RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP TO FIGHT MALARIA

A state-of-the-art laboratory at the Malaria Research and Training Centre, University of Bamako in Mali, which will soon be rearing Africa's first mosquitoes genetically modified to resist malaria, has been officially opened.

Its research is part of a partnership, between the University of Bamako and Keele, which aims to develop GM mosquitoes to fight malaria. The programme will build capacity in three important areas: genetic engineering of local mosquitoes; gene products that kill malaria parasites; and fitness and competitiveness of GM mosquitoes.

Funded for three years by an £800,000 grant from the Wellcome Trust, the partnership trained three Malian scientists at Keele, and established a biosafety category 3 security laboratory at the centre.

Mamadou Coulibaly, head of the Centre's Genomics and Proteomics Laboratory and principal investigator on the project in Mali, said the laboratory should be producing GM mosquitoes by 2011.

Paul Eggleston, professor of molecular entomology at the Centre for Applied Entomology and Parasitology at Keele and head of the project in the UK, said:  "We wanted to take this technology out to Africa to get local scientists involved in what we are doing, to fully understand it, and become part of it. Ultimately, it's those countries that take the final decision about whether they want to use GM mosquitoes or not."

The picture shows Dr Coulibaly, with colleagues Ibrahima Baber and Dr Mahamoudou Toure, during a visit to Keele last year for training.

PRESTIGIOUS RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS

Two scholars within Music, Professor Barbara Kelly and Dr Alastair Williams (Research Institute for the Humanities) have been successful in securing prestigious Arts and Humanities Research Council Research Fellowships, worth a total of nearly £80,000. These fellowships allow a scholar time to develop or complete a major piece of research.

The principal output from Dr Williams' project is a monograph entitled 'Music in Germany since 1968', which devotes principal chapters to the composers Wolfgang Rihm (who was featured at the Barbican this year) and Helmut Lachenmann, while also highlighting younger talents, such as Matthias Pintscher and Isabel Mundry. Moving away from the post-war avant-gardes, this project reveals how contemporary composers have re-engaged with figures such as Schubert and Schumann from the Austro-German tradition.
 
Professor Kelly, pictured right, is completing a monograph on French Musical Modernisms: aesthetics and criticism. The project examines French music after Debussy's death until World War II. It is a period that is often neglected in discussions of musical modernism, in favour of the more famous 'fin-de-siecle'.

Professor Kelly traces the continuities between the pre-war and interwar period, in particular, in relation to vocal and ensemble writing, chamber works and dramatic music. She examines issues of consensus, resistance to aesthetic norms and the role of the press in shaping musical taste. She is interested in exploring how a particular generation articulates its musical, aesthetic and stylistic priorities. The project addresses the historical, political and cultural distinctiveness of the interwar period, placing music at the centre of its enquiry.

SELLING ORGANS TO SAVE LIVES

Martin Wilkinson, an Associate Professor from the Political Studies Department at the University of Auckland, pictured left, who is visiting PEAK as a Leverhulme Fellow, made a massive media impact on his arrival at Keele.

He was in demand from radio stations across the country to talk about an article on BBC's 'Scrubbing Up' website, titled 'Sell organs to save lives' (click here).  Interviews included BBC Scotland, BBC World Service, BBC Wales, BBC Radio Ulster, BBC Radio 3 Counties, BBC Radio Five Live, BBC Radio York, BBC Sheffield and LBC.

Apart from finishing off his book on the ethics of acquiring organs for transplantation during his time at Keele, he will be talking about organs in public lectures and seminars. He is also looking forward to having the time to talk about ethics with his colleagues at PEAK.

TOP EIGHT CANCER SIGNS PINPOINTED

The eight unexplained symptoms most closely linked to cancer highlighted by a team of Keele researchers and published in the British Journal of General Practice, hit the national and international headlines, including a major article on the BBC website, see here.

The researchers, using the results of studies from seven nations, were looking for symptoms which gave a one in 20, or higher, chance of turning out to be cancer. Although this still represents a relatively low chance of anyone with the symptom having the disease, any suspicion of cancer can mean that the patient is sent for tests more quickly, in order to catch the disease as early as possible.

Dr Mark Shapley, Research Institute for Primary Care and Health Sciences, who led the research, said: "GPs should audit their management and reflect upon these cases as part of their appraisal to improve quality of care. There should be more open public debate on the level of risk that triggers a recommendation for referral by a GP."

UNDERGRADUATE PROJECT PRIZE

Claire Allsop, 2009/10 finalist, has won the 2010 British Psychological Society Psychobiology Section Undergraduate Project Prize. Entitled "The effect of manipulated levels of state aggression on pain tolerance", Claire was supervised by Dr Richard Stephens.

Claire will be presenting her project at the BPS Psychobiology Section conference in the Lake District in September.

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENT

The following academic appointment commenced in post this week:

Faculty of Natural Sciences

Mrs Patricia Procter has been appointed a Lecturer in Biomedical Science and was previously Specialist Biomedical Scientist, UHNS Haematology Department. 

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Around 12,000 visitors and delegates attended the British Association's 'Science for Life Festival' at the University between 29 August and 3 September 1993.