Download the macular disease society

THE MACULAR DISEASE SOCIETY
PO Box 1870
Andover
Hampshire
SP10 9AD
Switchboard:
Helpine:
01264 350551
0845 241 2041
www.maculardisease.org email: [email protected]
6 September 2010
Dear Colleague,
Invitation to Apply for MDS Research Grants starting September 2011
1. Introduction
One of the aims of the founders of the Macular Disease Society in 1987 was to
sponsor research. The Society has a creditable history of achieving this aim. Our
recent history of grants awarded is shown at Annex A.
To clarify the scale of our funding, the total grants awarded in recent years is as
follows:





2006 - £106,500 for 4 projects
2007 - £138,500 for 5 projects
2008 - £181,000 for 3 projects
2009 - £118,000 for 3 projects
2010 - £126,000 for 4 projects
We are likely to have up to £140,000 to allocate for the next research year
starting from September 2011. This could, for example, divide into sponsorship
for three projects. Most of our sponsored projects in the last 5 years have been
for one year only but more recently we have also funded 2 year projects.
Our members value highly our sponsorship of research and we are very keen to
sponsor projects that are likely to produce a tangible result in the fields of finding
a cure, developing a treatment or improving the quality of life of patients with
AMD.
Progress and results must be written up for Side View our magazine and Digest
our journal.
Building confidence and independence for those with central vision impairment
Patrons: Eric Sykes CBE, Peter Sallis OBE REGISTERED CHARITY No. 1001198
A company Limited by Guarantee Registered in England No. 2177039
Registered Office: First Floor, East Wing, Wessex Chambers, South Street, Andover, Hampshire
SP10 2BN
2. Invitation
We invite Universities, Institutes, individual academics and clinicians who are
involved with research to apply for grants.
We are looking for projects covering the following areas:
a. genetics
b. quality of life and low vision
c. treatment, surgical or medical
We are relatively flexible about eligible project costs; these may include for
example capital items (although any items over £2,500 will require 3 written
quotations once a grant award has been made), staff costs, relevant
consumables, travel and communications, administrative and computing costs.
We do consider value for money as part of the appraisal process.
Selection Process




5pm, Wednesday 1st December 2010: deadline for receipt of applications
February 2011: MDS Research Committee meets to review the applications
and select preferred projects
February – May 2011: peer review process
June 2011: final approval of projects by MDS Trustees
Please note that we do take the peer review process very seriously and projects
have been rejected at this stage. Please bear this in mind when writing up
projects.
3. Method of Application
All applications and queries should be addressed (preferably by email) to:
Claire Keers
PA to the Chief Executive
Email: [email protected] / Tel: 01264 350551
The application should contain a lay summary followed by the detail of the project.
The lay summary should be no more than two sides A4 followed by the full
application which normally takes up not more than 10 sides of A4.
The framework for an application is set out below.
All applications should be in Arial 14pt font, preferably in word format.
Building confidence and independence for those with central vision impairment
Patrons: Eric Sykes CBE, Peter Sallis OBE REGISTERED CHARITY No. 1001198
A company Limited by Guarantee Registered in England No. 2177039
Registered Office: First Floor, East Wing, Wessex Chambers, South Street, Andover, Hampshire
SP10 2BN
Applications must be submitted by email by 5pm on Wednesday 1 December
2010. Late applications will not be considered.
Application headings:
Title
Principal investigator and affiliations:
Co-investigators and affiliations:
Background and rationale for the project
Outline of the project
Plan of investigations (Methodology):
Anticipated outcomes
Analysis of Results (including statistics, if relevant):
Similar work in progress elsewhere
Timespan
Costs
Total sum requested and over what period
It would also be useful if you could include the name and contact details of another
researcher in the field who might peer review your project. We will not necessarily
use your suggestion but having a name might be helpful.
Please note that I will be on maternity leave until Christmas, but please do get in
touch with my PA Claire Keers (contact details above) if you have any queries and
we will get back to you.
We very much look forward to receiving applications
Kind Regards
Helen Jackman
Chief Executive
Building confidence and independence for those with central vision impairment
Patrons: Eric Sykes CBE, Peter Sallis OBE REGISTERED CHARITY No. 1001198
A company Limited by Guarantee Registered in England No. 2177039
Registered Office: First Floor, East Wing, Wessex Chambers, South Street, Andover, Hampshire
SP10 2BN
Annex A
MDS Research Grants 2005-2010
2005
A splice acceptor site mutation in the
TIMP3 Gene which causes late
onset Sorby’s Fundus Dystrpohy
SCMS Rheumatology,
Faculty of Medical Sciences
Newcastle University
£19,000
Dr Norman McKie, Mr Mike Clarke,
Zheng Li
A survey of the mutation in ABCA4 in Moorfields /
juvenile macular dystrophy
Institute of Ophthalmology, UCL
£37,000
Dr Andrew Webster
Rehabilitation of reading by training
in eccentric viewing in subjects with
age related macular degeneration
(eccentric fixation and the effect on
the visual brain – a functional
magnetic resonance imaging study
Department of Vision Sciences
£10,000
Glasgow Caledonian University
Professor Gordon Dutton
John McLean
2006
Identification of novel age-related
macular degeneration genes by
linkage disequilibrium mapping
Southampton
Development of an ‘at home’
eccentric viewing training
programme
Moorfields /
Institute of Ophthalmology, UCL
£34,000
Professor Andrew Lotery
£16,500
Dr Michael Crossland
Clinical assessment of the apparent
motion photometry technique for
measurement of macular pigment
optical density
Dept of Life Sciences
Aston University
Biomarkers in gene-directed therapy
of AMD
Kings College London
£26,000
Dr Hannah Bartlett
£30,000
Victor Chong
Building confidence and independence for those with central vision impairment
Patrons: Eric Sykes CBE, Peter Sallis OBE REGISTERED CHARITY No. 1001198
A company Limited by Guarantee Registered in England No. 2177039
Registered Office: First Floor, East Wing, Wessex Chambers, South Street, Andover, Hampshire
SP10 2BN
2007
High density scanning of
chromosome 4 for genetic
causes of macular
degeneration
Southampton
Identifying sources of
satisfaction with eye clinics in
patients with macular disease
Royal Holloway London
Avoidance of falls:
investigating affordances
facilitating mobility and safety
in people with AMD
Genetic factors in age-related
macular degeneration
Heriot Wat University Edinburgh
£35,000
Professor Andrew Lotery
£30,000
Professor Clare Bradley
£30,000
Professor Bal Dhillon
Cambridge University
£20,500
Professor John Yates
Improving the treatment of
age-related macular
degeneration: providing new
evidence base
London school of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine
£23,000
Dr Jennifer Evans
2008
Non-drug treatments for visual Institute of Psychiatry
hallucinations
Kings College London
£38,000
Dr D H ffytche
Towards a therapeutic that
prevents AMD: identification
of molecules that bind
differentially to the 402H and
402Y forms of the
complement factor H
London Project to Cure
Blindness
Manchester University
£43,000
Professor Paul N Bishop
The London Project to Cure Blindness,
UCL
£100,000
Professor Pete Coffey
2009
Investigation of the TLR3
gene associated with atrophic
AMD
Queens University Belfast
£36,000
Professor Usha Chakravarthy
Dr Gareth McKay
Building confidence and independence for those with central vision impairment
Patrons: Eric Sykes CBE, Peter Sallis OBE REGISTERED CHARITY No. 1001198
A company Limited by Guarantee Registered in England No. 2177039
Registered Office: First Floor, East Wing, Wessex Chambers, South Street, Andover, Hampshire
SP10 2BN
Evaluation of the
effectiveness of training
people in eccentric viewing
techniques
Royal Holloway London
Investigation into the
prevalence of MD
St George’s
University of London
£40,000
Professor Clare Bradley
Dr Jan Mitchell
£42,000
Dr Christopher Owen
2010
Prevalence of AMD in the UK
(category B): how many
people are registerd partially
sighted or blind because of
AMD
Moorfields Eye Hospital
Living with AMD (ie. AMD
treatment regime)
Directorate of Othoptics
University of Liverpool
£2069
Dr Catey Bunce
£35,000
Dr Paul Knox
Pharmacogenetic correlations
in AMD
University of Southampton
£42,900
Professor Andrew Lotery
Genetic Predictors of blood
antioxidant levels and risk of
AMD
London School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine
£45,777
Professor Astrid Fletcher
Building confidence and independence for those with central vision impairment
Patrons: Eric Sykes CBE, Peter Sallis OBE REGISTERED CHARITY No. 1001198
A company Limited by Guarantee Registered in England No. 2177039
Registered Office: First Floor, East Wing, Wessex Chambers, South Street, Andover, Hampshire
SP10 2BN