Scotland has always played a significant role in medical research, but since the spread of coronavirus, research has become more important than ever. In the latest issue of Holyrood Chief Scientist (Health) Professor Crossman, highlights significant efforts across Scotland to tackle and mitigate the impact of COVID-19, work underway to restart non-COVID research and ways in which NHS will adapt to a new research environment.
Also this month, a significant milestone was reached as the number of people registered to take part in COVID-19 vaccine trials exceeded 100,000 - with the total as of Wednesday 26 August over 224,000 including over 18,000 in Scotland. The NHS COVID-19 vaccine research registry will help large numbers of people to be recruited into the trials over the coming months, potentially leading to effective vaccines being identified and made available to the UK public against coronavirus earlier. It has been developed as part of the UK Government’s Vaccine Taskforce, in partnership with the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), NHS Digital, and the Northern Ireland, Scottish and Welsh Governments.
Significant developments and announcements in non-COVID-19 research also illustrates the importance of restoring the diverse portfolio of health and social care research across Scotland. The landmark MND-SMART trial has opened its second UK centre in Dundee, results from the Early detection of Cancer of the Lung Scotland (“ECLS”) trial have shown a combination of blood tests followed by CT scanning can help detect lung cancer earlier, and a discovery by scientists in Dundee could pave the way to new treatments for neurodegenerative disorders such as motor neurone disease, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis.
With ongoing work to restart non-COVID-19 research, a new patient survey has also been launched by NHS Research Scotland to capture confidence levels of patients returning to participate in NHS research
The COVID-19 pages on the NHS Research Scotland website continue to be updated with information, and as always your ideas, feedback and contributions are welcome.
Sign-up milestone to NHS UK COVID-19 vaccine register Over 224,000 people have signed up to the NHS UK COVID-19 vaccine research registry, including over 18,000 in Scotland. Further sign-ups are encouraged to help speed up efforts to discover safe and effective vaccines. Read more
COVID-19 vaccine trial for over 55s The University of Glasgow, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Tayside are supporting the University of Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine trials, which aims to assess how well people across a broad range of ages could be protected from COVID-19 with the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine. Read more
Adapting to the new medical research world Chief Scientist (Health) Professor David Crossman's latest article for Holyrood highlights Scotland’s contribution to world-leading research on COVID-19; and current efforts to restore non-COVID research within the NHS.Read more
Landmark MND trial opens in Dundee
The groundbreaking motor neurone disease clinical drugs trial, MND-SMART, has now opened to participants in NHS Tayside. This is the trial’s second UK centre. Read more
NHS Research Scotland Restarting Research Survey Whilst COVID-19 research continues to be delivered across NHS health boards; work is also underway to restore the diverse portfolio of health and social care research Scotland offered before the pandemic.A new patient survey has been launched by NHS Research Scotland to capture confidence levels of patients returning to participate in NHS research. Read more
HRA updates on education research
As the COVID-19 lockdown eases, the HRA and devolved administrations have released an update for students, supervisors and HEIs on their current position in relation to student research and ethics review. Read more
Diabetes National SBRI Challenge opens NHS Scotland and Innovate UK are funding a Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competition where successful applicants will receive 100% funding and access to advice from NHS Highland, NHS Lothian and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. Read more
Trial shows reduction in diagnoses of cancer The ECLS trial, supported by University of Dundee, NHS Tayside and co-funded by Oncimmune, Chief Scientist Office and Scottish Government, is believed to be the largest randomised controlled trial for the detection of lung cancer using blood-based biomarkers.Read more
Funding boost for retinal scanning software
The Multiple Disease Screening from Retinal Imaging project, a joint initiative between the University of Dundee and University of Edinburgh, has received £176,000 funding from Scottish Enterprise’s High Growth Spinout Programme. Read more
Enzyme breakthrough could treat neuro disorders A discovery by scientists in Dundee could pave the way to new treatments for neuro-degenerative disorders such as motor neurone disease, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis. Read more
Funding to accelerate drug discovery process Three of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies have pledged £7.5 million to allow the University of Dundee’s Division of Signal Transduction Therapy (DSTT) to continue its award-winning work. Read more
Health Foundation funding for COVID-19 research The Health Foundation has launched a new research programme, with funding of between £100–£200k available for projects seeking to understand the impact of COVID-19 in the UK. Read more
Entries open for Scottish Health Awards 2020 The #ScotHealthAwards Innovation Award, sponsored by NHS Research Scotland, is open to an individual, group or team who are developing innovative ways to improve health and social care in Scotland. Nominate today at scottishhealthawards.com
Events - Update Visit our events calendar for full details on cancelled or postponed events and conferences. Details on Glasgow Clinical Research Facility Educations courses can be found on the courses page.
NHS Research Scotland (NRS) is a partnership of Scottish NHS Boards and the Chief Scientist Office (CSO) of Scottish Government. NHS Research Scotland Central Management Team is hosted by Scottish Health Innovations Ltd (Ltd).
Registered Number: SC 236303. Registered address: The Golden Jubilee National Hospital, Fourth Floor East, Agamemnon St, Clydebank, G81 4DY
