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Dr Shuchi Agrawal Singh (Department of Immunology and Inflammation) and Dr Pete Lally (Department of Bioengineering) have been named as winners of the Academy of Medical Sciences Springboard Awards 2026.

The Academy of Medical Sciences Springboard programme offers a bespoke package of support to biomedical researchers at the start of their first independent post to help launch their research careers. The scheme seeks to embrace the breadth of biomedical research and welcomes applications that contribute to the Academy’s mission to improve health through research.

The awards provide £125,000 over two years and access to the Academy’s mentoring and development programme.

We spoke to both the researchers to find out a bit more about the projects funded, what motivates them as a scientist, and their advice to other researchers.

Dr Shuchi Agrawal Singh - Assistant Professor in Haematology

What project have you been awarded the AMS Springboard for?

I am thrilled to receive this award to investigate the mechanisms involved in drug-resistance in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Therapy resistance is a major challenge in the treatment of AML (a blood cancer with low survival rate). I want to understand how mutations in chromatin modulators, the key regulators of epigenetic mechanisms and differentiation of blood stem cells, alters their function. Looking at the molecular level, I will investigate that how such mutations influence biomolecular condensation—the formation of membraneless organelles and protein clusters within the cell—and how these changes reshape the epigenetic landscape and transcriptional programs.

This study will reveal if presence of mutations negatively affects the functional activity of chromatin modulators to alter differentiation of leukaemia cells and thereby promoting resistance to Venetoclax (a promising drug for AML treatment but limited in use due to development of resistance in patients). By resolving these mechanisms with high granularity, we want to uncover new therapeutic opportunities to target aberrant protein condensation, restore normal epigenetic landscape, and re-sensitise Venetoclax-resistant leukaemia cells to treatment.

What led you to wanting to do this project and why is it an important area to research?

My interest in this project developed through my long-standing research into AML during my PhD and postdoctoral work, where I focused on understanding the fundamental mechanisms driving the disease. Relapse and treatment resistance represent the major barriers to successful therapy, contributing to the aggressive nature of AML and its persistently poor survival rates. This project is to address this critical gap by dissecting the molecular and epigenetic mechanisms underlying therapy resistance, with the goal of identifying new strategies to improve patient outcomes. My expertise in epigenetics and condensate biology provides a strong and distinctive approach to investigate the underlying cause for therapy resistance. Condensate biology is an emerging field that gives a fresh perspective to gene regulation and cellular organisation, with the potential to reveal previously unrecognised drivers of disease progression and treatment failure. Also giving a new insight for drug development by targeting protein condensates in the cells.

The Springboard Award presents a valuable opportunity to develop and consolidate my expertise in this area, enabling me to apply these approaches to better understand the molecular basis of resistance and identify more effective strategies to treat resistant AML.

“I want to understand the reason behind drug resistance in blood cancer. I am confident that by digging deeper into epigenetics and condensate biology, using multidisciplinary approach, we will find answers to this complex disease.”

What motivates you most in your work?

One of the major goals of my research group is to find treatments that can improve the lives of patients with blood cancers who are having relapse and became resistant to treatments. I want to understand the mechanisms that drives therapy resistance, failing to cure patients (relapse or develop resistance).

Resistance and relapse happen across all cancers, blood cancers and solid tumours. I believe in blood cancers, it is easier to detect and monitor because of blood sampling and bone marrow biopsies, which also means that research in the field may advance faster and help other cancers. Epigenetic mechanisms play a role across cancers, so what we find here could help us understand other cancers too.

Any advice to PhD students and early career researchers on a successful career in academia?

A successful academic career is built on “curiously” choosing meaningful questions, developing “strong expertise”, and gradually establishing a “clear scientific identity”. My advice to all who are interested in academic career, is that the most important thing is to recognise that setbacks are part of the process, curiosity, resilience, and persistence are key to long-term success. Focus on quality, seek supportive mentorship, and communicate your ideas clearly. Be proactive in building collaborations and treat grant writing as a skill to develop early.

Dr Pete Lally - Assistant Professor in Magnetic Resonance (MR) Physics

What project have you been awarded the AMS Springboard for?

The Springboard award is for a project to develop ways of generating images of the brain with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) at much higher resolution than in routine clinical imaging. Me and my team will be developing new ways of measuring and understanding MRI data and implementing them on a uniquely powerful MRI scanner being built in the UK which uses a magnetic field roughly four times stronger than a typical system.

What led you to want to do this project, and why is it an important area to research?

The amazing thing about MRI is that it really is a very creative area to work in, with a huge array of possibilities for creating medical images. With newly powerful MRI systems there is the tantalising prospect of imaging some of the smallest regions of the brain which contribute to the earliest stages of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, sometimes more than ten years before a diagnosis. Until now these have been beyond what we could see with an MRI scanner, and so our understanding comes predominantly from post-mortem studies with microscopes. The aim of this project is to visualise and analyse such regions in the living brain.

“Me and my team will be developing new ways of measuring and understanding MRI data and implementing them on a uniquely powerful MRI scanner being built in the UK”

What motivates you most in your work?

I love the fact that you can have an idea one day, test it out on an MRI scanner the next day, and it could become something which is used across the world to answer a range of questions. I am also fortunate enough to be part of the UK Dementia Research Institute’s Centre for Care Research and Technology, where I see the positive impact that new technologies can have on people living with dementia, and the opportunity to turn my work into something which can eventually change lives for many people.

Any advice to PhD students and early career researchers on a successful career in academia?

The transition from PhD to postdoc and beyond is a challenging one, but four things have really helped me. First, having a supportive supervisor and mentors who gave me lots of advice on developing my own research ideas and identity. Second, carving out time in my week to be able to think about the big picture: if I could work on absolutely anything right now, what would it be? What steps could I take in order to do that? Who are the best people I could learn from? Third, seeking out honest feedback from the smartest people I know. And fourth, luck.