mrc

About our Development Gap Fund

The Development Gap Fund is a pre-seed translational research fund. It offers funding, in the form of staff and consumable costs, to scientists from MRC Units and Institutes to conduct translational research with commercial potential in their laboratory and/or in collaboration with our Centre for Therapeutics Discovery.

The fund was first launched in 2003, with funding of £4.5 million, and was extended in 2008 with a further £6 million.

More than 65 projects have been funded so far. Our successes include:
•  Formation of Heptares Therapeutics Ltd, a GPCR drug discovery company, which raised a Series A fund of £21m in February 2009
•  Development of a simple sponge device for the detection of oesophageal cancer
•  A modular website offering validated and supported tests for the assessment of cognitive function

What we look for

We would like to hear about commercially interesting ideas/projects where clear value can be added. This might include proof of concept studies, target validation components of drug discovery, assay development and device/diagnostic prototyping.

Typical awards are £20-200k over two years, for salaries and consumables. You can apply at any time through your MRCT Business Manager and can expect a quick decision as our DGF panel meets monthly.

For more information and to apply

Please speak to your Business Manager, or Contact Us and we’ll put you in touch with the right person.