The University of Manchester proposes to use the Wellcome Institutional Translational Partnership Award (iTPA) funding for the recruitment of two Translation Research Facilitators. These Facilitators will be based within the Health Innovation Manchester (HinM) research hub and will primarily focus on extending a new translational culture across the University with targeted communications to relevant academics and clinicians and research activities that aim to develop and maintain stronger links and constructive relationship between University of Manchester academics with a particular focus on Wellcome Trust funded investigators and Greater Manchester (GM) NHS Trust clinicians; to ensure a two way knowledge transfer notably by the organisation of engagement/dissemination/training events; and to ensure that University of Manchester scientists can access clinical expertise, facilities and services for novel, joint collaborations in the translational research areas represented in the Manchester NIHR BRC as well as more widely across our faculties. The posts will play a major role in moving the pre-clinical research along the translational research continuum by identifying funding opportunities in the early translation stage in order to facilitate pioneering research that reaches patients. The post holders will work closely with the different partners to ensure a coordinated approach to translation and input across the partner organisations. In addition, we propose to use some of the funding for pump priming projects and proof of concept studies to allow Investigators to access technical expertise and to encourage inter-disciplinary working to address major challenges in health linked to our BRC themes and with a particular emphasis in the key strategic area of integrated Advanced Materials in medicine.

The NHS England Long Term Plan includes a commitment to champion ‘community approaches’ which aim to improve health and reduce demand on formal care services. Community approaches consist of two main elements: - Social Prescribing - general practitioner referrals to local, non-clinical services to give them access to support in areas like employment, debt and physical activity. - Community assets - collective resources which individuals and communities have access to, like voluntary and community groups. Aims - To what extent and in what populations would addressing debt improve health and reduce care utilisation? - To determine if there are inequalities in access to community assets, in terms of concentration and distance. If so, do these inequalities affect health and care utilisation? - To assess the effectiveness of a rollout of a social prescribing scheme at improving health and well-being in Greater Manchester. The three aims will be achieved by applying econometric analysis to a combination of nationally representative datasets and a novel Greater Manchester specific dataset. The results will be used to inform policy makers of the effectiveness of community approaches. The latest NHS strategy document promises to roll-out a national programme of ‘community approaches’ to improving health and reducing demand on formal health care services. These community approaches include two main elements: Social Prescribing - general practitioner referrals to local, non-clinical services to provide support in areas like employment, debt and physical activity. Community assets - collective resources such as voluntary and community groups. However, we do not know how effective these approaches are and whether they will change inequalities between rich and poor areas. For example, social prescribing schemes will refer people to services to help with financial debt which is a key problem in poor areas. I will use several different datasets and statistical techniques to estimate the effects of community approaches. I will do this using programmes and data from Greater Manchester and the whole of England.

Our research is target driven. Spilsbury s card index consists of over 3000 post-mortems, of which only 200 involve cases of homicide. However, these were the post-mortems that were associated with high-profile legal dramas, which captivated the public imagination and press attention, and which projected Spilsbury onto the national stage, making him a household name. We will in the first instance survey the full collection of homicide cards, to develop a template for Spilsbury s investigative me thodology. However, for this pilot study we will limit our detailed historical focus to four signal cases that reflect changes in his methods over the course of his long career as a Home Office pathologist. We will also contextualize this archival material by researching the relationship between his post-mortem notes and newspaper coverage of his courtroom performances. This will enable us to trace the process of translation from the site of production to the site of dissemination of expert know ledge. Our key goals are: to explore the research opportunities presented by the Spilsbury Archive to develop a project grant submission on British Forensic Medicine in the 20th century to produce one scholarly article placing Spilsbury in historical context.

The cells of a tissue exist in a complex mechanical environment determined by a dynamic interplay between cell-intrinsic components (e.g. cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesions, cytoskeleton) and cell-extrinsic cues (e.g. extracellular matrix, tensile and compressive forces). Within this complex environment, cell division orientation must be carefully controlled in order to shape the tissue, maintain tissue organisation and regulate cell fate. While we know that the mechanical environment can dire ct spindle orientation in single cells in culture, we have very little understanding of how this relates to cells in an intact tissue. Using the Xenopus laevis embryo, this proposal aims to determine how the mechanical environment influences spindle orientation in an intact in vivo tissue, by addressing the following goals: 1. I will determine how spindle orientation in an in vivo epithelium is affected by manipulation of the mechanical environment and characterise the cellular components tha t underlie orientation. 2. I will determine whether tissue tension provides a cue for spindle orientation, by modelling tension in vivo and applying tensile forces to an ex vivo tissue. 3. I will uncover the cellular machinery that links the spindle to the mechanical environment, by investigating spindle-actin, specific molecular motors and by performing a candidate screen.