History

A New Approach

The Discovery Research Platforms are a new approach by Wellcome to “transform research environments and empower researchers to overcome specific barriers holding back progress in their fields of research. With the intention of accelerating research for the benefit of the wider global research community, researchers and teams will develop new tools, knowledge and capabilities to help unlock exciting new findings about life, health and wellbeing”.

Scientists at the Wellcome Centre for Cell Biology were invited to apply to set up a Research Discovery Platform. Led by Adele Marston, a team of eight researchers developed a proposal for a Discovery Research Platform to overcome the technical limitations and investigative bias that result in gaps in our knowledge of cell function.

Discovery Research Platform for Hidden Cell Biology

In 2023 Wellcome announced that eight new Research Discovery Platforms had received £73 million in funding. The Discovery Research Platform for Hidden Cell Biology (DRP-HCB), was successful and is the only Discovery Research Platform in Scotland to receive the award.

The DRP-HCB was launched on 1 December 2023, and has funding for seven years.