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A bid to set up a network of researchers into ageing and disability in the elderly has made it through to the next round of the Foresight Challenge, writes Aisling Irwin. But the bidders have been told to reduce the money they are asking for from Pounds 4 million to Pounds 1.5 million. Meanwhile a rival bid by bodies including the Royal Society of Medicine has been rejected.

The short-listed bid, coordinated by the Medical Research Council, involves SmithKline Beecham, BUPA and Westminster Health Care as well as the Department of Health and the Economic and Social Research Council.

Five higher education departments are also advising on the project. Most of the money would go on searching for genes relevant to maintaining good mental health in the elderly.