bbsrc business summer 2016

BusinessSummer 2016

Connecting our science with industry, policymakers and society

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Bee research shows not all neonicotinoids are the samePage 8

Sniffing out science: genes for nose shape foundPage 18

Fostering Innovation event crowns the cream of British BiosciencePage 12

First safe way to deliver drugs to the placenta

2 BBSRC Business Summer 2016

About BBSRC

ContactsBBSRC Business is a controlled circulation magazine which is distributed free of charge to end users of research and to individuals with an interest in BBSRC.For enquiries about Business contact the News Team: BBSRC Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon SN2 1UH Tel: 01793 442810 Email: [email protected]

For regular news about BBSRC and the outcomes and impacts of BBSRC- funded research visit www.bbsrc.ac.uk/news

About BBSRC Business

BBSRC is part of the Research Councils UK partnership

BBSRC invests in world-class bioscience research and training on behalf of the UK public.

Our aim is to further scientific knowledge to promote economic growth, wealth and job creation, and to improve quality of life in the UK and beyond.

Funded by Government, BBSRC invested over £509M in world-class bioscience in 2014-2015. We support research and training in universities and strategically funded institutes. BBSRC research and the people we fund are helping society

to meet major challenges, including food security, green energy and healthier, longer lives. Our investments underpin important UK economic sectors, such as farming, food, industrial biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.

Further details about BBSRC, our science and our impact can be found at www.bbsrc.ac.uk

Strategically funded institutes

Babraham Institute

www.babraham.ac.uk

The Pirbright Institute

www.pirbright.ac.uk

The Genome Analysis Centre www.tgac.ac.uk

Rothamsted Research www.rothamsted.ac.uk

Roslin Institute (University of Edinburgh)

www.roslin.ac.uk

Institute of Food Research www.ifr.ac.uk

John Innes Centre www.jic.ac.uk

Institute for Biological, Environmental and Rural Studies

(Aberystwyth University) www.aber.ac.uk/en/ibers

Plant health and agriculture [email protected]

Animal health [email protected]

Bioenergy [email protected]

Food [email protected]

Human health [email protected]

Industrial biotechnology [email protected]

International [email protected]

Research technologies [email protected]

Skills and training [email protected]

Innovation and business [email protected]

3BBSRC Business Summer 2016

In this issueChief Executive Professor Melanie Welham reviews the excitement of announcing the winners of BBSRC Fostering Innovation competitions, and stands up for good scientific citizenship.

In May I hosted our Fostering Innovation 2016 event, where the winners of two BBSRC competitions that recognise and celebrate innovation were announced by Professor Nessa Carey. It was an exciting evening because I genuinely did not know who the winners would be!

First up, Innovator of the year, now in its eighth year, which recognises individuals or small teams who have taken their scientific discoveries and translated them into real-life applications. The winner of the Social Innovator of the year, Barrie Rooney from the University of Kent, has developed a rapid diagnostic test for sleeping sickness that will enter field trials in Africa later this year. UCL’s Martin Pule, winner in the Most Promising category, has pioneered research on chimeric antigen receptor T-cells, which have great potential to revolutionise cancer treatments. The overall Innovator of the Year, Tom Brown from the University of Oxford, has really pushed the boundaries of nucleic acid chemistry. He’s taken interdisciplinary approaches to translate his discoveries into diagnostics, forensics and therapeutics and co-founded three successful spin-out companies along the way.

The Excellence with Impact competition has been a three-year programme, recognising institutions that have developed a vision for maximising impact and embedded it into their working culture. A team from The John Innes Centre took the top prize – £500,000 to invest in translational projects in Africa.

The excitement on the runners'-up and winners’ faces was evident to all – huge congratulations to them – and to all participants for their hard work. I left the event feeling incredibly uplifted! See more on pages 12-13, and a video review of our Innovator finalists on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/bbsrcmedia

People, pools and reviewsI have also been thinking about something that is not rewarded with such fanfare – good scientific citizenship.

What does this mean? It means giving as well as receiving and supporting scientific endeavour. Say you expect to receive three well-reasoned reviews for your latest submitted paper – ask yourself, have you offered to review three other papers according to these principles?

The same goes for reviewing grants. We seek to secure a good range of reviews from experts for each grant submitted to BBSRC. Ideally we will receive 4-5 high quality useable reviews, but sometimes we don’t. In fact, latest data for 2015 show we receive usable reviews from only 48% of requests, with the majority of those declining and saying they are “too busy”.

As an active research leader I was very conscientious in reviewing papers and grants. Knowing I depended on others doing the same for me, I felt it was my moral responsibility to do so. This is particularly the case for public funders, where I feel it is a duty for all of those in receipt of public money to ‘give back’ to the system by being good scientific citizens. If reviewers need to be incentivised I would be interested to hear your ideas.

On this note, a huge “thank you!” to everyone who applied to the recent call to add to our pool of experts for BBSRC panels. A former chair said chairing a responsive mode committee might be hard work but “it enriches life beyond measure” – as it did for me when I was chair of Committee C.

Future in focusIn other news, it’s been a busy few months for the future of BBSRC with the publication of our Delivery plan 2016/17—2019/20. This plan takes us into the time where, following the Nurse Review and the Government’s white paper, it is likely that BBSRC, along with the other Research Councils, Innovate UK and part of Hefce, will be part of a larger organisation now called UK Research and Innovation (UKRI, rather than Research UK). John Kingman will move from HM Treasury to become UKRI’s inaugural chair, and this has been welcomed by many, myself included, who recognise his support for science over previous spending reviews.

“The aspects of scientific citizenship that I would like to concentrate on are those within the research environment. For me it is relatively simple – do to other researchers as you would want to be done to yourself and support the research endeavour.”


Headlines

£5M to understand the role of nutrition in health and disease

The new projects were funded by BBSRC and MRC as part of a joint responsive mode highlight in Mechanistic Research in Nutrition, issued in 2015.

Understanding the impact of food on our bodies is essential in developing new guidelines, products and interventions to improve lifelong health. The collaboration between bioscience and medical science researchers will help to tackle fundamental research questions in nutrition to help mitigate

Nine new research projects to offer insights into the role of food and nutrition on our health.

increasing public health concerns. The projects funded focus on issues such as metabolism, food choice and digestion.

Professor Melanie Welham, BBSRC Chief Executive, says understanding the connections between foods, nutrients and health is a huge challenge. “but one which we must address to help us all live healthier longer lives. It is great to see BBSRC and MRC working together to fund important research in this area.”

New UK-Brazil Virtual Joint CentreScientists from the John Innes Centre (JIC), the Universities of Oxford and Aberystwyth, as well as leading research institutes in Brazil have formed a Virtual Joint Centre of research. The goal is to understand and exploit beneficial interactions between plants and nitrogen fixing bacteria to develop a sustainable means of supplying nitrogen to crops. This would help to reduce the input of chemical fertilisers and the resulting release into the environment of reactive nitrogen. The knowledge gained by the Joint Centre will enable the development and application of bio-fertilisers in Brazilian agriculture, which will lead to lower production costs and reduced environmental impacts.

Professor Ray Dixon who leads the project from JIC says the benefits of this collaboration reach far beyond Brazil and the UK. “It is essential that the world finds a sustainable alternative to chemical fertilisers, which improves take up of nitrogen by crops and helps to reduce the impact of agriculture on the environment.”

The Centre is funded by the Newton Fund in the UK with matched resources from Brazil and also includes the James Hutton Institute as a subcontractor.

Suzana Marokovic/iStock

EVENT: Genome editing and the future of farmingLeaders in the field of livestock genetics will discuss the future of farming and the implications of genome engineering at The Roslin Institute, Edinburgh, on 6 September. New genetic techniques are improving our understanding of biological processes and genetic conditions, leading to novel treatment options and disease prevention methods. Using these techniques to improve crops and livestock will contribute to address the pressing global challenge of food security.

At this BBSRC-supported event, organised by the National Institutes of Bioscience, a series of talks and panel discussion sessions will examine the global scene and case studies from academia and industry, highlighting the opportunities and challenges in the genome editing field.


Headlines

EVENT: Food Bioactives & HealthThree-day event is being held at the Institute for Food Research, which receives strategic funding from BBSRC, from 13 to 15 September. It aims to provide an open forum that brings together researchers from various scientific communities to present the latest research and discuss common themes and challenges in understanding the impacts of food bioactives on health.

Attendees are set to include researchers from academia and the agri-food sector with interests in the health benefits of food bioactives, health claims, functional foods and nutraceuticals.

Research Councils award £9.5M to tackle antibiotic resistanceThree large collaborative grants have been announced by the Medical Research Council (MRC) as part of a cross-Council initiative to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Thinkstock Photos

AMR is a significant and growing challenge. The world is facing an increase in the number and type of bacteria resistant to antibiotics alongside stagnation in the development of new antibiotics or viable alternatives. It is clear that an interdisciplinary approach at a global level is needed to tackle the challenge if we are to save millions of lives being lost as a result of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

The latest round of awards has been funded by the MRC, BBSRC, EPSRC and ESRC through

the AMR cross-Council initiative, established in 2014 as part of a strategic and co-ordinated effort to address the growing problem head on.

The awards together mark one of the biggest investments into AMR since the initiative launched and will use new technology to exploit natural compounds, develop a tool to offer better and faster diagnostics and explore how the body’s own immune system can be boosted to fight infection.

Dr Adam Staines, Head of Agriculture and Food Security at BBSRC, says this multidisciplinary call is an excellent opportunity to invest in fundamental research. “It also has significant scope to influence antimicrobial usage and alternative strategies for infection management in farmed animals and humans, impacting on the agriculture, food and health systems both in the UK and further afield.”


Headlines

Over £40M pledged in new bid to tackle global challenges

Research Councils launch action plan to drive cultural change in equality, diversity and inclusion

Research Councils UK (RCUK) has launched an action plan to promote equality, diversity and inclusion in research, recognising its leadership role in driving a change in culture.

This follows RCUK’s 2013 Statement of Expectations for Equality and Diversity, and outlines ambitions to lead by example in ensuring a diverse workforce.

Work has already begun with the roll-out of unconscious bias training for peer reviewers and funding decision-makers. A number of other activities will take place over the coming months, as well as raising awareness of the critical importance of equality, diversity and inclusion within the sector.

Worth over £40M, the new calls are in non-communicable diseases, global infection and agriculture and food systems. They aim to leverage the UK’s world-class research base to help provide solutions to reduce and prevent diseases in humans and farmed animals, ensure a safe, nutritious and sustainable supply of food for a growing population, and improve the lifelong health of billions of people in low- and middle-income countries.

This funding from BBSRC and MRC, with support from the AHRC, ESRC and NERC, reflects the complexity of the challenges and the need for all disciplines to contribute to achieve international development goals.

These initial three calls aim to rapidly stimulate and enhance the research and partnerships needed to pave the way for ambitious GCRF programmes.

Universities and Science Minister Jo Johnson, said: “Our £1.5Bn Global Challenges Research Fund represents the latest stage in our sustained investment in the UK’s world-leading scientists. This new £40M fund is part of our commitment to tackle global issues such as food security and life-threatening diseases like Ebola, and will help improve quality of life for people in developing nations as well as here in the UK.”

Five UK Research Councils have announced the first joint interdisciplinary calls from the new £1.5Bn Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), unveiled by the Government in the 2015 spending review.

Over the next five years, the Research Councils and the National Academies will deliver the GCRF to ensure the excellent UK research base takes a leading role in addressing the problems faced by developing countries. Additional calls are due to be announced soon.

Professor Melanie Welham, BBSRC Chief Executive, says the UK research-base has a vital role to play in helping to improve the quality of peoples’ lives across the world. “BBSRC is delighted to be working in collaboration with many partners to ensure our community maximise the potential of the new Global Challenges Research Fund.”

RCUK is set to engage with the research community through a number of external events to help shape implementation of the plan.

CIAT on Flickr by CC 2.0 https://creativecomm

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Headlines

Now in its fourth round of funding, the Industrial Biotechnology Catalyst is a multi-million-pound competition funded by Innovate UK, BBSRC and EPSRC which aims to boost collaborations between the academic and business communities.

Industrial biotechnology focuses on developing biological processes to improve efficiency in chemical production, aiming to help combat threats such as antimicrobial resistance and reliance on fossil fuels. In the UK, the sector generates around £2.9Bn annually and supports around 9,000 jobs.

The projects funded under round four include creating new pathways to biofuels, making sugar replacements from microalgae, and developing new antibiotics to keep us healthy. One such project from the University of Manchester, John Innes Centre and pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline will look to improve processes by developing new enzymes that could be used by bacteria to produce drug molecules in a more cost-effective manner.

Since its inception in 2014 the IB Catalyst has invested over £75M, supporting academic and industrial collaboration to help secure the UK’s position as a world-leader in the sector.

16 projects will use cutting-edge science to deliver benefits for society: from creating new drugs in bacteria to making plastic from plants.

£17M to support innovative industrial biotechnology

BBSRC

Vertebrate ‘genomic zoo’ to help protect biodiversity

Dog by D

enhulde; lizard by Mary Boyer; Koala by D

iliff; Bat by James N

iland; all http://creativecomm

ons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0

Zoologists, geneticists and bioinformaticians from around the globe will gather at the Genome 10K conference at TGAC at Norwich Research Park, from 29 August to 1 September 2017. The conference will bring together a community of researchers who have pledged to facilitate the genome sequencing and analyses of 10,000 living vertebrates species – about one for every genus of vertebrate.

“The more we learn about non-human vertebrates genomes the more we learn about ourselves, as well as species of economic or ecological interest,” says Dr Wilfried Haerty based at hosts TGAC.

The Genome 10K initiative, led by the University of California’s Santa Cruz Genomics Institute, aims to understand how complex animal life evolved through changes in DNA, and use this knowledge to become better stewards of the planet.

“Capturing the genetic diversity of vertebrate species would create an unprecedented resource for the life sciences, for worldwide conservation efforts and food security,” says Professor Federica Di Palma, member of the Genome 10K steering committee and Director of Science at TGAC.

Founded in 2009, the growing Genome 10K Community of Scientists (G10KCOS) will take stock of progress to-date and chart the course for the future. The conference will highlight advances, provide a space for researchers to explore common interests, and encourage early-career scientists through training and key skills workshop sessions.

The Genome Analysis Centre (TGAC) to host biannual Genome 10K Conference.


Food Security

Further readingNeonicotinoids target distinct nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and neurons, leading to differential risks to bumblebees. Scientific Reports DOI: 10.1038/srep24764

Next steps• Further field and lab analysis

of differential effects of different neonicotinoids, including on other bee and pollinator species.

ContactDr Chris Connolly, Centre for Environmental Change and Human Resilience (CECHR)

[email protected]

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Discovery pipeline>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Bees research shows not all neonicotinoids are the same

At least one of the controversial pesticides does not show the same detrimental effects, according to new research at the University of Dundee.

The group of chemical insecticides known as neonicotinoids have been identified as presenting a serious risk to bee populations, leading to bans on their use. But at least one may be unfairly named among the offenders when it comes to risks to bumblebees.

The study led by the University of Dundee found that one of the neonicotinoid insecticides – clothianidin – did not show the same detrimental effects on bee colonies as its close chemical relatives imidacloprid and thiamethoxam. All three neonicotinoids have been subject to an EU-wide moratorium on their use.

Dr Chris Connolly, a Research Associate at the Centre for Environmental Change and Human Resilience (CECHR) led the study, involving both the University of Dundee and the University of St Andrews. The team looked at three neonicotinoids in parallel and found that each chemical leads to differential risks for bumblebees.

“Our knowledge of the risk of neonicotinoids to bees is based on studies of imidacloprid and thiamethoxam, and these findings have generally been extrapolated to clothianidin,” says Connolly. “However, in this study we found is that imidacloprid and thiamethoxam, but not clothiandin, exhibit toxicity to bumblebee colonies when exposed at field-relevant levels.”

He adds that there was also further variation in the effects on bees between the three

insecticides. If the effects of the banned neonicotinoids are not the same, should they be considered independently when considering risk and legislation?

“From our findings, we consider that it is premature to place a permanent ban on the use of clothianidin,” says Connolly. “That said, a moratorium on its use should continue until the knowledge gaps are filled on its wider impact on other species.”

The bees' needsFunded under the Insect Pollinators Initiative, the researchers tested 75 bumblebee colonies at five separate locations in Scotland. Dr Connolly added that the study once again confirmed the threat to bumblebees from use of two other neonicotinoids, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam.

“We have seen further evidence to indicate the risk from these insecticides, including deficits in colony strength,” he explains. “Given these findings, small changes in the pesticide structure or its target site in insects are likely to be critical to risk assessment and each pesticide/insect combination needs to be considered independently – evidence should not be extrapolated to similar chemicals or insects. Real risk must be determined empirically.”

The Insect Pollinators Initiative is joint-funded by BBSRC, Defra, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the

Scottish Government and the Wellcome Trust. It is managed under the auspices of the Living with Environmental Change (LWEC) partnership.

Kyoshi Manam

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Further readingAn open consortium (Nornex) for molecular understanding of ash dieback disease. http://oadb.tsl.ac.uk/?p=971DOI: 10.1038/srep24764

Next steps• Field surveys of ash trees across

the UK to find the extent of resistant trees.

• Lab DNA sequencing to discover molecular basis of resistance.

ContactProfessor Allan Downie, Emeritus Fellow at the John Innes Centre

[email protected]

Fundamental Bioscience

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First UK trees resistant to ash dieback found

Hopes grow that strains of trees tolerant to the disease can be bred to repopulate Britain.

UK scientists led by the John Innes Centre in Norfolk have identified the country’s first ash tree that shows tolerance to the killer fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, commonly known as ash dieback.

Ash dieback is spreading throughout the UK, with some 38% of areas sampled by the Forestry Commission showing infections. There is currently no practical treatment for the disease, and scientists have estimated that up to 90% of the country’s 20 million ash trees could be wiped out.

However, there are exceptions and some trees demonstrate very low levels of infection. Researchers have identified one tree, nicknamed ‘Betty’, as having a strong tolerance to the disease.

The findings, which could help ensure ash trees will thrive in UK woodlands, have today (22 April) been published in a report from the UK Government-backed Nornex consortium, co-funded by Defra and BBSRC.

“This Government has invested more than any other country in research on ash dieback,” says Defra spokesperson in the Lords, Lord Gardiner. “This breakthrough is an excellent example of how the UK’s cutting-edge science is leading the way to help support tree health. We want to guarantee the graceful ash tree continues to have a place in our environment for centuries to come.”

Tree markingThe team compared the genetics of trees with different levels of tolerance to ash dieback disease. From there, they developed three genetic markers which enabled them to predict whether or not a tree is likely to be tolerant to the disease – even whether it is likely to be ‘mildly’ or ‘strongly’ tolerant. Betty, they discovered, was predicted to show strong tolerance.

Professor Allan Downie, Emeritus Fellow at the John Innes Centre and coordinator of the Nornex consortium, says the identification of genetic markers for trees with low susceptibility to ash dieback is a large first step. “One of many that will be needed in the fight to help ash trees survive this disease epidemic.”

The Nornex report also indicates that the three genetic markers are more prevalent in UK ash trees than in those from some other countries. Reasons for this are unknown, but this could be taken into consideration for any future tree development programmes.

The £1.3M Nornex project was delivered by a consortium of researchers from the John Innes Centre, University of York, The Genome Analysis Centre, University of Exeter, FERA science Ltd, University of Copenhagen, Forest Research, Sainsbury Laboratory, East Malling Research, Forest and Landscape Institute Norway and The University of Edinburgh. They also collaborated with researchers at Queen Mary University of London, who were supported by NERC and Defra.

John Innes Centre

Find out more about further Defra and BBSRC research into tree pests and pathogens, such as the Tree Health and Plant Biosecurity Initiative: http://ht.ly/dvS5300z9jc


Health

First safe way to deliver drugs to the placenta

Development could help prevent some premature births and treat conditions such as pre-eclampsia without harming the foetus.

Many pregnancy complications are caused by the placenta not growing or functioning correctly. But currently there are no drugs to treat pregnancy complications, such as pre-eclampsia or foetal growth restriction, which affect more than 10% of pregnant women.

Instead doctors have to induce early delivery of the baby. Premature babies are at increased risk of developing infections and cerebral palsy, and throughout their lives have an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes.

University of Manchester scientists have now demonstrated that two peptides – chains of amino acids – originally used to selectively target tumours, will perform the same function on a placenta. This means that they can deliver drugs that improve placental function and benefit the growing baby without causing it harm, avoiding induced labour.

Lead researcher Dr Lynda Harris says placentas behave like well-controlled tumours: growing quickly, producing growth hormones and evading the immune system.

“A lot of cancer research focuses on finding ways of delivering drugs to kill the tumour without affecting the rest of the body,” she says. “We had the idea that if we could selectively target the placenta in the same

way, we could deliver other drugs which help improve placental function and therefore treat pregnancy complications.”

Healthy growthHer team has demonstrated that in mice a growth hormone can be delivered to placentas, which has no effect on normal-sized foetuses, but helps undersized ones to grow, paving the way for this method to be used in humans.

There were no signs that these drugs built up in the mouse’s organs, instead passing out of the body, and there were no drugs found in the mouse foetuses. The paper acknowledges that there may be harmful effects in mothers who have undiagnosed cancers, because the drugs will also target their tumours, but the authors suggest a screening programme would overcome these difficulties.

Harris, who developed this work using a BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship, adds that only one drug for use during pregnancy has been licensed in the last 20 years. “By developing this platform we have opened up the possibility of any number of new drugs which can be adapted and then used safely to treat common and serious pregnancy complications.”

Professor Melanie Welham, BBSRC Chief Executive, says the research demonstrates

the value of novel approaches to drug delivery that could help us lead healthier, longer lives. “The findings could help develop therapies that can help both the mother and particularly the unborn baby.”

Further readingTumour homing peptides as tools for targeted delivery of payloads to the placenta.Scientific AdvancesDOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1600349Q&A on BBSRC website: http://ht.ly/3kO3300BCtS

Next steps• Further studies in animal models

before working up to human clinical trials.

ContactJamie Brown, University of Manchester

[email protected]

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Sebastian Kaulitzki/Thinkstock Photos


Heart disease linked with testosterone

Why do men have a greater risk of heart attacks than women of similar age? New finding could lead to new therapies to help reduce cardiovascular disease deaths.

Further readingAblation of the androgen receptor from vascular smooth muscle cells demonstrates a role for testosterone in vascular calcification.Scientific ReportsDOI: 10.1038/srep24807

Next steps• Laboratory analysis of

testosterone’s role in the molecular basis of the calcification process.

ContactBritish Heart Foundation press office

[email protected]

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Each year in the UK 188,000 people visit hospital after suffering from a heart attack – one person every three minutes – and cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the UK.

At around 69,000 deaths per year (15% of all male and 10% of female mortality), it’s therefore a huge field of research – and the difference in death rates between the sexes a long-standing question. So scientists at the University of Edinburgh examined the effects of testosterone on blood vessel tissue from mice. Both men and women naturally possess the hormone testosterone, but use it in different ways and quantities.

The researchers found that testosterone triggers cells from the blood vessels to produce bone-like deposits – a process called calcification. When the mouse cells were modified by removing the testosterone receptor so they could no longer respond to testosterone, they produced far less of the calcium deposits.

The team then looked at blood vessel and valve tissue from people with heart disease who had undergone surgery. Cells from these tissues contained calciferous bone-like deposits and also carried the testosterone receptor on their surface. This suggests that testosterone may trigger calcification in people.

Bone of contentionCalcification causes blood vessels to harden and thicken, which means the heart has to work harder to pump blood around the body – increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke. Calcification can also affect the heart’s valves, meaning that the valves cannot open and shut properly and may need to be replaced.

Lead scientists Dr Vicky MacRae, of The University of Edinburgh’s The Roslin Institute, says heart calcification is particularly difficult to treat, because the biological processes behind the disease are similar to those used by our body to make and repair bone. “By finding this link between testosterone and calcification we may have discovered a new way of treating this disease and also reducing heart disease.”

Little is known about what triggers calcification and there are currently no treatments. The research team now hopes to determine the exact molecular mechanism behind this process.

Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, which co-funded the research with BBSRC, says the role of male sex hormones in the control of vascular calcification is poorly understood. “This study provides new evidence that testosterone can increase calcification. But significantly more research is needed to understand whether the results have

implications for patients with heart disease, or those taking androgen [testosterone] replacement therapy.”


Fostering Innovation event crowns the cream of British bioscienceThis year, the gala event at the Royal Horticultural Halls, London, comprised two main awards: Innovator of the Year and Excellence with Impact. The two competitions aim to promote excellence among researchers, departments and institutions by recognising successful approaches to innovation and impact in the biosciences.

Deep impactThe night saw the second award of the Excellence with Impact (EwI) competition. And in this competition, a remarkable £1M was up for grabs. Taking place over three years, it aimed to recognise institutions that developed and delivered a vision for maximising impact, alongside a culture change across the organisation throughout the period of the competition.

Top prize and £500,000 was won by the John Innes Centre (JIC) for developing and promoting agricultural development through lasting collaborative links in sub-Saharan

All images: Joel Knight

Over £1 million awarded to individuals, teams and institutions in the UK to reinvest in impact and innovation.

Africa. This took the form of 16 ‘Assets’ (Agricultural Scientist Support Exchange Teams) made up of eight PhD students from JIC and eight African PhD students.

Dr Gordon Jamieson of JIC says the award marks the culmination of a three-year journey to broaden and increase their impact, especially in the developing world. “We have many more activities planned in Africa and we hope to use part of the BBSRC award to expand on our existing activities such as ASSET and develop new initiatives in the region.”

Some of the new initiatives being explored that will use the prize monies are to establish a prestigious annual Plant Science Summer School in Africa, and a partnership with the University of Rwanda to co-supervise PhD students, “as well as creating opportunities for Fellows of the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) prize to spend time at JIC to advance their research programmes,” Jamieson says.


Dr Gordon Jamieson and the EwI team at the John Innes Centre collect their award, flanked by BBSRC CE Melanie Welham, left.

The University of Glasgow were EwI runners-up and picked up £200,000 for demonstrating compelling evidence of impressive and sustainable culture change at all levels in the university, including 80% of early-career researchers now understanding the importance of impact. Dr Carol Clugston at the University of Glasgow says the impact of the competition has been truly transformational. “At some point, it stopped being a competition and started being a part of everyday discussion. All 12 of our Impact Champions have said that they wish to continue in their roles.”

She says that they are now part of a European H2020 project to share best practice and practical tools to develop impact across European countries, and have been inundated with suggestions for how to use the prize money. “Staff and research students who contributed are inputting to the decision on how to spend the prize money. Amongst other things, we are definitely considering hosting an impact conference, so that we can discuss and share best practice with other institutions.”

The remaining eight EwI finalists were awarded £25,000 each and, in addition, eight special commendations (worth £10,000 each) were awarded. The Babraham Institute, Royal Veterinary College and

Runner-up EwI team from the University of Glasgow, with co-host Professor Nessa Carey far left.

Watch a 2min video about the EwI finalists at youtu.be/woflQia0POg

the University of Edinburgh were each commended for public dialogue and openness around the use of animals in research. Aberystwyth University and IBERS picked up a commendation for impact policy around global food security, the University of Leeds for the development of impact metrics, and The Genome Analysis Centre for highly effective social media engagement.

Two institutions bagged more than one: the University of Manchester was awarded two commendations for outreach in collaboration with the Manchester Museum, and effective recognition of impact in staff development; Queen Mary University of London was awarded two commendations for schools outreach and PhD internship programmes. Finalists also included the University of Oxford and the University of Aberdeen.

Innovation day“It feels great of course. It gives me a boost when I think about it!” said Professor Tom Brown from the University of Oxford after scooping top prize in BBSRC’s Innovator of the Year award 2016.

Innovator of the Year, running since 2009, celebrates individuals and small teams who have harnessed the potential of their excellent research to help address real-world challenges. Overall winner Brown also picked

up the Commercial Innovator category following his work extending the boundaries of DNA’s nucleic acids – developing innovative methods of genetic and forensic analysis, and co-founding three successful spin-out companies along the way.

Brown paid credit to the quality of the other finalists, and was very happy for past and present members of his research group. “And the start-ups who must share the credit. I owe them a lot,” he says.

He says the £30,000 prize money will be used to send research students to major conferences. “To disseminate their work, to network, listen to world leaders in their field and come back with fresh ideas."

Winner in the Social Innovator category and £15,000 was Dr Barrie Rooney from the University of Kent. Working on the pathogen that causes sleeping sickness, she examined the use of surrogate organisms to produce chemicals for simple and cheap diagnostic tests, negating the costly and more complex need to handle live parasites. Initial feasibility studies with an industrial partner look positive and a prototype for a field trail is underway.

Rooney says she’s thrilled to receive this recognition on behalf of her international collaborative team. “This award highlights


Dr Martin Pule from University College London was named Most Promising Innovator 2016.

Watch a 2min video of the Innovator finalists at www.youtube.com/bbsrcmedia

Professor Tom Brown, University of Oxford, accepting the top Innovator prize. Dr Barrie Ronnie, University of Kent, won the Social Innovator category.

the application of biotechnology to medical diagnostics and raises the profile of neglected tropical diseases in particular. A wider range of applications of this technology can now be rolled out.”

Winner in the Most Promising category and £15,000 was Dr Martin Pule from University College London. He has demonstrated that it’s possible to re-programme the body’s T-cells to recognize cancer cells as different from normal cells. With promising early clinical success in leukaemia, the work has led to Autolus, a spin-out company to exploit the technology.

Pule says he hopes the award will increase the profile of synthetic biology in therapeutic applications and draw in more interest from academia and industry. “Recognizing impact allows the government and the public to better appreciate just how many times academic research acts as a spark for major commercial development," he says. “Until very recently, the engineered T-cell field was a purely academic endeavour – now it is a multi-billion dollar industry. Thanks to funding from the BBSRC, the UK has a significant presence in this space.”

Winners of both competitions were selected by independent judging panels.

A night to rememberMartin Donnelly, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) attended the event. As he congratulated the winners, he said the UK we can be very proud of its excellence in bioscience. “Their determination and imagination demonstrate why the UK continues to punch above its weight in science and research, creating high-value jobs across the UK.”

Professor Melanie Welham, BBSRC Chief Executive, said, “Every single one of the participants in both competitions deserve our praise and

thanks for having the vision and drive to take research from the lab and make a tangible impact in the world.”

Innovator winner Brown added that he recalled the days when many senior academics were strongly opposed to the involvement of academics in commercialisation of research. “Thankfully that attitude no longer prevails and an increasing number of researchers can enjoy the thrill of seeing their ideas give rise to real world benefits.

“Recognition and reward of impact by funders and institutions is a key element in this change of attitude. It also motivates students and helps them to see the bigger picture,” he says.


Spotlight

The popular picture-based BBSRC blog on the image-centric Tumblr platform held its own against strong competition and picked up two Highly Commended prizes in the ‘green & eco’ and ‘photography’ categories.

The UK Blog Awards are akin to the Oscars of the online blogging world, with over 2000 entries and 78,000 votes cast. Entrants can be individuals as well as large organisations, from WWF to Thomson Holidays, fellow science funder Cancer Research UK to newcomer Eventbrite.

The Great British Bioscience blog was initiated as part of BBSRC’s 20th Anniversary celebrations in 2014, and has been going strong ever since. It uses striking imagery provided by BBSRC-funded researchers – from colourful thermograms of chickens to

BBSRC blog shines at industry awards

Great British Bioscience on Tumblr makes prestigious UK Blog Awards final.

zombie plants and the parasites of pandas.

Media Officer Anisha Chandar, who manages the BBSRC Tumblr page and attended the awards, says BBSRC’s news team have been consistently surprised at the high levels of positive engagement each post receives.

“Thanks to the amazing images provided by BBSRC-funded researchers, we’ve been able to showcase great British bioscience to thousands on Tumblr. In just over two years, we’ve gained over 24,000 followers, all keen to learn more about the world around them.”

Whatever you’re into, it’s on Tumblr

Are you a BBSRC-funded researcher with beautiful bioscience images you’d like to share? If so, email us at [email protected]

Whilst Facebook and Twitter hog the headlines, Tumblr has emerged as an increasingly popular platform for multimedia content. Founded in 2007, it has a relatively younger audience, helping BBSRC reach the next generation of bioscientists. There are around 300M blogs on the site and 135Bn posts, many of them picture based. This led to Yahoo purchasing the site for $1Bn in 2013 to complement its ownership of Flickr – a favourite of professional photographers.

See beautiful biology for yourself at bbsrc.tumblr.com

Further readingHotspot autoimmune T cell receptor binding underlies pathogen and insulin peptide cross-reactivity.Journal of Clinical InvestigationDOI: 10.1172/JCI85679

Next steps• Discover more details of the

molecular biology of why killer T-cells are activated by some bacteria, and why they attack beta cells.

ContactProfessor Andy Sewell, Cardiff University school of Medicine

[email protected]


Disease development could be aided by bacteria that trigger the immune system to destroy insulin-producing cells.

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Germs: the cause of type 1 diabetes?

Scientists at Cardiff University have previously shown that killer T-cells, a type of white blood cell that normally protects us from germs, play a major part in type 1 diabetes by destroying insulin-producing cells that they wrongly identify as being dangerous.

Type 1 diabetes is prevalent in children and young adults, and is not connected with diet, unlike the type 2 diabetes that mainly affects older people. At the moment there is no cure, and patients require life-long treatment.

The BBSRC-funded research, led by Professor Andrew Sewell from Cardiff University School of Medicine, shows that the same killer T-cells

that can cause type 1 diabetes are strongly activated by some bacteria. This interaction could ‘wake up’ harmless ‘sleeping’ killer T-cells, triggering them to cause type 1 diabetes.

Professor Sewell says that killer T-cells are extremely effective at killing off germs but, when they mistakenly attack our own tissues, the effects can be devastating. “During type 1 diabetes, killer T-cells are thought to attack pancreatic beta cells. These cells make the insulin that is essential for control of blood sugar levels. When beta cells are destroyed, patients have to inject insulin every day to remain healthy.”

Particle powerSewell’s team used Diamond Light Source, the UK’s synchrotron science facility, to shine super powerful X-rays, similar to those used to take pictures of bones but at much higher energies, into their samples to uncover how these killer T-cells could see beta cells as being a threat.

Dr David Cole, also of Cardiff University and the lead author on the study, adds that killer T-cells sense their environment using cell surface receptors. “However, sometimes these sensors recognise the wrong target, and the killer T-cells attack our own tissue.

We identified part of a bug that turns on killer T-cells so they latch onto beta cells, leading to the development of type 1 diabetes.”

The research provides the first detailed glimpse of how germs might trigger killer T-cells to cause type 1 diabetes. The team hopes that by knowing more about this process will mean they can work out new ways to diagnose, prevent or even halt type I diabetes.

It also points towards a more general mechanism for the cause of all other autoimmune diseases. Advancing knowledge in this area could lead to many benefits for health and wellbeing.

The study was funded by BBSRC, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), and the Wellcome Trust, using facilities provided by Diamond Light Source.

Jezperklauzen/Thinkstock Photos

Pancreatic beta cells.

Furcifer pardalis on Flickr via CC 2.0 https://creativecom

mons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/




Further readingThe pluripotency factor Nanog regulates pericentromeric heterochromatin organization in mouse embryonic stem cells. Genes and Development DOI: 10.1101/gad.275685.115

Next steps• Deeper analysis of connections

between heterochromatin structure and gene expression.

ContactKnowledge Exchange and Commercialisation Office, Babraham Institute.

[email protected]

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Stem cells know how to open up and unwind

New understanding emerges of how an open genome structure supports long-term and unrestricted developmental potential in embryonic stem cells, boosting hopes for regenerative medicine.

How our DNA is stored and packaged in the nucleus can be viewed as two different states: regions of the genome that are ‘open for business’ and can be actively read, and regions that are locked away by being tightly packed and inaccessible to the factors that read DNA.

The researchers, led by the Babraham Institute with collaborators in the UK, Canada and Japan, looked in detail at the mysterious tightly packed portions of the genome, called constitutive heterochromatin.

Previous research has shown that heterochromatin, which compacts DNA and plays a role in the expression of genes, is maintained in an unusually open and uncompacted organisation in embryonic stem cells – different to all other cell types. This rare form of genome architecture may contribute to keeping stem cells in an unspecialised state, retaining the potential to become any cell type in the body.

Why heterochromatin is organised in this way in embryonic stem cells has previously been unknown. So researchers looked at and identified a new pathway controlling heterochromatin organisation in mouse embryonic stem cells. Unexpectedly, this pathway assigns new roles for several well-known stem cell factors.

Further work then showed that two stem

cell factors, Nanog and Sall1, bind to heterochromatin and help to maintain this portion of the genome in an open form. Embryonic stem cells lacking Nanog and Sall1 showed major defects in heterochromatin organisation, including the closure and compaction of the chromatin.

Development control These findings uncover the first direct connection between stem cell factors and the control of genome architecture, and explains why stem cell heterochromatin is normally in an open and uncompacted form. Loss of heterochromatin regulation has potential consequences for the long-term genetic stability of stem cells, and the ability of stem cells to mature into specialised cell types.

This insight provides new avenues for improving the quality and stability of embryonic stem cells – an essential requirement to fulfil their promise in regenerative medicine.

Dr Peter Rugg-Gunn, senior author on the paper and research group leader at the Babraham Institute, says the connection between stem cell factors and heterochromatin organisation is important because it tells us how stem cells work. “By tapping into this newly identified connection, we open up new avenues for more successful reprogramming of adult cells to a stem

cell state, which is a priority for future regenerative medicine approaches.”

This research was funded by BBSRC, the Wellcome Trust and European Commission Network of Excellence EpiGeneSys. As a collaborative project, the work was also supported by the MRC and the Canadian Institutes for Health.



Further readingA genome-wide association scan implicates DCHS2, RUNX2, GLI3, PAX1 and EDAR in human facial variation . Nature Communications DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11616

Next steps• Extended analysis of links

between genes, gene expression, and resulting characteristics phenotypes across more populations.

ContactDr Rebecca Caygill, UCL Press Office

[email protected]

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Discovery pipeline>

Genes for nose shape found

Finding could contribute to forensic DNA technologies that build visual profiles based on an individual’s genetic makeup.

A UCL-led study has identified the four genes that mainly affect the width and ‘pointiness’ of noses, which vary greatly between different populations. The work analysed a population of over 6,000 people with varied ancestry across Latin America to study the differences in normal facial features and identify the genes which control the shape of the nose and chin. This group included individuals of mixed European (50%), Native American (45%) and African (5%) ancestry, resulting in a large variation in facial features.

People have different-shaped facial features based on their genetic heritage, and this is partly due to how the environment influenced the evolution of the human genome. The nose, for example, is important for regulating the temperature and humidity of the air we breathe in, so developed different shapes in warmer and cooler climates.

The researchers identified five genes that play a role in controlling the shape of specific facial features: DCHS2, RUNX2, GLI3 and PAX1 affect the width and pointiness of the nose and another gene, EDAR, affects chin protrusion.

First author of the paper Dr Kaustubh Adhikari from UCL says few studies have looked at how normal facial features develop, especially outside of European populations that which show less diversity than the group studied.

“What we’ve found are specific genes which influence the shape and size of individual

features, which hasn’t been seen before,” he says. “Finding out the role each gene plays helps us to piece together the evolutionary path to modern humans. It brings us closer to understanding how genes influence the way we look, which is important for forensics applications.”

Both men and women were assessed for 14 different facial features and whole genome analysis identified the genes driving differences in appearance. A subgroup of 3,000 individuals had their features assessed using a 3D reconstruction of the face in order to obtain exact measurements of facial characteristics and the results identified the same genes.

“It has long been speculated that the shape of the nose reflects the environment in which humans evolved. For example, the comparatively narrower nose of Europeans has been proposed to represent an adaptation to a cold, dry climate,” explains Professor Andrés Ruiz-Linares, also at UCL and who led the study.

Ruiz-Linares adds that it may also help us understand what goes wrong in genetic disorders involving facial abnormalities. For example, GLI3, DCHS2 and PAX1 are all genes known to drive cartilage growth – GLI3 gave the strongest signal for controlling the breadth of nostrils, while DCHS2 was found to control nose ‘pointiness’ and RUNX2 linked to nose bridge width.

The genes GLI3, DCHS2 and RUNX2 are known to show strong signals of recent

UCL

selection in modern humans compared to archaic humans such as Neanderthals and Denisovans – GLI3 in particular undergoing rapid evolution.


Animal Welfare

Watch the interactive video quiz on YouTube to see how BBSRC-funded researchers are using the latest technologies to improve animal welfare: www.bbsrc.ac.uk/welfarevideo

It’s easy to tell when your friends and family are ecstatic or upset. People are highly social, and hardwired to pick up the physical cues and signals that indicate relaxed or stressed states.

But animals have their own world of signals that are hard for humans to interpret. Not only that, plains-living herd animals like cows and sheep have a life-or-death interest in hiding their true physical state from predators further up the food chain, including people.

Humans get a lot from animals – from food to leather and wool to waxes – and our relationship with domesticated animals goes back millennia. It’s only right that we protect them from suffering and disease throughout their lives. BBSRC-funded research groups across the UK are using innovative new techniques to get a closer and more accurate look at an animal’s welfare state, particularly those relevant to farming and agriculture.

Technology for tomorrowDr Jonathan Amory’s team from Writtle College is developing a cow-mounted biosensor – in collaboration with the University of Essex, Royal Veterinary College and the University of Exeter – that can autonomously monitor their location, temperature and behaviour over prolonged periods.

“The aim is to identify behaviours in dairy cattle which could be used as predictors for common diseases like lameness and mastitis,”

he says. Preliminary data suggests that the sensors can pick up changes in behaviour associated with diseases, which could lead to earlier and more successful veterinary interventions.

Dr Lisa Collins’ group at the University of Lincoln used a GoPro camera to capture a pig’s-eye view of their experimental set-up before their main experiments began. “This was to determine whether there were any distractions at eye level that could potentially affect our study later on,” she explains.

Her team is using a combination of cross-disciplinary techniques to investigate how individual animals respond to particular conditions, including information processing, personality assessment and systems-modelling approaches.

Chickens typically share their barns with thousands of other chickens, so individuals are harder to observe. Dr Dorothy McKeegan from the University of Glasgow has been experimenting with a ‘heat camera’.

“Infrared thermography technology is a promising welfare assessment measure largely because it allows us to assess stress in a completely non-invasive way,” she says. “We can potentially assess welfare from a distance, without physical interference with the animals, over a long period of time.”

And it’s not just livestock animals that deserve attention and awareness of their welfare. “Fish welfare is important, and monitoring has been a neglected area,” says Dr Lynne Sneddon of the University of Liverpool.

An estimated 200,000 experimental procedures are performed on zebrafish in the UK each year, principally for developmental studies and toxicology testing for the pharmaceutical industry. Working from a joint BBSRC/NC3Rs call, Sneddon has developed a system that can autonomously monitor fish, which could be first used in the pet fish and public aquaria industries.

Watch the video on BBSRC’s YouTube channel at youtube.com/bbsrcmedia


Policy

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Further readingField trial evaluation of the accumulation of omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in transgenic Camelina sativa: Making fish oil substitutes in plants.Metabolic Engineering Communications DOI: 10.1016/j.meteno.2015.04.002www.rothamsted.ac.uk/camelina

Next steps• Harvesting and analysis

to measure the expression of omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids and astaxanthin in Camelina seeds under field conditions.

ContactProfessor Johnathan Napier,Rothamsted Research

johnathan.napier@ rothamsted.ac.uk

Rothamsted Research granted consent for new field trial of GM Camelina

BBSRC-funded institute has received consent from Defra to go ahead with continued studies of genetically modified Camelina plants in 2016 and 2017.

The trial will test whether GM Camelina sativa plants are able to make significant quantities of omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) and astaxanthin in the seed of the plant under field conditions.

Professor Johnathan Napier, lead scientist of this project at Rothamsted Research said: “We are very pleased to have been granted permission by Defra to carry out the proposed controlled experiment in the field.”

Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to be beneficial for human health and contribute to protection against coronary heart diseases. The primary dietary sources of these fatty acids are marine fish, either wild stocks or aquaculture-farmed fish. Fish, like people, do not produce these oils but rather they accumulate them through their diet in the wild or through fishmeal and fish oil in farmed fish.

Around 80% of all fish oil is consumed by the aquaculture sector, and this rapidly expanding modern industry is seeking new sources of omega-3 LC-PUFAs to ensure its production practices remain sustainable and nurture the essential aquatic food web.

Astaxanthin is a carotenoid pigment that has antioxidant properties and is used as a feed additive in fish farming. It is the pigment that gives salmon its characteristic pink

colour. Astaxanthin is found in some marine organisms at the base of the food web such as algae and krill; it is synthetically made and used as feed additive.

One potential approach towards flexible and sustainable supply of omega-3s is to engineer a crop plant with the capacity to synthesise these fatty acids and astaxanthin in seeds. Rothamsted scientists will now investigate wheather individual and combined novel traits can be successfully grown in field conditions.

The plants will be harvested between August and September 2016, and a small amount of seed will be used to analyse the oil content. The rest of the seed and plant material will be destroyed according to the consent’s conditions. The GM inspectorate of the Animal and Plant Health Agency will be carrying out regular inspections.

The trial is part of a research project by Rothamsted scientists that is supported by strategic funding from BBSRC. In addition to the formal independent consultation run by ACRE (Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment), Rothamsted scientists have also spoken to and answered questions directly from the public, and special interest groups that have been interested in the research project and the trial.

Rothamsted Research

From soil to the stars: microbiology informs international space policy

Policy


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Discovery pipeline>

BBSRC-funded research into the physical limits of life on Earth is being used by the international space community to define regions on Mars where life could exist.

Research led by Dr John Hallsworth at Queen’s University Belfast, found that substances known as ‘chaotropes’ can disrupt cell membranes and lower the minimum temperature microbes require for growth by as much as 10°C.

Because chaotropic salts are present in the Martian soil, the findings suggested that minimum temperature limits used to define Special Regions – areas with the potential to harbour Martian life, or where terrestrial microbes could replicate – may need to be revised to avoid potentially contaminating Mars with terrestrial microorganisms.

“My main interest is what happens within the cell at the macromolecular level,” says Hallsworth. “How much, in terms of biophysical stresses caused by solutes or temperature, can macromolecular systems take, and what can the cell do about it?”

A Responsive Mode grant of £132,000 kicked off the work back in 2007, and NASA became interested in his work in 2010 after his results were published.

He investigated how the soil bacterium Pseudomonas putida and other microbes responded to stress caused by low temperatures in the presence of chaotropes – solutes such as ethanol or urea – that can destabilise the cell membrane and ultimately cause it to rupture, killing the cell.

Hallsworth says the lowest temperature in which a microbe has been known to divide in experiments on Earth is -18°C. “Do we take that value as an absolute, or, given there are chaotropes all over Mars, do we need to build in a bigger safety margin?”

These findings and many more since have been incorporated into a report from the NASA Special Regions Science Analysis Group, which is now being reviewed by COSPAR, the Committee on Space Research.

Once approved, the final report will form the basis of international planetary protection policy, which aims to prevent contamination of planetary biospheres (both the Earth and elsewhere) with alien life by providing guidance for the development of future space missions.

Hallsworth has also contributed to a NASA special analysis group on life detection (MEPAG), which is informing the development of a NASA-ESA mission to return samples from Mars for analysis, and a

Further readingA New Analysis of Mars “Special Regions”: Findings of the Second MEPAG Special Regions Science Analysis Group (SR-SAG2).Astrobiology DOI: 10.1089/ast.2014.1227

Next steps• Further incorporation of

laboratory work into space protection policies to prevent contamination of the Martian environment, and assist the detection of extraterrestrial microbes.

ContactDr John Hallsworth, Queen’s University Belfast

[email protected]

Both images: N

ASA

NASA-Princeton University analysis group on the bioethics of searching for life.


Further readingBacterially produced calcium phosphate nanobiominerals: sorption capacity, site preferences, and stability of captured radionuclides. Metabolic Engineering Communications DOI: 10.1021/es500734n

Next steps• Further laboratory tests to

optimise the technique and then scaling up in the field.

ContactDr Stephanie Handley-Sidhu,University of Birmingham

[email protected]

Research Technology

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Research funded by BBSRC, EPSRC and NERC is being developed to help clear water contaminated with radioactive material at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Japan.

UK-Japan collaboration helping with Fukushima clean-up

Research funded by BBSRC, EPSRC and NERC is being developed to help clean up water contaminated with radioactive material at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Japan.

The technology – initially developed in the UK – uses bacteria to produce a mineral called hydroxyapatite, which captures radioactive elements from contaminated seawater, surface and groundwater.

Early tests have shown that biological hydroxyapatite is substantially more effective than alternatives, including chemical hydroxyapatite and the mineral clinoptilolite, at removing radioactive strontium from seawater.

Professor Lynne Macaskie received a Realising Our Potential Award (ROPA) from BBSRC to work with Citrobacter bacteria, which produce various metal phosphates and can be used to ‘capture’ heavy metals and radionuclides from the environment, following the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster. ISIS Innovation, the technology transfer organisation at Oxford, recognised the potential in the discovery and protected the intellectual property.

A string of awards from the late 1990s to BBSRC Japan Partnering Awards in 2006, and then grants from EPSRC and NERC has led to the research being conducted by an interdisciplinary team from the University of Birmingham and collaborators from the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Kyushu University, and

Shibaura Institute of Technology.

They are now scaling it up for use at the stricken nuclear power station to prevent contamination of the surrounding area, which was devastated after the power station was heavily damaged by the tsunami caused by a magnitude nine earthquake off the coast of Japan in early 2011.

The interdisciplinary research has led to new collaborations with Japanese researchers and funding for UK scientists from the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, in collaboration with the Japan Atomic Energy Agency.

The researchers are also examining ways to improve the cost-effectiveness of the technology. An economic assessment of the research applied to real (uranium) minewater run-off found that the addition of a phosphate to ‘feed’ the bacterial metal phosphate synthesis was the most costly step, limiting the application of the technology.

To overcome this, and to avoid the need to add expensive fine chemicals to waste water, the team propose to use a waste product from biodiesel production called inositol phosphate (IP) as the feedstock. IP is a natural plant product and dietary component found in large quantities in the soil. It is not digested by mammalian enzymes, which means there are no safety or regulatory barriers to its use.

University of Birm

ingham


Coming soon

Priming food partnerships Expression of interest deadline: 13 July 2016, 4pm; Sandpit workshop: 19-21 September 2016www.bbsrc.ac.uk/primingpartnerships

September

July13 July

21 September

Crops for human and farmed animal nutritionApplication deadline: 21 September 2016, 4pmwww.bbsrc.ac.uk/cropsnutrition

BBSRC-Brazil (FAPESP) joint funding of researchApplication deadline: 21 September 2016, 4pmwww.bbsrc.ac.uk/fapesp

Industrial Partnership Awards (IPA)Application deadline: 21 September 2016, 4pmwww.bbsrc.ac.uk/ipa

Responsive mode application deadlinesApplication deadline: 21 September 2016, 4pmwww.bbsrc.ac.uk/responsivemode

New Investigator SchemeApplication deadline: 21 September 2016, 4pmwww.bbsrc.ac.uk/newinvestigator

'Stand-alone' LINKApplication deadline: 21 September 2016, 4pmwww.bbsrc.ac.uk/standalonelink

BBSRC-Ireland (SFI) joint funding of researchApplication deadline: 21 September 2016, 4pmwww.bbsrc.ac.uk/sfi

ERA-CAPS third call: strengthening transnational research in the molecular plant sciencesApplication deadline: 21 September 2016, 4pmwww.bbsrc.ac.uk/eracaps3

21 September 21 September

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