Seven research projects combining the best of British and Israeli scientific cooperation have won £2.8 million in medical funding.
The winning projects were announced on Wednesday evening after the British Council and the British Embassy in Israel identified the most promising bilateral submissions in the field of ageing.
Earlier this year, researchers in British and Israeli institutions were asked to propose cutting edge three-year projects on which they would work cooperatively.
The funded projects include one between the University of Oxford and Israel’s Hadassah Medical Center who will try to understand why bones are much more fragile in old people with Type 1 diabetes.
Another project between the University of Cambridge and Hebrew University of Jerusalem, “will provide clues as to how the effects of age might be reversed therapeutically”. It will examine how the brain is able to induce harmful in central nerve system stem cells, and how are the physical signals of the brain transmitted to a central nerve system stem cell to change its function.
Other winning projects will initiate a “brain database in Israel”, while another will make the most of “dramatic new developments in brain imaging methods” to better understand diseases such as dementia.
Britain’s Ambassador to Israel, H.E. Neil Wigan hailed the funding awards and increased scientific cooperation, stating: “Through these meaningful and sustainable collaborations, we can together tackle universal ongoing challenges”
He added: “These cutting-edge research collaborations not only position the UK and Israel at the forefront of ageing research world-wide, but also reaffirm the close connection between British and Israeli academic communities”.
