VTCT Foundations First Career Development Awards Set To Begin This Autumn
On Friday 8 July, the VTCT Foundation revealed the first two award recipients of its new Career Development Programme funding stream at its annual London Showcase event.
The two beneficiaries for the new fellowships were confirmed as Cynthia de Courcey, who will join Swansea University in association with Action Medical Research, and Juliana Heather Vedovato dos Santos, who will join the Oxford Clinical Genetics Group at the
MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford.
PROJECT: Integrate: Engineering durable biocompatible & non-immunogenic 3D bioprinted cartilage
With facial disfigurement affecting 1 in 111 people in the UK, including children born with absent or malformed facial structures, or those affected by trauma, burns or cancer, 14% experience long-term emotional or physical problems. Regenerative medicine has been identified as the future of reconstructive surgery to avoid the risks associated with ‘harvesting’ tissue from elsewhere in the body, or synthetic implants.
The VTCT Foundation grant will fund half of Action Medical Research’s Research Training Fellowship scheme over two years. As a result of the funding, Cynthia – an honorary clinical lecturer at the Reconstructive Surgery & Regenerative Medicine Research Centre at Swansea University Medical School – will help the research group investigate Nanocellulose-based bio-ink’s potential to safely advance and implant patient-specific tissue engineering with 3D-printing.
PROJECT: Building the skull – normal and abnormal development
With the support of the award, this autumn Juliana will travel from Brazil to join Steve Twigg, Associate Professor of Development Genetics – whose fellowship was previously funded by VTCT Foundation – and his team at the MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford. The Clinical Genetics Group has been investigating the causes of malformations affecting the skull and face for almost three decades, with a major focus on craniosynostosis, with a strong focus on identifying the genetic causes and increasing understanding of how abnormalities arise to help provide better information for families.
Juliana’s 36-month studentship’s primary objective is to screen affected children for changes in their DNA that might be responsible for the development of craniosynostosis, and analyse how these changes cause abnormal skull development, with a view to translating new clinical findings into a UK-wide NHS diagnostic test.
Speaking about the value of this new strand of VTCT Foundation’s Career Development Programme, Chair Tony Lau-Walker said: “After a rigorous six-month peer-reviewed application process, we’re excited to be supporting two important research projects which stand to deliver tremendous value to under-researched areas.
“Not only do both initiatives help increase the pool of talented researchers working in the visible difference arena but – critically – they also have the potential to make a genuine long-term impact on the services offered by frontline charities and our Appearance Collective community. We are therefore delighted to be supporting both initiatives, and look forward to following their progress over the coming years.”
To find out more about future research investment opportunities and the Career Development Programme, visit vtctfoundation.org.uk/what-we-fund/research-fellowships/.