Industry Funding Opportunities
This page contains information about current funding opportunities with Industry. If you are thinking of applying, please read all terms and conditions and feel free to get in touch with the named Oxford contact to talk more about the opportunity. Opportunities are not vetted at the stage of being included on this page. The page is updated on a monthly basis and is not exhaustive.
MERCK 2020 RESEARCH CHALLENGES
A series of research competitions for technology pioneers in areas of high innovation:
- compound synthesis
- high-k dielectric materials
- publication impact
- laboratory connectivity
Deadline: Various
Full details: https://www.merckgroup.com/en/research/open-innovation/2020-research-challenges.html
Translational Research Office Contact: anne-sophie.schillinger@medsci.ox.ac.uk
Pfizer Centers for Therapeutic Innovation call for proposals 2020
Pfizer pre-clinical collaborating core research focus areas: oncology, inflammation & immunology, internal medicine and rare diseases.
Non-confidential pre-proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis from 1 June – 28 September.
Opportunities related to DNA Damage Response and Replicative Stress such as:
- Chromatin and DNA damage response modulators in the context of nuclear or spatial organization (e.g. biochemical condensates)
- Novel targets identified via synthetic lethal, chemical biology or other approaches, including DNA repair enzymes (esp. nucleases), scaffolding factors and nucleic acid targets (R-loops, G-quadruplexes)
- DNA damage proteins associated with diseases such as cancer and repeat expansion diseases
Out-of-scope: cell therapies, antibody-drug conjugates, nucleic acid therapeutics
Opportunities that address the cause or treatment of Repeat Expansion Diseases, such as:
- Therapeutic targeting of the mutant gene
- Interventions that halt or reverse the somatic expansion of the repeating DNA sequences
- Novel mechanisms that modulate or regulate the pathological repeat
- Genetic modifiers of repeat instability or repeat contraction
Out-of-scope: therapeutic approaches that target/clear protein aggregates
Opportunities to target Cellular Senescence, including senolytic and senomomorphic approaches such as:
- Induction or targeting of senescent-like arrest of tumor cells to overcome drug resistance and/or improve immune response to solid tumors
- Novel senescence targets related to fibrosis, specifically mechanisms responsible for modulating fibroblasts/myofibroblasts function and tissue remodeling by stem/tissue progenitor cells
- Targeting of senescence pathways in tissue resident immune cells in the liver, lung, skin, joints, and gastrointestinal tract that contribute to disease
Out-of-scope: telomeres/telomerase targeting approaches, age-related dysfunction
Opportunities related to Tissue-Immune System Crosstalk in disease pathology including:
- Targets/pathways that induce immune tolerance by modulation of unique or accessory regulatory cells including macrophages (Mregs), B cells (Bregs), and tolerogenic dendritic cells (tolDCs)
- Novel inflammatory pathways/targets in tissue-resident innate, parenchymal, and stromal cell populations including fibroblasts, stem/tissue progenitors, neutrophils and macrophages
Out-of-scope: cell and gene therapies
Rolling deadline until Monday 28 September 2020
MSD Business Partnerships Office contact: martin.kerr@medsci.ox.ac.uk