Annual Review 2012
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Annual Review 2012 Connecting science, health and society Highlights of the Wellcome Trust’s work in 2012, a year in which we helped to bring together researchers, teams and centres to better tackle the complex challenges of health research. Executive Board Wellcome Trust Mark Walport We are a global charitable foundation Director of the Wellcome Trust dedicated to achieving extraordinary Ted Bianco Director of Technology Transfer improvements in human and animal John Cooper health by supporting the brightest minds Francis Crick Institute Chief in biomedical research and the medical Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive Officer humanities. Simon Jeffreys Chief Operating Officer Our ten-year Strategic Plan for 2010–20 David Lynn Director of Strategic Planning provides the framework for how we intend and Policy to evolve our support to be even more Clare Matterson effective in achieving this aim. Director of Medical Humanities and Engagement Kevin Moses Our funding focuses on: Director of Science Funding 1. Supporting outstanding researchers Danny Truell Chief Investment Officer 2. Accelerating the application of research Susan Wallcraft 3. Exploring medicine in historical and General Counsel and Company cultural contexts. Secretary As at December 2012 Our five major challenges are: 1. Maximising the health benefits Board of Governors of genetics and genomics 2. Understanding the brain William Castell, Chairman 3. Combating infectious disease Peter Rigby, Deputy Chairman Alan Brown 4. Investigating development, ageing Damon Buffini and chronic disease Kay Davies 5. Connecting environment, nutrition Michael Ferguson Richard Hynes and health. Anne Johnson Eliza Manningham-Buller This Annual Review covers the period Peter Smith 1 October 2011–30 September 2012. As at December 2012 Contents Year in brief 02 02 Director’s statement 04 04 Supporting outstanding researchers 08 08 Accelerating the application of research 12 Exploring medicine in historical 16 and cultural contexts Maximising the health benefits 20 20 of genetics and genomics Understanding the brain 24 Combating infectious disease 28 Investigating development, ageing and 32 chronic disease Connecting environment, nutrition 36 and health Advisory committees 2011/12 40 40 Year in brief An overview of some of our activities in 2011/12, from research successes and public engagement campaigns to the grants we have awarded and the performance of our investments. Mitochondrial research In the Zone Brains exhibition UK Biobank opens A new centre at Newcastle Inspired by the London Wellcome Collection’s most Researchers can now apply is developing ways to 2012 Games, the Wellcome popular exhibition to date to use the UK Biobank stop children inheriting Trust combined sport and explored the history of database, with health mitochondrial diseases. physiology in a touring human efforts to information and samples exhibition and experiment understand the brain’s from 500 000 volunteers. Research leaders of the kits for schools. mysteries. future Gene therapy successes The first ten Sir Henry Dale Tracking MRSA Stem Cell Institute Research teams have made Fellows – early-career Rapid whole-genome As pioneering stem cell striking progress in researchers with the sequencing shows success research wins a Nobel developing gene therapies potential to become world in identifying, tracking and Prize, a new institute is – including, for the first leaders – have been named. stopping hospital outbreaks launched to advance our time ever, treating a genetic of MRSA. understanding of stem eye disease. Stevenage Bioscience cells and their potential Catalyst Urbanisation and health use in medicine. The UK’s first open An Indian study is revealing innovation bioscience the full implications for campus has received its health when people migrate first tenants from industry to cities. and academia. Funding and achievements 970 28 492 053 Total grants awarded Countries receiving funding Wellcome Collection visits 12 600 £185m 4433 Items of media coverage Venture capital finance Scientific research papers associated secured by grantholders for with the Wellcome Trust relating to the Wellcome Trust commercialisation of R&D (Published in calendar year 2011, indexed on PubMed and in Thomson Reuters databases) 2 | Annual Review 2012 Online content For more content related to the stories featured in the Annual Review, see www.wellcome.ac.uk/ annualreview. Key financials at a glance Financial summary Net asset value Our ability to support research and other charitable activities depends on the success of our investment portfolio. We invest globally across £13.3bn a very broad range of assets and As at 30 £13.3bn strategies. In 2011/12, we were £12.0bn £11.9bn £12.7bn £12.4bn September. pleased that our investment portfolio recorded a total return of 12%. We have returned a total of 27% (annualised 8%) over three years 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 and 145% (annualised 9%) over ten years to September 2012. Since the inception of our investment portfolio in 1985, it has provided Charitable funding committed in year a total return averaging almost 14% a year. Our annual grant-making budget is £746m £746m £702m £720m set by reference to a three-year For the year ended £678m £642m weighted average of our portfolio’s 30 September. value in order to smooth the effects of short-term volatility. Over the next five years we aim to commit in excess of £3 billion for charitable activities, but this will depend on our investment performance. 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 For more details, see our Annual Report and Financial Statements at www.wellcome.ac.uk/annualreport. Annual Review 2012 | 3 Director’s statement This year, we have created more opportunities for researchers to build connections with each other and across all parts of society – vital for improving health in the future. In October 2012, the Nobel Prize in the same immature state as our Physiology or Medicine was awarded natural stem cells and using them for to Professor Sir John Gurdon and regenerative medicine. Professor Professor Shinya Yamanaka. Their Yamanaka’s share of the Nobel Prize work, 50 years apart, showed that was for his work published in 2006, mature cells can be reprogrammed which honed an innovative yet and used to generate so-called induced practicable technique for genetically pluripotent stem cells. John’s engineering mature cells into induced experiments in the late 1950s pluripotent stem cells. overturned theories of cell development and opened up new Building on this pioneering research, possibilities in biological research we announced a new centre in and medicine. Since then, he has Cambridge this year: the Wellcome continued a highly successful research Trust–Medical Research Council Making connections career, was a co-founder and the first Cambridge Stem Cell Institute. It director of the Wellcome Trust/ draws on our existing strengths in Researchers do not work in isolation: Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute, the field, uniting many world-class productive collaborations, strong and has also served as a Governor of research groups in their efforts to leadership and a supportive the Wellcome Trust. advance our understanding of stem infrastructure are vital parts of any cells and how we can use these to treat researcher’s success. Similarly, science This year’s Annual Review is all about a range of human illnesses. does not operate in a vacuum. The connecting science, health and society. Wellcome Trust works across many John’s story reflects this theme in One example of such an application sectors to connect science, health many ways: the connections from his was published this year by a team at and society so that the fruits of original discovery to the development the University of Cambridge and the biomedical research are fully able to today of new stem cell therapies; the nearby Wellcome Trust Sanger contribute to better health for all. connections he fostered between Institute, who combined stem cell scientists at the Gurdon Institute; and, biology and gene therapy to correct a through the influence of his work on faulty gene that can cause cirrhosis of cloning and stem cell technologies, the the liver and emphysema in the lungs. wider connections that exist between They took skin cells from patients, science and society. These connections reprogrammed the cells into stem resonate with the stories of the Trust’s cells and replaced the gene. Then they work over the past year, which you can used the corrected stem cells to read about in this Review. generate healthy liver cells. Such techniques – almost unimaginable Connecting science and health just a few decades ago – bring us closer John’s experiments showed that an to safe and effective treatments based animal’s mature, specialised cells all on our growing understanding of retain its entire genetic code. The genetics and stem cells. genetic information in any one cell could be used to create a new, fully Connecting researchers formed organism. This finding The Gurdon Institute celebrated its sparked interest in the potential for 21st anniversary this year. Established cloning animals, and raised the by a small group of researchers led by prospect of reprogramming cells into John, it adopted his name in 2004, 4 | Annual Review 2012 after he had stepped down from the position of director, recognising his guiding influence in developing a creative and productive environment for developmental biology and cancer research. From the start, his leadership style was inclusive,