Lifesaving research The Spencer Dayman Research Fund commenced the year with an exciting portfolio of projects covering prevention, diagnosis and treatment. This included the prospect of three new major research projects totalling £633,371. Unfortunately, the significant financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic meant that we had to make significant changes to our plans. Above all, we took the difficult decision to withdraw full funding (£186k) from the following pneumococcal vaccine project: • Developing a multivalent Streptococcus pneumoniae recombinant glycoconjugate vaccine for preventing meningitis, led by Professors Jeremy Brown and Brendan Wren at University College London Thankfully, this project had not commenced at the time this decision was made. We continue to work with the research team to help secure funding to deliver this important piece of work, which, if it can go ahead, will help to develop a vaccine that provides better protection against pneumococcal meningitis. And after much close liaison with the lead researcher, we were delighted to be able to offer part-funding totalling £58k to the following project, which aims to increase understanding of tuberculous meningitis (TBM) in children leading to improved diagnostic tests and outcomes: • SURE + DP: Improving diagnosis and prognosis for paediatric tuberculous meningitis through the SURE treatment trial, led by Professor Robin Basu Roy at University College London Clinical Trials Unit Over 30 months, this revised project will recruit a ‘non-TBM’ control group of children alongside the SURE treatment trial in Africa. A small amount of additional funding will allow for pilot analysis of samples, the results of which will help to secure the additional funding needed for the full analysis proposed in the original grant application. We look forward to this revised project starting early next year.
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