Launching GOSH Charity’s Lift-Off Grants
1 Aug 2024, 4:03 p.m.
Some of the biggest breakthroughs come from the smallest ideas, which is why we recently launched our new Lift-off Grant scheme.
Designed to help early-stage research get to a point where it can secure further funding to grow and thrive, the scheme makes around £800k available every year and forms part of our £70 million research strategy.
The scheme runs in two streams, each explored below.
Discovery research
The first stream is for discovery research, supporting projects that involve lab or data-based research – for example, collecting pilot data or developing a new methodology or technique.
Applications for this stream closed in June and, following a robust review by our Scientific Assessment Panel and Patient Benefit Panel, we’ve now awarded £440k of funding across six projects – two of which are led by early career researchers.
The funded studies span a range of medical conditions, including those affecting neonates, such as research into pulmonary hypoplasia – a rare disorder where the lungs do not develop properly in a fetus during pregnancy.
They also include pregnancy conditions, such as chronic histiocytic intervillositis (CHI). This is a rare placental condition where maternal immune cells attack the placenta resulting in miscarriage or stillbirth in over 50% of cases.
All six studies involve lab-based research that is looking to understand more about the mechanisms of disease and the potential for treatment targets. View a list of all funded projects in the discovery research stream of our Lift-off Grant scheme.
Dr Gabriel Galea, Principal Research Fellow at University College London and Lift-Off grant recipient, says:
"We are extremely excited to undertake the research funded by our Lift-Off grant.
"Obtaining research funding often depends on having already generated findings that suggest an answer to the questions we pose, paralyzing our ability to start new branches of research.
"The Lift-Off grant will enable us to research problems whose answers are genuinely unknown and characterize [new] disease models to catalyze future discoveries."
The power of seed funding
The discovery research stream of the Lift-off Grant scheme is similar in scope to the Clinical Research Starter Grant (CRSG) awards offered by the Charity between 2013-2018.
These awards were incredibly impactful. With just £3m of previous funding into starter grants, our scientists brought in £37m in additional funding to support their science to grow.
In 2016, GOSH Charity supported Professor Kurian, Consultant Paediatric Neurologist at GOSH and NIHR Research Professor at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (UCL GOS ICH), with a clinical starter grant of around £90,000.
In 2021, she and her colleagues at the UCL GOS ICH were able to ‘cure’ a rare condition called dopamine transporter deficiency syndrome (DTDS) in mice and in human brain cells in the lab. This seed funding helped Professor Kurian to secure a further £3.5 million of funding from the NIHR and Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust. Now, she plans to work towards a clinical trial that will offer hope of a treatment for patients with DTDS and other similar brain disorders.
She says: “It can be very hard to find funding for early-stage research. The support from GOSH Charity helped me build research capacity and was key to progressing my work towards patient trials.”
Patient-focussed research
The second stream to the Lift-Off Grant scheme is for patient-focussed research.
This stream is designed to support a new research question where the hospital and its patient population are at the centre.
For example, this could include projects that aim to improve clinical practice or quality of life.
There is up to £400k of funding available and the call is now open to applications, closing on 22 August.