Medical and Life Sciences Translational Fund
The Medical and Life Sciences Translational Fund (MLSTF) is open to all University of Oxford researchers and provides consolidated internal proof of concept funding for translational medical and life sciences projects.
Given the recent success of the Translational Research Office (TRO) in increasing the funding volume available to the Medical and Life Sciences Translational Fund (MLSTF), we are pleased to announce an earlier return of the next round for MLSTF. MLSTF supports proof-of-concept projects at the early stages of translation that are of high risk but with potential of high reward. It funds researchers to accelerate the transition from discovery research to translational development projects by supporting preliminary work or feasibility studies to establish the viability of a translational approach.
This fund does not support exploratory basic science.
MLSTF is a consolidated fund comprising devolved funding from MRC Impact Acceleration Account, Wellcome IP Revenue Retention Funds, NIHR BRC Revenue Funds, with some additional aligned funding. In 2025, the project managed fund will be in the region of £1M to ‘pump-prime’ the translation of novel therapeutics, devices, diagnostics and other therapeutic interventions (including ‘repurposing of existing therapies’) toward clinical testing.
In addition, we are pleased to confirm facilitated co-funding opportunities with Cancer Research Horizons (CRUK), and EPSRC IAA (administered by the MPLS Impact Office).
Key Highlights
- Maximum funding volume per project up to £85k
- A dedicated route termed “Emerging Translational Innovators (ETI)” which provides an opportunity for early career researchers to use this fund as a stepping stone towards independently pursuing their translational research endeavours*.
- Maximum number of applications permitted up to three per applicant (as PI, or Co-I)
Remit
The fund supports goal-oriented translational research projects with a strong scientific rationale and which meet a clear and important translational medical need. Projects should also demonstrate distinct advantages over competing translational approaches that are in development or are already available in the marketplace. Projects should aim to provide sufficient preliminary data to establish proof of concept, strategic merit in a translational context, or the viability of a translational approach (i.e. to provide confidence in the underlying concept, before seeking more substantial funding from other sources), such as MRC Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme (DPFS), or equivalent schemes from other funders, or from industry. An explicit outcome of the award of MLSTF is that projects should subsequently be strong candidates for external follow-on translational funding.
To be competitive, the project proposal should identify a critical path for generating preliminary proof-of-concept data that supports moving to the next stage of translation. The project should be milestone-based with clearly articulated and quantifiable markers, which will form the basis of a rigorous monitoring process that will take place throughout the project's lifetime.
All modalities of therapy and diagnostics including engineering/medical technology, bioinformatics approaches, and research tools that increase the efficiency of developing interventions are welcomed.
Examples of activities supported by the MLSTF include:
- Candidate therapeutic entities such as drug discovery. (Mechanism of action (MoA) can be included as part of the critical path to translation but a standalone proposal on MoA will not be considered in remit).
- Vaccines for infectious or non-infectious diseases
- Biologics (antibodies, peptides, proteins)
- Advanced therapy medicinal products (gene therapy, T cell therapy, a tissue engineered product)
- Regenerative medicine approaches
- Repurposing clinical studies or using existing therapies for new indications
- Medical devices
- Digital healthcare, app development or Artificial Intelligence
- Diagnostics (including biomarker validation)
- Medical imaging technology
- Behavioral and psychological interventions
- Radiotherapy and radiation protocols
- Interventions benefit health in low and middle-income countries.
Activities NOT supported by MLSTF:
- Identification or discovery of targets
- Exploratory science without pre-existing background data
- Candidate screening stage
- Mechanisms of action as a standalone project
- Fundamental sciences work
Read an example of an outstanding proposal which has been recently awarded by the MLSTF committee panel. The proposal entitled: “Evaluation of the efficacy of an mRNA-based multi-antigen vaccine against tuberculosis (TB) disease in guinea pigs" received MLSTF funding in March 2024 to Dr Elena Stylianou and Professor Helen McShane.
Applications demonstrating academic-industry collaboration are particularly encouraged, principles and policies of an MRC Industry Collaboration Framework (ICF) should be followed, with heads of terms being agreed with partners prior to application submission. Please contact your local Research Services team who will be able to assist with this. Where the partner is an existing or prospective spinout, there must be a strong and clear case that the proposed project is a new stream of work and not additional development of the initial technology that was licenced to the spinout. It should also be clear that the spinout is the most appropriate company to support this particular project. A clear statement of how conflict of interest will be managed must be included.
Emerging Translational Innovators (ETI)
* Please note, the remit around the dedicated MLSTF-ETI route, with the ETI being the principal applicant, is as follows:
- ETIs here are defined as Oxford employed-, early career researchers which includes post-doctoral researcher, clinical researchers, or junior group leaders within the first few years of independence and/or on their first permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract.
- Volume of funding available is up to £50K, for projects lasting 6-8 months in duration.
- The ETI must consult and inform the TRO at grant application stage that they are considering applying as an ETI applicant. The TRO will support the ETI to draft the most compelling proposal and provide access to the relevant training material and resources available.
- The ETI must obtain approval from their PI/line manager confirming support and/or permission to undertake the proposed activity stated in the application, subject to award recommendation by the MLSTF committee.
- The ETI will be required to officially identify a mentor who will support the ETI and their proposed research workplan.
- The ETI together with the mentor is required to carve out the expected skill sets to gain/develop during the proposal and how this application would support the ETIs future aspirations.
- ETIs must use the main MLSTF case for support application but with the above outlined limits on funding volume and project duration.
Format
It is envisaged that the available funds will finance in the region of 11-13 projects, with the Translational Research Office (TRO) providing project management support for the scheme and projects where appropriate.
Funding available from MLSTF will be up to £85k per project (for non-ETI applicants) and up to £50k (for ETI applicants); awards will be made from MLSTF for direct costs only. Whilst a ‘match’ contribution is not mandatory, it is strongly encouraged. The cost of individual projects in this case can be up to £170k with applicants being required to demonstrate at least 50% matching from another source of the direct costs awarded. If your research scope falls within the interest areas of Cancer Research UK, an expression of interest form (EOI) will be required. Please see below for more details.
Projects should be in the region of 6-12 months (for non-ETI applicants) and 6-8 months (for ETI applicants), with funding for 12-month projects requiring full justification. Awards must commence within 1 month of the award being issued. All projects must be completed within 1 year of the start date and/or in line with overarching MRC grant conditions. Please ensure that your project is scheduled accordingly, and that the timeline is appropriate to the objectives and milestones set out.
Please note funding will not support: entire translational projects; bridging funding or PhD studentships; continuation of normal research grants; and costs relating to protection of intellectual property. Please also note that PI or co-applicant salary is not an eligible cost. DPhil students and Postdoctoral researchers can be named as Co-Is on an MLSTF application. However, to be eligible to do so, no MLSTF funds can contribute to their salary or studentship and their contract with the university, or studentship must last longer than the end date of the MLSTF award. Awards will be managed from the Translational Research Office on behalf of the University. Applications, scores and reviewer comments may be shared with other internal University panels to ensure maximum value for money.
Award conditions apply, including acceptance of a ‘mid-term’ review meeting with the Translational Research Office and a panel of experts to discuss progress made towards milestones, as well as commitment to providing yearly progress report forms post-MLSTF. Failing to do so can result in jeopardising your chances of receiving future funding through schemes managed by the Translational Research Office. Additionally, applicants who have been awarded THREE successful MLSTF applications are required to present their innovation at the Translational Research Symposium as an example and valuable resource for other applicants to reach their value of inflection points.
Innovation Co-funding Strands
If your project aligns with any of the innovation collaborator’s research priority areas listed below and to facilitate the co-development of projects with an appropriate Cancer Research Horizons investigator, Oxford-based researchers should submit a non-confidential Expression of Interest (EOI) to the Translational Research Office (TRO) by 5pm on Thursday 16 January 2025. Please go to the Expression of Interest page to complete the respective Expression of Interest form.
This EOI should provide a summary of the proposed project, including a summary of supporting background data, objectives and proposed outcomes of the project and a justification for support explaining how your proposal is aligned to the priority areas of Cancer Research Horizons, as identified below. It is anticipated that Cancer Research Horizons will be co-funding (50% contribution) up to one project.
In addition to the innovation co-funding streams detailed below, we have one further co-funding opportunity available to Oxford researchers (SSO required).
Co-funding with Cancer Research Horizons Innovation Fund (CRHIF)
The TRO is pleased to announce the continuation of the CRHIF innovation stream this year with the anticipation to co-fund (50% contribution) one project. Cancer Research Horizons is CRUK’s Drug Discovery, Development and Commercialisation Company. This funding will specifically support the translation of CRUK-funded research projects only. Applicants will have an opportunity to leverage Cancer Research Horizons’ Project Development Fund after endorsement by Cancer Research Horizons at the EOI stage. A key requirement for this funding strand is that the funding would need to be used to deliver key go/no-go experiments garnering data for a key inflection point to enable the next step in translational development/commercialisation. It is expected that the investigator would be willing to work with Cancer Research Horizons to develop the IP and development strategy of the novel technology.
Co-funding with EPSRC IAA
Healthcare technology projects that overlap with underpinning research funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) would be considered for co-funding support with EPSRC IAA.
NIHR BRC Revenue Funds
The TRO has received funds from the NIHR which provides an opportunity for clinical academic researchers working within the Trust with honorary contracts with an Oxford University department to access these funds for executing translational research with a direct focus on clinical translation and human specimen-based studies. Animal work is NOT permitted within these proposals. Applications that fall under this remit must select the NIHR research area option in the main case for support application form. It is anticipated that the NIHR BRC will be co-funding (50% contribution) up to two projects.
Eligibility
Any researcher from the University holding a contract extending to at least the end of the proposed project may apply, assuming they have host departmental approval. Applicants should clarify their eligibility with departments, and departmental approvers are required to check eligibility of their applicants before advancing any applications. The Committee welcomes applications from Early Career Researchers and applicants seeking to establish individual research careers should they fit this criterion – such applicants are encouraged to select the ETI option and complete relevant sections within the case for support application form.
How to Apply
Applicants should complete an online application through IRAMS, which requests information about the principal applicant and any co-applicants or editors, a lay summary (non-confidential – please see resources available on TRO website for writing a succinct and impactful lay summary), a financial breakdown of your proposal (X5 report must be appended) and a case for support form uploaded to the IRAMS application system. You must incorporate all requested components of the case for support into one document (see below) and upload this in the template provided on IRAMS as a PDF. IRAMS Guidance in the form of quick reference guide documents for applicants, departmental approvers and administrators can be found on Research Support pages.
Please note that applications must be reviewed and approved in IRAMS by a Departmental Approver before they will be reviewed by the Committee; the advertised application deadline is the deadline for final submission to the MLSTF Committee. Departments may set an earlier internal deadline to allow for departmental review, so please check with your local admin team and submit your application to your Departmental Approver in advance of the advertised deadline.
If you require an accessible version of either of these documents, please email translationalresearchoffice@medsci.ox.ac.uk.
Applicants are strongly advised to use the ‘Guidance for Applicants’ document on ‘What are the panel looking for?’ hints under each section of the case for support form when completing your application.
Read an example of an outstanding proposal which has been recently awarded by the MLSTF committee panel.
A case for support (four pages max.) and CVs (one page max. each PI & CoI) for all applicants named in the application must be appended to the IRAMS application form in addition to a comprehensive Gantt chart (1 page max).
The case for support must include:
- A 250-word abstract of the proposal requesting MLSTF funding
- Project objectives and proposed outcomes, including information about proposed development milestones and potential next steps following completion of the project to include, for example, sources of follow-on funding, plans for commercialization;
- A timeline for your project, aligning with milestones to demonstrate that these are realistic both in terms of the objectives set and the time necessary to achieve them; identification of ‘critical path’;
- A justification for support explaining how your proposal is aligned with the remit and objectives of the Fund;
- Details of any industrial engagement in your project and plans to advance this; applicants with any relevant associations to University of Oxford spinouts must submit a declaration of an appropriate conflict management plan on their MLSTF Case for Support form to ensure governance review.
- IP status: Are third parties involved and how will IP be managed with respect to these collaborators?
- A description of any matched funding secured.
The deadline for submission of MLSTF applications through IRAMS is Monday 24 February 2025 at 12 pm UK time.
Reviewing Guidelines
Projects will be scored from 0-9 (0=lowest; 9=highest) based on their potential for transition from discovery research to translational development through preliminary work or feasibility studies. Please refer to the ‘What are the panel looking for?’ hints under each section of the case for support form when completing your application.
Panel scores and definitions
Score |
Score definitions |
9 |
The application is exceptional; it very strongly meets all of the assessment criteria to the highest standard. The panel agrees that it is difficult to articulate how the application could be improved. |
8 |
The application is outstanding; it very strongly meets all of the assessment criteria. |
7 |
The application is excellent; it strongly meets all of the assessment criteria. |
6 |
The application is very good; it meets the assessment criteria well but with some minor weaknesses/limitations. |
5 |
The application is good; it meets the assessment criteria well but with some clear weaknesses/limitations. |
4 |
The application is adequate; it meets the assessment criteria but with clear weaknesses/limitations. |
3 |
The application is weak; it meets the assessment criteria but with significant weaknesses/limitations. |
2 |
The application is poor; it meets the assessment criteria but has major weaknesses/limitations. |
1 |
The application is unsatisfactory; it does not meet one or more of the assessment criteria. |
0 |
The application is unsatisfactory; it does not meet any of the assessment criteria. |
Reviewers are asked to consider the following criteria when assessing your project(s):
Strength of rationale and quality of science
- Objective and Approach: Is the proposed approach an effective way of meeting the plan’s objectives and is it based on a good scientific rationale? How innovative is the plan, or is it a tried and tested approach? Is the preliminary data promising and robust?
Unmet medical need
- Is there a clear clinical impact and unmet need? If the need is not significant now, will it become so in the future? Would meeting this need significantly reduce disease burden and/or provide a valuable commercial opportunity and/or alleviate an important development bottleneck?
Project planning and execution
- Project Plan: Does the plan propose reasonable go/no-go milestones? Do the milestones follow the SMART principle? Are the milestone timings appropriate and are the success criteria necessary and sufficient to judge progression? Are the proposed probabilities of milestones being met reasonable?
- Project and Risk Management: Do the applicants have or likely will have the necessary project management experience to deliver the plan? Has the individual or group established a high-quality track record in the field? Does the applicant have the relevant team/expertise in place to deliver the proposed milestones?
- Resource requirements, deliverability and Environment: Has the team identified and secured reasonable access to necessary resources/skills? Has the applicant recognised appropriate stakeholders (such as industry partners and key academic collaborators) to contribute in propelling the translational activity of the project? Is the budget realistic for the scale and complexity of the project? Have the applicants set out a clear and reasonable case for the requested levels of staffing and overall resources?
Future commercial opportunity or potential clinical, societal or global health impact
- Competition and market: Have the applicant identified the key competing solutions and their status or are they aware of other similar or complementary research underway elsewhere? Has the applicant identified the key competitive advantages/USPs of their proposed solution? Is the cost higher than for competing solutions? Have safety and tolerability been considered? How likely is it that the proposed solution, if achieved, would be widely adopted?
IP position
- Intellectual Property: Is there an appropriate intellectual property strategy in place to optimise the chances of downstream funding/partnering and ultimate exploitation? Is the research academic-led where industry is involved?
Downstream project planning/support:
- Likelihood of developing a full proposal to be submitted to the MRC DPFS award scheme, or similar follow-on funding schemes, within the required timescale and budget.
- Does the applicant have a clear plan towards clinical impact /commercialisation following completion of MLSTF?
Should ethics and/or home office approvals be required for the projects, priority will be given to those applications that already have these in place.
Applications will be reviewed by the MLSTF Committee, chaired by Dr Nessa Carey. Please note, the Committee membership comprises both internal academic and external commercial experts to ensure robust, vigorous review in line with funder recommendations. Prospective applicants should be aware that your data will be access by an international panel that may be abroad. All external members are required to sign a CDA prior to reviewing applications. Applications submitted by ETIs will be ranked and reviewed separately to non-ETI applications.
Further information on Committee membership
The panel meeting is anticipated to be held w/c 24 March 2025. Applicants will be notified by 1 April 2025 of the outcome. Award letters will be sent out by 4 April 2025. Due to the hard spending deadline of funders sources supporting the MLSTF award, work must commence within 1 weeks (11 April 2025) of the award letter unless otherwise agreed with the TRO. If awarded, projects must be fully spent by 31 March 2026, and no further extension will be possible.
Further information
All potential applicants are encouraged to discuss their proposed projects with the TRO (translationalresearchoffice@medsci.ox.ac.uk).
Watch Tips for MLSTF videos on the TRO website.
The TRO can also assist with finding suitable collaborators and sourcing appropriate support and expertise through the Experts in Residence (ExIR) programme.
Applicants are also encouraged to discuss their proposal with Oxford University Innovation (OUI) well in advance of submission. OUI will be able to advise and support on the industry engagement and IP aspects of bids as well as the potential for match funding through the UCSF scheme.
For any further information regarding this scheme please contact: translationalresearchoffice@medsci.ox.ac.uk
Key dates
Expression of interest for Innovation Co-funding Strand
- Opens: 16 December 2024
- Deadline: 16 January 2025
MLSTF
- Opens: 16 December 2024
- Deadline: 24 February 2025
- Panel meeting: 24 March 2025
- Outcome: 1 April 2025
- Award letter sent: 4 April 2025
- Work must commence by: 11 April 2025
- Expression of interest (EOI) for Innovation co-funding strand deadline: 16 January 2025
- MLSTF deadline: 24 February 2025
For enquiries about the MLSTF or to discuss your application please contact a member of the Translational Research Office.
Chair
Dr Nessa Carey, Entrepreneur in Residence (EiR), Medical Sciences Division
Members
- Professor Helen McShane (Vice-Chair): Professor of Vaccinology, Nuffield Department of Medicine
- Dr Oliver Harrison: Entrepreneur in Residence, Koa Health
- Professor Matthew Wood: Professor of Neuroscience, Dept of Paediatrics
- Professor Sue Ann Costa Clemens CBE: Professor of Global Health, Paediatric Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, Department of Paediatrics
- Professor Antony Galione: Professor of Pharmacology, Dept of Pharmacology
- Professor Fadi Issa: Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery, Nuffield Dept of Surgical Sciences
- Professor Eleanor Stride: Professor of Biomaterials, Dept of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences
- Professor Paresh Vyas: Professor of Haematology, Radcliffe Department of Medicine
- Professor David Clifton: Department of Engineering Science
- Dr Jan Wolber: GE Healthcare
- Dr Laura Ferguson, AstraZeneca
- Dr Toni Day
- Dr Paul Cox: Apellis Pharmaceuticals
- Dr Giles Sanders: TTP
- Dr Gill Shuttleworth: Cancer Research Horizons
- Dr Helen Fletcher: Johnson & Johnson
- Dr Gillian Tannahill: Johnson & Johnson
- Dr Liisa Christy: Oxford University Innovation
- Dr Simon Warner: Oxford University Innovation
- Dr Heather Roxborough: Oxford Science Enterprises
- Dr Claire Brown: Oxford Science Enterprise
Secretariat
- Dr Deepak Kumar: Head of TRO
- Dr Kavita S Subramaniam: Translational Research Manager, TRO
- Anna Camera: Translational Research Manager, TRO
- Quyen Tran, Translational Partnership Manager, TRO
- Dr Oliver Rughani-Hindmarch: Translational Research Coordinator, TRO
- Vlada Yarosh: Translational Research Coordinator, TRO
- Deborah Thomas: Translational Research Administrator, TRO
- Afroditi Tsourgianni: Translational Research Finance Administrator, TRO
All secretariat members are members of the Translational Research Office, Medical Sciences Division.
Minutes from the MLSTF Committee Meeting that took place for the previous round of the MLSTF call in November 2024 will be uploaded in due time.
Developing a novel dengue vaccine
Professor Arturo Reyes-Sandoval (Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine) was awarded funding for his project to develop a new vaccine against dengue fever.
Modulating circadian rhythm disruption
Dr Sridhar Vasudevan (Department of Pharmacology) received funding to investigate a series of drugs which could be used to modulate and treat circadian rhythm disorders.
Developing slow-wave activity saturation as a marker of depth of anaesthesia
Dr Katie Warnaby (Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences) received funding to develop a new technique for measuring depth of anaesthesia in patients.
The following projects were funded by the Medical and Life Sciences Translational Fund in November 2024:
- Cell-Permeant Antibodies and Other Biomacromolecules to Treat Cancer - Vallis, Katherine (Oncology)
- Further evaluation of the efficacy of a novel mirtron-based knockdown/replacement gene therapy for the mutation-independent treatment of RHO-related autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa - MacLaren, Robert (Clinical Neurosciences)
- UniClo: Universal DNA assembly - development as a completely cell-free process. - O'callaghan, Christopher (The Centre for Human Genetics)
- Microvascular imaging for drug development trials - Lapidaire, Winok (RDM Cardiovascular Medicine)
- Can we target CLIC5 on fibroblasts to control the tissue-damage in inflamed joints? - Bezbradica Mirkovic, Jelena (NDORMS – Kennedy)
- Development of bispecific macrophages engagers as cancer vaccines by promoting tumour antigen cross-presentation - Seymour, Leonard W (Oncology)
- Lineage-targeted iron blockade - developing a therapeutic platform, with POC in polycythaemia vera - Drakesmith, Alexander (RDM Investigative Medicine)
- Rescuing genetic cardiomyopathy through disruption of TPNI/PDE interaction - Chao, Ying-Chi (Physiology Anatomy and Genetics)
- A novel therapeutic for radiotherapy-induced oral mucositis - Ruan, Jia-Ling, Oncology
- Validation of a Novel Dynamic Joint Assessment System for Orthopaedics - Mellon, Stephen (NDORMS – Botnar)
- Evaluating single visit post-exposure prophylaxis treatment for rabies, using a novel rabies vaccine - Ritchie, Adam (Jenner Institute)
- uORF-adenine base editing for therapeutic BDNF upregulation, Roberts, Thomas, Paediatrics
- Novel amphiphilic cell-penetrating peptide for efficient and safe delivery of therapeutic oligonucleotide - Wood, Matthew J A (Paediatrics)
- Pre-clinical evaluation of an Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) vaccine for the prevention of Burkitt's lymphoma relapse - Leung, Carol Sze Ki (Centre for Immuno-Oncology)
- Engineering a mechanochemical T cell expansion technology: In vivo animal model validation - Fritzsche, Marco (NDORMS – Kennedy)
- CD8+CD103+ Tissue resident memory T cells from human malignant pleural effusion as an Advanced Therapy Medicinal Product - translational studies to move towards human trials. - Rahman, Najib (NDM Experimental Medicine)
- Next generation HIV-specific broadly neutralising antibody discovery through massively deep B cell repertoire sequencing of HIV controllers - Frater, John (RDM Experimental Medicine)