Funding for Precision Medicine research
Nearly £10 million has been awarded to four research projects over the next four years to improve the targeting of treatments for patients with serious illness.
NHS Lothian and NHS Tayside, with their associated universities of the University of Edinburgh and University of Dundee, are the successful research projects and will look at how treatments for those with diabetes, multiple sclerosis and liver disease, and patients in critical care, can be made more effective and targeted.
NHS Lothian and the University of Edinburgh will conduct research around critical care, liver disease and multiple sclerosis while NHS Tayside and the University of Dundee will carry out research relating to diabetes.
The £9.75 million funding has been made through Precision Medicine Alliance Scotland (PMAS) – a Programme for Government commitment to support research in precision medicine. Precision Medicine is the tailoring of medical treatment to the individual characteristics of each person.
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said:
“This research will tackle health conditions of major importance in Scotland, including diseases that disproportionately impact on those at risk of socioeconomic disadvantage. The results will help form a basis for us to look at how treatments can be targeted at those suffering from conditions which can be debilitating.
“Even in the midst of a global pandemic it is important that we continue to look to the future and ensure our health service is always delivering excellent, targeted healthcare, that delivers the best possible outcomes for patients. That is why investing in innovative areas like Precision Medicine is so important for Scotland’s NHS and the people it cares for.”
NHS Lothian has been awarded £6.94 million to deliver the following projects:
Precision-MS: Integrating Precision Metrics of Brain Health into Early Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis.
Lead Investigator: Professor David Hunt
Centre for Precision Cell Therapy for the Liver.
Lead Investigator: Professor Stuart Forbes
Director, University of Edinburgh’s Institute for Regeneration and Repair and Centre for Regenerative Medicine on Edinburgh BioQuarter
Time Critical Precision Medicine for Acute Critical Illness Using Treatable Trait Principles: Data Enabled Adaptive Platform Trial with Embedded Biological Characterisation.
Lead Investigator: Professor Manu Shankar-Hari
Chair in Translational Critical Care Medicine at the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Inflammation Research on Edinburgh BioQuarter
NHS Tayside has been awarded £2.81 million to deliver the following project:
The iDiabetes Platform: Enhanced Phenotyping of patients with diabetes for Precision Diagnosis, Prognosis and Treatment.
Lead Investigator: Professor Ewan Pearson.
