The Academy of Medical Sciences is delighted to announce the first awardees of its new professorships scheme to attract and retain talent from across the globe.
Academy of Medical Sciences Professorships are a new and innovative funding and support package scheme designed to attract and retain world-leading talent to the UK from across the globe.
Offering awardees flexible funding of up to £500,000, the award aims to support the awardees research during the initial years of their first full professorship. The awardees also have access to the Academy’s extensive network across business, industry and academia for the five year duration of the professorship.
The Academy is proud to introduce our first cohort of awardees:
Professor Ulrich Rass, Genome Damage and Stability Centre, University of Sussex
Professor Ulrich Rass works at the world leading Genome Damage and Stability Centre at the University of Sussex, investigating the molecular mechanisms that underpin genomic stability. Originally completing his PhD in Genetics and Gene Technology at the University of Cologne, his work now focusses on the DNA metabolic enzymes that help ensure chromosomes are accurately replicated. Professor Rass and his team’s work reveals not only the fundamentals of DNA metabolism but can be used to understand the molecular pathology of genetic diseases, such as neurodegeneration or cancer.
The AMS professorship will allow Professor Rass to build upon the research they have already undertaken and pursue important translational questions. Specifically, looking at new possibilities to selectively kill cancer cells by stress-overload, opening up new therapeutic avenues.
Professor Meritxell Canals, Centre of Membrane Protein and Receptors (COMPARE), University of Nottingham
Professor Meritxell Canals currently works at the Centre of Membrane Protein and Receptors (COMPARE), a joint venture between the University of Birmingham and the University of Nottingham. Professor Canals and her group’s research is aiming to help develop new and safer therapeutic strategies for managing pain. To do so, her group investigates how the body responds when it is administered with different opioid drugs to treat severe acute pain and how these responses are mediated. Professor studied at the University of Barcelona, completing a PhD in biochemistry.
Thanks to the AMS professorship, Professor Canals will be able to develop new lines of research that use novel approaches to promote a more effective translation of basic pharmacology findings into preclinical models of disease. In addition, Professor Canals will be able to establish her group as a key training centre for the next generation of scientists in her vital research area.
Professor Vincent Dion, UK Dementia Research Institute, Cardiff University
Professor Vincent Dion works at the UK Dementia Research Institute at Cardiff University investigating the development of both genetic and epigenetic editing for expanded CAG/CTG repeats. These unusual sequences within the DNA are the cause of 14 different neurological disorders, from Huntington’s disease to myotonic dystrophy. Professor Dion and his team are currently exploring innovative therapeutic avenues that might yield effective treatments for these disorders. Professor Dion completed his PhD in ‘DNA methylation and expanded CAG/CTG repeat instability’ from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.
Thanks to the AMS professorship, Professor Dion will be able to stay at the cutting edge of genomics; using the funding to support single-cell sequencing approaches as well as strengthening their epigenetic efforts.
Professor Evi Soutoglou, Genome Damage and Stability Centre, University of Sussex
Professor Evi Soutoglou works to understand why certain mutations and translocations are recurrent in cancer at the University of Sussex’s Genome Damage and Stability Centre, alongside Professor Ulrich Rass. Working within a world leading lab, Professor Soutoglou and her team are interested in how detecting, signalling and repairing DNA breaks is impacted by the 3D spatial genome organization within the cell.
By studying these mechanisms, Professor Soutoglou would like to unravel which areas of the genome are particularly susceptible to genomic instability and possible causative factors in cancer development. Professor Soutoglou originally completed her PhD in Molecular Biology at the University of Crete.
The Academy is now inviting applications for the second round of the Professorships scheme, to be awarded in February 2020. Candidates are eligible if they are starting, or have recently started, their first Professorship post, having moved to a Higher Education Institute (HEI) in the UK.
Applications for the Academy of Medical Sciences Professorship scheme will be assessed on the basis of the track record of the applicant, the strength of the HEI partnership, and the added value offered by the Professorship to the applicant’s research career.
The Academy is committed to supporting the careers of the next generation of biomedical and health researchers. For more information, please visit the scheme page. Information on the Academies portfolio of grant programmes, mentoring programmes, career development events and careers policy work can be found here.
The Academy is a registered charity, to support our work please see our dedicated support us page.
The scheme is generously supported by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
