Lab News in brief: seed funding, research citation, lead exposure, in vitro models

Their study published in eLife identifies the Dio3 gene, common to all mammals, as key to migratory and hibernating responses.

Professor of physiology at the school of biodiversity, one health and veterinary medicine, Tyler Stevenson, said: “Our work is important because we now know the genes involved, and the sequence of changes in gene expression that control long-term changes in seasonal physiology and behaviour.

“By understanding how and when genes are active during the season provides us with better knowledge of the underlying mechanism for annual health, and importantly, the potential causes of acute or chronic illnesses.”

Using transcriptomic sequencing and regular sampling and monitoring of the Djungarian hamster (also known as the Siberian, Russian or Winter White Dwarf hamster) the researchers were able to investigate the species’ seasonal clock and discovered longer nights activated the gene.

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Oncology therapeutics company Mosaic Therapeutics has appointed Dr Stephen Shuttleworth as chief scientific officer (CSO).

Shuttleworth has more than 30 years’ experience as a pharmaceutical scientist, senior executive, entrepreneur and investor. A venture partner at the US Samsara BioCapital since 2019, he was previously CSO, COO and executive director for over 10 years at Karus Therapeutics, where he was the founding scientist and R&D director of the company’s two small molecule oncology programmes. He began his industrial career in at Cambridge-based Chiroscience.

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1nhaler, the Scotland-based drug delivery device developer, has secured an extra £1.5 million in seed funding for development of its pop-up cardboard dry powder inhaler (DPI).

Funding led by Archangels with support from Scottish Enterprise and BBB Investments followed the raising of £2 million in 2023.

The latest investment will the company to take its platform technology for a Marketing Authorisation Application (MAA) intended for late 2027, including manufacture of clinical material for regulatory studies and design of scaled-up commercial manufacturing processes.

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Marine Biological Association (MBA) senior research fellow Dr Dan Smale has been named in the Clarivate 2025 Highly Cited Researchers list. 

He was named in the cross-field category in two distinct Essential Science Indicator (ESI) categories: Environment & Ecology and Geosciences.  The MBA said this placed him among the world’s most influential scientists, whose work ranks in the top 1% by citations and is recognised by peers for its impact and leadership. 

Smale has been highly cited by Clarivate every year since 2019, having authored more than 150 peer?reviewed articles, while his research has been cited more than 26,000 times. He leads the MBA’s research group Benthic Ecosystems and Environmental Change, which studies coastal marine ecosystems to analyse how marine life is responding to environmental change.

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The Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust, and Innovate UK have announced a £15.9m initiative to enable the development of advanced, specific and highly reproducible human-based in vitro models of disease.

The projects, which will be supported by the Medicines Discovery Catapult(MDC), include:

• University of Leicester: validating the use of living samples taken from patients' tumours as a powerful alternative for testing new cancer medicines.

• Hull York Medical School, University of Hull: developing artificial blood vessels to enable more accurate modelling and drug testing for diseases related to blood clots.
• University of Oxford: advancing the use of human stem cells to better model human pain and support research into new pain medications.
• University of Nottingham: developing a multi-organ model that replicates metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), stimulating progress in disease understanding and treatment.

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Leeds will be the location for a new UK study to screen children for risk to hidden lead exposure.

The Elevated Childhood Lead Interagency Preventative Study is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Described as the first citizen-led screening of the issue, it will involve the use of finger-prick sampling, alongside collection of dust and soil samples, plus survey data.

A total of 15,000 households will be invited to take part with the aim of achieving an initial cohort to 500 1-6 year olds. The project lead will be Jane Entwhistle, vice chancellor and professor at Northumbria University faculty of science and environment.

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The University of Birmingham has made a patent application for its novel metallo-coiled coil, described by its creators as a “new class of highly stable, protein-inspired MRI contrast agents”.

Metallo-coiled coils’ potential had previously been limited by poor stability but researchers now claim they have created a design that potentially offers more effective and safe diagnostics.

The research in collaboration with scientists from the University of Bristol and Università del Piemonte Orientale in Italy and supported by the EPSRC, is published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

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Scottish Brain Sciences (SBS), the clinical research organisation focused on the early detection and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions, has opened a new site at ONE BioHub, Aberdeen.

The clinical research centre will allow those affected to participate in studies focused on the early detection and treatment of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative conditions. It is the third SBS research facility, joining the firm’s research hub in St Andrews and its Edinburgh headquarters.

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Pic (clockwise, l to r): MDC, 1nhaler, SBS, MBA