Inside Science

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Inside Science AUTUMN 2008 NEWS FROM THE ROYAL SOCIETY INSIDE SCIENCE LIFE THROUGH THE LENS Putting a spotlight on science work in Africa SMART ANSWERS TO BIG QUESTIONS The Summer Science Exhibition 2008 brought cutting-edge UK science to life © CERN UPDATE FROM THE ROYAL SOCIETY This is the second issue of the Royal Society’s new look As we prepare for our 350th Anniversary magazine, and we have been seeking your feedback in 2010, we are working to achieve five following our launch issue in June. strategic priorities: Reaction has been good, with very positive comments on the • Invest in future scientific leaders and revised lay out. We will continue to monitor your thoughts and in innovation launch a more detailed evaluation next year. • Influence policymaking with the best scientific advice In this issue we welcome two new colleagues, James Wilsdon, Director of the Royal Society’s International Science Policy Centre • Invigorate science and mathematics and Tracey Elliott, Head of International Policy. Both speak of education their excitement at joining the Royal Society as our efforts build towards our 350th Anniversary • Increase access to the best science in 2010. internationally • Inspire an interest on the joy, wonder A substantial gift to the Royal Society and the National Academy of Sciences in the USA has and excitement of scientific discovery enabled both organisations to establish the Raymond and Beverly Sackler USA-UK Scientific Forum – find out more about this pioneering programme of science events between the two countries. Inside Science is organised to reflect those goals The announcement of the Newton International Fellowships scheme, run by The British Academy, The Royal Academy of Engineering and The Royal Society, aims to attract the best postdoctoral researchers to the UK. We look at the potential opportunities the £13 million scheme could deliver for the world’s top researchers. DID YOU KNOW? The world’s largest physics experiment at CERN provides students from schools in Birmingham and Cambridge with the opportunity to work with Royal Society University Research Fellow, Dr Cristina BEES GO ’OFF COLOUR’ WHEN Lazzeroni, who spoke to Inside Science from Switzerland where she is working on the project. THEY ARE sickly Bumble-bees go ‘off colour’, and can’t Six Degrees, Mark Lynas’ account of how global warming could change the planet, won the 21st remember which flowers have the most Royal Society Science Books Prize. We feature a report from the awards ceremony, where the nectar when they are feeling under the winner of the Junior Prize, chosen by children across the UK, Africa, and Asia, was also honoured. weather, according to research published We hope you enjoy this issue and please keep your feedback coming in in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters. to [email protected] The study showed that, like humans who are ill, bees are often not at their most astute when they feel ill. The findings of Dr Eamonn Mallon and his team at the University of Leicester Peter Cotgreave, Director of Public Affairs showed that immune stimulated bees took longer to reach flowers that contained sugar water than their NEW PUBLISHING WEBSITE ‘healthy’ counterparts. Following extensive user testing and of audiences we cater for; authors, readers competitor analysis, Royal Society Publishing and librarians.” identified a need for a major re-design of its The revamped site boasts many enhanced website. The new site is now live, offering features, including an online forum and users a more integrated visitor experience. sophisticated search facilities. It caters Stuart Taylor, Head of Publishing, explains. better for the specific needs of users, with “The previous website suffered from a new designated areas for journals, authors, slightly confusing navigational system. In librarians, cutting-edge news and media the re-design, we paid particular attention coverage. Each journal also has its own to this aspect of the site and have tried to home page. organise it according to the various types publishing.royalsociety.org 2 Inside Science INCREASE Creative scientific work undertaken in challenging environments was the subject of our ‘Science in Africa’ photographic exhibition, and the winner, runner-up, and shortlisted entries were exhibited at our annual Summer Science Exhibition. LIFE THROUGH The winning photo (shown on the front cover of this issue), entitled simply ‘blood THE LENS films’ from Professor Mark Taylor at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, shows Cameroonian scientist Dr. Nicholas Tendongfor at work. The films detect filarial worms – part of a field trial showing that antibiotics can cure river blindness – a major problem in west and central Africa. Professor ‘Watering - witchweed control’ by James Logan – Taylor describes the photograph as “capturing part of the ‘Science in Africa’ exhibition the unique experience (and occasional The Royal Society has a long history of frustration) of doing science in Africa.” working in Africa. Many of our Fellows The runner-up, ‘watering- witchweed control’ are involved in interesting and innovative by James Logan from Rothamsted Research, work with African partners in all areas of PUTTING A shows experiments used to investigate science, and funding through grants schemes the effect of chemicals from the roots of supports collaborations between UK and SPOTLIGHT ON Desmodium plants on a parasitic witchweed, African scientists. Our work with African SCIENCE WORK which threatens the staple food of more than Science Academies continues to strengthen 100 million Africans by devastating entire these institutions’ ability to provide evidence IN AFRICA crops such as maize. based advice to governments. INSPIRING past – ASPIRING FUTURE First impressions of the Royal Society from Tracey Elliott, the new Head of International Policy “I find myself walking through the I had already worked with some of them of investment in research and skills for esteemed corridors of the Royal Society in my last post – as Head of Emerging sustainable economic development. And with a mixed feeling of awe and pride. Economies at the Government Office for perhaps the most crucial part of our work is Having joined the Society in July, I Science – so am certainly familiar with our in influencing wide-ranging policy through have been absorbing myself in this work in China, India and South Africa. I now bilateral and multilateral partnerships, so that wonderful building, steeped in history find myself reading about MP-scientist pairing the Royal Society is engaged and influential in and tradition, juxtaposed with its schemes in Uganda, environmental research global scientific debate, policy and initiatives. futuristic glass walls and state-of-the- programmes in Malaysia, and meetings I suppose I hadn’t really appreciated how art technology. But perhaps that’s the engaging all of the world’s science academies influential the Royal Society is amongst its thing about the Royal Society: it’s an in their various shapes and forms. international partners, and the leverage exhilarating mix of the inspiring past Our international policy work provides this commands. What we now need is a and the aspiring future. a testing ground for trying out different clearer strategic framework for international For obvious reasons, I have been familiarising methods of researcher networking – such as engagement in which to deploy this to myself with the Society’s international the innovative Frontiers of Science meetings. maximum effect. I very much look forward portfolio and cannot fail to be impressed by It also provides a platform for building to the challenges ahead and to working with the sheer range and variety of our work, and capacity in less developed parts of the colleagues to deliver the Society’s rightly by the enthusiasm of my new colleagues. world – and for articulating the importance ambitious aspirations.” Inside Science 3 INVEST SUPPORT FOR SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVOURS The Presidents and Officers of the Royal Society (UK) and the National Academy of Sciences (USA) Dr. Raymond Sackler and his wife, Beverly, are international philanthropists with a deep and longstanding commitment to ANNOUNCING THE RaymonD support international scientific research. AND BEVerly SACKLER USA-UK Raymond Sackler, M.D., is a SCIENTIFIC FORUM founder and Board Member of Purdue Pharma L.P., Stamford, Conn., and a founder and Board A pioneering programme of science will help the scientific leadership of the Member of NAPP Pharmaceutical events between the Royal Society in United Kingdom and the United States forge Group Limited in the UK. the UK and the National Academy of an enduring and productive partnership Individually and through their Sciences (NAS) in the USA will soon on pressing topics of worldwide scientific become a reality – thanks to a generous concern with benefit to all peoples.” foundations, Dr. Sackler and his contribution from the Raymond and wife Beverly have sponsored Martin Rees, President of the Royal Society Beverly Sackler Foundation. medical research at a number of said: “Increasing international scientific links major US academic centres. A substantial gift to each organisation will is an important goal of the Royal Society’s Internationally, the Sacklers endow the Raymond and Beverly Sackler 350th Anniversary Campaign. The Raymond have supported science and the USA-UK Scientific Forum, to be operated and Beverly Sackler USA-UK Scientific Forum jointly with the NAS. Leading scientists from will provide a marvellous ongoing connection arts at Cambridge University’s the UK and the USA inevitably meet regularly between the scientific leadership in America School of Clinical Medicine in a variety of settings and with a variety of and Britain. The Royal Society greatly and its Institute of Astronomy purposes, but the new Forum provides proper appreciates the generosity and vision of the and The British Museum (UK), resources for the acknowledged scientific Foundation in endowing this programme Leiden University’s School of leadership of both countries to convene and we look forward to working closely Medicine, the Observatory, and bespoke groups of high-level delegates.
Recommended publications
  • ERC Advanced Grant 2008 Project Acronym Title Principal Investigator Host Institution Host Country 226037 NSYS Nonlinear System
    ERC Advanced Grant 2008 Project Acronym Title Principal Investigator Host Institution Host Country Nonlinear System Identification and Analysis in the Time, Prof. Stephen Alec 226037 NSYS THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD UK Frequency, and Spatio-Temporal Domains Billings HOWTOCONT Search for mechanisms to control massless electrons in 226043 ROLGRAPHE Prof. Carlo Beenakker UNIVERSITEIT LEIDEN. NL graphene NE THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF 226135 EXPANDERS Expander Graphs in Pure and Applied Mathematics Prof. Alexander Lubotzky IL JERUSALEM. 226136 VISCHEM Visualizing Molecular Change Prof. Villy Sundström LUNDS UNIVERSITET SE Consistent computation of the chemistry-cloud THE CYPRUS RESEARCH AND 226144 C8 Prof. Johannes Lelieveld CY continuum and climate change in Cyprus EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION Modern Approaches to Temperature Reconstructions in 226172 MATRICS Dr. Hubertus Fischer UNIVERSITAET BERN CH polar Ice Cores FUndamental studies and innovative appROaches of Prof. Roland Martin 226180 FURORE UNIVERSITAET HAMBURG DE REsearch on magnetism Wiesendanger EBERHARD KARLS 226187 SOCATHES Solid State/Cold Atom Hybrid Quantum Devices Prof. Reinhold Kleiner DE UNIVERSITAET TUEBINGEN KUNGLIGA TEKNISKA 226203 APPROXNP Approximation of NP-hard optimization problems Prof. Johan Håstad SE HOEGSKOLAN Patchy colloidal particles: a powerful arsenal for the PATCHYCOLL fabrication of tomorrow new super-molecules . A UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI 226207 Prof. Francesco Sciortino IT OIDS theoretical and numerical study of their assembly ROMA LA SAPIENZA processes. ERC Advanced Grant 2008 Analytic Techniques for Geometric and Functional UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI 226234 ANTEGEFI Prof. Nicola Fusco IT Inequalities NAPOLI FEDERICO II. Multiscale Models for Catalytic-Reaction-Coupled 226238 MMFCS Prof. Bengt Sundén LUNDS UNIVERSITET SE Transport Phenomena in Fuel Cells WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF 226246 NANOSQUID Scanning Nano-SQUID on a Tip Prof.
    [Show full text]
  • Macromolecular and Electrical Coupling Between Inner Hair Cells in the Rodent Cochlea
    ARTICLE https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17003-z OPEN Macromolecular and electrical coupling between inner hair cells in the rodent cochlea Philippe Jean 1,2,3,4,14, Tommi Anttonen1,2,5,14, Susann Michanski2,6,7, Antonio M. G. de Diego8, Anna M. Steyer9,10, Andreas Neef11, David Oestreicher 12, Jana Kroll 2,4,6,7, Christos Nardis9,10, ✉ Tina Pangršič2,12, Wiebke Möbius 9,10, Jonathan Ashmore 8, Carolin Wichmann2,6,7,13 & ✉ Tobias Moser 1,2,3,5,10,13 1234567890():,; Inner hair cells (IHCs) are the primary receptors for hearing. They are housed in the cochlea and convey sound information to the brain via synapses with the auditory nerve. IHCs have been thought to be electrically and metabolically independent from each other. We report that, upon developmental maturation, in mice 30% of the IHCs are electrochemically coupled in ‘mini-syncytia’. This coupling permits transfer of fluorescently-labeled metabolites and macromolecular tracers. The membrane capacitance, Ca2+-current, and resting current increase with the number of dye-coupled IHCs. Dual voltage-clamp experiments substantiate low resistance electrical coupling. Pharmacology and tracer permeability rule out coupling by gap junctions and purinoceptors. 3D electron microscopy indicates instead that IHCs are coupled by membrane fusion sites. Consequently, depolarization of one IHC triggers pre- synaptic Ca2+-influx at active zones in the entire mini-syncytium. Based on our findings and modeling, we propose that IHC-mini-syncytia enhance sensitivity and reliability of cochlear sound encoding. 1 Institute for Auditory Neuroscience and InnerEarLab, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany. 2 Collaborative Research Center 889, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
    [Show full text]
  • Functional Effects Detailed Research Plan
    GeCIP Detailed Research Plan Form Background The Genomics England Clinical Interpretation Partnership (GeCIP) brings together researchers, clinicians and trainees from both academia and the NHS to analyse, refine and make new discoveries from the data from the 100,000 Genomes Project. The aims of the partnerships are: 1. To optimise: • clinical data and sample collection • clinical reporting • data validation and interpretation. 2. To improve understanding of the implications of genomic findings and improve the accuracy and reliability of information fed back to patients. To add to knowledge of the genetic basis of disease. 3. To provide a sustainable thriving training environment. The initial wave of GeCIP domains was announced in June 2015 following a first round of applications in January 2015. On the 18th June 2015 we invited the inaugurated GeCIP domains to develop more detailed research plans working closely with Genomics England. These will be used to ensure that the plans are complimentary and add real value across the GeCIP portfolio and address the aims and objectives of the 100,000 Genomes Project. They will be shared with the MRC, Wellcome Trust, NIHR and Cancer Research UK as existing members of the GeCIP Board to give advance warning and manage funding requests to maximise the funds available to each domain. However, formal applications will then be required to be submitted to individual funders. They will allow Genomics England to plan shared core analyses and the required research and computing infrastructure to support the proposed research. They will also form the basis of assessment by the Project’s Access Review Committee, to permit access to data.
    [Show full text]
  • Nature Medicine Essay
    COMMENTARY LASKER BASIC MEDICAL RESEARCH AWARD Of maize and men, or peas and people: case histories to justify plants and other model systems David Baulcombe One of the byproducts of molecular biology cork is altogether filled with air, and that air is has been support for the ‘model system’ con- perfectly enclosed in little boxes or cells distinct cept. All living organisms are based on the same from one another.”)2 (Fig. 1). Two hundred fifty genetic code, they have similar subcellular years later, Beijerinck discovered a contagium structures and they use homologous metabolic vivum fluidum in extracts of diseased tobacco pathways. So, mechanisms can be investigated plants that he later referred to as a virus3. using organisms other than those in which In contemporary science, a green alga— the knowledge will be exploited for practical Chlamydomonas reinhardtii—is a useful model benefit. Model systems are particularly use- in the analysis of kidney disease4. However, ful in the early discovery phase of a scientific in this article, I refer to the contribution of endeavor, and recent progress in biomedical plant biology to a family of mechanisms that I science has fully vindicated their use. Jacques refer to as RNA silencing. This topic has been Monod, for example, famously justified his reviewed comprehensively elsewhere5,6, so here work on a bacterial model system by stating I focus on personal experience and my view of that “what is true for Escherichia coli is also future potential from this work. true for elephants.” My fellow laureates, Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun, can defend the use The early history of RNA silencing in of the worm Caenorhabditis elegans as a good plants model system and so I will focus on plants.
    [Show full text]
  • Diversity Data Report 2019 Diversity Data Report 2019 Issued: November 2020 DES6507
    Diversity data report 2019 Diversity data report 2019 Issued: November 2020 DES6507 The text of this work is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited. The license is available at: creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 Images are not covered by this license. This report can be viewed online at: royalsociety.org/diversity Contents Introduction .....................................................4 The Fellowship ..................................................11 Committees, panels and working groups ..........................19 Research Fellowship Grants ......................................26 Scientific programmes ...........................................38 Public engagement .............................................50 Publishing ......................................................62 Schools engagement ............................................67 Royal Society staff ..............................................72 Gender pay gap .................................................75 Definitions .....................................................77 DIVERSITY DATA REPORT 2019 3 Introduction The Royal Society is a Fellowship of many of the world’s most eminent scientists and is the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence. The Society is committed to increasing sections of this report such as organisers, diversity in science, technology, engineering chairs and speakers at scientific meetings, and mathematics (‘STEM’)
    [Show full text]
  • 3718 Issue63july2010 1.Pdf
    Issue 63.qxd:Genetic Society News 1/10/10 14:41 Page 1 JULYJULLYY 2010 | ISSUEISSUE 63 GENETICSGENNETICSS SOCIETYSOCIEETY NENEWSEWS In this issue The Genetics Society NewsNewws is edited by U Genetics Society PresidentPresident Honoured Honoured ProfProf David Hosken and items ittems for future future issues can be sent to thee editor,editor, preferably preferably U Mouse Genetics Meeting by email to [email protected],D.J.Hosken@@exeter.ac.uk, or U SponsoredSponsored Meetings Meetings hardhard copy to Chair in Evolutionary Evoolutionary Biology, Biology, UniversityUniversity of Exeter,Exeter, Cornwall Cornnwall Campus, U The JBS Haldane LectureLecture Tremough,Tremough, Penryn, TR10 0 9EZ UK.UK. The U Schools Evolutionn ConferenceConference Newsletter is published twicet a year,year, with copy dates of 1st June andand 26th November.November. U TaxiTaxi Drivers The British YeastYeaste Group Group descend on Oxford Oxford for their 2010 meeting: m see the reportreport on page 35. 3 Image © Georgina McLoughlin Issue 63.qxd:Genetic Society News 1/10/10 14:41 Page 2 A WORD FROM THE EDITOR A word from the editor Welcome to issue 63. In this issue we announce a UK is recognised with the award of a CBE in the new Genetics Society Prize to Queen’s Birthday Honours, tells us about one of Welcome to my last issue as join the medals and lectures we her favourite papers by Susan Lindquist, the 2010 editor of the Genetics Society award. The JBS Haldane Mendel Lecturer. Somewhat unusually we have a News, after 3 years in the hot Lecture will be awarded couple of Taxi Drivers in this issue – Brian and seat and a total of 8 years on annually to recognise Deborah Charlesworth are not so happy about the committee it is time to excellence in communicating the way that the print media deals with some move on before I really outstay aspects of genetics research to scientific issues and Chris Ponting bemoans the my welcome! It has been a the public.
    [Show full text]
  • Fire Departments of Pathology and Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, 300 Pasteur Drive, Room L235, Stanford, CA 94305-5324, USA
    GENE SILENCING BY DOUBLE STRANDED RNA Nobel Lecture, December 8, 2006 by Andrew Z. Fire Departments of Pathology and Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, 300 Pasteur Drive, Room L235, Stanford, CA 94305-5324, USA. I would like to thank the Nobel Assembly of the Karolinska Institutet for the opportunity to describe some recent work on RNA-triggered gene silencing. First a few disclaimers, however. Telling the full story of gene silencing would be a mammoth enterprise that would take me many years to write and would take you well into the night to read. So we’ll need to abbreviate the story more than a little. Second (and as you will see) we are only in the dawn of our knowledge; so consider the following to be primer... the best we could do as of December 8th, 2006. And third, please understand that the story that I am telling represents the work of several generations of biologists, chemists, and many shades in between. I’m pleased and proud that work from my labo- ratory has contributed to the field, and that this has led to my being chosen as one of the messengers to relay the story in this forum. At the same time, I hope that there will be no confusion of equating our modest contributions with those of the much grander RNAi enterprise. DOUBLE STRANDED RNA AS A BIOLOGICAL ALARM SIGNAL These disclaimers in hand, the story can now start with a biography of the first main character. Double stranded RNA is probably as old (or almost as old) as life on earth.
    [Show full text]
  • Unfolding Plant Disease Resistance : the Involvement of HSP90 and Its Co- Chaperone PP5 in I-2-Mediated Signalling De La Fuente Van Bentem, S
    UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Unfolding plant disease resistance : the involvement of HSP90 and its co- chaperone PP5 in I-2-mediated signalling de la Fuente van Bentem, S. Publication date 2005 Document Version Final published version Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): de la Fuente van Bentem, S. (2005). Unfolding plant disease resistance : the involvement of HSP90 and its co-chaperone PP5 in I-2-mediated signalling. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:05 Oct 2021 Unfolding plant disease resistance the involvement of HSP90 and its co-chaperone PP5 in I-2-mediated signalling ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam, op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof.
    [Show full text]
  • Summary Publication and Bibliometric Information: Total Number of Peer-Reviewed Publications: 15
    CV Andreas Sebastian Marquardt Education: 16/7/2010 Ph. D. in Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. 2005 Diplom (M. Sc.) in Biochemistry, Free University Berlin, Berlin, Germany. 2002-2005 Undergraduate studies in Biochemistry at Free University Berlin, Berlin, Germany. 1999-2002 Undergraduate studies in Biochemistry at University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany. Employment: Jan. 2018 – Tenured Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Plant Science Centre (CPSC), Denmark. Leader of non-coding transcription group. 2015 - 2017 Assistant Professor, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Plant Science Centre (CPSC), Denmark. Leader of non-coding transcription group. 2012 - 2014 Visiting Scientist at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, MIT, Cambridge, USA. Topic: Arabidopsis epigenetics & Pol II kinetics, with Prof. Mary Gehring. 2010 - 2014 Postdoc at the Harvard Medical School (HMS), Boston, USA. Topic: chromatin-based lncRNA repression in budding yeast with Prof. Steve Buratowski. 2006 - 2009 Ph. D. thesis research with Prof. Caroline Dean at John Innes Centre (JIC), Norwich, UK. Topic: lncRNA-mediated chromatin regulation of Arabidopsis flowering. 2005-2006 Ph. D. rotation projects with: Prof. David Baulcombe, Dr. Sean Walsh and Prof. Caroline Dean. 2004-2005 Diplom thesis research with Prof. Arp Schnittger at Max-Planck Institute (MPI) for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, Germany. Summary publication and bibliometric information: Total number of peer-reviewed publications: 15. First author publications: 6 (e.g. Science, Cell, Mol. Cell). Corresponding author publications: 5 (e.g. Nat. Commun, eLife, PLoS Gen). Last author publications: 5 (e.g. Nat. Commun, eLife, PLoS Gen). Citations: 1309 source, H-index: 21: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_miZw7oAAAAJ&hl=en ).
    [Show full text]
  • Autumn 2005 SCIENCE in PARLIAMENT
    Autumn 2005 SCIENCE IN PARLIAMENT State of the Nation Plastic Waste Private Finance Initiative Visions of Science Airbus Launches the New A350 The Journal of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee http://www.scienceinparliament.org.uk THE STATE OF THE NATION 2005 An assessment of the UK’s infrastructure by the Institution of Civil Engineers PUBLISHED 18 OCTOBER 2005 About the Institution of Civil Engineers About the report As a professional body, the The State of the Nation Report For more information on the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is compiled each year by a panel background to the State of the is one of the most important of civil engineering experts. The Nation Report, contact ICE sources of professional expertise report’s aim is to stimulate debate External Relations: in road and rail transport, water and to highlight the actions that supply and treatment, flood ICE believes need to be taken to t +44 (0)20 7665 2151 management, waste and energy – improve the UK’s infrastructure. e [email protected] our infrastructure. Established in It has been produced since 2000. w www.uk-infrastructure.org.uk 1818, it has over 75,000 members This year, six regional versions throughout the world – including of the State of the Nation Report – over 60,000 in the UK. covering Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales as well as the North West, South West and West Midlands of England – are being produced, in conjunction with the UK-wide publication. To read the complete report please visit www.uk-infrastructure.org.uk Registered Charity No.
    [Show full text]
  • IEB at 50: a Scientific Timeline
    IEB at 50: a scientific timeline Alcalá de Henares, 12 September 2013, Jonathan Ashmore When the Inner Ear Biochemistry Workshop started in 1964, we knew of giants who had given us some the key ideas. They included Alfonso Corti Robert Barany Georg von Bekesy Halliwell Davis and many others…… What science had happened be fore the workshop started? 1 Elsewhere we had seen the birth of molecular biology “It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying method for the genetic material.” Elsewhere: we had seen the birth of cellular biophysics Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley J. Physiol 1952 2 As Jochen Schact describes, Sigurd Rauch convened the first workshop to enable a research interface between clinicians and biochemists: Sigurd Rauch Invitation: 1st Workshop November 6 & 7, 1964 To be followed in 1965 by a 2nd Workshop on Inner Ear Biochemistry Topics Mucopolysaccharides in the inner ear Inner ear fluids: composition, secretion and absorption Membrane problems : electron microscopy and electrophysiology Ototoxicity: pharmacology and pathology 3 How the 1965 discussions were divided up Mucopolysaccharides Ototoxicity Electrophysiology and electron microscopy Inner ear fluids Timelines : 1964 1st Workshop on Inner Ear Biochemistry 1968 5th Workshop on Inner Ear Biology SfN 1971 ARO 1976 MoH 1980 MBHD 1992 2013 4 How has inner ear biology developed? Here are (some!) enabling technologies 1950s - Electron microscopy 1960s - Recording from nerves and cells (1976 – low noise patch
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of Potassium Recirculation in Cochlear Amplification
    The role of potassium recirculation in cochlear amplification Pavel Mistrika and Jonathan Ashmorea,b aUCL Ear Institute and bDepartment of Neuroscience, Purpose of review Physiology and Pharmacology, UCL, London, UK Normal cochlear function depends on maintaining the correct ionic environment for the Correspondence to Jonathan Ashmore, Department of sensory hair cells. Here we review recent literature on the cellular distribution of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, UCL, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK potassium transport-related molecules in the cochlea. Tel: +44 20 7679 8937; fax: +44 20 7679 8990; Recent findings e-mail: [email protected] Transgenic animal models have identified novel molecules essential for normal hearing Current Opinion in Otolaryngology & Head and and support the idea that potassium is recycled in the cochlea. The findings indicate that Neck Surgery 2009, 17:394–399 extracellular potassium released by outer hair cells into the space of Nuel is taken up by supporting cells, that the gap junction system in the organ of Corti is involved in potassium handling in the cochlea, that the gap junction system in stria vascularis is essential for the generation of the endocochlear potential, and that computational models can assist in the interpretation of the systems biology of hearing and integrate the molecular, electrical, and mechanical networks of the cochlear partition. Such models suggest that outer hair cell electromotility can amplify over a much broader frequency range than expected from isolated cell studies. Summary These new findings clarify the role of endolymphatic potassium in normal cochlear function. They also help current understanding of the mechanisms of certain forms of hereditary hearing loss.
    [Show full text]