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A selection of news items about the Research Institute from 2008...
ISTM News Archive 2008
November 2008:nanoTherics wins in 2008 Lord Stafford Awards
ISTM spin-out company nanoTherics has won the 2008 Lord Stafford Award for Impact Through Innovation at the finals dinner at Worcester Cathedral.
nanoTherics was formed in August 2007 to build on pioneering joint research into gene transfer by scientists at Keele and the University of Florida. It's key technology uses a process known as transfection, whereby tiny particles and magnets are used to place DNA in living cells. The resulting transfected genes could then be used to treat genetic problems such as cystic fibrosis.
nanoTherics is now producing a device used for the transfection process for academic research and commercial use and has secured funding from the Mercia Seed Fund, which provides venture capital to new technology businesses in the West Midlands.
The Lord Stafford Awards were developed in 1997 to recognise and encourage the development of collaborative relationships between Businesses and Universities.
ISTM researchers Professor Jon Dobson, Dr Neil Farrow and Dr Stuart McBain form the nanoTherics team. Director Jon Dobson said: “This award means a lot to nanoTherics and we are very excited about the potential for this technology. The entire team has worked hard to get this company off the ground and it would not have been possible without the strong support of Research Services at Keele. To achieve this level of recognition at such an early stage will certainly help us going forward. We would like to thank Lord Stafford and the judges for their support."
Lord Stafford, Patron of the Awards, said: “If you look at innovation in terms of the sheer potential it could have, then the work of nanoTherics is right up there with anything we have seen at the Lord Stafford Awards. The link-up between the company and Keele University, combined with the fact that this is a joint research project with the University of Florida shows the global aspirations and ambitions of nanoTherics."
The photographs show the nanoTherics team at the Awards finals at Worcester Cathedral, with Lord Stafford, and Lord Stafford (centre) at Keele with the nanoTherics team after short-listing in early November.
November 2008:
Farewell to Prof Nic Maffulli
On Friday 14 November, the Research Institute bade farewell to Professor of Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgery, Nicola Maffulli, as he moves to a new clinical position in London, anticipating some interesting orthopaedic cases in connection with the 2012 Olympic Games!
Nic thanked his colleagues for his leaving gifts, presented by Director Prof Alicia El Haj. Part of Prof Maffulli's research activity will continue at Keele, through existing joint projects with other Institute members.
November 2008:
Brain Complexity Study reaches the pages of Nature Neuroscience
One of the most recent new members of ISTM, Bioinformatics Lecturer Dr Richard Emes, with his collaborators at the Sanger Institute and Edinburgh University have published a paper in the latest edition of Nature Neuroscience. They found that when assessing brain power, sheer size isn't everything. Instead, they suggest that increasing sophistication in the molecular processing of nerve impulses during evolution allowed complex brains, including those of humans, to evolve.
Reference:
Emes RD et al "Evolutionary expansion and anatomical specialization of synapse proteome complexity" Nat Neurosci 2008;11(7):799-806.
External links to this story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7443534.stmhttp://www.nhs.uk/news/2008/06June/Pages/Newtheoryforevolutionofbrainpower.aspxOctober 2008:
ISTM welcomes new research students for 2008/09
The Institute has welcomed its new cohort of research students in autumn 2008 studying for higher degrees of PhD or MPhil and taught Masters degrees. ISTM's students are based at GHRC Hartshill, Keele campus and the RJ&AH Hospital at Oswestry, and are typically registered full-time at Keele for three years. Nineteen new students are seen here attending the first lecture of their modularised year one training course in early November, in the company of PG Director Prof Trevor Greenhough (centre). To read more about research degrees at ISTM please go to the Postgraduate page.
October 2008:
Keele Cancer Research using DIAMOND Synchrotron Facilities
Research led by Cancer specialist Dr Josep Sule-Suso captured the public imagination in the region this month through newspaper articles on his work at Diamond Light Source facility at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Oxfordshire.
The Diamond synchrotron is a new particle accelerator which boosts electrons to close to the speed of light and sends them round a magnetic ring over half-a-kilometre in circumference. Among its functions, it produces a very bright and highly focussed beam of infrared light, which allows scientists to study even the finest details of cells.
By aiming this beam at cancer cells, Dr Josep Sule-Suso and his team can watch how the light is absorbed and characterise chemical changes in cells in the early stages of cancer development. It is hoped that doctors will eventually be able to use to pick out cancer cells from healthy ones. This will speed up diagnosis, by allowing specialists to test a number of cells for cancerous tissue at once, rather than the current laborious processes used.
Parallel research is also being carried out to test the effectiveness of different chemotherapy drugs when used on different patients. Also using infrared beams, that will ultimately allow doctors to tailor treatment for each patient before chemotherapy begins, reducing side effects.
Keele and the University Hospital of North Staffordshire hope to buy a £150,000 machine, which is like a miniature version of the Diamond synchrotron, and will allow Dr Sule-Suso to complete his research in North Staffordshire. In 2009, the "One Day In May" music festival in will raise funds for this project.
September 2008:
World Cancer Research Fund invests in Keele Folate Project
The World Cancer Research Fund has awarded a new grant of £148,152 to a team from ISTM for their novel investigation of the "Effect of maternal folate intake on fetal methylation and gene expression patterns of growth regulatory genes: a whole genome approach". A cross-disciplinary team, the Fetal Epigenetics Group, led by Professor Bill Farrell (Human Genomics), includes Professor Tony Fryer (Biochemistry), Dr Khaled Ismail (Consultant Obstetrician), Professor Peter Jones (Mathematics), Dr Caroline Hill (Chief Paediatric Dietitian), Dr Richard Emes (Bioinformatics) and Dr Will Carroll (Consultant Paediatrician).
This is Keele's second award from the World Cancer Research Fund, the first being in conjunction with the National Lottery Charities Board Research Programme in the late 1990s.
September 2008:
3ME Initiative members enjoy their first Sandpit, with Dragons too...
By the shore of Lake Ullswater on 10-12 September, twenty members of Keele’s 3ME Initiative enjoyed two days in a Sandpit (a scientific discussion intended to generate new collaborative ideas that are then judged selected for support at the end of the meeting).
Group photograph: Left to right: Alicia El Haj, Mark Smith, James Richardson (also pictured left), Hu Zhang, David Meredith (STFC Daresbury), Srabasti Chakravorty, Sarah Cartmell, Ying Yang, Helen Wright, Araida Hildago, Jonathan Healey, Peter Styles, Tajeshwar Aulakh, Shailesh Naire, Sergei Annenkov, Graham Rogerson, Darren Clement, Robert Emery, KP Lam. Also taking part but not on the photograph: Andrew Curtis (Edinburgh), Jon Dobson and Yibin Fu.
Participants came from the Keele Research Institutes of Engineering Physical Sciences & Mathematics (EPSAM) and Science & Technology in Medicine (ISTM), and were joined by two key speakers: Dr David Meredith (pictured below) from the National Grid Service supercomputing section of Daresbury Laboratories, and Dr Andrew Curtis, Director of Edinburgh Seismic Research at Edinburgh University.
Focus of the Sandpit meeting was on two themes to enhance Keele’s cross RI capability in Modelling Methods for Medical Engineering: 1. data visualisation and “data mining” covering the technical possibilities using Keele and Daresbury’s supercomputing resources, and clinical needs such as knee cartilage monitoring; and 2. wave propagation, which spanned techniques such as seismic interferometry used to study the earth,
to biomedical applications in cardiovascular systems and tissue engineering.
On day two, the 3ME Initiative ran its own version of the BBC2 television programme "Dragons Den". Full details can be found on the 3ME website at www.keele.ac.uk/research/3me. It was not all work and no play, however, for members had a few hours to enjoy walks in the beautiful Lake District location, some fine food at the Inn on the Lake hotel, and to compete in games of croquet and golf.
August 2008:
ISTM wins prestigious Marie Curie Training Network
ISTM members have secured one of two new European Commission Marie Curie Training Networks. These are extremely competitive: 2007 call 905 initial applications were received, only 65 awards made and of those, two are led from Keele. The ISTM project "Training network on protective immune modulation in warm water fish by feeding glucans" but better known as "NEMO", is led by Dr David Hoole, with Professor Gwyn Williams, Professor Trevor Greenhough and Dr Annette Shrive. NEMO is a multi-disciplinary and intersectorial research network which will provide training for 13 post-graduate students and three post-doctoral workers within the European Union. It aims to develop new immuno-stimulators for the aquaculture and ornamental fish industries utilising the byproducts from bioethanol production. The research training network incorporates nine research partners located in the UK, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Poland and Norway and involves three industrial collaborators, TETRA, Immunocorp and Danafeed.
In addition to receiving training in industrial, commercial and managerial skills the young researchers appointed will be trained in a range of biological areas including diet formulation, immunology, molecular biology, virology, bacteriology, parasitology, as well as protein crystallography. It is envisaged that Keele will appoint five post-graduate students and one post-doctoral worker on the project. The work undertaken will improve the cost-effectiveness of the aquaculture, ornamental fish and bioethanol industries.
August 2008:
Future Vision Award from the Medical Research Council
Dr Mary Palmer has received a New Investigator Award of £354,116 from the Medical Research Council for her project on the “Synapse-specific properties of excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission in the retina”.
Over the next three years Dr Palmer will investigate how nerve cells in the visual system transmit and process information, enabling us to see. The knowledge gained from this research will contribute to the development of treatments for retinal diseases that cause blindness. As synapses in the retina are very similar to those in the brain, the research will also increase our understanding of how nerve cells in the brain communicate with each other.
Dr Palmer has held a Career Development Award from the MRC for the last four years and has applied her background in electrophysiology to collaborative projects with other members of the Research Institute. Before moving to Keele she worked in the MRC Centre for Synaptic Plasticity at Bristol University, and the Vollum Institute, Oregon Health and Sciences University in the USA.
June 2008:
Schools visit Guy Hilton Research Centre
Members of the Institute for Science & Technology in Medicine based at the Guy Hilton Research Centre hosted 45 school pupils on 30 June as part of the national "Girls into Physics" initiative and a whole day visit to Keele University campus. As recent news media stories have reminded us, the UK faces a shortage of pupils taking Physics at A level, and a shortage of teachers of Physics in schools, so this initiative helps to inspire girls in their choice of A level subjects and future careers. As well as demonstrations and talks in six laboratories, the pupils had the chance to talk with female members of ISTM about what attracted them to study science subjects and to take up a career in scientific research.
Accompanied by their science teachers, the pupils came from five schools as far afield as Burton-on-Trent and Shrewsbury. The event was organised by the Science Learning Centre West Midlands and was the first time school pupils had been admitted to the Guy Hilton Research Centre since it was built, although events for school teachers have been held successfully before.
Director of SLCWM, Jo Flynn, and Director of ISTM, Alicia El Haj (both pictured, right), agreed that the Girls into Physics activity can have a very positive influence on young people's perceptions of science in the UK and it is hoped to repeat the event on a larger scale next year.
June 2008:
Annual Institute Away Day
On Monday 16 June around 40 members of the Research Institute for Science & Technology in Medicine gathered for their annual Away Day at the Keele Management Centre. Heading the morning programme of scientific and clinical presentations was Visiting Professor Chris Brazel, from the University of Alabama USA, who spoke about his latest work using magnetic nanoparticles in combined cancer treatments. Prof Brazel is currently visiting Prof Jon Dobson's laboratory at the Guy Hilton Research Centre.
Visiting Professor Chris Brazel speaking on "Magnetic Nanoparticle / Hydrogel Platform for Combined Hyperthermia and Localized Chemotherapy Cancer Treatment"
In the afternoon the Institute members discussed future strategies, structures and collaborations, and welcomed Dr Donald Mair from the Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council who gave a presentation on research grants and technology transfer issues.
The Away Day also included a social evening and Barn Dance, with food from members' home countries.
April 2008:
£800K Wellcome Trust Award
Professor Paul Eggleston, Professor Hilary Hurd and Dr Frederic Tripet, in the Centre for Applied Entomology and Parasitology, have been awarded a major grant of £803,794 by the Wellcome Trust for a three year programme entitled "Genetic engineering of refractory mosquito vectors for the control of malaria transmission".
In collaboration with Professor Sekou Traore and Dr Mamadou Coulibaly at the University of Bamako, in Mali, West Africa, the programme will seek to develop novel approaches to malaria control and to build capacity for these technologies in Mali.
This exciting development will represent the first use of transgenic insect technologies in an African setting. The applicants hope that, in the longer term, it will lead to direct interventions for the control of malaria, which is a devastating disease that currently kills a child every 30 seconds in sub-Saharan Africa.
April 2008:
CONGRATULATIONS to five ISTM staff promoted to Senior Lectureships
Dr Sarah Cartmell - Senior Lecturer in Orthopaedic Tissue Engineering
Sarah Cartmell is a Tissue Engineer with interests in bone growth and stem cell biology. She has attracted grant income in excess of £1million since moving to Keele in 2002 from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Sarah's laboratory in the Guy Hilton Research Centre is currently funded by a BBSRC award worth over £500,000. In addition to research and enterprise activity, Sarah devotes the remainder of her time to postgraduate education and training as leader of the MSc in Cell & Tissue Engineering.
Dr Gordon Dent - Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology
Gordon Dent is a widely respected researcher in the field of respiratory pharmacology with some 60 published papers. Since moving to Keele from Southampton he has been immersed in teaching Pharmacology and Therapeutics to Medical and Pharmacy students as well as developing the new medical curriculum. Gordon also has demanding roles as a Co-Director of Year 2 and Director of Admissions for the Medical School with responsibility for selecting students to fill the 125 places from amongst 1,300 applicants. 
Dr Rosemary Fricker-Gates - Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences
Rosemary Fricker-Gates has maintained her research profile despite teaching Life Sciences and Medical students on both the accredited and new MBChB courses. She is Co-Director of Year 1 of the new medical curriculum which has been so well received by the GMC accreditation team. Rosemary has worked in Lund and Harvard and published 30 papers in the fields of neural transplantation and stem cells, including articles in the key journal Cell Transplantation. Her current grants fund two Post Doctoral Fellows and a PhD student.
Dr Nikki Kuiper - Senior Lecturer in Life Sciences
Nikki Kuiper (nee Goodstone) worked in the UK and USA before moving to Keele as one of the first appointments in the new Medical School where she has been responsible for implementing pre-clinical elements of both the validated and new MBChB courses. She developed the OSSE to test practical skills of students in Years 1 and 2 of the course, an examination that was highly commended by the GMC. Nikki's research interest is in connective tissue engineering and her status in this field is reflected by her recent election to the Committee of the British Society for Matrix Biology.
Dr Rhaiza Maingon - Senior Lecturer in Life Sciences
Rhaiza Maingon joined the School of Life Sciences as a Lecturer in 1994. She obtained her PhD in Molecular Genetics in St Mary's Hospital Medical School. Her research work concerns the investigation of insect vector-borne human diseases. She has built up an international reputation for her work on leishmaniasis, an infectious disease transmitted to humans by sandflies. She is an enthusiastic and committed teacher and contributes to the programmes in Life Sciences and the Medical School.
April 2008:
£1/4 Million MRC Milstein Award
Professor Jon Dobson has accepted a £220,931 Milstein Award from the Medical Research Council for a two year project titled "Development of an improved system for magnetic nanoparticle-based gene transfection".
The MRC developed the Milstein Fund in 2006 specifically to support pioneering and original research ideas with potential for high impact, which may involve a diverse range of disciplines, be too novel, or be at an early stage to fare well the usual review and assessment processes. It made only seven awards this year. The initiative was named after César Milstein, who was honoured with a Nobel Prize in 1984 for his pioneering work on the production of monoclonal antibodies.
April 2008:
3ME Initiative launches with opening meeting
Keele has been awarded a major EPSRC “Bridging the Gaps” grant to support the 3ME Initiative - Modelling Methods for Medical Engineering project, which brings together broad research groups from mathematics, geophysics and bio-engineering. An Opening Meeting was held at the North Staffordshire Medical Institute, Hartshill Road, Stoke-on-Trent on Friday 18 April, starting at 2.00pm. A wide range of food was available during the afternoon.
Objectives of the 3ME Initiative are to:
1. Create an interdisciplinary environment and culture that enables Keele researchers to work together in small groups on new common interest areas
2. Host international senior research visitors to enhance the research skills of Keele and the UK's capability in medical engineering
3. Invest to start up new key collaborative medical engineering projects.
Lots of opportunities are open to everyone involved in the collaboration, including:- "Researcher in Residence" posts or pairings of staff (over £100,000 available)- start-up grants (over £50,000 available for these) and in-depth "sandpit" discussion meetings- Research Retreat- Regular "Back-to-Back Seminars"- International Speakers at Keele- Training Courses and Summer Schools for research studentsAny Keele researchers and industrial collaborators whose interests fit this general area can take part.
For details of forthcoming events please see the new 3ME Initiative website at: www.keele.ac.uk/research/3me. Contact: Miss Paula Marsh (mail p.marsh@bemp.keele.ac.uk or phone 01782 554253).
March 2008:
Best Poster Presentation
Kathryn Wright, a postgraduate research student in the Research Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine, was presented with the prize for “Best Poster Presentation” at the World Muscle Society Congress in Sicily by the President of the World Muscle Society. The poster was chosen from over 600 posters at the Congress.
Kathryn works at the Wolfson Centre for Inherited Neuromuscular Disease at RJAH Orthopaedic Hospital in Oswestry and she received a Roberts funding training award from ISTM to enable her to attend the congress.
March 2008:
New Award from 'Innovation Keele' Fund
Dr Ying Yang and Dr Monte Gates have been awarded £ 10,000 by the Innovation Keele Prime fund to carry out a project entitled "Development of phantom kit for mammal brain therapeutic surgery".
The Innovation Keele fund offers Research Institute members to attract seed funding for commercial projects that may yield significant commercial prospects.
innovation keele
For details on how to apply to Innovation Keele please contact Dr David Carson.
March 2008:
Microwave Tomography wins National Institutes for Health grant
Professor Serguei Semenov has secured a major new award to advance Microwave Tomography in imaging of orthopaedic applications at Keele. In collaboration with the Carolinas Medical Centre, Charlotte USA, partners in Moscow and the UK, the grant of almost $1million will enable construction of new MWT experimental equipment. This will be followed by its evaluation at Keele and Carolinas Medical Centre over the next three years. Work starts immediately to bring the technology up to the stage of first use in the clinical environment.
The Institute receives regular grants from the National Institutes for Health in the USA for its transatlantic collaboration in imaging research.
February 2008:
Keele joins new Regenerative Medicine Doctoral Training Centre
The Institute for Science & Technology in Medicine is one of three partners in the new Doctoral Training Centre in Regenerative Medicine, funded by the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council. Led by Loughborough University, the DTC involves Nottingham and Keele Universities as training partners. The DTC programme offers each doctoral student a four year plan of integrated training and research. In the first year students will be registered at Loughborough, then as their PhD project is defined and specialist courses chosen, registration will transfer to the most appropriate host institution. The programme draws its strengths from both the research excellence and infrastructure at the three universities, and their broad experience in postgraduate training schemes.
Now open for applications...
Applications are now being invited for fully funded studentships in Regenerative Medicine - see the DTC website for details by clicking on the logo above.
February 2008:
ISTM receives third Dorothy Hodgkin Postgraduate Award
The Institute is delighted to have received its third Dorothy Hodgkin Postgraduate Award from Research Councils UK this week. Dorothy Hodgkin Postgraduate Awards bring outstanding overseas students from India, China, Hong Kong, South Africa, Brazil, Russia and the developing world to come and study for PhDs in top-rated UK research facilities. The initiative was launched by the Prime Minister in November 2003 and is only available to research groups rated 5 or 5* in RAE2001. The latest award is for £45,000 from the Medical Research Council to Professor Simon Davies, and is matched by similar sum from the North Staffordshire Medical Institute Renal Fund. Prof Davies will be recruiting a full-time overseas student to start in October 2008.
Earlier news items ...
... relating to the Research Institute for Science & Technology in Medicine can be seen in the News Archive.
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