DH invites proposals for genetics funding

The Department of Health (DH) and the Wellcome Trust are inviting proposals from organisations and research groups seeking to draw on funding from the Health Innovation Challenge Fund. 'Advancing Genetic Discoveries into Clinical Practice' is the first area of expertise to be offered funding, with up to £20m.

Medical genetics is the first of a number of areas that the Health Innovation Challenge Fund will offer funding for. The aim of the cash injection is to help capitalise on the wealth of information created by human genome analysis and to bring the emerging insights to clinical application. The Health Innovation Challenge Fund can support initiatives for up to five years and has a total of up to £100m available, contributed in equal measure by the DH and the Wellcome Trust.

The purpose of the Health Innovation Challenge Fund is to facilitate high-quality technological developments that can deliver economic and patient health benefits and build on the UK's excellence in science. The initiative will stimulate the delivery of technologies, products and interventions having clinical applicability within the NHS.