College of Medical and Dental Sciences
Research and Knowledge Transfer Office
Newsletter
Issue 8
June 2012
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Research News
Fellows Symposium Success 4th May 2012
The first Fellows Symposium of the School of Immunity and Infection was a completely
full house and feedback to the day was so positive that it will now become an annual
event. The symposium was instigated by Head of School Professor David Adams and
Deputy Head of School Janet Lord, as a forum to promote the outstanding research of
the School’s many talented Fellows. Other objectives were to inspire and encourage
interaction between colleagues who would not normally come into contact with each
other, and highlight the opportunities that spring from fellowship positions.
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Leukaemia
Fellows presenting from left: Tim Wells, Shishir Shetty, Amy Naylor, Vass Bavro, Maria Ulvmar, Paloma
Garcia, David Withers, Francesca Barone, Zania Stamataki, Ye Oo, David Mason.
The School of Immunity and Infection has gone through, and is continuing to go
through, a period of transition and growth and is now based over various locations
including the Institute for Biomedical Research, the Centre for Translational
Inflammation at the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the Clinical Immunology Service and
the new Institute for Microbiology and Infection (in the Biosciences building). The
School undertakes a really diverse range of research and offers an extraordinary
knowledge and skill base available to be shared and utilised – and people are more than
willing to share this knowledge!
Those lucky enough to receive a fellowship over the next year should expect an
invitation to present at the Symposium in 2013! Comments included “the breadth and
quality of research was really impressive and of an international quality”, “it really
captured the diversity and quality of the research carried out in the School”, “it gave me
novel ideas for experiments and made me aware of groups that might be able to help”,
and “seeing the success of the fellows who presented has strongly inspired me”.
For more information about the Fellows Symposium please contact Donna Wiles, School
of Immunity and Infection.
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Clinical Practice Research Datalink Launches to Improve Health Research
The Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) is a newly-launched e-health research
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service that will help to improve public health, develop new treatments for patients
faster and attract investment in the economy of the UK medical sector. As a key part of
the Government’s Plan for Growth, it combines the expertise of the Medicines and
Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) General Practice Research Database
(GPRD) and the Department of Health’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)
Research Capability Programme The CPRD will be hosted and managed by the MHRA,
and build on the current support for researchers already in place across a number of
areas including:
 Data services: Access to data for researchers (NHS, social care and others); data
matching and linkage services, data validation.
 Interventional research services: Feasibility checks; site and patient level
recruitment; biological sample collection and linkage.
 Research services: Advice on research methodology and governance;
consultancy services including patient and/or healthcare professional input.
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PLUS UK Clinical Trials Gateway Update Launched
The NIHR has launched an update to the UK Clinical Trials Gateway. The Gateway brings
together information about current health research trials from a variety of sources
which can then be searched to find out more about the trials that are taking place in the
UK. The latest update increases the amount of simple and easy to understand summary
information describing each trial. Versions of the UK Clinical Trials Gateway are also now
available for the iPhone, iPad and Android devices.
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Calling All Project or Programme Managers!
We would be very happy to hear from you, if you are a project or programme manager
within the College of Medical and Dental Sciences. We would like to establish a support
network for individuals in these roles and we will be holding the first meeting of our
group on a date to be arranged in June. Please contact Claire Potter or Jo Foster for
more details if you are interested and/or would like to attend.
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A Note on Novel from the Technology Transfer Team
Do you have a “novel” finding? If so, is your first thought (a) or (b)…
(a) Brilliant, I must publish and tell the world.
(b) Brilliant, I must publish and tell the world, but perhaps I should quickly discuss
my findings with the technology transfer office first...
The University understands the importance of publishing but remains keen to ensure
premature disclosure does not destroy the patentability of intellectual property (IP).
Public disclosure of novel data or ideas, such as the publication of a paper, talking at a
conference or discussions with collaborators outside the University, may mean that
protection cannot be sought. In some cases this will affect the attractiveness for further
downstream funding of your work. And critically, funding bodies are increasingly
recognising the importance of protecting IP and require IP to be proactively managed.
So, to help us help you, next time you draft a conference abstract or paper and use the
word “novel”, if you could send a copy to Claire Fenlon before distributing externally, it
would be greatly appreciated. This type of confidential disclosure will allow the
University’s technology transfer company, Alta Innovations, to assess the IP and decide
whether protection should be sought prior to publication. Importantly, as long as you
give us reasonable notice, we will ensure that we don't delay publication.
Remember: Proactive management of intellectual property protects downstream
funding - enabling continued research - resulting in ongoing publications!
Result = Everybody’s happy!
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Research in Focus
Do you think European research funding is simply for a small group of well
networked researchers? Think again.
FP7 will spend €9billion in 2012/2013 and there is still plenty of money available for you
for health research, as well as for individual research fellowships and training!
The current health call will fund imaging technologies, therapeutic vaccines, antibiotic
resistance, stem cell therapy, animal and human models of disease and ageing,
metagenomics, personalized medicine, traumatic brain injury and other neurological
disorders, ageing, stratified medicine, infectious diseases, health promotion and
prevention.
Looking at post doctoral funding, please consider the Marie Curie fellowships to bring
non-UK based researchers (from the EU or outside) to Birmingham for 2 years. The Intra
European Fellowships (IEF) programme is for EU based researchers, whereas the
International Incoming Fellowship (IIF) funding stream is open to researchers outside
the EU.
If you have an innovative and novel research idea, you could also think about applying
to the European Research Council (ERC). ERC starter grants are ideal for investigators
with between two and seven years since PhD, and ERC consolidator awards are better
for those with between seven and twelve years’ experience. For more senior
researchers with an excellent EU and or international profile, we recommend ERC
advanced grants.
For complete information and support, please contact Branwen Hide or Xavier Rodde in
the Research and Commercial Services team.
Marie Curie Fellowships
Marie Curie Career
Integration Grants (CIG)
Health Theme Cooperation
ERC Starter Grants
Marie Curie Initial Training
Network (ITN)
ERC Advanced Grants
ERC Consolidator Grants
Publication Date
Call is open
Call is open
Application Deadline
16 Aug 2012
18 September 2012
July 2012
10 July 2012
July 2012
2 October 2012 (with 2
calls 25 September 2012)
17 October 2012
22 November 2012
10 July 2012
7 November 2012
22 November 2012
21 February 2013
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Funding Highlights
Within the MDS R&KT office we are continually on the look-out for new funding
opportunities for you to apply for. Click the links below for more information....
 MDS R&KTO Funding Newsletters
o Projects & Programmes
o Small, Equipment & Travel Awards
o Studentships & Scholarships
o Fellowships and Individual Awards
o NIHR grants
 MDS R&KTO Funding Calendar (Projects & Programmes: prints best in A3 colour)
 Studentships & Scholarships Calendar
 Fellowship Funding Calendar
 Intention to Submit Form
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Welcome to MDS
College Hub
We welcome Angela Slater to the Educational Technology Team and Research and
Knowledge Transfer Office this month. Angela joins us as our new College Web Officer,
with a particular focus on providing support to the ongoing development of our
research presence on the web.
This month we also welcome back Claire Wickett from a maternity break to the post of
Marketing and Communications Manager for the College. Robbie Roberts, who had
been seconded to cover Claire’s post, has now been appointed to the post of Senior
Planning Officer within the College, covering Alison Torrens’ on-going secondment to
the Russell Group. It’s fabulous to have both Claire and Robbie with us!
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Prize of the Month
March-April Prize
We heartily congratulate Professor Graham Anderson and his collaborators for the
publication of a paper entitled “Rank Signaling Links the Development of Invariant ƴδ T
Cell Progenitors and Aire+ Medullary Epithelium” in the highly prestigious journal
Immunity (volume 36 issue 3). Well done!
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And Finally, Other Congratulations To...
Poster Prize
Dr Praveen Sharma (Academic Clinical Fellow in the School of Dentistry) won the
national poster prize at the NIHR/Wellcome Trust day on 1st May, for his paper entitled
“Periodontitis: A determinant of arterial stiffness in chronic kidney disease”. Praveen is
working with Professors Iain Chapple and Thomas Dietrich and Dr Paul Cockwell (UHB)
on the RIISC study (Renal Impairment In Secondary Care) study. Well done!
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Contact Us
If you have some research news you would like to include the RKTO Newsletter, please send submissions to
rktoffice@contacts.bham.ac.uk. Please note that contributions may be edited for publication. The RKTO
Newsletter is published by the College of Medical and Dental Sciences Research and Knowledge Transfer
Office.