swann  (supervisor)  £110,000

Faculty of Medicine

PhD studentship

Calculating neonatal biochemical age at the bedside to transform paediatric nutrition.

Dr Ella Baker     £15,100

Faculty of Medicine

Innovation Grant

Understanding the anti-inflammatory actions of pinolenic acid, a sustainable alternative to EPA and DHA.

Dr George Williams   £19,984

Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences

Innovation Grant

Polymer conjugates for advanced imaging and drug delivery to study and treat pancreatic ductal adenocarcenoma.

Dr Colleen Deane     £19,600

Faculty of Medicine

Innovation Grant

Using metabolomics to uncover novel biological markers of, and targeted nutritional interventions to offset, age-related musculoskeletal decline.

Dr Jodie Ackland     £19,878

Faculty of Medicine

Innovation Grant

Using triple RNASeq to investigate macrophage-bacterial-viral interactions during co-infection

Dr Ysobel Baker     £19,785

Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences

Innovation Grant

A new class of RNA degrading therapeutic oligonucleotides

2022

Dr Juliet Gray (supervisor)  £55,000

Faculty of Medicine

PhD Studentship jointly funded with the Centre for Cancer Immunology

Enhancing anti-GD2 chemo-immunotherapy in pre-clinical neuroblastoma models.

Professor Karen Lillycrop (supervisor) £31,386

Faculty of the Environment and Life Sciences

PhD Studensthip jointly funded with Rosetrees Trust

Identifying the causes of muscle stem cell aging and novel therapeutics strategies

Dr Yury Bogdanov  (supervisor)  £55,000

Faculty of Medicine

PhD Studentship jointly funded with the Centre for Cancer Immunology

Deciphering the role of GABAergic signalling in tumour vascularization.

Dr Niall Hanrahan     £17,917

Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences

Innovation Grant

Raman-on-a-chip for label-free and culture-free identification of VBNCs

Dr Jade Forster     £19,943

Faculty of Medicine

Innovation Grant

Identifying the underlying molecular mechanisms and alterations of the high-risk neuroblastoma tumour microenvironment in TH-MYCN mice treated with anti-GD2 antibody therapy.

Dr Andrew Shapanis    £19,900

Faculty of the Environment and Life Sciences

Innovation Grant

Development and optimisation of a serum based early cancer diagnostic system.

2021

Dr Zöe Walters (supervisor) £50,000

Faculty of Medicine

PhD Studentship jointly funded with Rosetrees Trust

Investigating the therapeutic efficacy of EZH2 inhibitors for the treatment of diseases with pathogenic histone modifying enzyme mutations.

Dr Adnan Khan £19,933

Faculty of Medicine

A clinical study evaluating biomarkers of immunosenescence in the progression of Age Related Macular Degeneration (The Immuno AMD Study)

AMD is the most common cause of blindness in the developed world and affects the central retina, a part of the central nervous system.  This study will aim to help diagnose with a simple blood test which AMD patients are likely to progress before patients develop the sight-threatening form of the disease.

Dr Franklin de Nobrega £20,000

Faculty of the Environment and Life Sciences

Using phages to give new life to old antibiotics against superbugs

Human health can change dramatically due to the emergence of untreatable, antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections.  If left unaddressed, this problem has the  potential to make even  minor bacterial infections and routine surgery life-threatening.  This study will aim to exploit the ability of viruses to attack  bacteria to increase the susceptibility of bacterial cells to antibiotics.

Dr Nicole Prior £20,000

Faculty of the Environment and Life Sciences

Chemically defined biomimetic hydrogels to support human liver and pancreas organoids for the development of clinical therapies

Organoids are human tissue cell clusters grown in 3D conditions in the laboratory which can overcome the inaccessibility of live human samples in various organs of the body.  A key component of organoid systems is the extracellular matrix (ECM) which acts as a  structure to support the 3D culture.  However, the ECMs for pancreas and liver organoids are not chemically defined and this study will aim to overcome that limitation and provide a more reliable arena in which to undertake this specific type of research.

2020

Dr Edd James (supervisor) £50,000  

Faculty of Medicine

PhD Studentship jointly funded with the Centre for Cancer Immunology Talent Fund

Understanding the relationship between the breadth of the anti–cancer CD8 T cell response and successful immunotherapy.

Dr Rob Ewing (supervisor) £40,228

Faculty of the Environmental & Life Sciences

PhD Studentship jointly funded with Rosetrees Trust

Understanding the molecular mechanisms of Zika virus – driven oncolysis of brain tumour stem cells

2019

Dr Ali Roghanian (supervisor) £98,473
Faculty of Medicine

PhD Studentship

The role of FcgRIIb in alpha-synuclein toxicity and propagation through the brain in Parkinson’s Disease

Dr Matthew Loxham (supervisor) £100,000

Faculty of Medicine

PhD Studentship

Toxicity of Particulate Emissions from Braking Systems – A Potential Role in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

Dr Matthew Rose-Zerilli (supervisor) £50,000
Faculty of Medicine

PhD Studentship jointly funded with the Centre for Cancer Immunology Talent Fund

The tumour micro-­environment as a determinant of antigen presentation and immune response in oesophageal cancer.