Action Medical Research, the leading UK-wide medical research charity dedicated to helping babies and children, is behind the research training fellowships.
They include studies into how babies are affected by diabetes during pregnancy, the chances of children developing disabilities due to being flat footed and effective treatments for manganese toxicity.
Caroline Johnston, the charity’s research evaluation manager, said: ‘The research training fellowship scheme is the cornerstone of Action Medical Research’s commitment to develop the research expertise and skills of the future.
‘By giving the brightest and best doctors and researchers the chance to train in research techniques early in their career, we are helping to ensure that the first-rate medical research work that Action Medical Research has become synonymous with will continue for a long time to come.’
Dr K M Logan, of Imperial College London, was awarded £189,234 to study how babies are affected when their mothers develop diabetes during pregnancy.
Her work will focus on changes in babies’ body fat and naturally occurring substances in urine.
It is hoped this could eventually lead to ways to identify and prevent babies at highest risk of becoming obese and developing type two diabetes.
Mr A Kothari, of the University of Oxford, was awarded £183,004 to study new ways to predict which children will develop disability as a result of being flat footed.
Some children with the condition go on to develop considerable disability and it is hoped that his work could help guide surgeons when deciding whether a child would benefit from an operation to recreate the arches of their feet.
Dr K Tuschl, of the UCL Institute of Child Health, was awarded £200,000 to study effective treatments for manganese toxicity.
The condition is associated with serious, sometimes life threatening, neurological childhood disorders affecting speech and mobility, and also with liver cirrhosis in some children.
The charity finds and funds some of the best medical research in the world for the benefit of babies, children and young people.
It supports promising doctors and researchers early in their careers through its aim to ensure high-quality research both now and in the future.
