This board supports mechanistic and applied research relating to the physiology and pathophysiology of major human organs and systems, including population health and the impact of environmental factors on health and development across the life course.
Our strategy
The MRC Population Systems Medicine Board (PSMB) supports mechanistic and applied research related to the physiology and pathophysiology of all the major organs and systems with the exception of the brain and the immune system. Our remit also reaches forward to population health and the impact of environmental or extrinsic factors on health across the life course.
We aim to develop scientific knowledge that uses systems approaches from multiple internal and external factors to understand control pathways and mechanisms, their interactions with major organs and how this influences in health and disease. We also support the early development of interventions to support translation of research outcomes.
By linking mechanistic understanding of diseases to populations and back, we will build the capacity to unpick the complexities and multifaceted nature of human health and disease through:
- promoting integrated or systems approaches
- harnessing big data
- making greater use of cohorts and cohort-derived data
- developing methodology and resources
- developing partnerships for improved impact
Our population and systems medicine strategy
Our strategy was developed to address future health challenges including increased life expectancy and rising non-communicable diseases globally, while capitalising on technological advances. We aim to:
- support excellence in discovery science that crosses barriers and silos, including interdisciplinary integrated systems research, and data-driven approaches to identify mechanisms of disease and targets for intervention
- transform health by identifying early-life determinants and trajectories of disease, de-risking the development of personalised medicine approaches to diagnosis and therapeutic intervention and developing population level interventions to prevent disease
- prioritise chronic disease research, examining the contribution of ageing, obesity, and rare genetic disorders, to reduce the number of people living with multiple long-term conditions both within the UK and globally
- link underpinning mechanistic research to improved clinical outcomes and population health
This contributes to the Medical Research Council’s (MRC) overarching vision to accelerate improvements in human health and economic prosperity for everyone through delivery of ground-breaking discoveries.
Science areas
Our scope includes the following areas:
- cardiovascular
- respiratory
- musculoskeletal
- renal
- gastroenterology
- endocrinology and reproductive health
- maternal health and the early origins of health and disease
- nutrition, metabolic regulation, diabetes and obesity
- trauma, acute medicine and surgery
- inflammation in relation to disease processes and the resolution of the inflammatory response
- lifestyle, socio-economic and behavioural impacts on health
- health inequalities
- population and disease-related cohorts relevant to the above science areas
PSMB’s remit includes global health and global health working is welcome across all areas of our remit. Applications that have particular relevance to health in low and middle income countries are encouraged as part of our strategy to have a global impact.
If your plans incorporate global working, please consider our principles for best practice in global health which were developed in partnership with MRC’s Applied Global Health Research Board:
- equitable partnerships
- the need for local capacity strengthening
- support for co-production and co-design with affected communities and relevant in-country stakeholders
PSMB priority areas
While continuing to support research that focuses on key organs and systems, as well as on population-based research, we have identified key challenges that can only be met with a more integrated approach across our portfolio.
These areas of research have been identified by PSMB members as priority areas and are used by PSMB to prioritise investments during funding discussions, together with MRC-wide priority areas.
Multimorbidity
Not only does the growing prevalence of chronic diseases bring the added burden of multimorbidity but it is increasingly recognised that some chronic diseases cluster together and may share common underlying mechanisms. The traditional one disease, one mechanism approach to disease categorisation and the development of therapies targeted to narrow regulatory therapeutic indications becomes inefficient when it comes to managing multiple long-term conditions.
MRC has worked in partnership to develop the Cross-funder multimorbidity research framework that sets out a vision for how the funding community will drive forward the research agenda to tackle the growing problem of people living with multiple long-term conditions (multimorbidity) and has supported research to identify clusters of conditions through the UKRI Strategic Priorities Fund Tackling Multimorbidity at Scale programme.
An important element of this research involves studying clusters of conditions and the interactions between their trajectories throughout the life course. Building on MRC’s investments in longitudinal studies, we will support research on multimorbidity that uses approaches ranging from population and experimental medicine studies to characterisation of models.
We particularly welcome underpinning mechanistic studies to understand why diseases cluster and identify targets and generate evidence in support of interventions that will improve the lives of those living with multiple long-term conditions.
Rare diseases
Despite being individually infrequent, each occurring in fewer than one in 2000 people, rare diseases collectively have a major health impact, affecting one in 17 people in their lifetime. Funding opportunities in this area support the UK Rare Diseases Framework by encouraging research on rare diseases.
Particular emphasis is on proposals likely to achieve one or several of the following:
- lead to better diagnosis and treatment, including development of advanced therapies for affected patients
- yield mechanistic insights that extend beyond the particular rare disease being studied into fundamental human biology, or a wider range of pathologies or diseases
- address cross-cutting issues that are hampering progress in multiple diseases or groups of diseases, for example platform approaches to the prioritisation or functional interpretation of genetic data
We encourage suitable partnerships, including in the UK and internationally, with patient groups, health and care providers, research consortia, industry, and data resources.
Find further information on how the MRC is helping support rare disease research through the establishment of the Rare Disease Research UK platform.
Tackling obesity
Both developed and emerging economies are facing rising levels of obesity. Obesity can contribute to mental health problems and also lead to reduced life expectancy. It is a risk factor for a range of chronic diseases and obesity and its associated conditions cost the NHS in the region of £6 billion.
We are seeking multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary applications to tackle overweight and obesity at key transition points across the life course or in vulnerable groups, or both. In particular, we wish to better understand what makes an effective intervention. We aim to do this by encouraging greater integration and synergy across existing pockets of expertise in the biological, behavioural, psychological, environmental and social sciences.
Applications should include mechanistic research that will provide robust evidence to improve public health in real-life settings.
Institutes, units and centres
MRC helps to fund population and systems medicine research through large-scale investment of facilities and centres, working in partnership with these organisations to promote the translation of their research for maximum benefit.
Find out more about the institutes, units and centres that we support.
Strategic relationships
We also work with a large number of funding partners, research charities and industries to support and promote further research in population and systems medicine.
UKRI and internal partnerships
To augment our data-driven and systems-based approach, we connect our portfolio interests with Health Data Research UK, a national MRC partner institute for health and biomedical informatics research, and promote interactions with other initiatives in biomedical and health informatics.
We took an active role in work that resulted in the cross-council vision for food, nutrition and health research jointly published by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
National partnerships
Our portfolio includes:
- UK Rare Disease Research Platform: a new platform bringing together UK strengths in rare diseases research to improve diagnosis and treatment through better understanding of the disease. This £14 million investment over five years was supported by MRC and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) in July 2023
- Tackling Multimorbidity at Scale: a research programme delivered by MRC and the National Institute for Health Research in partnership with ESRC and in collaboration with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
- UK Longitudinal Linkage Collaboration (UK LLC): the investment links routine health data to the data collected as part of UK longitudinal cohort studies. Initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic with support from MRC and the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) to improve our understanding of transmission and disease and support the development and evaluation of interventions to improve health, funding from MRC and ESRC has preserved this infrastructure resource to continue to further our understanding of the wider determinants of health
- Our Future Health is an ambitious public/private/charity partnership supporting the UK’s largest health research programme. PSMB encourages high quality research that draws on this data resources to better understand mechanisms of disease and identify feasible interventions to improve health
International partnerships
Healthy diet for a healthy life (HDHL), is a European initiative that brings together 17 countries, including the UK, to align research programmes and fund new research to prevent or minimise diet-related chronic diseases.
The European Rare Disease Alliance (ERDERA) is working to make Europe a world leader in rare disease research and innovation by advancing prevention, diagnosis and treatment research.