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18th February 2015

Innovate UK: Funding for developing non-animal technologies

Developing non-animal technologies

Innovate UK are to invest up to £6m in collaborative R&D projects that support the development and application of non-animal technologies in the UK.

This competition seeks to advance the rate of development and commercialisation of non-animal technologies and testing systems that better predict human and animal responses to, and the environmental effects of, chemicals and new molecular entities. It covers technologies that could be used in early drug, veterinary medicine, chemical and consumer product development, and suites of technologies intended to replace regulatory toxicology studies.

The aim is not purely to replace animal models with equivalent in vitro or in silico models; it is to produce better tests and systems that more accurately predict efficacy, safety and environmental effects. The range of technologies that might need to be developed or integrated to meet this challenge could include, but is not limited to, the areas below.

Biological, tissue engineering and imaging-related

  • Stem cell technologies/tissue engineering
  • Cell-line technologies
  • Cell culture – single-cell-type/3D/mixed- cell type/dynamic (human or animal)
  • Organ-on-a-chip/whole-organ models/ linked multi-organ systems
  • Next-generation sequencing and ‘omics’ – genomics, epigenomics, proteomics
  • Technologies for identifying and measuring in vitro biomarkers
  • Cell/molecule-level imaging and sensing – positron emission tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, optical, in vitro/ex vivo, high-contrast
  • Stratified (personalised) medicine approaches
  • Use of non-mammalian organisms or plants

Manufacturing-related

  • High-throughput technologies/ combinatorial chemistry
  • Micro-structured surfaces and micro-fluidics
  • Automation and control

Computational and mathematical methods

  • Mathematical modelling
  • Computer simulation and in silico modelling
  • Structure-activity relationships and computational chemistry
  • Data-mining and analysis of large complex (including historical) data sets

Key Dates

Competition opens – 23rd March 2015

Briefing Event – 26th March 2015

Deadline for application – 6th May 2015 (Expression of Interest)

Investment – Proposals must be collaborative and led by a business. Innovate UK expect to fund mainly industrial research projects in which a large business partner can claim up to 50% public funding for their project costs (60% for SMEs).

Innovate UK expect projects to range in size from total costs of £500,000 to £1 million.

If this grant funding competition is of interest and you would like to find out more information or discuss scoping an application please contact Matt Symonds at TBAT Innovation – 01509 670 610