Of the 712 proposals submitted this year, around 10% were successful. The grants are worth around €10.3 million each, and will support groups of researchers to tackle some of the most challenging scientific questions.
Among them there is one from the Medical Sciences Division:
MINerVA
Professor Ellie Tzima (Radcliffe Department of Medicine) will be co-leading the MINerVA project (Mechanobiology of IntraNervous Vasculature).
Problems with the peripheral nervous system — the network of nerves outside the brain and spinal cord — can cause pain, numbness, and disability in people, affecting millions of people worldwide. Understanding how nerves and blood vessels talk to each other could help us repair nerve damage faster, and better treat illnesses related to diabetes, cancer treatments, or injuries.
The MINeRVA project will tackle this gap by mapping the cells and molecules that make up the peripheral nerves.
The team, made up of experts in neuroscience, vascular biology, mechanobiology, and nanotechnology, aims to:
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Unravel the mechanisms by which nerves and blood vessels communicate with each other,
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Show how peripheral nerves sense everyday movement and blood flow,
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Develop new ways to send drugs directly to nerve cells.
Congratulations to all the awardees!
Read the full story on the University of Oxford website.