Dr Maciej Tomaszewski (pictured), a Clinical Senior Lecturer in Cardiovascular Medicine at the University’s Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, has won the European Atherosclerosis Young Investigator Award in Clinical Research from the European Atherosclerosis Society.
This highly competitive award recognises excellence in the research field of atherosclerosis/cardiovascular disease. Each year European Atherosclerosis Society Scientific Committee selects the two best manuscripts published in the previous calendar year.
The winning study, reported that genetic variation within the male-specific region of the human Y chromosome plays a major role in programming genetic susceptibility to coronary artery disease.
Dr Tomaszewski said:
Dr Tomaszewski will be presented with his award at the annual meeting of the European Atherosclerosis Society in Lyon, France, 2-5 June 2013.
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Students who take part in the field course travel to Lake Bogoria in Kenya and work with members of the local community on sustainability themed projects, such as ‘overgrazing’, ‘invasive species’ and ‘solar power’.
The students apply skills learnt during their degree in Leicester to solving real life problems.
For more information about this year’s field trip click here
]]>Highlights from its Richard III Open Day on Saturday 29 June include talks from experts Professor Lin Foxhall, Head of our School of Archaeology and Ancient History, geneticist Dr Turi King, forensic engineering expert Professor Sarah Hainsworth, Renaissance literature scholar Dr Sarah Knight, and Dr Tracey Elliott of the School of Law.
There will also be drop-in sessions to the Department of Genetics and School of Archaeology and Ancient History, where guests will be able to participate in workshops, displays and demos.
The events are also part of this year’s Summer Reunion Open Day, held annually for graduates of the University both across the UK and worldwide.
There will also be a BBQ on the main campus, drinks in the 1923 Restaurant and children’s activities.
To book your place and for more information about the Richard III Open Day – which is open to the general public – visit here.
The Search for Richard III was led by the University of Leicester, working with Leicester City Council, and in association with the Richard III Society.
]]>Visitors and Residents: mapping student attitudes to academic use of social networks, published in the journal Learning, Media and Technology, was conducted by Fiona Wright, a graduate of the University’s School of Biosciences.
For the study, all 257 undergraduate students in the University’s School of Biological Sciences were asked to use the social media site Google+ as part of a key IT and numeracy skills module. The students were able to discuss parts of the module on the site.
They found that there were significant differences between students’ use of social media – and individual participants displayed “Visitor” and “Resident” characteristics.
“Residents” happily use social networking to share information about their course with their peers, in a similar way to how they might talk to friends on Facebook.
“Visitors” are much more targeted in their use of online tools – and will only log on to get the information they need, when they need it.
]]>As part of the application process, Dr Willmott needed to produce a case study to illustrate his innovative teaching activity, and a video to expand upon the rationale behind his work. He chose to showcase a task with second year Medical Biochemistry students in which they make short films about the ethical issues surrounding current developments in biomedicine. The best films are made available online via the Bioethicsbytes channel.
Dr Willmott comments: "It is important that students have a good grasp of the implications of their subject discipline for the wider society. Rather than setting an essay on the topic, I wanted to offer the students an authentic assignment activity where the fruits of their labours could be made available to interested parties and not simply disappear into a lever arch file never to be seen again".
The Higher Education Bioscience Teacher of the Year Award was established to identify the UK's leading bioscience higher education teachers, recognising the invaluable role they play in developing the next generation of scientists. This year the top prize went to Professor Tim Birkhead FRS, a zoologist from the University of Sheffield. The competition was won in 2011 by Chris' colleague Professor Jon Scott.
It was the second time within a week that Chris has been runner-up in a national competition. Last week his video The Power of Comparative Genomics, produced with colleagues from the University's Multimedia Services team, received a special commendation at the Learning on Screen Awards, but lost out to a documentary on Charles Dickens produced by the University of Warwick.
]]>An education film produced by the Department of Biochemistry and the Multimedia Service unit at the University of Leicester has been shortlisted for a prize at the national Learning on Screen Awards.
Part-funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the University’s own GENIE Centre, The Power of Comparative Genomics uses a blend of interviews, research footage and animations to explain the value of knowing the complete sequence of DNA letters in a variety of species.
The film, directed by Carl Vivian, was written by Professor Andrew Fry and Dr Chris Willmott and was animated by Multimedia Designer David Wickins.
Dr Willmott said:
“We actually set out to make one short film about the potential for using simple model organisms such as yeast and fruit flies in biomedical research. However, we rapidly realised that there were two overlapping stories that we wanted to tell. This second film looks at the insights that can come from knowing the full DNA sequence of different organisms.
“Lots of people have heard of the human genome project, but scientists now know the complete series of DNA letters coding for over a thousand different species. These can have quite surprising applications. In one experiment, described in the video, researchers were able to compare the human genome with the sequences from two different plant species to home in on a previously unidentified gene responsible for a nasty developmental disease in humans”
The Learning on Screen Awards aims to celebrate and reward excellence in the use of moving image and related media in learning, teaching and research. The Awards ceremony will take place at the British Film Institute SouthBank, London on Thursday April 18th 2013.
You can watch the short film below:
Researchers at the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology have detailed how an enzyme in the brain interacts with a drug-like lead compound for Huntington’s disease to inhibit its activity
Dr Flaviano Giorgini (pictured) from the world-renowned Department of Genetics at the University of Leicester initiated the study and spearheaded the project along with Professor Scrutton, from the University of Manchester.
Their findings demonstrate that it can be developed as a potential treatment for neurodegenerative diseases. The research is published in the journal Nature.
Dr Giorgini's research is also featured in a video which forms part of a collection of resources on the use of model organisms in medical research. Watch Dr Giorgini's contribution below from 1:55.
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The University of Leicester has launched a new Centre for Genetic Architecture of Complex Traits to explore the building blocks of complex traits and disease.
It is the fifth new Research Centre to be established at the University, and aims to improve our understanding of evolutionary aspects of adaptation in populations, the nature of disease, and will help to build tools for use in other disciplines.
The appointment of Professor Ed Louis (pictured) as Director will see him return to Leicester after spending the past few years teaching at the University of Nottingham.
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An international team of scientists led by the University of Leicester has found new evidence that links faster ‘biological’ ageing to the risk of developing several age-related diseases - including heart disease, multiple sclerosis and various cancers.
Professor Nilesh Samani (pictured), British Heart Foundation Professor of Cardiology in our Department of Cardiovascular Sciences and Director of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Leicester Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit led the project, working as part of the ENGAGE Consortium. It was published online today (27 March) in the journal Nature Genetics.
The project studied a feature of chromosomes called telomeres which shorten as an individual gets older. But, individuals are born with different telomere lengths and the rate at which they subsequently shorten can also vary. The speed with which telomeres wear down is a measure of ‘biological ageing’.
These findings open the possibility that manipulating telomere length could have health benefits and have the potential to slow and even reverse age-related changes in several organs.
]]>Dr Martha Clokie, from the University of Leicester’s Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation has appeared in BBC programmes and BBC News Online recently to discuss the potential of phage viruses.
Phages are naturally occurring viruses that kill bacteria. Once they get into bacterial cells the phages' DNA replicates until it kills the host.
Dr Clokie believes that in the next decade, western countries may see phages used to treat minor bacterial infections, and antibiotics kept for the serious life-threatening conditions.
The discussion is extremely relevant due to the concern about growing bacterial resistance to antibiotics.
Professor Mark Sims, part of the Space Research Centre and Tim Coats, Professor of Emergency Medicine, from the University of Leicester also featured on the BBC Radio 4 show talking about their Diagnostics Development Unit or 'Star Trek Bed'.
The Diagnostics Development Unit is a project dedicated to non-evasive detection of disease, which the University of Leicester were heavily involved in and of which the academics co-direct.
The DDU is designed to utilise the smell of disease, the look of disease and feel the “pulse” using state of the art instrumentation installed in a resuscitation bay in the Emergency Department.
Click for the links below for Dr Clokie’s BBC interviews:
Click the link below for Inside Health on BBC Radio 4 featuring Dr Clokie, Professor Sims and Professor Coates:
]]>In an online poll, organised in celebration of National Science and Engineering week, members of the public will vote on what they think is the most important innovation in science and technology from the last 100 years and the one that is most likely to shape the future.
Professor Jeffreys discovery, a pioneering method of biological identification, opened a whole new area of forensic science and has become integral to modern criminal investigations.
In 2010, the discovery was applauded as the 'second most important discovery in the history of scientific research' in a poll of hundreds of academics as part of Universities Week.
The Great British Innovation Vote lists British innovations in theory, scientific understanding, engineering and technology and was launched by Prof Stephen Hawking of the University of Cambridge.
Click here if you want to cast your vote for Genetic Fingerprinting.
The pair, who are both University of Leicester graduates and leading members of the Richard III Project Team, will speak on ‘The Search for Richard III – the Archaeology and the Genetics’ on Thursday 21 March.
Mathew Morris was Fieldwork Director on the Grey Friars dig and is an Archaeologist in the University of Leicester’s Archaeological Services; and Dr Turi King was Project Geneticist and Lecturer in Genetics and Archaeology in the Department of Genetics and the School of Historical Studies.
Mathew will place Grey Friars in the context of medieval Leicester and will look at how the University of Leicester’s Archaeological Services undertook the search for the Friary, what was found and explain what it tells us about Grey Friars. Mathew will then examine the archaeological and osteological evidence for identifying the skeleton as Richard III.
To follow, Dr Turi King will speak about her part as the Project Geneticist and the DNA analysis which contributed to the evidence that these were indeed the remains of Richard III.
With her background in both genetics and archaeology, Dr Turi King was brought onto the Grey Friars project early on. Her role was to advise on the excavation of any remains deemed suitable for ancient DNA analysis and then to conduct such analysis as it arose.
The Alumni Lecture will take place on Thursday 21st March from 6.00pm in the Peter Williams Lecture Theatre, Fielding Johnson Building, South Wing.
The lecture is free and open to all. For more information and to book your place, please visit the Development and Alumni Relations Office website. You can also email alumni.relations@le.ac.uk or telephone: 0116 223 1071.
]]>The first interactive lecture, by Dr Blair Grubb, who is Head of the University’s Department of Cell Physiology and Pharmacology, will explore the “hot” ingredient of chilli peppers and explain how it has been a useful tool in molecular research.
To follow, Dr Julian Barwell from GENIE and consultant in clinical genetics at the Leicester Royal Infirmary will concentrate on how we can work together to raise the awareness of inherited diseases in the community and improve access to services.
GENIE is the University of Leicester's Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in Genetics, and has been providing lectures that are informative, entertaining and very accessible to non-scientists.
These GENIE public engagement lectures take place on Tuesday 12th March from 6.30pm in the in the Frank and Katherine May lecture theatre, Henry Wellcome building. For more information and to book your place, please email genie@le.ac.uk or telephone: 0116 2523479.
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Brain experts from the University will share their findings in a series of talks about hearing loss, Huntington’s disease, facial perception and the cognitive processes underlying reading.
The public will be able to hear from early career researchers from a range of academic disciplines including:
The day is being held in conjunction with the international Brain Awareness Week, which runs from March 11 to 17, and aims to increase public understanding of the benefits and progress of brain research.
Leicester's event will be held at the Frank & Katherine May Lecture Theatre, Henry Wellcome building, Lancaster Road, from 6 to 8pm on March 13 followed by a light buffet.
More information is available here. The event is free - to book a place, please email: baw2013@le.ac.uk
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Tonight, the follow up documentary Richard III: The Unseen Story will be broadcast, which focuses on the five months of archaeological and scientific work carried out by the University of Leicester which eventually led to the discovery of King Richard III.
Richard III: The Unseen Story will air tonight (Wednesday 27 Feb) More 4 at 9pm.
The documentary will feature previously unseen footage and new interviews with the lead scientists, the programme will tell the story in detail and in full, from the first cut in the ground to the final DNA analysis.
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