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Monday Morning Messages
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15th July 2024
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Andrew Pollard attended the Fellowship admissions ceremony with several other Oxford academics at the Royal Society last Friday 12th July, joining scientists from every field of study since the 17th Century to sign the Society’s register. The register includes historical signatures from Christopher Wren, Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday, Charles Darwin, Dorothy Hodgkin and Rosalind Franklin, as well as our previous Head of Department, Richard Moxon.
He said: “It was a humbling experience to spend three days with an awesome group of scientists including those describing the origins of the Universe, innovation in microprocessors, unravelling mitochondrial disorders, predicting volcanic activity and studying climate change. The book-signing ceremony was a joyful family occasion despite the anxiety of causing catastrophic ink blots while wielding an unfamiliar ink pen over a 300 year-old book.”
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| New discovery of NDD cause |
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A global collaboration led by scientists at the University of Oxford has discovered that genetic variants in a specific gene cause a rare neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD). NDD is a collective term for severe impairments in how the brain functions that impact learning, behaviour, speech, and movement. Most NDDs are thought to be genetic and caused by changes to DNA, however, to date, around 60% of individuals with these conditions do not know the specific DNA change that causes their disorder.
These findings, published in Nature, give answers to many families, and offer the first step in longed-for hope for the development of a treatment in the future. The specific gene is called RNU4-2. While nearly all genes known to be involved in NDD are responsible for making proteins, RNU4-2 is not; instead, it makes an RNA molecule that plays an important role in how other genes are processed in cells. Read the report in the Guardian. |
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More research in the news
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Scientists have launched a new clinical trial to test a vaccine to protect people against deadly Marburg virus. This is the first-in-human trial of the ChAdOx1 Marburg vaccine, which has been developed and manufactured by researchers at the University of Oxford. Forty-six people aged 18 to 55 will participate in the trial in Oxford, which will be led by the Oxford Vaccine Group. The research was funded by the Department of Health and Social Care as part of the UK Vaccine Network (UKVN), a UK Aid programme to develop vaccines for diseases with epidemic potential in low and middle-income countries.
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Scientists at the University of Oxford have launched a phase 1 study to test two investigational mRNA vaccines: one for both respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human metapneumovirus (hMPV) and a second for RSV alone in infants aged five to eight months old. The vaccines are being developed by Moderna. Globally, RSV infects up to 90% of children within the first two years of life and frequently reinfects older children and adults. For most people, RSV causes a mild respiratory illness however in some infants, RSV can cause bronchiolitis which leads to the inflammation of the small airways and significant breathing difficulties.
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End of financial year deadlines
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| The University’s financial year end (31st July 2024) is fast approaching. In order to ensure that your payments are included in the end of year payment run, please could you ensure you meet the deadlines in the table above. If you have any queries please reach out to: finance@paediatrics.ox.ac.uk |
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| Medical and Life Sciences Translational Fund |
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The Translational Research Office are pleased to announce that the Medical and Life Sciences Translational Fund (MLSTF) 2024 is now open. MLSTF funds proof-of-concept projects at the earliest stages of translation, supporting preliminary work or feasibility studies to establish the viability of an approach. In 2024, the project-managed MLSTF fund will be in excess of £1.3m to ‘pump-prime’ the translation of novel therapeutics, devices, diagnostics and other therapeutic interventions (including ‘repurposing of existing therapies’) towards clinical testing. Funding available from MLSTF will be up to £85k per project and projects should be in the region of 6-12 months in duration.
Applications must be made in IRAMS.
Deadline: Monday 16 Sept, 1 pm |
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| Briefing on new Oxford traffic filters |
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A briefing will take place on Tuesday 23rd July for University staff looking to find out more about the new traffic filter trial, which is due to start in November 2024, once Botley Road has reopened. The briefing will explain what is changing and how you could be affected. This will be a virtual event via Teams from 12.30-1.30pm, facilitated by the Sustainable Travel team in Estates Services. It will include a Q&A session. To sign up, visit the Travel website via the link below.
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| Open Research Position Statement |
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| The University’s Open Research Position Statement, approved by Research and Innovation Committee on 6 June 2024, is now available via the link below. The Statement provides a definition of open research (acknowledging that this is an evolving area) and related guidance and sets out broad expectations and responsibilities of researchers and the University. It summarises a range of good open research practices, recognising that the application of such practices will vary across different research disciplines. The Statement also signposts to existing related University policies, funder policies and support services within the University. |
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The process for submitting research projects for ethics review is changing soon to a new system online called Worktribe. It will completely replace the previous offline and email-based process, however, any Word/paper applications already in process when the system goes live for a department can continue to follow the offline process during the initial one-month transition period.
There will be a phased roll-out of the new system:
On Monday 5 August, the system will launch for use by the Medical Sciences Departments of Psychiatry, Clinical Neurosciences, and OxICPTR. Researchers will be able to use either Worktribe or the current system.
One month later, these departments will need to submit their research ethics applications purely through the Research Ethics System (Worktribe). All other Medical Sciences and MPLS departments will begin using Worktribe in October.
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The University of Oxford Open Access Publications Policy, and University Statute XVI which covers intellectual property rights, have now been updated to incorporate rights retention. This re-affirms the University’s preference for the green or self-archiving route to open access. From 14 October 2024, by virtue of their employment and without requiring any action on their part, employees at the University provide the rights to make author accepted manuscript versions of their articles and conference proceedings available under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY 4.0) at the point of publication.
To utilise rights retention (https://openaccess.ox.ac.uk/rights-retention) authors can simply deposit the accepted manuscript of their work to ORA, the University repository, and the repository team will make it available once it has been published. Authors wishing to opt-out will be able to do so on a work-by-work basis when depositing their papers via Symplectic Elements. |
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| Challenges in Meta Analysis: My journey and solutions |
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17 July 2024 | Online Only | 1pm
Yiru Chen, DPhil student at the Department of Paediatrics, has with an undergraduate master's degree in Mathematics from Imperial College London. Her research interests lie in the clinical application of mathematical models and machine learning methods. She will talk about her journey and solutions at this meeting of the Paediatric Analysis Network. |
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| New Therapeutic Approaches in Translational Mental Health |
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16 September 2024 | Maths Institute | All day
This in-person conference is hosted by the Oxford Health BRC and sponsored by the UK Mental Health Mission. The event aims to bring together industry, academic & clinical researchers, the regulator and government research funding organisations to discuss the current challenges facing therapeutic development. The overall objective is to forge collaborations that can increase capacity and capability through partnerships to deliver paradigm changes in translational mental health research. The event includes keynotes, lightning talks, roundtable discussion and industry led workshop sessions by Angelini Pharma, Big Health, Boehringer Ingelheim, Karuna Therapeutics and Reckitt Benckiser. |
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| Why are so many of us burnt out, and what we can do about it? |
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26 September 2024 | Online only | Seminar 11-12; Workshop 13.30 to 15.00
Why do ever more of us find it so hard to find a good balance between life and work? The dramatic rise of work-related suffering is clearly not the problem of just a handful of people who are bad at time management.
This seminar will explore some of the deeper cultural reasons for why we are all so burnt out and offer some practical, actionable advice on what we can do about our exhaustion and how we can re-learn how to thrive.
Sign up for the Seminar here: https://forms.office.com/e/0cyFgdacJp
Sign up for the workshop here: https://forms.office.com/e/vwFNxaUq37 |
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Can you help these trials?
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| Oxford Vaccine Group would like to invite you to take part in a study investigating how two common respiratory germs alter the environment in your nose and impact human health. The knowledge gathered in this project could be used to help develop new interventions such as anti-virus agents and drugs targeting the host body response. If you are 18 to 55 years old, you may be eligible to take part. We will provide reimbursement for your time, inconvenience and travel. The study duration is approximately 10 weeks. If you would like to find out more, please read the Participant Information Sheet. If you are interested in joining the study, please visit the Pre-screening Questionnaire via the link below. |
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| We need volunteers for a new vaccine against Marburg virus |
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| If you are aged 18 to 55 years old and in good health, then you may be eligible to take part in a study investigating a new vaccine against Marburg virus. All participants will be reimbursed up to £1290 for their time, inconvenience, and travel. For further information please click on the link below. Here is a link to pre-screening questionnaire: Pre-screening Questionnaire or contact Oxford Vaccine Group with any questions: Email: info@ovg.ox.ac.uk Tel: 01865611400. |
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| Oxford Vaccine Group would like to invite you to take part in a study in a challenge study to find a vaccine against malaria. The total study participation time is 18 months. If you would like any further information regarding the study please contact info@ovg.ox.ac.uk, or call 01865 611400 |
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| Oxford Vaccine Group is looking for volunteers to help us understand how our immune systems respond to repeated infection with malaria. By taking part in this challenge study, you could help the research aimed at preventing hundreds of thousands of child deaths. If you are aged 18 to 45 years old, in good health and live in the Thames Valley, then you may be eligible to take part in the BIO-004 study. All participants will be reimbursed for their time, inconvenience and travel up to £9,100. |
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