Women in Science

Elaine Green (one of our academics) writes: Last week I attended the L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science awards ceremony at the Royal Society, London and saw the research of 10 up-and-coming academics selected from nearly 300 applicants. The Women in Science programme was founded by L’Oréal and UNESCO 18 years ago to ‘promote and highlight the critical importance of ensuring greater participation of Women in Science’.

The opening speeches highlighted the gender gap in science that still exists today with only 15% of those individuals working in STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in the UK being Women. Five scientists were awarded fellowships receiving £15,000 of financial support. The money can be spent in a more flexible manner that helps to continue their research, including laboratory consumables, equipment, or even help to balance their research commitment with childcare costs. There is a need for change to create a more diverse community and over-come the unconscious bias still evident today in STEM subjects. Gender stereotypes are made early in life, around the age of 5 to 7 years old, and younger individuals need to have inspirational role models, such as winners of this award, to highlight that success is not just a pipe dream for girls. It was also recognised that being a women in a male dominated environment can be isolating and as such a network has been set up linking more than 2,000 of the award winning women across many Countries.

The event was good, I applaud the steps taken and there is clearly progress on the road to equality for women. Whilst all these actions are necessary, they are not yet sufficient to fully address this issue, and I’m not sure of the perfect solution. Taking one of the positive actions, the financial support for extended childcare is genuinely helpful for working women. But, what more needs to happen for women to have a full and successful scientific career, whilst still prioritising home life, such as picking up the kids from school more often? Are we forcing women to comply with male stereotypical work pattern? Would an alternative be to set a more flexible structure for work and home life, and make that equally available to Men and Women?

I have a feeling the debate will continue.

UK Scientists who won the L’Oréal-UNESCO fellowship 2017;

• Dr Radha Boya, University of Manchester, Nanoscience
  
  
• Dr Annie Curtis, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Immunology

• Dr Manju Kurian, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, Neurology

• Dr Bethan Psaila, University of Oxford, Haematology

• Dr Priya Subramanian, University of Leeds, Mathematics

 

Grant success for second-year student

One of our undergraduates has received funding of almost £2,000 from the Microbiology Society to investigate antibiotic resistance in treated waste water.

The award has been made to second-year Biomedical Science student Melissa Temlett, who will be working with Dr Philip Warburton over the summer as part of the Microbiology Society’s Harry Smith Vacation Studentships scheme; named after the former Society President, Professor Harry Smith, to mark his well-known support of microbiology students at the start of their careers. 

Melissa and Philip (pictured below) will be analysing waste water from sewage treatment plants to assess the level of antibiotic resistant bugs in the water, their potential spread in the environment and wider health concerns. Antibiotic resistance is a major public health issue, which if unchallenged, is predicted to kill over 10 million people a year by 2050.

Philip, Lecturer in Medical Microbiology, commented: “We are delighted to have received this support and we are looking forward to working with Melissa on this important project over the summer.”

Fighting Ebola and other 'emergent' viruses

One of our academics, Dr Michael Jarvis, is working hard on an exciting new approach that could prevent the sudden appearance of serious infection from pathogens, such as bird flu, SARS, and Ebola by vaccinating the animals that habour these microbes and from which these microbes ‘spill over’ into humans and agricultural animals. One example is the deadly Ebola virus, which in Africa periodically spills over into humans from great apes. Closer to home, this approach is also being developed to prevent bovine TB infection of cattle. You can read about Michael's work in the top science journal Nature and on the Popular Science website. Not only could this work protect humans from deadly microbes, but when applied to control of Ebola it would also protect the wild apes too (Ebola is deadly for them): this online article looks at Michael's work from an ape conservation angle.

Progress in fighting antibiotic resistance

Mat Upton, one of our lecturers, writes "Antibiotic resistance is very newsworthy at the moment (have you been listening to Val McDermid’s Dangerous visions: Resistance on Radio 4?!). This really is a genuine threat to human health and could undermine all of modern medicine. There are many ways we can help to reduce the impact of antibiotic resistance, or drug resistant infections - discovery of new antibiotics is just one aspect. In my group, we are working to develop new ways of preventing and treating infections caused by MRSA, often called a superbug in the news. Our latest paper reports that a single dose of our lead antibiotic is as effective as 6 doses of the current standard treatment in an animal model of MRSA infection. This is the first report of single dose efficacy in this infection model and could lead to shorter therapies in humans. We now hope to secure funding to take the antibiotic into pre-clinical toxicity testing and phase 1 clinical trials."

Working with local colleges

Recently staff from the Nutrition and Exercise laboratories hosted a group of students from Stoke Damerel Community College. Thirty students and their teachers visited the Exercise Physiology laboratory where final year Nutrition, Exercise and Health students Ashley and Shelley put them through their paces measuring the effect of exercise on heart rate and blood pressure. They also assessed their body mass index and grip strength. Students also had the opportunity to take part in a short lecture on exercise and health delivered by Associate Lecturer Gavin Seymour.

School scientist invited to speak at international emerging infectious disease forum

The annual meeting at the The Center of Excellence for Emerging and Zoonotic Animal Diseases (CEEZAD) at Kansas State University provided a forum for experts to discuss current approaches for vaccine control of emerging zoonotic (animal to human transmitted) infectious diseases. Dr Michael Jarvis who works on herpesvirus-based vaccination strategies is pictured at the microphone below. You can read more about the meeting here.

Student back from Berlin

This summer, I was lucky enough to spend 6 weeks at the Robert Koch institute under the supervision of Dr Bernhard Ehlers. This research project was arranged by Dr Michael Jarvis of Plymouth University, and funded by the Seale-Hayne Trust. The Seale-Hayne Trust aims to support higher education and research in the field of agriculture, food and rural land use and related disciplines. Mycobacterium bovis (Mb) is considered the primary cause of tuberculosis in cattle, causing significant pathology, and a resulting economic burden on the agriculture industry. In keeping with the aim of the trust, our research project involved investigating types of a Mustelid herpesvirus found in different species of naturally infected badgers, with a projected aim to develop a recombinant disseminating vaccine to target Mb transmission to cattle.

The project was extremely enjoyable, and presented an unrivalled opportunity to learn and develop several practical techniques that otherwise I would not have had the opportunity for, such as PCR (I was even able to assist in some organ harvesting with another member of the research group!). Dr Ehlers’ team is fantastic, and from day 1 I was made to feel very welcome, and received tuition for each of the techniques so that I felt confident carrying them out alone. The facilities are second-to-none, and Berlin of course is also a great city to explore. I would definitely recommend this to anybody who is interested in research; I am now studying medicine, and in the future I hope to further my research interests, for which this experience has been invaluable!

Kati O’Brien 

Biomedical Science graduate

Below: Kati, second from left, with colleagues from the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin