BRC MND Project Manager

The NIHR Sheffield BRC (BRC) is a research partnership between Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Sheffield, dedicated to improving the treatment and care of people living with debilitating conditions. Research within the BRC focusses on chronic neurological disorders, cardiovascular disorders, and patients with compromised immunity, chronic inflammatory diseases and emerging infections.

The BRC drives research innovation into tangible benefits for patients and the wider society, whilst enhancing the position of the UK as the preferred partner for experimental medicine collaborations. Clinical research projects take place in conjunction with partners within STHFT and will be supported by the NIHR Sheffield Clinical Research Facility.EXPERTS-ALS is a ground-breaking project that provides a platform to test drugs rapidly for their potential to slow the progression of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, the commonest form of Motor Neuron Disease (MND)) in people living with ALS. This is done at a pace and scale not previously possible.

Although EXPERTS-ALS cannot prove that a drug does or does not have long-term benefit in MND, it will quickly identify the most promising candidate drugs to go forward into the larger clinical trials needed to test this. This is an £8m investment in MND research by the National Institute for Health & Care Research (NIHR) through the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

Main duties of the job

The post holder will provide key project management for the EXPERTS-ALS Programme with a specific focus on research capacity development (WS3) and the pipelines of investigational medicinal products prioritized for use in the platform (WS1).

Developing the next generation of researchers is a fundamental part of research capacity development in EXPERTS-ALS. Our funded early career researchers (ECRs) support the study, but we have made it our mission to ensure that those working on EXPERTS-ALS have access to opportunities beyond that of their day-to-day research.

The post holder will take a lead role in working with investigators and CTRUs to support the pipeline of IMPs entering the platform. This role will support the delivery of a continuous pipeline of drugs for the platform trial using the best available evidence from pre-clinical models and a wide range of data resources, including genomics, AI drug discovery programs and evidence from other neurodegenerative diseases.

The primary goal of this is to select the most appropriate compounds for prioritisation in EXPERTS-ALS, based on disease relevance, safety profile and central nervous system penetration. Furthermore, data from ECR projects delivered WS3 in response to drugs can be fed back to preclinical modelling in WS1 to identify new, or refine existing, pathways of disease relevance, and ultimately those which best predict a positive outcome in Phase III trials.

You will be working for an organisation which values and respects all of its staff and the community it serves. The Trust is a leader in the NHS and research sectors and provides excellent benefits for its employees. This includes commitments to professional development but also many policies to support employees in balancing their personal and professional lives.