Category: Latest research

What are we pausing?

Michael J Imperiale is professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Michigan Gain-of-function studies, as the name implies, are experiments in which a new biological behaviour is conferred upon an existing virus e.g. the ability to be transmitted between mammals in the case of the bird flu virus, H5N1. Earlier this month, the United States (US) Government issued a statement indicating that they would implement a pause of new funding for research involving so-called gain-of-function (GOF) experiments. If research into three respiratory viruses, influenza virus, and MERS and SARS coronaviruses, could be “reasonably anticipated” to result in enhanced pathogenicity or increased transmissibility then their funding would be temporarily halted. The US also asked for a voluntary pause of ongoing projects. During the pause, the US is organising discussions aimed at determining the risks and benefits of such research. An important question is do we need…

Dual-use for Dummies

Dr Supatra Marsh, BBSRC Policy Fellow at the Society of Biology, is organising Policy Lates: Dodging a biological bullet – what can we learn from the US and Europe about Biosecurity? During my BBSRC science policy fellowship at the Society of Biology I have been organising the next Policy Lates event focussing on dual-use research. Just in case there are any of you out there that are asking the question ‘what is dual-use research?’ I have tried to write a beginner’s guide to dual-use and biosecurity; dual-use for dummies if you will! According to the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) in the United States, dual-use or dual-use research of concern (DURC) is defined as “research that, based on current understanding, can be reasonably anticipated to provide knowledge, products, or technologies that could be directly misapplied by others to pose a threat to public health and safety, agricultural crops and other…

Sir David Hopwood – ‘designer’ of antibiotics

Gabriele Butkute, events and administrative assistant at the Society of Biology, writes about Sir David Hopwood, a scientist featured in the Biology: Changing the World top ten poll. Professor Sir David Hopwood, a British geneticist and microbiologist, carried out fundamental research into the genetics of the soil bacteria Streptomyces, an organism which gives rise to half the world’s antibiotics in use today. Ever since the discovery of penicillin in 1928, antibiotics have been one of the most widely used groups of drugs, and this has led to increasing antibiotic resistance. After graduating in botany from St John’s College, Cambridge in 1954, Hopwood chose to do a PhD in the Botany School at Cambridge in the field of microbial genetics, focusing on a group of soil bacteria called Streptomyces. This group of bacteria were known to be a very promising source of antibiotics as they had already been shown…

Are robot animals the future?

Michelle Reeve from the Royal Veterinary College is trying to make an eight-legged robot as part of her PhD As a child, did you dream of a future world where robots were part of our everyday life? With robots such as Johnny 5, Terminator’s T-800, and of course R2-D2 and C-3PO as major characters in popular sci-fi films, I think many of us shared this vision of the future. Today we see little sign of this robotic world we were promised, but progress is slowly being made. Robots hoover our homes, and many robots now work on production lines. Reasons for this slow progress are abundant, but the main one is simply this: it is very difficult to design, build, and run a robot that works reliably. (Shame the films didn’t show that part!) Oddly enough, biology may be the answer. In studying animal movement, biologists…

Would you be fooled by a fly? Play a game to find out!

Christopher Taylor, a PhD student at the University of Nottingham, invites you to play an insect game to assist with his research. In the natural world, not everything is what it seems. Deception is rife, and it can be hard to know whether to trust your senses. What first looks like a dead leaf might turn out to be a katydid. Or a tasty-looking worm might actually be an angler fish’s lure. Telling the difference between a fake and the real thing can be a matter of life or death. One type of deception is known as Batesian mimicry, whereby a harmless animal – the mimic – resembles a more dangerous one – the model – so that a predator will leave it well alone. Examples are treehoppers that look like ants, moths that look like hornets, and even caterpillars that look like snakes. It is easy to see how natural selection…

Would you like termites with that?

Lauren Hoskin is a recent graduate in microbiology. She is interested in a career in science communication and writes for her own blog, Science Says as well as for the Student Hubs blog. Many problems faced by humans do not have simple answers, especially in the area of food security. How will we feed nine billion people in 2050? How do we make sure food is distributed equally? The list goes on. But there is one solution to the ever-growing problem of meat production which could help to reduce carbon emissions. PROteINSECT, launched in early 2013, is a Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA)-led project which has started to look at the idea of insects as animal feed. Rearing fly larvae on a range of organic waste and using them as a source of cheap and nutritious protein for animals would help to use waste effectively and improve land efficiency….

bTB or not bTB? How to control it is still the question

Guest post by Catherine O’Connor, Epidemiologist for the Health Protection Services, discussing the badger cull As an epidemiologist, my job is to understand the how, what, when, where and whys of disease transmission. Though we now possess much fancier tools than those used by the father of epidemiology, John Snow (he of the Broad Street pump and cholera fame), it is by tackling these age-old questions that we attempt to understand and ultimately eradicate disease. But sometimes it’s not as easy as just removing a pump-handle. For humans we have two main methods of controlling infectious diseases, either we protect the susceptible individuals or we quarantine infected individuals. Often methods are used in combination for maximum effect. For animals, we have one additional control measure in our repertoire: culling. Culling animals is used not just to control disease (enzootic and zoonotic) but also to reduce human-animal conflicts…

Bumblebees’ gruesome parasites

Guest blog by Sive Finlay, a PhD student from Trinity College Dublin who recently won Best Biology Student at the 2012 SET awards for her undergraduate project Bee populations are in severe decline, an alarming and worrying trend when you consider their vital importance as commercial and ecological pollinators. Research and media attention often focuses on afflictions of honeybees such as the Varroa mite and colony collapse disorder. However, parasites are also major contributors to the plight of the bumble bee. Bumble bee queens spend 6-9 months in diapause, a hibernation-like state which allows them to survive harsh winter weather. My research demonstrated that queens have reduced immune function during this time, leaving them vulnerable to infections and parasitic attack. Sphaerularia is a common yet poorly studied nematode which is found primarily in the Northern hemisphere, infecting up to 50% of queen bumble bees in some areas. Adult female Sphaerularia present in…

The many nests of the hairy wood ant

Guest blog from Samuel Ellis, a PhD student at the University of York Centre for Complex Systems Analysis There are an estimated 22,000 species of ants, and it is likely that the weight of ants on the planet is greater than the weight of humans. They are very important to ecosystems all over the world including in this country. I am currently conducting a study on the hairy wood ant (Formica lugubris) at the Longshaw Estate in the Peak district. This species is part of a closely related group of six species called the red wood ants which dominate woodland environments across Europe. These ants build distinctive dome shaped nests of pine needles (with underground chambers) which can be up to 1m high (but are more usually around 30cm). They are apex invertebrate predators outcompeting other ant species and hunting for invertebrate prey on the forest floor…