Dr Fayyaz Minhas has recently joined the department as an Assistant Professor. He will be associated with the Tissue Image Analytics (TIA) lab in the Applied Computing division, and will also be working closely on the PathLAKE project.

We are deeply saddened to confirm that Josh Hill, a second year student studying Data Science has passed away in hospital overnight on Monday 10 June, following a fall in the Mathematical Sciences Building.

Head of Statistics Professor Barbel Finkenstadt said:

“The whole department is deeply saddened and distressed by the death of this lovely, gentle and kind young man. Our thoughts are with Josh’s family.”

If you would like support during this difficult time, please contact Wellbeing Support Services. You can call the team on 024 76 575570, ext. 75570 or visit https://warwick.ac.uk/services/supportservices or https://warwick.ac.uk/services/healthsafetywellbeing/well-being/employeeassistanceprogramme for more details.

Topology has played a central role in modern physics. New phases of matter and phase transitions (1, 2), as well as electronic band theory (3), are understood in terms of topological concepts. On page 1449 of this issue, Tai and Smalyukh (4) harness topology to create a fundamentally new type of crystal, built with knots tied in a chiral fluid (see the figure). They used a liquid crystal doped with a chiral molecule, which caused all of the molecules to rotate like a corkscrew along a preferred direction, the helical axis. Using electric fields, they created vortex lines in the helical axis and tied them into knots that act like “atoms” but on the micrometer scale. Different knotted particles were created by careful illumination with laser tweezers, and their interactions were tuned so that they spontaneously assembled into two- or three-dimensional lattices.

Gareth Alexander's paper appears in Science, Vol. 365, Issue 6460, pp. 1377

DOI: 10.1126/science.aaz0479

• The pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii is one of three highest priority pathogens identified by WHO (World Health Organisation) for which new antibiotics are urgently needed
• Understanding the enzymes that assemble antibiotics which can kill the pathogen is key to altering their structures to target the pathogen more effectively

Researchers at the University of Warwick have made a breakthrough in understanding the functions and structures of key enzymes in the assembly of an antibiotic with activity against the pathogen, which could enable more effective versions to be created

For the full article, see here.

Bacterial cell biology researchers from across the world gathered at The Pasteur institute in Paris at the end of September to attend the 6^th biennial Great Wall symposium organised by Professor David Roper and Professor Ivo Boneca (Pasteur). This three day meeting on all aspects of bacterial cell wall biosynthesis was attended by just under 200 interdisciplinary researchers on all aspects of bacterial cell wall microbiology.

Dr Adrian Lloyd from SLS provided an invited talk on his recently submitted research on 'Substrate and stereochemical control of cell wall crosslinking by E. coli PBP1B' as well as a posters from a number of Warwick PhD students from SLS and WMS.

New fluids engineering article is published in prestigious journal, Physical Review Letters,

Times are changing

If we are to seize electrification and autonomy opportunities, it’s essential that the UK develops an environment suitable for breakthrough technologies. From domestic charging solutions to developing repeatable testing environments, the UK faces big challenges and we are addressing these through our lead centre for Vehicle Electrification and Connected and Autonomous Vehicles at WMG, University of Warwick.  

Electrification shaping a low carbon future

David Greenwood – Professor, Advanced Propulsion Systems at WMG, University of Warwick

Demand for electric vehicles (EVs) is surging in the UK and registrations of plug-in cars increased by more than 160,000 between 2013 and 2018. With the electrification industry estimated to be worth over £6billion by 2025, the next decade presents a massive opportunity.

As our society continues to grow, transformation in energy and mobility is required to create sustainable environments. The electrification of transport is shaping that low carbon future. Our vision at WMG is to enable the development of cleaner, safer and smarter vehicles and help drive sustainable mobility across the UK, which aligns with the Government’s ‘Road to Zero’ strategy, aiming to make road transport emission-free by 2050. Our research focuses on establishing advanced hybrid and electrical vehicles, including commercial, rail and marine, battery technology, supply chain, manufacturing and automation.

At WMG, we’re working with the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre to deliver on the UK’s Industrial Strategy ‘Future of Mobility’ Grand Challenge to transform the UK into a world leading battery manufacturer for vehicle electrification.

Connected and Autonomous Vehicles

Siddartha Khastgir – Head of Verification and Validation, Intelligent Vehicles at WMG, University of Warwick

The global Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) industry is estimated to be worth over £50billion by 2035, with the UK CAV industry comprising over £3billion of this. The UK Government's Industrial Strategy aims to bring fully autonomous cars without a human operator on UK roads by 2021, which will make us one of the first countries to achieve this.

The CAV vision is motivated by the potential societal benefits the technology offers – increasing safety, decreasing traffic congestion and driving lower emissions. At WMG, we’re striving to deliver these through Intelligent Vehicles research exploring Verification and Validation, Communications (i.e. 5G), Experiential Engineering, Supply Chains, Cyber Security and Cooperative Autonomy.

Our involvement in research programmes like the £25m Midlands Future Mobility focuses on “smart miles”, proving concepts and getting products to market. Led by WMG, Midlands Future Mobility is an “on-road ecosystem” comprising nine partners with a shared objective – To launch the first service offering of public road testing by mid-2020.

Times are changing.  

We are sorry to report that Professor Elmer Rees, from the first cohort of PhD students in Warwick, died on 4th October 2019.

Many congratulations to our Dean, Professor Sudhesh Kumar, who received an OBE from the Queen in London on 10 October in recognition of his services to medicine and diabetes care.