NEW SCHOOL OF PHARMACY BUILDING OPENED

Keele's new School of Pharmacy building was officially opened this week by the Chairman of the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority, Professor Sir Alasdair Breckenridge, at a special ceremony attended by more than 200 invited guests, students past and present, and university staff.

The Hornbeam Building has been completely transformed in a £2.2 million project which has seen the original main entrance being demolished and rebuilt together with raising of the existing staircase up another floor to improve fire safety; creation of new cellular and open plan office space, additional seminar rooms on the ground floor and upgrades to the existing lecture theatres. Externally extensive landscaping, new cycle shelters and bench seating areas have also been provided.

Unveiling a plaque to mark the opening, Professor Breckenridge said: "I would like to thank Keele for giving me the opportunity to open this magnificent building."

To mark the occasion the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dame Janet Finch, presented Professor Breckenridge with a 1746 edition of Pharmacopoeia Collegi Regalis Medicorum Londinensis.

During the ceremony, Head of the School, Professor Stephen Chapman, who gave an overview of the evolution of the School, presented student prizes to Liz Robinson and Julie Atkins.

The picture shows, left to right, Professor Sir Alasdair Breckenridge, Professor Dame Janet Finch;  Professor Andy Garner, Dean of the Faculty of Health and Professor Stephen Chapman, Head of the School of Pharmacy.

THE AGE DEBATE

Research participants and members of the interdisciplinary Community Action in Later Life (CALL-ME) research team from Keele were amongst almost 200 people who took part in this year's Age Debate, organised as part of Manchester's annual Full of Life Festival.

The CALL-ME project, led by Professor Michael Murray, Research Institute for Life Course Studies, involves older people from across Manchester who are shaping activities aimed at promoting engagement and social participation in disadvantaged city neighbourhoods. A number of research participants used the occasion to present their work to a public audience for the first time. Jointly organised by Manchester City Council and Keele's Centre for Social Gerontology, the event, in Manchester's historic Town Hall, included a mix of lectures and workshops, and concluded with a panel discussion chaired by Malcolm Dean, who worked on The Guardian for 38 years as a roving reporter, lead writer on social affairs and assistant editor. Professor Tom Scharf, Director of the Centre for Social Gerontology, presented some of his work on 'unequal incomes in later life' and was also a member of the panel.

£400,000 BAYER SCHERING PHARMA FUNDING

Professor Shaughn O'Brien, Research Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine, and his team have been given £400,000 from Bayer Schering Pharma to carry out a study to validate a new version of the Menstrual Pictogram.  The Menstrual Pictogram was originally invented in the 1990s by Professor O'Brien and has seen several versions to keep up to date with changes in menstrual hygiene product technology.  The Menstrual Pictogram SAP-c version has been designed for the ultra-thin generation of menstrual hygiene products that contain super absorbent polymers (SAP).  The validation study, over the next 18 months, will compare the results of the Menstrual Pictogram SAP-c version, sample weight and the current 'gold' standard of the alkaline haematin method.

Professor O'Brien and Dr Tracy Nevatte, Research Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine, have combined forces with Capital Consultation to create Symptometrics, a company that has produced the Menstrual Symptometrics System.  This internet-based system will allow women to record their menstrual symptoms daily, which is then collated and presented in an easy to understand format for the clinician or researcher.  The system is powered by Microsoft Dynamics and will ultimately replace the limited paper-based questionnaire techniques currently available. Patients, clinicians and researchers will benefit from the using Menstrual Symptometrics System which will measure symptoms related to all disorders of the menstrual cycle. During the past year collaborations between Dr Nevatte, Capital Consultation and Microsoft have facilitated the creation of Symptometrics and the Menstrual Symptometrics System.

Symptometrics has recently been  awarded a £30,000 Proof of Concept Grant from Advantage West Midlands to carry out prototype testing of the Menstrual Symptometrics System over the next six months.

EXHIBITING SOCIOLOGY AT THE CLAUS MOSER CENTRE

Professor David Matless, Nottingham University, last week launched Keele's seminar programme about The Foundations of Sociology Archive. The archive, located in Keele Campus Library, is a key resource for understanding the theory and practice of social surveys, 1900-1950, depicting people and places before World War II. The collection is presently being catalogued by Annabel Gill. Her post has been generously funded by The Sociological Review (founded in 1908), whose early history is documented in the archive. An exhibition of archive materials can be seen at the Claus Moser Research Centre, funded by the Keele Key Fund. The seminars continue at the Centre with the next one presented by David Amigoni and Rebecca Leach on 4 November.

DUAL SEMINAR FOCUSES ON METHANE GAS

The latest in the novel series of 3ME Initiative "Back-to-Back Seminars" has taken place at the Keele Medical School. Two speakers gave different approaches to the subject of methane gas on vastly different scales, in the global atmosphere and in the human body.

Professor Euan Nisbet, Royal Holloway, University of London, spoke on "Atmospheric methane - the quiet giant", a talk on methane and its potential role in climate change, drawing on results from monitoring stations throughout the world. Professor Patrik Spanel, pictured left, who holds a dual appointment with Keele's Research Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine (ISTM) and the J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry in Prague, then spoke on "Methane and other trace gases in exhaled breath; their role in medical diagnostics".

The 3ME Initiative (Modelling Methods for Medical Engineering) exists to create and nurture these opportunities between ISTM and the Research Institute for the Environment, Physical Sciences and Applied Mathematics, supported by a three year £270,000 grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

SEMINAR SERIES IN THE STATES

Dr Richard Stephens, School of Psychology, has given a series of seminars in the USA on his research on swearing as a response to pain. These invitations follow the publication in the summer of Dr Stephens' research paper on the same topic in the journal NeuroReport. The research generated international media attention and was covered in major US media outlets, including CBS Television News, CNN, New York Times, Scientific American and Time Magazine. Dr Stephens spoke at the psychology departments of State University of New York – Potsdam, Buffalo State University, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, St. John's University and State University of New York – Albany.

IF YOU GO DOWN TO THE WOODS...…

VE @ Keele volunteers took part in a project with Dave Emley and Keele Estates this week to help create a more user-friendly environment in Keele Woods. Many of the new wayfinder marker posts put into place along the pathways have been colour-coded to improve access to the walks around the lakes and woodlands and the volunteers spent Wednesday afternoon painting the upper section of each marker post around the top three lakes.

SHADOW MINISTER VISITS KEELE

David Willetts, MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, visited Keele yesterday for discussions with senior University representatives on the University's Science Park, sustainability on campus, teacher training and links with schools.

He was greeted by the Vice-Chancellor and also met with Professor Pat Bailey, Dean of Natural Sciences; Phil Butters, Assistant Director (Estates and Development), Commercial and Facilities Management; Hazel Healey, Course Director, Physics Enhancement Course, School of Public Policy and Professional Practice; Caroline Mairs, Head of Keele Science Park; Adam Mason, Students' Union President; Kevin Mattinson, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Community and Partnerships) and Director of Teacher Education; Lyndsey O'Connell, Chair, Keele Postgraduate Association; Professor Mark Ormerod, Head of School, Physical and Geographical Sciences; Alison Parr, Director of Partnerships, School of Public Policy,  and Edward Youngman, Deputy Head (Governance), Planning and Secretariat.

MANAGEMENT SCHOOL AT INTERNATIONAL EVENTS

Keele Management School has been strongly represented at a number of international conferences.

Carmen Boado-Penas, lecturer in economics, spoke on "Models of the actuarial balance of pay-as-you-go pension systems: A review and some lessons" at the 4th Pensions, Benefits and Social Security Colloquium in Tokyo; Alena Audzeyeva, lecturer in finance,  about "The role of country, regional and global market risks in the dynamics of Latin American yield spreads" at the International conference on Computational and Financial Econometrics in Limassol, Cyprus, and Dimitris Chronopolous, lecturer in finance,  about "Cost and Profit Efficiencies Arising from Bank M&As Priced in the Stock Markets?" at the Wolpertinger 2009 international conference in Rome.

Nearer to home, in a live interview with BBC Radio Stoke last week, Costas Milas, Professor of Financial Economics, warned that, whether or not the recession is over, UK unemployment will continue to rise, although at a much slower pace, until output growth returns to normal growth.

TIMEWARP – CREATING THE FOURTH DIMENSION

Professor John Wearden's work on speeding up the brain featured in an article in last week's edition of the New Scientist.

The article, "Timewarp: How your brain creates the fourth dimension", was the cover story and it examined the brain's timekeeping mechanism.

Professor Wearden, School of Psychology, has worked on virtually all areas of time perception and has more than 100 published papers, most of them about time perception.

COLLOQUIUM GUEST SPEAKER

Pnina Werbner, Professor of Social Anthropology, was invited as the guest public speaker at the Graduate School Fall Colloquium last week, on 'Reconvening Asia: Embodiment, Transformation, Space' at the School of Asian Languages and Cultures, University of Michigan.

The subject of her talk was 'Paradoxes of Postcolonial Vernacular Cosmopolitanism in South Asia and the Diaspora: From Ritual Clowns and Sufi Processions to Bollywood.'

ROSES DESIGN AWARDS

Keele Science and Business Park-based viral game company Koko Digital has scooped silver awards for Best Online Game and Best Online Promotion at the annual Roses Design Awards presented in Nottingham last week.