Congratulations to Professor Felicity Boardman who has been made a Foundation Fellow of the Warwick Institute of Engagement.

Congratulations to Professor Sophie Staniszewska who has been made a Foundation Fellow of the Warwick Institute of Engagement. Sophie says becoming a Foundation Fellow creates 'a great link for us and a chance to further embed involvement and engagement in our teaching and research'.

The Unit of Academic Primary at Warwick Medical School are delighted to be hosted the SW Society for Academic Primary Care 2021 on-line conference.

Call for abstracts and registration are now open!

Dr Jean-Pierre Laake, a final year MB ChB student at WMS, who has continued to work as an epidemiologist alongside his studies, is highlighting the need to support good mental health in older adults during the winter months.

Congratulations to WMS PhD student Liz Corrigan who has been included in the New Year Honours List for her contribution to patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The eyes of the world turned to Coventry and Warwickshire this month as the very first patient to receive the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine (outside of a clinical trial) did so at our partner site, University Hospital Coventry.

While working on a Covid 19 ward medical student Matthew Thompson came up with the idea of a photography project documenting NHS workers labouring during the pandemic. The results of his photographic observations can be seen in his work 'Humans of the Pandemic.' Read more about his work here.

Sci Dev Net (26.11.2020) – ‘COVID-19 control measures choking rural, slum dwellers’. Professor Frances Griffiths, the study’s co-author and a professor at the UK-based Warwick Medical School, tells SciDev.Net that slum dwellers were already disadvantaged by unreliable water supply, poor provision of toilets and makeshift housing in the slum communities and there is a danger of them being deprived further by COVID-19 control restrictions.

Thank you to some MBChB unsung heroes who have been keeping things running by providing large numbers of training sessions to equip teachers in GP, in the community and at WMS for online working; Sue Davies, Catherine Bennett, Imogen Davis, Cath Fenn, Clare Blackburn and Jan Cooper. The wheels would have fallen off without you!

The GibsonGroup, as part of a large BBSRC/Innovate funded collaboration have published their latest results into using nanomaterials to probe glycan-binding events. In this collaborative work, a combined chemical and enzymatic synthetic route was exploited to generate glycans which could be attached to nanoparticles for glycan/lectin screening - a platform technology developed by the GibsonGroup. Using this approach, it was shown that selective addition of fluorine atoms allow selective binding of galectins which is not possible using natural disaccharides, and may offer a route for targeting therapies and diagnostics. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0SC05360K

One of the key questions in predicting the course of the COVID-19 pandemic is how well and for how long the immune response to the virus protects people from reinfection. The Robb group modelled early SARS-CoV-2 infection and fatality data from different regions around the world to predict how many reinfection cases would be expected if there was no immunity to the disease. Numerous serological studies now support the conclusion that short-term immunity to the virus exists. doi:10.2196/21168

Congratulations to the 20 current Warwick Medical School professors who were acknowledged in Stanford University’s world-wide list of researchers that recognises the top 2% of global leading scientists.

Ines Kander, who has been awarded a PhD in Health Sciences for their PhD on ‘Care Pathways in Traumatic Brain Injury’. Ines was supervised by Diane Playford in the division of Health Sciences and Sudakshina Lahiri

The College of Pathologists' annual International Pathology Day Conference recognises and celebrates the contribution and achievements of pathology and laboratory medicine services that work to address global health challenges and improve the health outcomes of global communities.

Scientists, led by Dr Nicole Robb, have developed an extremely rapid diagnostic test that detects and identifies viruses in less than five minutes. The test uses artificial intelligence to distinguish between microscope images of fluorescent viruses in throat swab samples. Unlike other technologies that detect a delayed antibody response or that require time-consuming sample preparation such as viral lysis or amplification, the new test quickly detects intact virus particles; meaning the assay is simple, fast and has the potential to be carried out in non-laboratory conditions. Read about the research here

The GibsonGroup have collaborated with immunologists at Nottingham to develop immune-instructive materials. Using the GibsonGroups technology for immobilising glycans (sugars) onto surfaces, they were able to screen for specific mixtures of glycans which modulated the behaviour of dendritic cells - key components of our immune system. This work shows that the incorporation of synthetic glycomaterials could be useful for the development of advanced implantable materials or in regenerative medicine. Read about the research here

Compulsive exercise is an important symptom of the eating disorders. It affects up to 80% of patients and is associated with longer length of hospitalisation, poor recovery, increased physiological complications and relapse rates. Work conducted by Professor Caroline Meyer and her team has increased our understanding of the causes and maintenance factors associated with problematic exercise and has led to the development of screening and assessment tools. In addition, this work has resulted in the development of LEAP, which is a cognitive-behavioural based approach specifically aimed at reducing compulsive exercise cognitions and behaviours.

Dr Michelle Miller, a Reader in Biochemical Medicine at the University of Warwick, has been elected to serve on the executive committee of the British Sleep Society. Find out more here.

Professor Siobhan Quenby joined scientists in meeting Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge yesterday at Tommy’s National Centre for Miscarriage Research to mark #BabyLossAwarenessWeek

Professor Debra Bick, Deputy Pro Dean for Research at Warwick Medical School has been awarded an OBE for services to midwifery. Professor Ramesh Arasaradnam, Honorary Professor at WMS, who has also been awarded an OBE.

Proteins are used as medicines, catalysts and many other application areas, but require careful storage conditions. Cryopreservation (freezing) is a widely used method to bank proteins but it is often necessary to add solvents (or other excipients) to protect them. The GibsonGroup have published an investigation into using polymers which control ice crystal growth, to protect proteins during freezing, which are now being investigated to help store and transport protein therapies. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2020.110036

NanoSyrinx is the first company to engineer ‘nanosyringes’, a selective non-viral peptide and protein delivery system identified in an undisclosed organism. The company will focus on direct cytosolic delivery of genome editing enzymes and therapeutic proteins in vivo, with key applications in the cell and gene therapy space.

CEO Dr Joe Healey, who joined from the Waterfield Lab to lead the company, said, “We believe that our nanosyringe platform will unlock new approaches for the treatment of many intractable diseases and will be of value to a wide range of potential partners and customers. The company is delighted with the early progress made in both in vivo active pharmaceutical delivery and ex vivo cell engineering applications.”

Dr Nick Waterfield commented, “We are pleased with the traction the company has made, with both academics and industry leaders across a range of applications. In particular, our academic collaborations have provided excellent opportunities for us to build out a synthetic biology platform and validate compatibility with a range of payloads, including pro-apoptotic peptides, reporter proteins, and larger functional proteins (such as DNA modifying enzymes and toxins). We will also be exploring a diverse range of other payloads. The team would welcome discussions with the right partners as we move to the next phase“.

NanoSyrinx’s initial focus will be on the development of its ex vivo gene editing nanosyringe concept, having already engaged with a number of leaders in the cell therapy field.

Read more here

Scientists at the University of Warwick have demonstrated that a potential diagnostic tool for detecting COVID-19 using sugars will work with a virus rather than just its proteins, a significant step in making it a viable test in future.

Prior's Court is working with WMG to help recruit two specialist Digital Healthcare apprentice staff. The new Digital Healthcare Apprentices will study towards a Bachelor of Science Undergraduate degree in Digital Healthcare Science drawing on the expertise of WMG and WMS.