Bradford researcher awarded grant to investigate possible cancer treatments
A lecturer at the University of Bradford has been awarded a grant by the Academy of Medical Sciences for this year's Springboard Round.
Dr Nicolas Barry, Royal Society University Research Fellow and Lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Bradford, has been awarded a grant of £100,000 by the Academy of Medical Sciences for this year’s Springboard Round.
Springboard offers a bespoke package of support to biomedical researchers at the start of their first independent post to help launch their research career.
The University of Bradford, led by the Springboard Champion Professor Diana Anderson, was invited to the scheme in 2017 and has been successful in the first year of participation. The University is one of only fifty eligible Higher Education Institutes able to submit three internal selected applicants to each round. The scheme welcomes applications from a broad range of research fields and supports experimental and theoretical approaches; the only key criterion is that the proposed project must demonstrate clear relevance to human health.
Dr Nicolas Barry’s research programme will aim at conducting, in parallel, the synthesis of electron-deficient metal complexes and primary assays on cancer cells (via cell viability, toxicity, determination of therapeutic indices). Specifically, the effects these compounds have on expression of genes associated with pro-survival, growth arrest, apoptosis and drug metabolism will be studied in order to identify lead molecules that will be strong candidates for pre-clinical research at the end of the project.
Professor Anderson congratulated Dr Barry on his success: “The Academy of Medical Sciences Springboard is an exciting opportunity for our new biomedical researchers at the University, and we are thrilled for both Dr Barry and the University that against tough competition we have received this award in our first year”.
Professor Alastair Goldman, Dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Bradford highlighted: “This is great news for Dr Barry and testament to the high quality of research that takes place at Bradford. We are continually striving to find solutions to real life problems and awards such as this demonstrate how we are leading the way in biomedical research.”
Springboard Round 4 is likely to launch in May 2018 and all those within three years of their first independent position are encouraged to apply to the University internal review panel for consideration, this includes those wishing to reapply to the scheme from the previous year.