ISTM

SIFT-MS Workshop and new book on the analysis of breath

The Institute for Science & Technology in Medicine hosted a workshop on Selected Ion Flow Tube Mass Spectroscopy (SIFT-MS) on Wednesday 31 August, to which all Institute members of staff working with SIFT-MS or with future ideas for its applications gave scientific presentations. Collaborators from

Imperial College London, the Health & Safety Laboratories, Silsoe Research Institute, Innsbrück Medical University and interested parties from industry took part. Sessions focussed upon certain trace gases detectable by SIFT-MS such as ammonia, acetone and isoprene, and considered applications in areas as diverse as paediatric diseases, lung cancer and psychiatry. One point which emerged was that a great deal needs to be learned about trace gases in normal breath as well as in disease states, and several ideas will now be taken forward to prepare focussed scientific research grants.

The Institute is also pleased to see the publication of a new book which explains the recent developments in breath analysis that underpin the exciting possibilities of the SIFT-MS technique. Edited by Professor David Smith FRS of ISTM at Keele and his colleague Dr Anton Amann from Innsbrück Medical University, Austria and ETH-Zürich, Switzerland, this book describes how the analysis of the trace gases in exhaled breath can be used for non-invasive clinical diagnosis of disease and for monitoring the effectiveness of therapy. This approach offers an important addition to the diagnostic techniques available to medicine, having the advantage that on-line breath analysis can provide information to the clinician immediately and thus facilitate rapid diagnosis and treatment. Written by the foremost workers in the field, the book will provide clinicians and others in the medical fraternity with an up-to-date summary of the status of the subject. The wide scope of the chapters ranges from descriptions of the analytical methods that are available, through the use of breath analysis in the study of physiological phenomena, to the identification of biomarkers of particular injury and disease. "Breath Analysis for Clinical Diagnosis and Therapeutic Monitoring" is published by World Scientific Books, Singapore, price £82.

ISTM welcomes visit from the Medical Research Council

  Dr Gavin Malloch from the Medical Research Council in London came on an invited one-day visit to the Institute for Science & Technology in Medicine on Thursday 25 August. He met many Keele staff who have current MRC support or are preparing future applications for funding. Dr Malloch manages the

Cardiovascular, Respiratory (including asthma), Musculo-skeletal Haematology aspects of MRC's portfolio and was able to offer specific advice and guidance for the future funding of ISTM's research using the Select Ion Flow Tube (SIFT), various clinical trials, and a range of other new projects. Dr Malloch was shown the new Clinical Research Facility under construction at Hartshill and was able to guide ISTM's research funding strategy to apply for new MRC Experimental Research grant. He also gave presentations and advice to new, young or overseas staff who were seeking their first MRC grants and fellowships.

Keele images selected for Wellcome Trust awards

Images submitted to The Wellcome Trust Medical Photographic Library are being displayed in London at an exhibition show casing the Biomedical Image Awards for 2005. Four images from the Institute for Science & Technology in Medicine at Keele have been selected for the awards.

The selected images are:

Malaria parasites B0004712 - by Professor Hilary Hurd of the Centre for Applied Entomology and Parasitology. This is an image of the gut of a mosquito with malaria parasites about to burst from the bulging sacs. When they do, they pass into the insect's saliva and are transmitted to humans when the female mosquito next feeds.

Fruit fly with fluorescent eyes B0004717 – by Dr Derric Nimmo and Professor Paul Eggleston of the Centre for Applied Entomology and Parasitology. This is an image of a transgenic Drosophila head expressing the green fluorescent protein gene from jellyfish using an eye specific promoter. The aim of this research is to develop transgenic insects to combat the transmission of the malaria parasite.

HMG-CoA reductase B0004732 – by Professor Trevor Greenhough and Dr Annette Shrive of the Human Genomics & Disease research group.

Golgi complex B0004341 – by Dr David Furness of the Cell & Tissue Engineering/Cell Physiology research group.

To view the images follow the link http://medphoto.wellcome.ac.uk/ixbin/hixclient.exe and then click on "see more".

The IPEM Nightingale Prize 2005

This prize, for the best scientific paper published in Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing during 2004, has been awarded to members of ISTM. The work described was supported by BITES, an EU Framework V grant, of which Keele was the coordinator.

The award was inaugurated last year in memory of Alfred Nightingale, a previous Editor of the Journal and founder member of IPEM. The winner is selected by the Editorial Board of MBEC.

Four of the authors (Ying Yang, Julia Magnay, Leanne Cooling, Alicia El Haj) are members of ISTM. John Cooper is based at Biocomposites Ltd, on the Keele Campus, and Adam Curtis is at Glasgow University.

Dr Yang, as leading author, will receive the prize at a ceremony in September.