A major new UK-wide doctoral training programme coordinated through the University of Exeter will train the next generation of researchers to uncover how genetic variation influences human biology and disease.
The Medical Research Council (MRC) will fund 18 PhD students a year for three years through a program linked to the UK Human Functional Genomics Initiative, a national programme bringing together expertise in genetics, functional genomics, data science and experimental biology from across the UK.
The new PhD students will be based across the six university partners: Cambridge, Edinburgh, Exeter, Imperial, King's College London and Oxford. Students will also benefit from connections across the wider UK functional genomics community, including partnerships with industry and the NHS. The investment will create a network of researchers highly skilled in techniques including gene editing, data science, AI, entrepreneurship and advanced cellular models. They will gain experience across academia, healthcare and industry.
The programme is funded as part of a £90 million MRC investment to fund 200 researchers a year for the next three years, placed across 14 new Doctoral Landscape Awards in the UK.
Professor Jonathan Mill, of the University of Exeter, is Director of the UK Functional Genomics Initiative. He said: "Functional genomics is becoming one of the most exciting and important areas of biomedical science. We are now remarkably good at finding genetic variants associated with disease, but the next challenge is to understand what they actually do and how we can use that knowledge to improve human health. By connecting students across our partner universities, and with the wider academic, NHS and industry communities involved in the Initiative, we have an opportunity to build a new generation of functional genomics researchers and strengthen the UK's international leadership in this rapidly advancing field."
Dr Joanna Robinson, Director of Research Talent, Skills and Careers at MRC, said: "Medical research depends on talented people. These awards will support doctoral researchers to develop deep scientific expertise alongside the broader capabilities needed for successful and rewarding careers across research, healthcare, industry and policy. By investing in researchers at the start of their careers, we are helping to strengthen the UK's medical research workforce and enable discoveries that improve lives."
