The School of Life Sciences is representing the University of Warwick’s Faculty of Science at The Big Bang Fair, which is taking place at the NEC from Thursday 13 to Sunday 16 March.

Located in the Alive zone, the interactive Warwick stand brings together staff and students from Life Sciences, Computer Science, Mathematics and Physics to explore sensing through the use of science.

The Life Sciences exhibit is based on medical ultrasound imaging, and demonstrates how sound waves travel through the body and create images on screen as echoes bounce back.

Come along and see us!

Saturday and Sunday are still open for registration, to attend the event, please register for free at The Big Bang Fair 2014. Due to registration rules, adults aged 19 and over must be accompanied by a child in order to attend the event. For more information please refer to the full terms and conditions.

Dr Christophe Corre, a Royal Society University Research Fellow, discusses novel antibiotic discovery in the Royal Society’s latest Café Scientifique.

An image by Mistianne Feeney was 'highly commended' in the British Society of Cell Biology (BSCB) Image competition 2014. The image shows Arabidopsis thaliana embryo cells imaged by confocal microscopy. The plasma membrane is stained with FM4-64 (shown in red) and the lumen of seed vacuoles autofluoresce (shown in blue).

Mistianne Feeney received her PhD (2011) in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Western Ontario, Canada. She is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Dr Lorenzo Frigerio, School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick.

BSCB image competition

Sophie Piquerez, Alex Jones and Vardis Ntoukakis describe a protocol for the purification and characterization of plant protein complexes in the latest Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE) video. Using Nicotiana benthamiana and the tomato Prf/Pto complex as a model, they demonstrate that by immunoprecipitating a single protein within a complex, they can identify its post-translational modifications and its interacting partners.

Rachel Warmington, a second year PhD student at Warwick Crop Centre was featured in The Independent on Wednesday 20th February. The article by Jessica Moore entitled ‘Explore the final frontiers of knowledge’ shows how postgraduates undertaking niche research projects can affect real change:

‘My research could have a significant impact’, acknowledges Rachel Warmington, 34. Her PhD at the University of Warwick explores soil treatments to control a major crop disease that attacks around 400 different plant species – including potatoes, carrots, beans and rape. ‘Crop diseases are becoming increasingly resistant to chemicals, so we need new methods and techniques, otherwise we’re not going to have any food left to eat.’

Rachel, who is funded by the Horticultural Development Company (HDC), was recently awarded the Marsh Horticultural Science Award for 2013. The Award, run in partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society, recognizes the work of and encourages new postgraduate scientists to develop careers in horticultural science.

Click on image to read full article.

On Monday 3 February, Carla Sarrouy and Jonathan Menary were interviewed by BBC Coventry and Warwickshire about the Disco Soup event being held at Warwick University on the 20 February 2014.

Listen to the interview (start 2:15:57)
 
Disco Soup is about making soup and having a disco – all at the same time! We will collect food that would have been thrown away and scrub it, peel it, chop it and turn it in to a delicious soup all to music. We are aiming to feed 200 people with our soup. Come and be one of them – you can help to chop it too!
Disco Soup event website

If you would like to get involved contact us by email: foodgrpteam@warwick.ac.uk

On 1 February, Professor Eric Holub was interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Farming Today programme about his research on haricot beans and the aim of producing British grown baked beans. Listen to the podcast (about 20:25 minutes into the programme)

Associated links:
Scientists on a quest to develop a British baked bean (Press Release Sept 2013)

Analytical chemist Andy Jukes, from Warwick Crop Centre, describes the analysis of heat in chillis using liquid chromatography on the CBBC Programme, Blue Peter (starts at 12:43).

Science Minister, Mr David Willetts has announced funding by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of a new centre for doctoral training in Synthetic Biology.

The EPSRC Synthetic Biology Centre for Doctoral Training (SBCDT) is a collaboration between Oxford, Warwick and Bristol Universities and will draw upon the breath of multidisciplinary expertise from each institution to create the next generation of industrial and academic leaders in the field of Synthetic Biology.

The four-year doctoral programme will offer comprehensive training in the design and engineering of biologically based parts, devices and systems as well as the re-design of existing, natural biological systems across all scales from molecules to organisms, combining the multiple perspectives of engineering, life and physical sciences. The course is designed for students with both physical and life sciences backgrounds.

The SBCDT and its leading academics are well-linked to industrial and academic partners in the UK and worldwide allowing graduates of this programme to plug into a global network of emerging Synthetic Biology centres and opportunities.

For information about Synthetic Biology at Warwick visit Warwick Centre for Integrative Synthetic Biology

On Monday 27^th May BBC Coventry and Warwickshire interviewed academics from Warwick Crop Centre to find out about the vegetable research taking place on the Wellesbourne site.

Dr Rosemary Collier, Director of Warwick Crop Centre, describes the establishment of crop research at Wellesbourne in response to post-war pressure for food production and the changes that have taken place leading to the development of the Centre as it is today.

Dr Graham Teakle, a plant geneticist, gives an insight into some of the research projects currently being undertaken to improve crop yields.

Listen to the interview on iPlayer at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p018syq0 (The Crop Centre item is 1hr 22 mins into the programme).

Related links:
Warwick Crop Centre
Dr Rosemary Collier
Dr Graham Teakle

Ann Price from Warwick Crop Centre, part of the School of Life Sciences, went to Hampton Lucy School on Tuesday 7th May to give a talk to years 5 and 6 about her work in the Genetic Resources Unit. The Warwickshire primary school children learned about vegetable seeds, pollination and growing plants. The children really enjoyed Ann’s talk, and it fitted in well with their horticulture lessons and their vegetable garden work.

The School of Life Sciences is committed to working with schools and the community. Coordinated by our Educational Strategy and Communications Officer, staff and students from the School work with schools and the community to provide experience of the Life Sciences.

To find out more about what we can offer your school or community group contact life.sciences@warwick.ac.uk

Related links:
Schools and Community
Warwick Crop Centre
Genetic Resources Unit

Analytical chemist Andy Jukes, from Warwick Crop Centre, describes the analysis of heat in chillis on the BBC Radio 4 Food Programme 'Chilli Britannia'.

Broadcast on Sunday 14 April 2013.

On Saturday 20 October, BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today programme visited the Warwick Crop Centre to find out how pesticides are developed and regulated. The programme includes:

Listen to the programme on BBC iPlayer (available until Fri 26 October)

Find out more about Warwick Crop Centre

On Friday 12 August, BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today programme visited the Warwick Crop Centre to find out about research to increase vegetable yields, and quality, in the face of increasing pressures on climate change and food security.

 The programme includes:

• Dr Rosemary Collier investigating sources of resistance to lettuce pests.
• Dr Charlotte Allender discussing the use of carrot diversity sets to look for useful traits such as disease resistance and tolerance to drought.
• Dr Graham Teakle examining nitrogen-use efficiency in oil seed rape.

Listen to the programme on BBC iPlayer

Find out more about Warwick Crop Centre