Submitted by Administrator on Mon, 03/06/2019 - 12:47
Congratulations to Dr Adam Butterworth and Dr Dirk Paul for being awarded a grant of €100,000 from the Sanofi Innovation Awards (iAwards) Europe 2019 Programme.
This programme was launched in the UK in 2018 with the aim of developing promising projects into research programmes that enrich Sanofi’s early-stage portfolio, and is supported by the University’s Office for Translational Research and the Cambridge Academy of Therapeutic Sciences.
The research aims to uncover the molecular mechanisms underlying genetic regions associated with foetal haemoglobin, a major modulator of the clinical features of sickle cell disease. This disease is an inherited, serious and lifelong condition that affects red blood cells.
Sickle cell disease causes haemolytic anemia and vaso-occlusive episodes that may lead to progressive end-organ complications. These include pulmonary hypertension, chronic kidney disease, arrhythmias, and heart failure.
There are >5 million people worldwide with sickle cell disease, predominantly in the developing world. The team will combine genomic analyses and cutting-edge genome-editing techniques, collaborating with experts at the Wellcome Sanger Institute.
General information about the iAwards programme can be found by clicking here.
