Previous successful awards (a few examples) Writing a grant application is the first step to getting your own funding Marie Bechler (Postdoc, MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine), was awarded £1,125 to visit the Broad Institute, Boston, USA to learn how to develop image analysis pipelines for high content microfiber assays of myelin sheath formation. This technique is now being used sucessfully in Edinburgh. (2016 NRF Award)Nina Rzechorzek (Wellcome Trust Integrated Veterinary Training Fellow, Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies and Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences) was awarded £236 for bolt-on visits to the University of Missouri and North Carolina State University, USA, to establish collaborations in neurogenetics and stem cell modelling of canine neurodegenerative disorders. This has resulted in access to the 33,000 canine DNA dataset (the largest in the world), new collaborations in the USA and with Centre for Integrative Physiology to try and establish canine iPS cells in Edinburgh. (2016 NRF award) Alfredo Gonzalez-Sulser (Postdoc, Centre for Integrative Physiology) received £780 to visit University College London to learn a new animal model of epilepsy for combining with optogenetic electrophysiology work in Edinburgh. As a result of his visit, Alfredo successfully applied for an Epilepsy Reserach UK Fellowship (and got to visit Downing Street as a result!). (2015 NRF award)Lucy Hiscox (PhD Student, Alzheimer’s Scotland Dementia Research Centre) was awarded £1,200 to visit the University of Illinois to learn Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE). She has subsequently established this technique in Edinburgh. (2014 NRF award)Veronica Brivio (PhD Student, Centre for Neuroregeneration) received £950 to start a new collaboration with Prof. Thomas Misgeld at the Technical University, Munich on live imaging of protein targeting and delivery. This led to the establishment of this technique in Edinburgh and the data led to the award of an MRC grant to her supervisor Prof Peter Brophy. Veronica is now a postdoc at the University of St Andrews. (2013 NRF award)Fergus Doubal (Clinical Lecturer, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences) was awarded £800 towards a visit to University of British Columbia, Canada, to start a new collaboration and access the Small Subcortical Stroke (SPS3) trail dataset. As a result of his visit, Fergus eastablished a new collaboration and sucessfully applied for an NRS Career Development Fellowship. (2012 NRF award)Adrian Duszkiewicz (PhD Student, Centre for Cognitive and Neural Systems) was awarded £600 towards a visit to Harvard University to learn how to set up in vivo optogenetic coupled tetrode recording which allowed him to sucessfully complete his PhD. (2012 NRF award). Adrian is now a postdoctal researcher at McGill University, Canada. (2012 NRF award)Mandy Johnstone (Clinical Lecturer, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences - Psychiatry) received £475 towards a visit to labs in Philidelphia and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute to learn how to culture, develop and work with hiPSC stem cells in order to start a new study in Edinburgh using stem cells with DISC1 and NDE1 copy number varients (which lead to schizophrenia). Mandy used the visit to develop a reserach propsal which led to the successful award of a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Fellowship. (2011 NRF award)Rustam Al-Shahi Salman (MRC clinician scientist, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences) was awarded £1,600 to meet with three researcher laboratories in the USA to begin new collaborations for clinical trials on intracerebral hemorrhage. This visit resulted in a collaboration with research groups in Boston and at the Mayo Clinic that led to the award of an MRC senior clinical fellowship to Rustam, the publication of an original article in Lancet Neurology and a new meta-analysis study. Rustam is now Professor of Clinical Neurology. (2010 NRF award)Mario Parra (PhD student, Psychology) received £250 towards a visit to the Complutense University of Madrid to start a new collaboration on 'memory binding as a neurocognitive marker' for mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease'. Mario's visit led to the inititation of a series of collaborative studies over several years, the award of a Fellowship to Mario from Alzheimer's Scotland, and numerous publications. Mario now holds a lectureship at Heriot Watt University. (2010 NRF award) This article was published on 2024-12-17