Description of the call

Wellcome Leap's third funding initiative is Delta Tissue - Integrated Platforms for Predicting Changes in Tissue State. It focuses on the need to build a new platform that can profile tissue states and predict transitions between states ('Delta Tissue' or 'ΔT'). The platform would provide quantitative, multi-scale, multi-modal information sufficient to build integrated prediction models of key cell and tissue states and transitions.

The Delta Tissue call has been developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to do more to advance and protect human health. COVID-19 and other diseases, such as cancer, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria, have caused many deaths. The common thread between the diseases is that they are all ultimately caused by changes in the molecules and cells that define how a tissue functions and interacts with the other tissues in the human body. If the physiological state of a tissue can be better understood then the status of a disease can be more easily identified and how the disease progresses can be more easily predicted.

It is hoped that the developments under this call will mean earlier intervention in diseases, with approaches that are targetted to the individual. It will also create an improved understanding of the mechanisms that drive disease, which, in turn, will provide more opportunities for intervention.

The new profiling platform will combine the latest cell and tissue profiling technologies with recent advances in machine learning and other computational methods. It would assemble a rational set of profiling modalities, integrate their outputs and build predictive models of tissue states and transitions.

The three Platform Goals of the call are to:

• Develop and optimise method(s) to select modalities that accurately profile tissue in a given state.
  • The method(s) should quantitatively assess the value of a set of integrated modalities for predicting different tissue and disease states.
  • The method should be demonstrably better than expert human judgement with respect to time, cost, resource requirements and predictive value.
• Develop new or improve existing individual molecular and structural profiling capabilities, with respect to spatial and/or temporal resolution, number of markers, volume of tissue and/or other assay properties, so as to reveal the states and transitions for Platform Demonstration Area exemplar diseases.
• New or enhanced profiling methods should improve one or all of the following in the context of a sample volume of at least 1 mm3: number of molecular markers or features routinely detected by 10-100x; spatial resolution by 5-10x over what is achievable by conventional light microscopy; and sample processing time by 5-10x.
• A key goal is the expansion and linkage of markers and structures eg establishing the relative value and linkage of molecular markers and features derived from an organelle or cell/tissue structure.
• Identify and implement methods to integrate models or knowledge of state gained in Goal 1, ultimately improving the prediction of profiling methods.
• Test the platform against the Platform Demonstration Areas at least annually.
• Construct an open data resource to share models and datasets, providing a route to integrate contributions from others and/or commercialise advances, as appropriate.
• Develop a platform that integrates multi-scale, multi-modal data from different states and builds models that predict states and transitions. Inclusion of explainable models in the platform is of interest. Performers working in this goal will:

Each Platform Demonstration Area represents a current, unmet biomedical challenge and features a complex, dynamic set of cell and tissue states and transitions:

• An infectious disease: TB.
• Two different cancers: triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).

These areas will develop, test and validate the platform in biomedical contexts that are as broad as possible. Proposers should clearly relate their work to one or more Platform Goals and indicate which of the Program Demonstration Areas they will participate in.

Funding will be provided for work carried out over three years (with a potential additional one-year option).

Budget

Award amounts are dependent on the nature of the proposals submitted and work selected for funding. There are no pre-set number of awards. The total programme budget is $55 million.

Eligible costs are full direct and government-certified indirect costs appropriate to the execution of the research.

Eligibility

Application is open to universities, research institutions, companies of any size (including venture-backed), government organisations and non-profit research organisations.

Applicants can be based in any country around the world.

Application

The application process starts with an abstract submission, which is then followed by a full proposal. The following key dates apply:

• Abstract submission deadline: 17 May 2021 (23:59 ET)
• Abstract feedback: 1 June 2021
• Full proposal submission deadline: 1 July 2021
• Proposal decision: 30 July 2021

Abstracts and full proposals should be submitted via the online application portal (open 48 hours before the submission deadline).

Multiple collaborators can be on a single submission, but only the Principal Investigator will be able to submit the application on the portal.

In case of interest, please contact lnorton(ELIMINAR)@fsjd.org