News in 2018
- BBSRC funding for research into molecular motors, CRISPR-Cas enzymes and synthetic gene circuits 10 October 2018 The School of Biochemistry has been awarded three BBSRC grants worth a combined total of over £1.5 million
- Lighting up wound healing 22 June 2018 New research reveals the dynamics of collagen deposition and repair
- School of Biochemistry wins University Teaching Awards 14 June 2018 Each year the Bristol Teaching Awards recognise members of staff who have made an outstanding contribution to teaching, the provision of support for students and education more generally.
- Novel molecular designs unlock therapeutic potential of nicotine receptors 13 June 2018 Seven million people die each year from smoking related diseases, according to the World Health Organisation, with the annual death toll expected to rise to eight million by 2030.
- Predicting the outcome of the arms race between man and bacteria 8 June 2018 Through computer simulations, scientists can predict if bacteria can be stopped with popular antibacterial therapies or not – a breakthrough which will help select and develop effective treatments for bacterial infections.
- Prestigious award for Senior Lecturer 4 June 2018 Dr Mark Dodding from the School of Biochemistry has won a Lister Institute Research Prize of £250,000 to use small-molecules to probe the molecular mechanisms that control the organisation of components within cells.
- Bristol Professor awarded £1.5 million to look deeper into our cell’s quality control mechanism 24 May 2018 Professor Christiane Berger-Schaffitzel from the School of Biochemistry has won a £1.5 million Wellcome Trust Investigator Award in Science Application to study an essential quality control mechanism in our cells. The mechanism, known as ‘nonsense-mediated mRNA decay’ (NMD) is of fundamental importance for cellular function in health and disease.
- School of Biochemistry awarded Athena SWAN Silver award 8 May 2018 The Silver Award is based on a rigorous review of a detailed self-assessment document, including data on recruitment and retention of staff and students, an action plan and personal case studies. The School of Biochemistry was one of 21 Silver Awards made to academic departments across the UK.
- Bristol PhD student receives prestigious Herbert Tabor Young Investigator Award 4 May 2018 Dr Catherine Back has been awarded the prestigious Herbert Tabor Young Investigator Award for her publication describing the structure and the ‘catch-clamp’ binding mechanism of the protein “CshA” involved in life-threatening infections of the heart.
- Bristol researchers use gene editing to improve red blood cell transfusion compatibility 1 May 2018 Synthetic biologists from the School of Biochemistry and BrisSynBio have succeeded in generating lab-made red blood cells with rare blood group types, that could one day be used to help patients who cannot be matched with donor blood.
- Professor Mark Szczelkun awarded 5-year ERC Advanced Grant 11 April 2018 Professor Mark Szczelkun of the School of Biochemistry has been awarded a €2.2M Advanced Grant from The European Research Council (ERC) for his EPICut project on the Molecular Mechanisms, Evolutionary Impacts and Applications of Prokaryotic Epigenetic-Targeted Immune Systems
- Professor David Stephens’s appointment to the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) under UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) 23 March 2018
- ‘Wiggling and jiggling’: new study helps explain how organisms can evolve to live at different temperatures 21 March 2018 The brilliant physicist Richard Feynman famously said that, in principle, biology can be explained by understanding the wiggling and jiggling of atoms. For the first time, new research from the University of Bristol, UK and the University of Waikoto, New Zealand explains how this ‘wiggling and jiggling’ of the atoms in enzymes – the proteins that make biological reactions happen – is ‘choreographed’ to make them work at a particular temperature.
- Watch fat cells help heal a wound in a fly 27 February 2018 Fat body cells in Drosophila play a surprising role in sealing wounds and preventing infection, researchers at the University of Bristol report in the journal Developmental Cell.
- Bristol to lead revolutionary research into 'self-healing' materials 11 January 2018 A consortium of seven institutions led by the University of Bristol, has received a grant of £2.7m to undertake ground-breaking research into manufacturing new materials which have the ability to self-heal or regenerate.
- Intracellular damage in a muscular dystrophy 11 January 2018 A new publication from the laboratory of Bristol Biochemistry's Andrea Brancaccio was published in Human Mutation and chosen as the cover image.