Research Grants
Staff within the Centre for Predictive in vitro Models (CPM) currently hold a large portfolio of grants directly related to the development and use of predictive in vitro models.
The following are examples of current funded research projects, specifically related to predictive in vitro models and led by members of the CPM:
- Human Tendon-CHIP: Novel In Vitro Predictive Models To Explore Tendinopathy
Hazel Screen, Xavier Griffin and John Connelly
£668,842 Medical Research Council
01-08-2025 - 31-07-2028 - (uPSCale) Scaling up iPSC Expansion and Differentiation using Recombinant Bioemulsions
Julien Gautrot
£118,175 EU Commission - Horizon Europe
01-05-2025 - 31-10-2026 - The influence of a complex in vitro tumour microenvironment on cancer stem cells metastasis
Adrian Biddle and Ana Caetano
£547,066 National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research
01-05-2025 - 30-04-2028 - RAEng Research Chair Sept 2024 KA Hing
Karin Hing
£209,059 Royal Academy of Engineering
28-04-2025 - 27-04-2030 - EVs characterization in rheumatoid arthritis
Elisa Corsiero and Lucy Norling
£72,500 Barts and the London Charity
21-04-2025 - 20-04-2026 - Does endothelial EPAS1 protect arteries from atherosclerosis progression?
Paul Evans and Federica Marelli-Berg
£217,281 Barts and the London Charity
01-04-2025 - 31-03-2029 - Investigating perfused inflammatory and immune responses in 3D barrier-immune models for atopic dermatitis
John Connelly
£196,508 GlaxoSmithKline UK Ltd
01-02-2025 - 31-01-2026 - Investigating the roles of endogenous retro viruses as regulators of gene expression in the endometrial epithelium
Miguel Branco
£731,019 BBSRC Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
01-02-2025 - 31-01-2028 - Validation of novel therapies for the treatment of arthritis
Lucy Norling
£32,051 WHRL William Harvey Research Limited
01-02-2025 - 31-01-2026 - Open Trauma Assessment Study
Christopher Bretherton, Xavier Griffin and Jamila Kassam
£2,740 AO Foundation
01-11-2024 - 31-10-2026 - Anti-inflammatory and Pro-resolving profiles of south Africa medicinal plants
Mauro Perretti and Roberto Buccafusca
£282,802 Royal Society
07-10-2024 - 06-10-2026 - Micro-manufacturing of tissue patterned organ-chips for accelerated deployment of new medicines
Martin Knight, Hazel Screen, Julien Gautrot, Timothy Hopkins, John Connelly, Liisa Blowes and Xavier Griffin
£1,787,725 EPSRC Engineering and Physical Sciences Research CouncilGrant Summary
01-10-2024 - 30-09-2027 - Assessing the pro-resolving and anti-arthritic properties of cannabidiol in chronic inflammation
Mauro Perretti and Lucy Norling
£130,358 WHRL William Harvey Research Limited
01-10-2024 - 31-03-2026 - Clock-Chips - Incorporating the Circadian Clock into Organ-on-a-Chip Technology
David Lee and Lei Su
£387,326 BBSRC Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
01-10-2024 - 30-09-2026 - Customizable conducting elastomers for bioelectronics sensors
Christopher Chapman
£20,000 Royal Society
01-10-2024 - 30-09-2025 - Extracellular Vesicle Communication for Nociceptive Processing In Acute And Chronic Pain
Mauro Perretti
£783,380 MRC Medical Research Council
01-10-2024 - 30-09-2029 - The role of novel mechanosensitive complex in cardiomyocyte pathophysiology
Thomas Iskratsch and Andrew Tinker
£254,588 BHF British Heart Foundation
01-10-2024 - 30-09-2027 - The Role of Peripheral Neuroglia In Oral Spuamous Cell Cancer
Ana Caetano and Adrian Biddle
£317,529 MCSBHT Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital Trust
01-10-2024 - 31-12-2027 - Unravelling mechanisms of drug-induced myocarditis using immune-responsive human cardiovascular chip
Yung-Yao Lin and Julien Gautrot
£121,420 MRC Medical Research Council
01-10-2024 - 30-09-2028 - Unravelling mechanisms of drug-induced myocarditis using immune-responsive human cardiovascular chip
Yung-Yao Lin and Julien Gautrot
£20,000 AstraZeneca UK Limited
01-10-2024 - 30-09-2028 - Evaluation of the cytotoxic function of the AZ CAR-T cell products by employing human in vitro 3 D multicellar models of high grade serous ovarian cancer
Beatrice Malacrida and Fran Balkwill
£119,779 AstraZeneca UK Limited
12-09-2024 - 11-09-2025 - Blood analysis protocol: Efficacy of RTP026 in MI patients
Mauro Perretti, Jianmin Chen and Sharmilee Gnanapavan
£261,605 William Harvey Research Limited
01-09-2024 - 28-02-2027 - Establishing a physiologically relevant in vitro model of blood development
Stefaan Verbruggen
£11,413 National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research
01-09-2024 - 31-08-2027 - Investigating lipid dysregulation in ALS derived stem cell lines
Agnes Nishimura
£254,101 MNDA Motor Neurone Disease Association
01-09-2024 - 31-08-2027 - EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Next Generation Organ-on-a-Chip Technology (COaCT)
Hazel Screen, Martin Knight, Thomas Iskratsch, Caroline Roney, Yi Sui, David Lee, Julia Shelton, Zion Tse, John Connelly, Adrian Biddle and Lucy Norling
£7,066,811 Engineering and Physical Sciences Research CouncilGrant Summary
01-07-2024 - 30-09-2032 - Mechanisms underlying preterm birth in women with HIV in rural Zimbabwe
Andrew Prendergast, Ruairi Robertson, Melanie Smuk, Claire Bourke, Nikolaos Donos, Robert Allaker, Abish Stephen, Conrad Bessant, Stefaan Verbruggen and Tina Chowdhury
£1,142,315 MRC Medical Research Council
01-05-2024 - 30-04-2027 - Repurposing Alpha-1-antitrypsin as a treatment for post-traumatic osteoarthritis
Mauro Perretti and Magdalena K Kaneva
£566,515 MRC Medical Research Council
01-05-2024 - 30-04-2027 - Laverock - Tumour models
Oliver Pearce, Elly Tyler, Marcos Burger Ramos and Katie Thornton
£121,315 Laverock Therapeutics Ltd
24-04-2024 - 30-09-2025 - International Exchanges: Forging a new collaboration on the molecular control of EndoMT in atherosclerosis
Paul Evans
£12,000 Royal Society
31-03-2024 - 30-04-2026 - A dynamic evaluation of the effect of tau on cellular clearance mechanisms
Cara Croft
£100,000 Race Against Dementia
01-03-2024 - 31-08-2025 - Development of a synthetic human iHEP culture system for DILI toxicology screening
Kenneth Linton
£24,732 Animal Free Research UK
01-03-2024 - 28-02-2026 - Artery-on-a-Chip
Thomas Iskratsch
£103,372 Novo Nordisk Foundation (Denmark)
01-01-2024 - 31-12-2026 - Development of an Organ-on-a-chip model of polycystic kidney disease using CRISPR modified human kidney cell line
Martin Knight and Cleo Bishop
£39,986 Kidney Research UKGrant Summary
01-12-2023 - 30-11-2025 - Epithelial Exchange Surfaces – From organizing principles to novel culture models of the gatekeepers of the body
Martin Knight, Hazel Screen, Wen Wang, Clare Thompson and Cleo Bishop
£260,676 EPSRC - EU SchemeGrant Summary
01-12-2023 - 30-11-2027 - Melancortins to control cystic fibrosis airway inflammation
Mauro Perretti, Charles Mein and Lucy Norling
£21,271 Italian Cystic Fibrosis Research Foundation Fondazione Italiana per la ricerca sulla Fibrosi Cistica
01-12-2023 - 30-11-2025 - Extreme heat and preterm birth in rural Zimbabwe
Andrew Prendergast, Andrew Russell, Melanie Smuk, Tina Chowdhury and Stamatina Iliodromiti
£460,148 Wellcome Trust
01-10-2023 - 30-09-2028 - Genotypic, Phenotypic and Metabolic Characterisation of Skin Sentinels
Matthew Caley and Simon McArthur
£75,600 Unilever UK Ltd
01-10-2023 - 30-09-2027 - A stem cell research approach to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying heterogeneity of outcome in traumatic brain injury
Agnes Nishimura, Adina Michael-Titus and Christopher Uff
£74,845 Barts and the London Charity
04-09-2023 - 03-09-2025 - Epigenetic targeting in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) to overcome resistance to ICB
Oliver Pearce
£252,508 Barts and the London Charity
01-09-2023 - 31-08-2026 - Investigating Genetic Risk in Dementia
Cara Croft
£154,746 Alzheimer's Research UK
01-09-2023 - 31-08-2025 - KTP with LiftBioSciences: 3D TME model to study neutrophil cytotoxicity (PI: Luigi Ombrato)
Luigi Ombrato and Oliver Pearce
£232,790 Innovate UK
30-08-2023 - 29-08-2025 - Epigenetic targeting of cancer-associated fibroblasts in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) to
Oliver Pearce and Angus Cameron
£390,550 Barts and the London Charity
01-06-2023 - 31-05-2026 - Targeting epigenetic gene regulation in epidermolysis bullosa simplex
John Connelly, Julien Gautrot and David Kelsell
£199,751 Action Medical Research
01-06-2023 - 31-05-2026 - Biophysical regulation of nucleolar structure and function in senescent cells and ageing
John Connelly and Cleo Bishop
£554,319 BBSRC Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
15-05-2023 - 14-05-2026 - Role of the transcription factor TWIST 1 in endothelial pathophysiology and atherosclerosis progression
Paul Evans
£504,041 BHF British Heart Foundation
01-04-2023 - 31-03-2026 - Tommy’s National Preterm Birth Research Centre
Stamatina Iliodromiti, Tina Chowdhury and Steven Thornton
£432,791 Tommy's
01-04-2023 - 31-03-2028 - Endothelial GATA4 in Atherosclerosis Progression
Paul Evans
£379,319 Medical Research Council
01-03-2023 - 30-11-2026 - Investigating the mechanism of adrenal insufficiency in individuals with porphyria
Lou Metherell and Li Chan
£331,824 MRC Medical Research Council
14-02-2023 - 13-02-2026 - Mechanisms driving Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease; The novel role of the RNA-binding protein ANKHD1
Maria Fragiadaki
£566,085 MRC Medical Research Council
01-02-2023 - 28-11-2025 - rhu-pGelsolin for treatment of arthritis
Mauro Perretti, Magdalena K Kaneva and Shafaq Sikandar
£460,135 BioAegis Therapeutics
01-02-2023 - 30-09-2025 - Incorporating physical cues in organ-chip models
Hazel Screen and Martin Knight
£20,000 Emulate Inc.
01-10-2022 - 30-09-2026 - REMODEL - ERC AdG 2021 Frances Balkwill
Fran Balkwill
£2,154,257 EPSRC - EU Scheme
01-10-2022 - 30-09-2027 - Human synovium-cartilage organ-chip for personalised surgical screening
Martin Knight and Timothy Hopkins
£311,203 Versus Arthritis
01-04-2022 - 30-06-2026 - Multi-User Equipment Grant,‘Cell DIVE Imager for automated, single cell, multiplexed immunofluorescence microscopy
Cleo Bishop
£340,339 Wellcome Trust
01-01-2022 - 31-12-2026 - Testing novel peptides
Mauro Perretti
£45,706 WHRL William Harvey Research Limited
01-01-2022 - 31-12-2026 - Investigating the utility and exploring biological targets of enhanced wound healing compounds in 2D
Cleo Bishop and John Connelly
£118,835 BBSRC Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
01-10-2021 - 30-09-2025 - Investigating the utility and exploring biological targets of enhanced wound healing compounds in 2D
Cleo Bishop and John Connelly
£76,000 Unilever UK Ltd
01-10-2021 - 30-09-2025 - 3D perfusion bioreactor studentship Baxter - EPSRC DTP CASE Conversion 2021
Karin Hing
£30,000 Baxter Healthcare Corporation
21-09-2021 - 20-09-2025 - The molecular mechanisms underlying the tumour-determined immune cell infiltrate in oral squamous cell carcinoma
Adrian Biddle and Muy-Teck Teh
£298,338 MCSBHT Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital Trust
01-09-2021 - 31-01-2026 - Reprogramming resolution in the arthritic joint
Lucy Norling
£720,853 Versus Arthritis
01-09-2019 - 30-09-2026 - Organ-on-a-chip Centre of Excellence
Martin Knight and Hazel Screen
£420,794 Emulate Inc.
20-08-2019 - 01-10-2029 - Restoring response to immunotherapy by targeting the extracellular matrix
Oliver Pearce
£813,041 CR-UK Cancer Research UK
01-07-2019 - 31-12-2025 - Engineering the fetal membranes
Tina Chowdhury
£40,000 Prenatal Charity UCL EGA INSTITUTE FOR WOMEN’S HEALTH
01-12-2018 - 01-10-2028
