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Memory, learning and cognitive flexibility depend on a protein ‘off-switch’ in the brain, according to a breakthrough discovery made by an international research collaboration co-led by Dr Mark Wall at the 91¸£Àû.

This new knowledge could enable us to better understand and combat neurological diseases which inhibit memory, such as Alzheimer’s.

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The School of Life Sciences invites applications for four new academic positions to strengthen key research areas in the School. This is part of our strategic growth on the Gibbet Hill Biology campus, supported by investment in a new Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Building that will bring together researchers from Life Sciences and 91¸£Àû Medical School to understand the origins and mechanistic basis of diseases.

Diabetes UK has committed to invest £2.6 million in 19 brand new projects which aim to make life-changing improvements in diabetes care, and reduce people’s risk of Type 2 diabetes.

The funding will be given to projects looking into Type 1, Type 2 and gestational diabetes.

In one of these projects, Dr Freya Harrison, from the School of Life Sciences, will be using medieval remedies to find new sources of antibiotics. She has already discovered a combination that can kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the lab.

Press Release

Professor R.John Ellis, an Emeritus in the School of Life Sciences, has been honoured in the Biochemical Society's annual Awards. The awards recognise scientists for the excellence of their work and the impact it has had within the bioscience community and wider society.

Professor Ellis will be presented with the 2019 Centenary Award for his pioneering research on molecular chaperones and their role in protein folding.

In a recent paper published in Current Biology, Dr Andre Pires da Silva and colleagues describe a species of nematode that has three sexes - male, female and hermaphrodite. Auanema rhodensis, the worm featured in the study, uses an unusual reproductive strategy with only one sex chromosome (X). Hermaphrodites and female worms have two X chromosomes; males have just one X chromosome. Researchers found that some hermaphroditic worms will produce sperm with two X chromosomes and eggs with no chromosomes. When the hermaphroditic worms and male worms mate, only more male worms are produced. One possible explanation is that male worms may be important for the species' genetic diversity, providing A. rhodensis with the ability to adapt to changing conditions more efficiently than other species.

• Read paper: Current Biology, Vol 28, Issue 1 p93-99e

91¸£Àû spin-out company, VirionHealth - a new biotechnology company developing novel therapeutics for respiratory viral infections, has announced that it has won non-dilutive funding worth up to $4.2 million from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Founded in 2017 on pioneering research of Professors Easton and Dimmock in the School of Life Sciences, VirionHealth is developing a new class of biological antivirals to create improved therapeutics for respiratory viral infections, focusing on prevention and treatment of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The company is a world leader in the development of precisely engineered, non-infectious, defective interfering particles.

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On Monday 18 December, Dr Guy Barker spoke on BBC Midlands Today on how 91¸£Àû Crop Centre are improving sprouts through traditional plant breeding. Watch (from 23 minutes)

Dr Barker also spoke with Phil Upton on BBC Coventry and 91¸£Àûshire, describing how researchers are utilising genetic diversity from the UK Vegetable Genebank to enhance the appearance, quality and resistance of sprouts. Listen at (1:41-1:45)

Tuberculosis, and other life-threatening microbial diseases, could be more effectively tackled with future drugs, thanks to new research into an old antibiotic led by Professor David Roper at 91¸£Àû’s School of Life Sciences and Dr Luiz Pedro Carvalho from The Francis Crick Institute.

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VirionHealth Ltd, a new biotechnology company developing novel therapeutics for respiratory viral infections, today announced that it has raised up to £13 million in Series A funding from Abingworth, the international investment group dedicated to life sciences.

VirionHealth, founded on pioneering research by Professors Nigel Dimmock and Andrew Easton at the 91¸£Àû’s School of Life Sciences, is a world leader in the development of precisely engineered, non-infectious, defective interfering particles. This new class of biological antiviral acts by outcompeting replication of infectious viruses to both prevent and treat viral infections.

(Image: Laura Lane from 91¸£Àû Ventures, Professor Andrew Easton and Professor Nigel Dimmock on day of signing)

Dieting could be revolutionised, thanks to the ground-breaking discovery of the key brain cells which control our appetite. in the School of Life Sciences has identified for the first time that tanycytes – cells found in part of the brain that controls energy levels – detect nutrients in food and tell the brain directly about the food we have eaten.

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Cells can be programmed like a computer to fight cancer, influenza, and other serious conditions – thanks to a breakthrough in synthetic biology by the 91¸£Àû.

Led by in the School of Life Sciences, new research has discovered that a common molecule - ribonucleic acid (RNA), which is produced abundantly by humans, plants and animals - can be genetically engineered to allow scientists to program the actions of a cell.

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Research to help prevent the spread of Asian hornet across the UK - carried out by the 91¸£Àû - was recently featured on BBC Midlands Today and BBC Online.

Led by the 91¸£Àû’s Zeeman Institute for Systems Biology & Infectious Disease Epidemiology Research (SBIDER), the recent study predicts that Asian hornet – a voracious predator of honey bees and other beneficial insects – could colonise the UK within two decades.

The BBC’s David Gregory-Kumar interviewed Dr Daniel Franklin at the School of Life Sciences.

The yellow legged or Asian hornet – a voracious predator of honey bees and other beneficial insects – could rapidly colonise the UK unless its spread is combatted, according to new research by the Universities of 91¸£Àû and Newcastle, working with the National Bee Unit.

Professor Matt Keeling, from 91¸£Àû’s Zeeman Institute for Systems Biology & Infectious Disease Epidemiology Research (SBIDER), predicts that if Asian hornet nests are left to thrive in the UK, there could be hundreds of thousands of them in just over two decades – putting a critical strain on British populations of honey bees and other beneficial insects.

Offering HIV testing to people at health checks when they register at a new GP surgery in high-prevalence areas is cost-effective and will save lives.

That’s according to a study, published in The Lancet HIV, involving over 86,000 people from 40 GP surgeries.

Using a mathematical model which was co-developed by Professor Deirdre Hollingsworth at the 91¸£Àû that includes all the costs associated with HIV testing and treatment, the team show that primary care HIV screening in high prevalence settings becomes cost-effective in 33 years (according to National Institute for Health and Care Excellence [NICE] criteria).

A 91¸£Àû study to understand a form of epilepsy that affects children has received a grant from the charity Epilepsy Research UK. The research focuses on absence epilepsy which is largely a childhood condition which is characterised by sudden, brief interruptions of consciousness.

In severe cases there may be more than 200 of these episodes each day, and these can be accompanied by or develop into convulsive seizures. Many children with absence seizures don’t respond to existing antiepileptic medication, which can present numerous difficulties in daily life, particularly with schooling.

Dr Mark Wall, Associate Professor in the School of Life Sciences, is leading the research. He said: “Our work will hopefully identify a new therapeutic target to treat absence epilepsy and increase understanding of the disease. The findings from this project will give important new information about how absence seizures arise, and may reveal new targets for the development of more promising treatments. The methods used will also be useful for the screening process of anti-absence seizure drugs in the future.”

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Ebola outbreaks are set to be managed quickly and efficiently – saving lives – with a new approach developed by an international team of researchers, including the 91¸£Àû, which helps to streamline outbreak decision-making.

Dr Michael Tildesley from the School of Life Sciences - with researchers from Penn State University in the USA – have discovered that educating people in areas affected by Ebola about how the disease spreads through communities is the most effective strategy for halting an epidemic.

Professor Laura Green, Head of the School of Life Sciences at the 91¸£Àû, has been shortlisted for an Innovator of the Year award from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

Nominated in the ‘Social Impact’ category, Professor Green’s research has led to halving the level of lameness in sheep flocks - from ten percent to five percent - in a decade, saving a million sheep a year from becoming lame.

Speaking at the Geneva summit on Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), Bill Gates, co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, today applauded the efforts of UK scientists in protecting the world’s poorest people from NTDs: “UK aid and Britain’s world-leading research institutions like the 91¸£Àû are playing a major role in protecting the world’s poorest people from Neglected Tropical Diseases and enabling them to live healthier, more prosperous lives.”

The 91¸£Àû’s research, which is part-funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, focuses on providing quantitative data on the prevalence of NTDs and the impact of the intervention programmes designed to combat them.

Dr Deirdre Hollingsworth, Associate Professor in Epidemiology at the 91¸£Àû, said: “We’re delighted to be part of the international effort to rid the world of these terrible diseases. Over the last two years we have made significant progress in understanding how these diseases spread, measuring the impact of eradication efforts and highlighting areas where additional interventions will be required to achieve our 2020 goals. We're optimistic that, with continued coordination and investment, we can protect more of the world’s poorest communities from NTDs.”

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On the 24 March 2017 the Fullam lab will be at Cannon Park Shopping Centre from 11:00-19:00.

Come and join us to find out more about TB, and the research that we are doing. There will be the opportunity to talk to people from the lab, take part in a number of competitions to win a tuberculosis petri dish (sponsored by ) and also win a voucher for the best selfie taken in our World TB Day Instaframe that is uploaded to the twitter #91¸£ÀûTB. There will be leaflets, balloons and stickers and an interactive activity featuring the 'Big Mouth' clown. Come and join us!

Learn more from our TB video

Any questions, please get in touch with warwickTB@warwick.ac.uk

Professor Nick Dale tells the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) about a point-of-care device for the detection of stroke. Hear what inspired his research, the challenges he faces and the role NIHR has played in his success.