Wellcome Trust mental health award supports innovative schizophrenia research at the School of Pharmacy
3 August 2026
Cardiff University’s School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences were recently delighted to win an award for the prestigious Wellcome Trust Mental Health Award - Advancing target validation for novel mental health drug discovery.
Principal Investigator Dr Meike Heurich-Sevcenco and co-investigator Dr Marcella Bassetto will run the exciting 24‑month research programme focused on the validation of a novel immune component associated with schizophrenia, with the ultimate aim of establishing its potential as a target for future development of the School’s drug discovery programme.
Based in the Redwood Building, the project brings together expertise from the Immunopsychiatry Laboratory led by Dr Meike Heurich-Sevcenco and Dr Marcella Bassetto’s Molecular Modelling and Medicinal Chemistry Laboratory. The researchers will work with a highly collaborative team of psychiatrists, neuroscientists and immunologists, and this interdisciplinary approach combines cutting-edge biological, chemical, computational and clinical sciences to investigate the role of immune dysregulation in severe mental illness.
This award provides a unique opportunity to investigate the biological mechanisms linking the immune system and schizophrenia. By bringing together complementary expertise across our laboratories, we hope to generate robust evidence that will support new approaches to therapeutic development in mental health.
The team will employ a wide range of specialist assays, advanced analytical methods and molecular modelling techniques to better understand the function of a target immune protein and assess its suitability for therapeutic intervention. By integrating experimental and computational approaches, the project aims to generate critical evidence needed to support future drug development efforts in schizophrenia.
The award also enables the expansion of the research team, and the investigators will be pleased to welcome Dr Ruth Lewis, Rebekah Cooke, and Giuseppe Palazzo, who will contribute a diverse range of expertise and technical skills. Over the next two years, the new team members will undertake a variety of laboratory, computational and translational analyses that are essential for validating the immune target and advancing the programme's objectives.
The project showcases the strength of cross-disciplinary research within the School of Pharmacy. Combining immunology, molecular modelling and medicinal chemistry will enable us to explore this target from multiple perspectives and accelerate its evaluation for drug discovery.
The Wellcome Trust Mental Health Award represents a significant investment in innovative mental health research and highlights the School of Pharmacy’s growing contribution to understanding the biological basis of psychiatric disorders with the ultimate aim of developing new treatment pathways for patients.
