Experimental medicine: invited stage two application
Forecasted
Experimental medicine: invited stage two application supports academic teams conducting human intervention studies to test disease mechanisms and inform future therapeutic or diagnostic approaches.
Funder: UK Research and Innovation
Due Dates (Anticipated): September 2027 (Stage two closing date)
Funding Amounts: No funding or duration limit; requests typically £1 million or more; 80% of full economic cost
Summary: Supports academically led human intervention studies that test disease mechanisms and inform future therapeutic or diagnostic approaches.
Key Information: Stage two applications require an invitation following successful assessment of an experimental medicine stage one application.
Description
The Medical Research Council (MRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, funds academically led experimental medicine research into the causes, progression and treatment of human disease. Projects must address a clearly articulated gap in human pathophysiology, test a mechanistic hypothesis through an intervention or challenge in humans, and show a clear path to clinical impact. All disease areas and intervention types are welcome, including pharmacological, immunological, physiological, psychological and infectious challenges with established safety profiles.
The programme seeks new mechanistic insights that identify opportunities to modify disease pathways or enable future therapeutic and diagnostic approaches. It supports novel readouts and technologies, and established drugs or interventions used in new settings to probe mechanisms. Early efficacy signals may be secondary measures, but treatment efficacy cannot be the central focus.
