Chancellor’s Fellow Rebekah Tillotson has been awarded £125,000 from the Academy of Medical Sciences' Springboard programme. The award, made in partnership with the Government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Wellcome, and the British Heart Foundation, is part of an overall £7.6 million investment to tackle urgent health challenges from Alzheimer’s disease, cancer and obesity to addiction and climate change impacts on health.Dr Tillotson, a Chancellor's Fellow at the Institute of Genetics and Cancer (IGC), is one of 62 scientists across 41 UK institutions who is pioneering innovative approaches to improve human health and wellbeing. Her research focuses on rare diseases and the connection between chromatin regulation and neurological disorders.As well as the funding, she will receive mentoring and career development support to help establish her independent research career.She said she would use the funding to hire a Research Assistant and perform experiments to establish and characterise cellular models needed for her long-term research plan of applying for a Career Development Award. I am excited to have been awarded a Springboard grant from the Academy of Medical Sciences. In addition to essential financial support, the mentorship scheme and career development support will be extremely beneficial as I build my new independent lab at the IGC. My research focuses on ATR-X syndrome, which is caused by mutations in the X-linked ATRX gene that encodes a chromatin remodelling ATPase. My research plan was designed to drive forward our understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms of this disorder with the aim of developing treatments. Dr Rebekah Tillotson Chancellor’s Fellow, MRC Human Genetics Unit Rebekah Tillotson Research Group Spotlight on ATR-X syndrome The Academy of Medical Sciences (external link) Tags 2025 Publication date 07 Apr, 2025
