Pandemic science hub will develop drugs for lung infections such as Covid-19

Lucinda Cameron, PA Scotland
·3 min read

A new pandemic science hub is being created to develop treatments for lung infections such as Covid-19.

The hub at the University of Edinburgh will use translational genomics – following clues from the human genome to identify and rapidly test new treatments – along with experimental medicine methods to quickly evaluate and develop drugs for lung inflammation and injury caused by infection.

Independent investment partnership Baillie Gifford is supporting the launch with a philanthropic gift of £14.7 million and the university aims to secure £100 million worth of investment in total.

As well as accelerating discoveries of treatments for Covid-19 and other human lung diseases, the Baillie Gifford Pandemic Science Hub aims to help prepare for future pandemics.

Scientists working in a laboratory
The hub will draw on the expertise of scientists from many disciplines (University of Edinburgh/PA)

It will build on the success of GenOMICC and STOPCOVID, experimental medicine projects led by Professors Kenneth Baillie and Kev Dhaliwal, respectively.

Professor Baillie, GenOMICC’s chief investigator and professor of experimental medicine at the University of Edinburgh, said: “The generous donation from Baillie Gifford enables us to build on recent advances in genomics, computing, engineering and experimental medicine – all major strengths at Edinburgh – to speed up the process of drug development, so that we’ll be able to find targeted therapies more quickly for new, and old, diseases.

“The hub will use clues from human genetics to develop new drugs, and then build technologies to rapidly test those drugs in critically ill patients.”

GenOMICC is a global research study that aims to understand the genetic factors that change outcomes in critical illness.

Early in the pandemic, its researchers found the first human gene ever to lead to a new drug treatment for infectious disease or critical illness.

Based on human genetic data from Covid-19 patients, they predicted the drug baricitinib would be an effective treatment.

This discovery, combined with other evidence, led to the decision to add the drug to the RECOVERY trial, which recently reported that baricitinib is effective at reducing death from severe Covid-19.

STOPCOVID began in the early stages of the pandemic and rapidly established experimental medicine pathways for testing therapies in patients alongside accelerating technologies for delivering and measuring drugs in human lungs.

It has been funded by LifeArc and Baillie Gifford

The hub will bring together expertise from both projects.

To speed up the discovery of new treatments, the team will deliver microdoses of multiple medicines to key areas of patients’ lungs and observe if the drugs work on their own or in a combination.

Scientists said that the constant risk of respiratory viruses, combined with the emergence of antibiotic resistance in respiratory diseases, means a radical new approach to streamlining drug development and evaluation is needed.

To deliver this vision the hub will draw on the expertise of the university’s data scientists, roboticists, engineers, chemists, biologists, regulatory experts, drug developers, toxicologists, clinicians and others.

Professor Dhaliwal, STOPCOVID lead and professor of molecular imaging and healthcare technology at the University of Edinburgh, said: “Innovation and team science are at the heart of this new push which will make a jump in experimental medicine capabilities.

“Fusing disciplines in a translationally focused environment to accelerate therapies and approaches for lung inflammation is a major challenge and we are delighted that we are being supported by Baillie Gifford to establish this hub and also recruit leaders from across the world.”

Mark Urquhart, partner at Baillie Gifford, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has shone a light on how vulnerable the world is to this type of virulent viral infection.

“Our aim is to contribute towards better preparedness for new Covid-19 variants and other pandemics in the future.”

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest Stories

  • This versatile Amazon maxi dress is a 'must buy' for summer — and it's under $65

    Amazon shoppers call this 100 per cent cotton dress “a total win" that you can dress up or down.

  • Caviar, champagne, and IPOs: At the Jefferies Private Internet Conference, tech dealmaking was back

    Jefferies resumed this conference in 2022 but there was not much to talk about in the way of actual deals. Now the logjam is finally breaking.

  • AI Chip Leader Arm Stock Dives Below A Key Support Level, Is It A Buy Right Now?

    AI chip stock Arm Holdings surged more than 152% past a recent buy point. Following that advance, is Arm stock a buy in today's stock market?

  • Analysis-Ample oil supplies limit impact of MidEast flare-up on prices

    Plentiful supplies of some of the biggest crude grades are limiting the impact on benchmark oil futures prices of conflict in the Middle East, according to analysts and traders. To date, the conflict has not had a big impact on oil supplies from the Middle East, the world's top producing region. "In the absence of actual supply/production issues this market will struggle to convincingly challenge the annual peaks reached at the end of last week," said Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM.

  • Magnificent Seven Stocks To Buy And Watch: Nvidia Stock Dives Below Key Level

    Magnificent Seven stocks, including AI leader Nvidia, are among the best stocks to buy and watch in today's stock market.

  • New York Rangers captain Jacob Trouba may be the most interesting man in hockey

    Jacob Trouba is captain of the best team in the NHL this season, the New York Rangers, one of the oldest franchises in hockey in one of the world's greatest sports towns. The big-hitting American defenceman is also an artist, philanthropist, advocate and, most recently, an actor in a commercial urging early cancer detection. He might be the most interesting man in hockey. Trouba asked for a trade from Winnipeg to a team in the U.S. so his then-fiancée could pursue her medical career. He was the

  • Trucking Stocks Skid As Earnings Report Sounds Alarm For Industry

    Trucking companies were shaken as J.B. Hunt reported earnings results rocked the industry. The company's chief executive also gave a warning.

  • Wall Street 'fear gauge' flashes as volatility dogs US stocks

    A cocktail of interest rate anxiety and geopolitical tensions is keeping U.S. stock investors defensive and driving Wall Street’s most closely watched volatility gauge to its highest level in half a year. With the S&P 500 down nearly 5% from its late March record closing high, the Cboe Volatility Index broke above 20 overnight as tensions between Iran and Israel escalated, its highest since late October. Often called Wall Street's "fear gauge," the VIX is an options-based measure of investor demand for protection against near-term stock swings.

  • Residents express concerns over street takeovers in The Banks

    People told us they saw cars speeding, doing donuts and burnouts and causing a lot of noise in the area Thursday night.

  • Local Samantha Powderhorn's Running Journey Lands Her Sponsorship from Under Armor

    Under Armour, Canada has recently sponsored Samantha Powderhorn, a local Northern resident, as part of the Under Armour Diversity Series. The company made a $5,000 product donation to Samantha to support her mission of encouraging others to take up running. This generous donation will enable Samantha to continue helping people achieve their fitness goals and lead a healthy lifestyle. Samantha Powderhorn's life has transformed from an obstacle-filled journey to one filled with accomplishment and

  • Italian court drops trafficking charges against crew members of migrant rescue ships

    An Italian court threw out charges Friday against crew members of migrant rescue ships, ending a controversial case seven years after the government accused them of colluding with traffickers. Triggered by a tip-off by an ex-policeman on board and marked by the wire-tapping of lawyers and journalists, the long-running case had been highlighted as an extreme example of efforts by European governments to thwart NGOs helping migrants at sea.The court in Trapani, Sicily dismissed all charges against

  • Alstom sells North American conventional signalling business for around $670 million

    The proceeds from the sale, net of expected tax and transaction costs, should amount to around 620 million euros. The deal is expected to close as soon as the summer, Alstom said, following regulatory approval. The transaction is part of Alstom's plan to reduce its debt by 2 billion euros, which will be revealed in detail on May 8.

  • NHL team moving from Arizona to Salt Lake City will have a name starting with Utah

    The NHL team moving from Arizona to Salt Lake City will be known as Utah, at least initially, until a long-term name is determined. “We’ll start with Utah on the jersey and we’ll figure out the logo and everything else and what it is that we are,” new owner Ryan Smith told The Associated Press on Thursday. “We’re going to be Utah either way. We have the first part of the name. We don’t have the last.” Smith Entertainment Group, which bought the franchise formerly known as the Coyotes in a deal u

  • Abigail's Dan Stevens pays tribute to late co-star Angus Cloud

    Dan Stevens has paid tribute to his late co-star Angus Cloud as his final film Abigail is released, saying "It was a real treat" to work with the actor.

  • Adult allyship and discrimination against young people top list of topics at Sask. Rivers student for change meeting

    The Saskatchewan Rivers board of education received an update on recent Saskatchewan Rivers Students for Change (SRSC) activities during their regular meeting on Monday. SRSC Board representative Charlie Lysyk provided updates on the recent SRSC meeting on March 26. The day began with team-building work, and a workshop on adult allyship. The topics included adultism (prejudice against young people as a group) and intersectionality. “I didn’t know about intersectionality just how the different pa

  • China fuels Russia’s war in Ukraine with weapons components, US warns

    China is now the “primary contributor” to Russia’s war in Ukraine and wider military expansion through its provision of critical components for weaponry, the United States has warned.

  • Three California police officers charged in 2021 death of man in custody

    The officers in Alameda, California, pinned Mario Gonzalez, 26, to the ground for about five minutes before he became unresponsive during an arrest on April 19, 2021, according to body camera footage the city released after his death. Gonzalez's death in Alameda, a city of nearly 80,000 people adjacent to Oakland, occurred the day before a Minneapolis jury convicted former policeman Derek Chauvin of murdering George Floyd, amid nationwide protests against police violence and racial inequality. The three officers charged on Thursday were dispatched to a park to check on Gonzalez in 2021 after residents reported a man was loitering and talking to himself, according to recordings of 911 emergency calls released by the city.

  • Stock Market Sells Off; Taiwan Semi, ASML, Netflix, Tesla In Focus: Weekly Review

    The stock market suffered significant losses for the week, with ASML and Taiwan Semiconductor slamming the chip sector. Tesla was a big loser.

  • Republican Wisconsin Senate candidate says he doesn't oppose elderly people voting

    MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Republican candidate in Wisconsin's closely watched U.S. Senate race emphasized this week that he doesn't oppose elderly people voting after initially saying that “almost nobody in a nursing home" is at a point in life where they are capable of voting. Eric Hovde faces Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin in the race that is essential for Democrats to win in order to maintain their majority in the Senate. A Marquette University Law School poll this week showed the race is about

  • Run From The Rays 5K heading back to Boca Raton

    Run From The Rays 5K heading back to Boca Raton