BBSRC announces funding awards for four new biology projects

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The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) has announced the latest round of follow on funding (FoF) grant holders.

The four grant holders, who have received in total just under £1.5 million, will use the funding to translate their research into practical applications.

This could include a spin-out, a licensing opportunity or creating a social enterprise.

The projects will last between one and two years and BBSRC funds 80% of the full economic costs.

List of grant holders

The four grant holders are:

Professor Kin-Chow Chang, University of Nottingham

Project: Development of novel broad-spectrum antiviral compounds for use in animals and humans

Professor Munir Iqbal, The Pirbright Institute

Project: Protecting poultry from avian influenza, Newcastle disease, infectious bronchitis, and Gumboro disease with a single dose of a multivalent vaccine

Professor Keith Edwards, University of Bristol

Project: A pipeline for efficient recombination in wheat

Professor James Murray, Cardiff University

Project: Platform technology for full dynamic range infectious disease detection and quantification.

Further information

About follow on funding

The aim of the programme is to help researchers maximise the societal and economic benefits of their research.

The FoF is a proof-of-concept programme. It supports bioscience innovation and provides funding where further work on an idea will take it through to a stage at which the route to application is clear.

This may include a spin-out, licensing opportunity or the creation of a social enterprise.

The programme enables researchers to conduct activities essential to preparing a robust business plan and to secure, where appropriate, further funding and support to progress the project.

The FoF aims to bridge the funding gap between BBSRC-funded research and the point at which other non-BBSRC funding becomes available.

By supporting early-stage projects, it also seeks to reduce the risk for future investors. The FoF should not duplicate other sources of public and private funding.

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