Project proposals

davis_hum‌The GLAZgo Discovery Centre, in collaboration with the Respiratory, Inflammation and Autoimmunity Innovative Medicines unit (RIA IMED) at AstraZeneca, supports research into immunology and inflammation related to respiratory and the broader autoimmunity disease areas. The overall scope of the centre is to drive innovative research that will lead to: new ways of understanding disease; new ways of targeting pathology; new ways of stratifying pathology and ultimately patients.  Areas that are outside of the remit of the centre include oncology, neuroscience, cardio-metabolism, infection (except related to respiratory disease) & vaccines.

Proposal information

We encourage submission of proposals aimed at addressing fundamental and translational research into biological areas such as but not necessarily limited to:

  • Cellular adaptive and innate immunity - including tolerance
  • Inflammation and resolution - including tissue remodelling
  • Molecular signalling that regulates immunity and inflammation or target tissue responses

Topic(s) could cover;

  • Pathway discovery
  • Validation or extension of a known cellular or molecular pathway.
  • Understanding the mechanisms of drug action to improve efficacy and targeting (including through stratification), and to minimise adverse / off-target effects.
  • Pre-clinical studies to enable and inform further insight to disease pathology
  • Pre-clinical data to support patient stratification (selection of responder vs. non-responder populations).
  • Data to support the validation of translational models (in vitro and in vivo).

If you have a query about scientific aspects of your research proposal, or who to talk to at AstraZeneca or Glasgow University about development of ideas, prior to submission please contact the Centre’s Director: Dr Carl Goodyear – Carl.Goodyear@glasgow.ac.uk

Proposal review process

Review Process

This is a rolling call and proposals can be evaluated at each scientific steering committee (SSC) meeting.

  1. Submitting your Proposal;  Please contact the Operations Manager at the Centre (Ashley.Gilmour@glasgow.ac.uk) to book your proposal in for review at a SSC meeting.  Proposals must be submitted no less than 4 weeks before the meeting it will be reviewed at.  Where submissions are received after the deadline every effort will be made to schedule them for review at the next meeting, however in some cases, submissions may need be postponed to the subsequent meeting.  After submitting a proposal to the GDC for review at a SSC meeting you will receive a Project Submission Acknowledgement form via email.  This acknowledgement will advise you which meeting your proposal will be reviewed at.
  2. SSC Review; should the SSC vote favourably on the project proposal a list of questions may be compiled and these will be sent to the proposer on the Project Submission Acknowledgement form by email as soon as possible after the meeting.  Where required, a video conference will be scheduled approximately 1 week after the meeting for the proposer to discuss the questions issued by the SSC.
  3. Final Decision; After evaluating the proposal the SSC can recommend that the project is either:
    • Awarded for work to be performed within the Centre
    • Rejected based on lack of alignment with the Centre’s scope
    • Passed on to other IMEDs within AZ due to non-alignment with the Centre or RIA IMED
    • Provided with tools (i.e. compounds) for work within applicant’s lab
    • Provided with pump-priming funds (and tools if required) for the applicant’s group
    • Supported for submission of an industry-supported grant application (e.g., BBSRC-IPA)
  4. Notification of Final Decision;  You will be notified of the SSCs final decision on the Project Submission Acknowledgement form by email. 

Submit a proposal

‌If you wish to submit a project proposal please complete the application form; Project Proposal Form and return it to Dr Carl Goodyear; Director@glazgodiscoverycentre.co.uk.