Apply for funding to run a high throughput screen (HTS) using AstraZeneca’s compound library and screening robots.
There are two funding opportunities per year, which remain open to all targets. The thematic focus of this round is mental health or dementia (including Parkinson’s and Huntington’s), and applications in either of these areas will be given a strategic uplift at ranking.
To lead a project, you must be based at an eligible organisation. Check if your organisation is eligible.
For applicants who do not have a contract of employment for the duration of the proposed project, by submitting an application the research organisation is confirming, if it is successful:
Research applications that are led by commercial entities are not eligible. Applications may not include collaborations with additional commercial parties.
You are also not eligible to apply for this funding opportunity as a project lead if you are based at an international research organisation. This does not include MRC Unit The Gambia or MRC/UVRI Uganda Research Unit at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine that are eligible to apply as project lead.
We are committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers.
We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances. This includes:
UKRI can offer disability and accessibility support for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process.
The small molecule HTS using AstraZeneca facilities funding opportunity aims to support academic researchers in discovering potential starting points for small molecule medicinal drugs.
Academic researchers will benefit from unprecedented access to over two million molecules in AstraZeneca’s compound library, as well as its state-of-the-art high-throughput screening facilities.
Medical Research Council (MRC) will provide funding to support up to four projects per year. As capacity is limited, projects will be prioritised for funding and for time slots within the facility. The timeframe for commencement of the studies will vary, although the expectation is within six months of the funding decision.
AstraZeneca may offer to fund a project in its entirety if, based on the application, it considers that route to be the most appropriate funding mechanism for that individual study. In such cases, these will be taken forward through direct collaboration with the company without any further MRC involvement. Applicants who do not wish to accept this offer may continue to seek MRC support through the initiative.
AstraZeneca will provide technical input to support assay optimisation, investigation of alternative readout technologies and pilot HTS screen, prior to transfer of the assay to the HTS platform. Depending on the results of the optimisation, a compound set of between 100,000 and 1,000,000 of the library will be screened.
There are a number of minimum assay development guidelines which when considered as a whole will need to provide evidence that a screen could be conducted. Funds are provided to complete the assay development, so a less well-developed assay is not a barrier to your application being competitive.
The duration of this award is typically 15 months, however the duration can be from 12 (minimum) to a maximum of 18 months.
The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £270,000 (£250,000 cost to MRC).
We will fund 100% FEC of the work conducted at AstraZeneca.
We will fund 80% FEC of any work conducted at the research organisation or related to staff costs, subsistence and travel.
We will fund costs related to the staff and consumable costs incurred at AstraZeneca for the optimisation and execution of the HTS. These include:
We will not fund conference attendance.
This funding opportunity highly encourages a researcher from the host institution to embed themselves at the AstraZeneca facilities in Cambridge for a period of up to three months total, in order to help with the establishment of the assay and conducting the HTS. The three months can be split into shorter chunks based on requirements of the project. Any application not requesting funding to support a visit to the AstraZeneca facility, should state why it is not viable although it will not affect the evaluation of the merits of the project, as it is understood that not all researchers can accommodate a prolonged period away from home.
We encourage you to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is committed in ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks. Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) is a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. Our TR&I Principles set out UKRI’s expectations of organisations funded by UKRI in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.
As such, applicants for UKRI funding may be asked to demonstrate how their proposed projects will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks.
See further guidance and information about TR&I, including where applicants can find additional support.
We are running this funding opportunity on the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service so please ensure that your organisation is registered. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system.
The project lead is responsible for completing the application process on the Funding Service, but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application.
If the lead research organisation is an NHS organisation, check it is available in the Funding Service. You are encouraged to check this early as there may be additional steps for the organisation to be set up before you can apply.
Only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UKRI.
Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page.
Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant.
When including images, you must:
Images should only be used to convey important visual information that cannot easily be put into words. The following are not permitted, and your application may be rejected if you include:
A few words are permitted where the image would lack clarity without the contextual words, such as a diagram, where text labels are required for an axis or graph column.
For more guidance on the Funding Service, see:
References should be included within the word count of the appropriate question section. You should use your discretion when including references and prioritise those most pertinent to the application.
Hyperlinks can be used in reference information. When including references, you should consider how your references will be viewed and used by the assessors, ensuring that:
Applications should be self-contained. You should only use hyperlinks to link directly to reference information. You must not include links to web resources to extend your application. Assessors are not required to access links to conduct assessment or recommend a funding decision.
Use of generative AI tools to prepare funding applications is permitted, however, caution should be applied.
For more information see our policy on the use of generative AI in application and assessment.
We must receive your application by 29 January 2026 at 4:00pm UK time.
You will not be able to apply after this time.
Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines.
Following the submission of your application to the funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and applications will not be returned for amendment. If your application does not follow the guidance, it may be rejected.
MRC, as part of UKRI, will need to collect some personal information to manage your Funding Service account and the registration of your funding applications.
We will handle personal data in line with UK data protection legislation and manage it securely. For more information, including how to exercise your rights, read our privacy notice.
MRC, as part of UKRI, will need to share the application and any personal information that it contains with AstraZeneca so that they can participate in the assessment process. For more information on how AstraZeneca uses personal information, visit AstraZeneca’s privacy notice.
If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email highthroughputscreen@mrc.ukri.org
Include in the subject line: [the funding opportunity title; sensitive information; your Funding Service application number].
Typical examples of confidential information include:
For information about how UKRI handles personal data, read UKRI’s privacy notice.
There is no requirement for matched funding from the institution(s) hosting the project lead, project co-leads or other staff employed on the application, beyond any 20% FEC contribution. UKRI advises reviewers and panel members not to consider the level of matched host institution funding as a factor on which to base funding recommendations. Any project partners are expected to contribute to the project, either with cash or in-kind contributions.
MRC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at board and panel outcomes.
If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research.
Word limit: 550
In plain English, provide a summary we can use to identify the most suitable experts to assess your application.
We usually make this summary publicly available on external-facing websites, therefore do not include any confidential or sensitive information. Make it suitable for a variety of readers, for example:
Clearly describe your proposed work in terms of:
List the key members of your team and assign them roles from the following:
Only list one individual as project lead. If you include more than one project lead your application will fail at the checking stage.
Find out more about UKRI’s core team roles in funding applications.
Word limit: 1,100
What are you hoping to achieve with your proposed work?
Explain how your proposed work:
Within the Vision section we also expect you to:
Complete the table available in the Funding Service and paste as a figure into the Vision section including the following:
References may be included within this section.
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.
Word limit: 2,200
How are you going to deliver your proposed work?
Explain how you have designed your approach so that it:
Within the Approach section we also expect you to:
You should consider the following (guides not requirements).
Safety:
Cost:
Screening cascade:
Reagents:
Assay process:
Quality control criteria:
Screen strategy:
You do not need data related to all elements of the above, as work can be undertaken as part of the screen set-up work at AstraZeneca to establish that all parameters are appropriate prior to the HTS being run. However, the viability of the approach may be impacted if there is insufficient data to demonstrate that the assay would be viable.
If you are proposing a phenotypic assay, then additional considerations need to be discussed in your application and incorporated into your proposed orthogonal screening components. These will include:
References may be included within this section.
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.
Word limit: 1,000
What will you need to deliver your proposed work and how much will it cost?
Justify the application’s more costly resources that relate to work to be conducted outside of AstraZeneca.
Costs incurred at AstraZeneca (do not need to be justified but must be included in your request to MRC):
These costs should be entered altogether, that is £170,000, under the ‘Exceptions – Other’ heading.
Costs incurred at the research organisation:
Justify the application’s more costly resources, in particular:
You can request costs associated with reasonable adjustments where they increase as a direct result of working on the project. For further information see Disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders.
Assessors are not looking for detailed costs or a line-by-line breakdown of all project resources. Overall, they want you to demonstrate how the resources you anticipate needing for your proposed work:
Word limit: 1,650
Why are you the right individual or team to successfully deliver the proposed work?
Evidence of how you, and if relevant your team, have:
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.
The word limit for this section is 1,650 words: 1,150 words to be used for R4RI modules (including references) and, if necessary, a further 500 words for Additions.
Use the Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) format to showcase the range of relevant skills you and, if relevant, your team (project and project co-leads, researchers, technicians, specialists, partners and so on) have and how this will help deliver the proposed work. You can include individuals’ specific achievements but only choose past contributions that best evidence their ability to deliver this work.
Complete this section using the R4RI module headings listed. Use each heading once and include a response for the whole team, see the UKRI guidance on R4RI. You should consider how to balance your answer, and emphasise where appropriate the key skills each team member brings:
Provide any further details relevant to your application. This section is optional and can be up to 500 words. You should not use it to describe additional skills, experiences, or outputs, but you can use it to describe any factors that provide context for the rest of your R4RI (for example, details of career breaks if you wish to disclose them).
Complete this as a narrative. Do not format it like a CV.
References may be included within this section.
The roles in funding applications policy has descriptions of the different project roles.
Add details of AstraZeneca, as they are a DeFacto project partner on all awards. Also add details of any other project partners involved in your project. Include details of the contributions being provided by each project partner included.
A project partner is a collaborating person or organisation who will have an integral role in your proposed research. This may include direct contributions, for example cash, donated equipment and resources, or staff seconded to the project, or indirect and in-kind contributions for example use of project partner’s equipment, datasets, or facilities. Project partners may be in industry, academia, third sector or government organisations in the UK or overseas, including partners based in the EU.
A project partner is not anyone in your core team or anyone from your organisation or any of the other organisations represented by core team members.
Add the following project partner details:
If a detail is entered incorrectly and you have saved the entry, remove the specific project partner record and re-add it with the correct information.
If there are specific circumstances where project partners do require funding for minor costs such as travel and subsistence, these project partner costs should be claimed and justified within the resources and costs section of your application.
If you are adding a project partner(s) to this section, you must ensure they provide you with a letter or email of support and you upload it to ‘Project partners: letters or emails of support’.
For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.
Word limit: 10
Upload a single PDF containing the letters or emails of support from each partner you named in the ‘Project partners’ section. These should be uploaded in English or Welsh only.
AstraZeneca is a DeFacto project partner on all awards. A standard Collaboration Agreement (CA) template (PDF, 269KB) has been agreed between MRC and AstraZeneca, which is compliant with the Industry Collaboration Framework.
In order to ensure a timely start of all projects, these agreements are not subject to negotiation, and an email or PDF letter should be provided by the relevant agency within your research organisation confirming that you are willing to sign up to the conditions of the award. This should be the first letter within the attached PDF.
In addition, if any third-party organisations are involved in the application (unusual on these awards), then they should provide a letter of support based on the guidance below. They should also confirm that they acknowledge that the agreement with AstraZeneca will only be with the applicant’s research organisation.
We don’t want any other letters (or emails) of support from people who are not your identified project partner(s), such as those simply expressing general support for your project. If these are included by you, they will be ignored by us and will not be used in the assessment process.
You should only provide letters or emails of support from people you have identified in the project partner section of your application, who will have an integral role in your proposed research.
Each project partner letter or email you provide should:
Project partner(s) letters and emails of support are not required to be on headed paper or include handwritten signatures (electronic signatures are acceptable).
The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply.
If the project partner is responsible for the recruitment of people, as research participants or providing human tissue, their letter or email of support should include:
Ensure you have prior agreement from project partners so that, if you are offered funding, they will support your project as indicated in the ‘Project partners’ section.
For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.
Word limit: 250
Does your proposed research require the support and use of a facility?
If you will need to use a facility, follow your proposed facility’s normal access request procedures. Ensure you have prior agreement so that if you are offered funding, they will support the use of their facility on your project.
For each requested facility you will need to provide the:
Facilities should only be named if they are on the facility information list above. If you will not need to use a facility, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
Word limit: 1,500
How will you manage and share data collected or acquired through the proposed research?
Provide a data management plan which should clearly detail how you will comply with MRC’s published data management and sharing policies, which includes detailed guidance notes.
Provide your response in the text box following the headings in the MRC data management plan template. You are not required to upload the document to your application.
The length of your plan will vary depending on the type of study being undertaken:
Word limit: 500
What are the ethical or RRI implications and issues relating to the proposed work? If you do not think that the proposed work raises any ethical or RRI issues, explain why.
Demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated:
Consider the MRC guidance on ethics and approvals.
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.
Word limit: 700
Does your proposed research involve any genetic or biological risk?
In respect of animals, plants or microbes, are you proposing to:
If yes, provide the name of any required approving body and state if approval is already in place. If it is not, provide an indicative timeframe for obtaining the required approval.
Identify the organism or organisms as a plant, animal or microbe and specify the species and which of the three categories the research relates to.
Identify the genetic and biological risks resulting from the proposed research, their implications, and any mitigation you plan on taking. Assessors will want to know you have considered the risks and their implications to justify that any identified risks do not outweigh any benefits of the proposed research.
If this does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
Word limit: 10
Does your proposed research involve the use of vertebrate animals or other organisms covered by the Animals Scientific Procedures Act?
If you are proposing research that requires using animals, download and complete the Research involving the use of animals template (DOCX, 52.5KB), which contains all the questions relating to research using vertebrate animals or other Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 regulated organisms.
Save it as a PDF. The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply.
If this does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
Word limit: 700
Does your proposed research involve the use of human tissues, or biological samples?
If you are proposing work that involves human tissues or biological samples, provide the name of any required approving body and whether approval is already in place.
Justify the use of human tissue or biological samples specifying the nature and quantity of the material to be used and its source.
If this does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
We will assess your application using the following process.
A panel of experts will be invited to assess the quality of your application and rank it alongside other applications after which the panel will make a funding recommendation.
Applications related to either of the two highlight areas mental health and dementia (including Parkinson’s and Huntington’s), will receive a strategic uplift at ranking for funding.
AstraZeneca will have a nominated member on the panel of experts and be involved in the funding decision, their input will be limited to confirmation that:
This funding opportunity will no longer seek external peer review comments.
We aim to complete the assessment process within three months of receiving your application.
If your application was discussed by a panel, we will give feedback with the outcome of your application.
We support the San Francisco declaration on research assessment and recognise the relationship between research assessment and research integrity.
Find out about the UKRI principles of assessment and decision making.
Reviewers and panellists are not permitted to use generative AI tools to develop their assessment. Using these tools can potentially compromise the confidentiality of the ideas that applicants have entrusted to UKRI to safeguard.
For more detail see our policy on the use of generative AI.
Medical Research Council (MRC), as part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will need to share the application and any personal information that it contains with AstraZeneca so that they can participate in the assessment process. For more information on how AstraZeneca uses personal information, visit AstraZeneca’s privacy notice.
We reserve the right to modify the assessment process as needed.
The assessment areas we will use are:
Find details of assessment questions and criteria under the ‘Application questions’ heading in the ‘How to apply’ section.
The following information provides a guide on how high, medium and low feasibility will be assessed.
Translatability and or readout relation to mechanism of intervention, including:
Reagent generation and supply (technical aspects), including:
Reagent generation and supply (timelines, resources and cost), including:
Assay technical feasibility:
Hit triage complexity, including:
Timelines for assay build, including:
Throughput for full collection. Can mitigate by running smaller subsets, including:
Cost, excluding protein and or substrates, including:
If you have a question and the answers aren’t provided on this page
The helpdesk is committed to helping users of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service as effectively and as quickly as possible. In order to manage cases at peak volume times, the helpdesk will triage and prioritise those queries with an imminent opportunity deadline or a technical issue. Enquiries raised where information is available on the Funding finder opportunity page and should be understood early in the application process (for example, regarding eligibility, content or remit of a funding opportunity) will not constitute a priority case and will be addressed as soon as possible.
For help and advice on costings and writing your application please contact your research office in the first instance, allowing sufficient time for your organisation’s submission process.
For questions related to this specific funding opportunity please contact highthroughputscreen@mrc.ukri.org
For general questions related to MRC funding including our funding opportunities and policy please contact rfpd@mrc.ukri.org
Any queries regarding the system or the submission of applications through the Funding Service should be directed to the helpdesk.
Email: support@funding-service.ukri.org
Phone: 01793 547490
Our phone lines are open:
To help us process queries more efficiently, we request that users highlight the council and opportunity name in the subject title of their email query, include the application reference number, and refrain from contacting more than one mailbox at a time.
For further information on submitting an application read How applicants use the Funding Service.
‘Classical’ development of new investigational medicinal products has been based on the manufacture of active chemical substances (drugs), and accounts for approximately 90% of the drugs available for treatment of medical conditions today.
HTS is a tool that has been used by big pharma for decades to search for small molecule starting points for their internal research and development pipeline projects.
The small molecule high throughput screen using AstraZeneca facilities funding opportunity, will provide a unique opportunity for academic drug discovery projects by supplying HTS infrastructure in the AstraZeneca Discovery Centre in Cambridge.
While some academic institutions have developed drug discovery screening facilities the AstraZeneca facility will offer the following access which together do not exist in academia:
AstraZeneca has carefully curated a collection of approximately two million compounds within its corporate HTS collection. The full collection is available for screening within this initiative, if suitable assays are derived. It will provide the same opportunity for applicants as for AstraZeneca’s internal research and development teams, thereby maximising the chance of the academic groups identifying tractable hits which may be advanced into chemistry development programmes.
Find out more about NiCoLA-B on the AstraZeneca website.
All projects funded under this initiative will be collaborative studies between academic researchers and AstraZeneca. The project leads will work under a pre-agreed standard collaborative research agreement, jointly signed by the research organisation and AstraZeneca, based closely on the Lambert Agreement for preclinical studies. Release of funds will be contingent on receipt of the signed agreement by Medical Research Council (MRC).
The research organisation will own all generated intellectual property (IP). AstraZeneca will have the first right to negotiate for an exclusive licence to any arising and relevant background.
AstraZeneca can declare an interest, in writing, in exercising their option at any point in the project and up to six months after the project ends. If AstraZeneca do not exercise their option or are unable to agree terms, any jointly generated IP will be assigned to the research organisation at the relevant period with AstraZeneca signing away any claim over exploitation or profit.
Impact can be defined as the long-term intended or unintended effect research and innovation has on society, economy and the environment; to individuals, organisations, and the wider global population.
We held a webinar on 1 July 2025. This provided more information about the funding opportunity.
Please note that while this funding opportunity remains open to all targets, the current thematic focus for this round is mental health or dementia including Parkinson’s and Huntington’s.
We recognise that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused major interruptions and disruptions across our communities. We are committed to ensuring that individual applicants and their wider team, including partners and networks, are not penalised for any disruption to their career, such as:
Reviewers and panel members will be advised to consider the unequal impacts that COVID-19 related disruption might have had on the capability to deliver and career development of those individuals included in the application. They will be asked to consider the capability of the applicant and their wider team to deliver the research they are proposing.
Where disruptions have occurred, you can highlight this within your application if you wish, but there is no requirement to detail the specific circumstances that caused the disruption.
