Ineos Oxford Institute for AMR seeks Director

Dear All,

I have learned that the Ineos Oxford Institute for Antimicrobial Research (IOI) has started a job search for a Director for the IOI.

As background, IOI was created in 2021 with a  £100m donation from INEOS, one of the world’s largest manufacturing companies (Wikipedia; INEOS corporate website). Per their research webpage, IOI is an 80-person group currently conducting research on animal antibiotics, human antibiotics, global surveillance of AMR, and bioinformatics (digital microbiology and evolution). And as deeper background, Oxford has a long history of antibiotic researchChain, Florey, and other colleagues did the foundational work that enabled extraction and purification of penicillin at scale.

Here are several excerpts from the online job posting and extended job description brochure

  • “The overall aim of this role is to establish the IOI’s reputation as a world-leading and sustainable AMR hub and extend its reach by developing and implementing partnerships with organisations which are aligned to, and have a shared interest in, the values and strategy of IOI.”
  • “The successful candidate will ideally have existing relationships with at least one group of key stakeholders including funders, NGOs, policy makers, and pharma.
  • “The Director should be highly research active prior to this role and space in the state-of-the art laboratories will be made available to their group in the Life and Mind Building in Autumn 2025.”
  • “It is anticipated that the Director will also be a member of the Department of Chemistry or Biology depending upon their area of scientific expertise.”
  • The Director will “Chair the Executive Committee (the key decision-making body of the Institute) and other relevant committees and meetings, providing highly effective leadership and strategic input.”

Wow! A very significant opportunity for the right person. The deadline for applications is 17 Mar 2025. Could this be you or someone you know?

All best wishes, –jr

John H. Rex, MD | Chief Medical Officer, F2G Ltd. | Operating Partner, Advent Life Sciences. Follow me on Twitter: @JohnRex_NewAbx. See past newsletters and subscribe for the future: https://amr.solutions/blog/. All opinions are my own.

Current funding opportunities

  • The first RFP for Gr-ADI, the Gram-Negative Antibiotic Discovery Innovator, announced on 11 Feb 2025 by the Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF), Wellcome, and the Gates Foundation (GF) is open until 25 Mar 2025. This initial RFP seeks proposals to (i) genome-scale tools that find new chemical start points, (ii) find technologies that would select/targets leads with propensity for resistance, (iii) better understand how/why compounds penetrate the bacterial cell, and (iv) develop approaches to finding new chemical leads vs. validated targets for which there is no current Phase 3 development program. It’s clear that additional RFPs will follow … it’s quite a project! See the 11 Feb 2025 newsletter for details.
  • EMA have posted a call for tenders under which they will provide up to 16m EUR for project that would “perform studies on the quality, safety and efficacy of human and veterinary medicines that would provide complementary evidence to support regulatory decision-making.” The deadline to apply is 30 April 2025. See this 17 Feb 2025 newsletter for details.
  • HERA plans to post a call on 4 April 2025 in which they will call for tenders under which they will provide up to 13m EUR for development of a point-of-care diagnostic medical device that can provide antimicrobial susceptibility results on the bacteria or fungi causing an infection in humans, within one hour or less from subject sample collection, and ideally, to also allow for pathogen identification. See the 19 Feb 2025 newsletter for details.
  • ENABLE-2 has continuously open calls for both its Hit-to-Lead program as well as its Hit Identification/Validation incubator. Applicants must be academics and non-profits in Europe due to restrictions from the funders. Applications are evaluated in cycles … see the website for details on current timing for reviews. 
  • CARB-X has open calls at intervals that span four areas: (i) Therapeutics for Gram-Negatives, (ii) Prevention for Invasive Disease, (iii) Diagnostics for Neonatal Sepsis, and (iv) Proof-Of-Concept for Diagnosing Lower-Respiratory-Tract Infections. See this 6 Mar 2024 newsletter for a discussion of the call and go here for the CARB-X webpage on the call. There are multiple opportunities to submit — see the CARB-X webpage for details.
  • BARDA’s long-running BAA (Broad Agency Announcement) for medical countermeasures (MCMs) for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats, pandemic influenza, and emerging infectious diseases is now BAA-23-100-SOL-00004 and offers support for both antibacterial and antifungal agents (as well as antivirals, antitoxins, diagnostics, and more). Note especially these Areas of Interest: Area 3.1 (MDR Bacteria and Biothreat Pathogens), Area 3.2 (MDR Fungal Infections), and Area 7.2 (Antibiotic Resistance Diagnostics for Priority Bacterial Pathogens). Although prior BAAs used a rolling cycle of 4 deadlines/year, the updated BAA released 26 Sep 2023 has a 5-year application period that ends 25 Sep 2028 and is open to applicants regardless of location: BARDA seeks the best science from anywhere in the world! See also this newsletter for further comments on the BAA and its areas of interest.
  • HERA Invest was launched August 2023 with €100 million to support innovative EU-based SMEs in the early and late phases of clinical trials. Part of the InvestEU program supporting sustainable investment, innovation, and job creation in Europe, HERA Invest is open for application to companies developing medical countermeasures that address one of the following cross-border health threats: (i) Pathogens with pandemic or epidemic potential, (ii) Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats originating from accidental or deliberate release, and (iii) Antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Non-dilutive venture loans covering up to 50% of investment costs are available. A closing date is not posted insofar as I can see — applications are accepted on a rolling basis; go here for more details.
  • The AMR Action Fund is open on an ongoing basis to proposals for funding of Phase 2 / Phase 3 antibacterial therapeutics. Per its charter, the fund prioritizes investment in treatments that address a pathogen prioritized by the WHO, the CDC and/or other public health entities that: (i) are novel (e.g., absence of known cross-resistance, novel targets, new chemical classes, or new mechanisms of action); and/or (ii) have significant differentiated clinical utility (e.g., differentiated innovation that provides clinical value versus standard of care to prescribers and patients, such as safety/tolerability, oral formulation, different spectrum of activity); and (iii) reduce patient mortality. It is also expected that such agents would have the potential to strongly address the likely requirements for delinked Pull incentives such as the UK (NHS England) subscription pilot and the PASTEUR Act in the US. Submit queries to contact@amractionfund.com.
  • INCATE (Incubator for Antibacterial Therapies in Europe) is an early-stage funding vehicle supporting innovation vs. drug-resistant bacterial infections. The fund provides advice, community, and non-dilutive funding (€10k in Stage I and up to €250k in Stage II) to support early-stage ventures in creating the evidence and building the team needed to get next-level funding. Details and contacts on their website (https://www.incate.net/).
  • These things aren’t sources of funds but would help you develop funding applications
    • The Global AMR R&D Hub’s dynamic dashboard (link) summarizes the global clinical development pipeline, incentives for AMR R&D, and investors/investments in AMR R&D.
    • Diagnostic developers would find valuable guidance in this 6-part series on in vitro diagnostic (IVD) development. Sponsored by CARB-XC-CAMP, and FIND, it pulls together real-life insights into a succinct set of tutorials.
  • In addition to the lists provided by the Global AMR R&D Hub, you might also be interested in my most current lists of R&D incentives (link) and priority pathogens (link).

John’s Top Recurring Meetings
Virtual meetings are easy to attend, but regular attendance at annual in-person events is the key to building your network and gaining deeper insight. My personal favorites for such in-person meetings are below. Of particular value for developers are the AMR Conference and the ASM-ESCMID conference. Hope to see you there!

  • 25-26 February 2025 (Basel, Switzerland): The 9th AMR Conference 2025. Go here to register
  • 11-15 April 2025 (Vienna, Austria): ESCMID Global 2025, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Go here for details. 
  • (September-ish, no date as yet) 2025 ASM/ESCMID Joint Conference on Drug Development to Meet the Challenge of Antimicrobial Resistance. Go here to see details of the outstanding 2024 meeting!
  • 19-22 Oct 2025 (Georgia, USA): IDWeek 2025, the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Details pending; go here for the general meeting website.

  Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community:

  • 25-26 Feb 2025 (Basel, Switzerland): The 9th AMR Conference 2025. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.
  • 27 Feb 2025 (virtual, 1700-1830 CET / 1100-1230 EST): GARDP REVIVE webinar entitled “In vitro and in vivo correlations for prediction of human pharmacokinetics and dose of antimicrobials.” Go here to register.
  • 3 Mar 2025 (Virtual, 12-1p CET / 6-7a ET): WHO-GARDP webinar entitled “Policy and regulatory interventions to address antibiotic shortages in low and middle-income countries.” Go here to register. This webinar will be the official launch of the WHO-GARDP report of the same name with a discussion of measures being undertaken to address antibiotic shortages. For background on this, see the 1 Dec 2024 newsletter for a discussion of the paper by Baraldi et al. on possible meanings of Lack of Access and as well the 13 Dec 2024 newsletter about WHO-GARDP report.
  • 11-15 April 2025 (Vienna, Austria): ESCMID Global 2025, the annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. See Recurring Meetings list, above.
    • During ESCMID, mark your calendar for the Science Policy forum during which we’ll have follow-up from UNGA 2024  (11 April, 3-8p CEST) and Pipeline Monday (14 April) during which we’ll have a variety of sessions on the antimicrobial pipeline. See also the 13 Feb 2025 newsletter for details and commentary.
    • [NEW] I’ve also learned of a 14 April (12.15-1.15p, Hall 8) symposium on mechanisms to expand access to antibiotics. To find this one, you have to go the general program and navigate to Hall 8 at 12.15p. Awkward, but a direct link is not possible due the design of the ESCMID webpage.
  • 30 June – 1 July (in person and virtual, Grand Hyatt, Washington DC): BARDA Industry Days 2025 (BID2025) with the theme “Enhancing Health Security With a Sustainable Future.” This is a major annual opportunity to interact with BARDA and ASPR teams and thereby identify potential areas of collaboration in the field of MCM (medical countermeasure) research and development. Go here for details.
  • 19-22 Oct 2025 (Georgia, USA): IDWeek 2025, the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society 
  • 11-15 April 2025 (Vienna, Austria): ESCMID Global 2025. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.
  • 30 June-1 July 2025 (virtual and in Washington, DC): BID2025: BARDA Industry Days — Enhancing Health Security With a Sustainable Future.  BID provides the opportunity to discuss U.S. government medical countermeasure (MCM) priorities, provide the private sector an informal opportunity to interact with BARDA and ASPR teams, and identify potential areas of collaboration in the field of MCM research and development. Go here for details.
  • 19-22 Oct 2025 (Georgia, USA): IDWeek 2025. See list of Top Recurring meetings, above.
  • 11-19 Oct 2025 (Annecy, France, residential in-person program): ICARe (Interdisciplinary Course on Antibiotics and Resistance) … and 2025 will be the 9th year for this program. Patrice Courvalin orchestrates content with the support of an all-star scientific committee and faculty. The resulting soup-to-nuts training covers all aspects of antimicrobials, is very intense, and routinely gets rave reviews! Seating is limited, so mark your calendars now if you are interested. Applications should open ~March 2025 — go here for more details.

 Noteworthy self-paced courses and training materials (this is a new section — comments or builds would be appreciated!):

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