Please note that although the closing date for full applications is 5th September, there is a compulsory intention to submit form that must be submitted by 22 July.
5 September 2019, 4pm 22 July 2019 (Intention to submit)
NEWTON FUND MRC South Africa-UK Antibiotic Accelerator Initiative
https://mrc.ukri.org/funding/browse/sa-uk-aai/south-africa-uk-antibiotic-accelerator-initiative/
The UK MRC and South African MRC (SAMRC) are pleased to invite proposals to the South Africa – UK Antibiotic Accelerator under the umbrella of the Newton Fund.
This initiative will provide funding for high quality collaborative research partnerships focused on addressing the growing global burden of antimicrobial resistance, specifically antibacterial resistance in (South) Africa, through drug discovery.
In total, the MRC will make up to £2 million available to support the antibiotic accelerator over a 3-year period. The UK contribution will be matched by SAMRC who will provide up to R24 million.
Through this initiative, the funders are seeking to support a genuinely collaborative SA-UK Antibiotic Accelerator composed of hubs in the UK and South Africa, with integrated opportunities for capacity building. Bids should seek to build on existing collaborations, initiatives, databases, novel chemistry and compound libraries were possible, and propose a robust governance and management structure that will ensure the sustainability of the Accelerator.
The pre-competitive development and testing of new compounds as well as a pipeline of validated compounds and the sharing of relevant chemical matter targeting bacterial strains of greatest public health concern to South Africa are particularly encouraged. Applications with innovative approaches to assay development, high throughput compound screening and lead development with scope for expansion if and when opportunities arise will be prioritised. The final accelerator will include multiple geographically distributed groups focusing on different work packages with a robust overarching governance mechanism to ensure equitable distribution of funds in line with the objective of the initiative.
The following pathogens, relevant to the context of AMR in South Africa are within the remit of this call:
- Neisseria gonorrhoeae
- Acinetobacter baumannii
- Pseudomonas aeruginosa
- Enterobacteriaceae
- Gram-negative carbapenem-resistant pathogens
- Klebsiella pneumoniae
- Campylobacter
- Haemophilus influenzae
- Helicobacter pylori
- Salmonella spp, in particular S.typhi
- Shigella spp
N.B. Full applications are conditional on having submitted a compulsory intention to submit. This must be submitted by Monday 22 July, 23:59pm via the online form
https://mrc.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/south-africa-uk-antibiotics-accelerator-initiative
The funding agencies will play a further brokering role in this call, after the intention to submit stage.
For full details please see the full documentation on the URL given above