Grant winners - 21 March 2013

Royal Society

Research Grants

• Award winner: Huiling Zhu
• Institution: University of Kent
• Value: £13,480

Development of energy-efficient radio resource allocation algorithms

Leverhulme Trust

Research Leadership Awards
Social sciences

• Award winner: Clare Bambra
• Institution: Durham University
• Value: £999,597

Local health inequalities in an age of austerity: the Stockton-on-Tees study

Research Project Grants
Sciences

• Award winner: Tomas Bellamy
• Institution: University of Nottingham
• Value: £2,242

Analysis of cell signalling networks using dynamic inputs

• Award winner: Shuang Zhang
• Institution: University of Birmingham
• Value: £242,820

Controlling Casimir force using optical metamaterials

Social sciences

• Award winner: David Deacon
• Institution: Loughborough University
• Value: £38,700

Changes in British election news reporting (1918-2010)

National Institute for Health Research

Health Technology Assessment Programme

• Award winner: Shakila Thangaratinam
• Institution: Queen Mary, University of London
• Value: £248,767

Effects of weight management interventions on maternal and fetal outcomes in pregnancy: individual patient data meta-analysis of randomised trials and model-based economic evaluation

The Wellcome Trust

Investigators in Medical Humanities

The value of these awards ranges from approximately £500,000 to just over £1 million for up to five years

• Award winner: Thomas Douglas
• Institution: University of Oxford

Neurointerventions in crime prevention: an ethical analysis

• Award winner: Sarah Franklin
• Institution: University of Cambridge

Fertilisation through a looking glass: a sociology of UK IVF in the late 20th century

In detail

Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator Award

Award winner: Sir Philip Cohen

Institution: University of Dundee

Value: £1.7 million

Elucidation of molecular mechanisms that activate the MyD88 signalling network

The project is aimed at understanding how the adaptor protein MyD88, one of the major cellular signalling networks of the innate immune system, operates. Nearly all toll-like receptors - crucial components of the immune system used for fighting bacteria, viruses and other pathogens - signal via MyD88. The team hopes to unravel the workings of the MyD88 network in molecular detail. This information will be critical in determining how the production of inflammatory mediators is regulated, why defects in this system lead to immunodeficiency, chronic inflammatory or autoimmune diseases, and to identify pathway components that are targets for therapeutic intervention. “I aim to identify all the major protein components of the MyD88 and how they are regulated,” Professor Cohen said. “In doing so, I hope to discover the best targets in the system for the development of improved drugs to treat chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.”