BBSRC Business summer 2012

Headlines
- New programme brings companies together to combat animal disease
  A new research club, launched today (13 June 2012), will unite farmers, breeders and pharmaceutical companies in the fight against animal diseases. The Animal Health Research Club (ARC) will invest around £9.5M…
- Minister opens new facilities to boost bioscience business
  Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts, opened new bioscience facilities for business start-ups at the Babraham Research Campus today. The new building is part of ongoing development at Babraham…
- BBSRC announces new Council members
  Three new members have been appointed to the Council of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) by the Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts…
- Funders join forces to develop biomedical entrepreneurs
  Researchers in the biomedical sciences are being offered the chance to sharpen their business skills in a new national competition. The Biomedical Young Entrepreneurs Scheme will help PhD students and early-career researchers…
- Plans for China-UK Centre of Excellence for plant research
  A new centre of excellence for plant research is planned in China following a joint symposium in Shanghai between researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the John Innes Centre…
- Launch of globally unique farm research platform
  A new 'Farm Platform', launched today (24 May 2012) at Rothamsted Research North Wyke in Devon, aims to help farmers to optimise productivity in ways that are sustainable, whilst at the same time understanding the impact of farming…
- Open letter from the UK funding bodies to improve design and reporting of animal research
  The Chief Executives of the three main funding bodies for bioscience research in the United Kingdom have today (22 May 2012) written an open letter to the Vice-Chancellors, Principals of universities and Heads of…
- CASE evaluation recognises high quality training with industry
  An independent evaluation has found that the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council's (BBSRC) Industrial CASE schemes provide high quality training for students, helping them to develop a broad range of…
- Foot-and-mouth scientist receives international award
  Yesterday (Sunday 20 May 2012) Dr Nigel Ferris MBE was presented with the 2012 OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health) Meritorious Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions during a long career researching foot-and-mouth…
- New website to support wheat research
  A new wheat research information resource was launched today in a bid to help coordinate worldwide research efforts in the fields of wheat genetics, genomics, physiology, breeding and agronomy…
- Funding fuels development of bioenergy crop
  The development of a promising biofuel crop, Miscanthus, has been given a boost today with the announcement of an additional £6.4M in UK Government funding, over five years, for an integrated and collaborative breeding programme…
- Science and industry club together to deliver better crops
  Today, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) is announcing nine new industry-relevant crop science projects as part of the Crop Improvement Research Club (CIRC). The research is aimed at…
- Public views gathered on bioenergy
  BBSRC is launching a new project to gather views on bioenergy research, with support from Sciencewise-ERC. The dialogue and engagement project will ensure that contemporary public views, concerns and aspirations…
Features
- From humble beginnings
  This is the story of a quirky little peptide sequence whose discovery led to the development of a crucial tool for today's biotechnology industry, leading to cancer treatments and advances in regenerative medicine, and where ongoing research…
- Plant perfumes woo beneficial bugs
  Scientists funded by BBSRC have discovered that maize crops emit chemical signals which attract growth-promoting microbes to live amongst their roots. This is the first chemical signal that has been shown to attract…
- Feeding wild birds shown to reduce insect pests
  The common British past-time of feeding wild birds has been shown to reduce local populations of insect pests, according to research published in Basic and Applied Ecology and funded via a BBSRC doctorla training award…
- Findings on aphid symbiosis could provide new insecticide targets
  Research led by biologists at the University of York reveals potential new targets for aphid-specific insecticides. Aphids are pests that threaten food security, causing millions of pounds of damage to crops in the UK alone…
- Barley takes a leaf out of reindeer’s book in the land of the midnight sun
  Barley grown in Scandinavian countries is adapted in a similar way to reindeer to cope with the extremes of day length at high latitudes new research from the John Innes Centre and the Max Planck Institute has found…
- International consortium sequences tomato genome
  A group of over 300 scientists from 14 countries has sequenced the genomes of the domesticated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and its wild ancestor, Solanum pimpinellifolium. This achievement…
- Virus ‘barcodes’ offer rapid detection of mutated strains
  Researchers funded by BBSRC and others are developing a way to 'barcode' viral diseases to rapidly test new outbreaks for potentially lethal mutations. Dr Julian Hiscox and Dr John Barr…
- Salmonella infection, but not as we know it
  BBSRC-funded researchers at Cambridge University have shed new light on a common food poisoning bug. Using real-time video microscopy, coupled with mathematical modelling, they have changed our assumptions about Salmonella…
- Doubling the information from the Double Helix
  Our genes control many aspects of who we are - from the colour of our hair to our vulnerability to certain diseases - but how are the genes, and consequently the proteins they make themselves controlled…
- Scientists find new pieces of hearing puzzle
  Researchers funded by BBSRC have gained important new insights into how our sense of hearing works. Their findings promise new avenues for scientists to understand what goes wrong when…
- Big advances from tiny technology
  It was only from 2007 when next-generation sequencers brought the time and cost of deciphering the genetic code from weeks and millions of dollars to days and tens of thousands. Now a new wave of electronic sensing devices…
- The Arab Spring and the spread of animal disease
  The Arab Spring has changed many people's lives in the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. But the revolutionary spirit has brought wider, unforeseen problems too – not least the movement of animals and the spread of diseases…
- £6.8M phenomics centre opens
  Today, Monday 14 May 2012, the new National Plant Phenomics Centre, which features the most advanced research greenhouse in the UK, will be formally opened at Aberystwyth University's IBERS…

BBSRC Business summer 2012

Headlines

Features