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ISSUE 57
 
DECEMBER 2008
Double-acts
On the ront lineo twin research
In sequence
The Sanger Institute’sRichard Durbin
CSI: 1910
Forensic archives –Spilsbury vs Crippen
 
Wellcome
News | Issue 57
Mark WalportDirector o the Wellcome Trust
Wellcome News
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Chrissie Giles
Writers
Craig Brierley, Mike Findlay,Chrissie Giles, Mun-Keat Looi,Michael Regnier
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Cosima Dinkel
 Assistant Editor
Tom Freeman
Photography
David Sayer
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Hugh Blackbourn
 All images, unless otherwise stated, are romthe Wellcome Library. Copies o images canbe obtained through Wellcome Images(http://images.wellcome.ac.uk).
 The Wellcome Trust is the largest charity in the UK.It unds innovative biomedical research, in the UKand internationally, spending over £600 million eachyear to support the brightest scientists with the bestideas. The Wellcome Trust supports public debateabout biomedical research and its impact on healthand wellbeing.
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 This is an open access publication and, with theexception o images and illustrations, the contentmay, unless otherwise stated, be reproduced reeo charge in any ormat or medium, subject to theollowing constraints: content must be reproducedaccurately; content must not be used in amisleading context; the Wellcome Trust must beattributed as the original author and the title o thedocument specied in the attribution. The viewsand opinions expressed by writers within
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do not necessarily refect those o theWellcome Trust or Editor. No responsibility isassumed by the publisher or any injury and/ordamage to persons or property as a matter o products liability, negligence or otherwise, or romany use or operation o any methods, products,instructions or ideas contained in the materialherein. ISSN 1356-9112. First published by theWellcome Trust, 2008. © The trustee o theWellcome Trust. The Wellcome Trust is a charityregistered in England, no. 210183. Its sole trustee is The Wellcome Trust Limited, a company registeredin England, no. 2711000, whose registered oce isat 215 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE, UK.
PU-4334/12K/12-2008/CDCover: A Wellcome Collection event in November 2008explored what it means to be a twin. See pages 4–5.
Editorial
Clinical researchers – medically trainedscientists working in health research –operate at the critical interface betweenresearch and clinical practice. They help toconnect basic research with the pathwaysthat take us from the diagnosis andunderstanding of disease to the design andtrial of new interventions and preventativestrategies.Yet in spite of the huge opportunitiesfor clinical research, there has been along-standing decline in clinicians optingfor a career in academia. This was due to alack of clarity about career pathways foryoung clinicians with academic interests,and a lack of suitable training posts.Now, with the reestablishment of clear andexible academic career pathways and thefunding of new training posts, there isevidence that the decline is being reversed.At the Wellcome Trust, we are ‘doing ourbit’ to enhance training opportunities forclinical scientists by expanding and reningour investment in training schemes at everylevel of support.Recognising the need to get moreclinicians through basic research training,we have established integrated PhDprogrammes targeted at clinicians.These fellowships provide structuredresearch training at the PhD level, borrowingfrom our experience of training basic researchscientists. In 2008 we awarded 13 PhDprogrammes, seven of which are dedicatedsolely to those with medical qualications,and two of which are available for those withor without medical qualications. We alsoawarded four programmes in translationalmedicine and therapeutics that aim to reversethe decline in clinical pharmacology, a keyarea for the development and optimal useof drugs.But this is only the start. One of the majorproblems faced by clinical researcherspost-PhD is to maintain research momentumwhile undergoing speciality professionaltraining. Clinicians do not have the exibilityto undertake multiple postdoctoral posts andmust juggle research time with the demandsof ongoing medical training. For theseindividuals, the Department of Health inEngland and the devolved administrations,working with the universities, haveestablished new clinical lectureship posts.These are structured so that half of theindividual’s time can be spent in academicactivity and half in clinical training. But theselectureships are highly competitive, andsuccess is less likely if clinicians do not havethe nancial support to gather the datarequired for a successful application.That is where we come in. Starter Grantsfor Clinical Lecturers, funded by the Trustand offered in partnership with the Academyof Medical Sciences, support clinicianspost-PhD for up to two years, allowing themto develop their own research programmesand obtain the crucial pilot data needed toapply for longer-term funding.We have also developed a new postdoctoralfellowship programme for clinical scientists,aimed specically at talented clinicians whohave completed their PhD at a very earlystage, either before or as an integrated partof their medical degree. Our PostdoctoralTraining Fellowships for MB/PhD graduatesprovide exible opportunities forpostdoctoral research, providing salaryand research costs, and support to allowreintegration back into postgraduate medicaltraining afterwards.Through these and our other trainingschemes, we aim to develop a cadre of thebest clinical researchers who will go on tomake outstanding contributions. We hopethat many will ultimately compete for ourSenior Research Fellowships and similarschemes from other research funders. Indeed,the current generation of clinical academicleaders includes several former WellcomeTrust Senior Research Fellows. It is a hugelyexciting time for medical research and we aimto be able to support the best scientists whowill advance our knowledge of both healthand disease and will translate that knowledgeinto health benet.
 This document was printed on materialmade rom 25 per cent post-consumer waste & 25 per cent pre-consumer waste. 
50%
 
Wellcome
News | Issue 57
In this issueInvestigate
BernardSpilsbury
’s
 
ling cabineto horrors (top), let
MichelleTeng
explain how nematodeworms could help with drugscreening (above let), explorethe neuroscience o 
disturbingart
(above), read about
Richard Durbin
’s genome-sequencing work (ar let),discover cortisol’s role inteenage
antisocial behaviour
(near let), and more…News ..........................2–3Funding .......................6–7Research ..................8–11FeaturesSeeing doubles ........4–5Highly cited .................9Crippen’s nemesis.....12Noticeboard .................13
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