Funding is available through grants of up to five years, to create a diverse network of centrally coordinated and complementary gene therapy facilities in the UK. These hubs aim to amplify the discoveries of academic researchers, harnessing the capabilities, materials and resources that are essential to progressing innovative research towards patient trials.
MRC and LifeArc will provide funding to UK-based research organisations and/or businesses that will:
- Provide academics with access to GMP grade viral vector production capability for early phase clinical trials.
- Support translation of gene therapy projects from the academic lab into early clinical trials.
- Support skilled staff to coordinate innovative manufacturing research, drive generation of reproducible and shareable platforms and to enable dissemination of know-how and skilled personnel across a network of centres.
- Design and share commercially ready platforms, using common cell-lines, plasmids and reagents, to facilitate the transition between small scale ‘academic’ supply for phase I/II trials through to larger-scale downstream supply.
- Train and retain expert staff, growing the talent pool to fill the new high-value jobs which will be created and required by SMEs and industry.
Funded centres will form part of a centrally organised network to facilitate coordinated project selection, skills and training activities and engagement with the wider vector manufacturing and gene therapy communities.
Grants will pay for, but are not limited to, key staff posts and infrastructure costs. It is expected that applications may be of a range of sizes, ranging from smaller awards of £1-2m to repurpose or import additional platforms to existing facilities, to larger scale investment of £5-7m in new or expanded infrastructure. LifeArc and the MRC will not seek any financial return on these grants.
Application process
Funded centres will be identified as part of a three-stage process managed by LifeArc and the MRC.
Expressions of interest
Expressions of interest are invited from scientists by 16:00 on 1 June 2020 via viralvector@mrc.ukri.org. All expressions of interest will be assessed by a Steering Group. Feedback will be provided to applicants with a recommendation to combine separate bids where they are closely aligned.
- Launch of call
Successful applicants will be invited to a compulsory online workshop on 23 June 2020, the workshop will outline the scope and ambition of this initiative, and provide information on LifeArc’s translational advice service, which is available to funded Innovation Hubs. Applicants will also have an opportunity to ask questions and have 1:1 feedback on their expressions of interest. Attendance at the workshop will be confirmed on 8 June 2020.
- Submissions of applications
The submission deadline for full proposals is early September 2020. All applications will undergo UK and international peer review from scientific experts. Shortlisted applicants will undergo interview by an expert panel in November.
Funding decisions will be announced after the Funding Panel in November 2020.
Key dates
Given the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, some of the dates presented may be subject to change.
| Activity | Date |
| Pre-call announcement | April 2020 |
| Expressions of Interest Deadline | 1 June |
| Workshop (virtual) | 23 June |
| Call for proposals | June (tbc) |
| Proposal Deadline | 3 September 2020 |
| Funding Panel meet | November 2020 (tbc) |
Contact
For enquiries, please contact viralvector@mrc.ukri.org