Blog posts

Crystal based outreach

Science FairDr Lata Govada and Prof Naomi Chayen participated at an outreach event at the British Crystallographic Association’s stand ‘The structure stuff is sweet’ in the UK’s biggest Science and Engineering event, The Big Bang Fair at Birmingham NEC Arena. They gave an overview of the importance of protein crystallization and its applications, followed by hands on setting up of crystallisation experiments by the audience with real protein and watching crystals grow. The visitors to the exhibition were fascinated to watch the crystals form in real time and were keen to take them back home.

Dr Lata Govada has also been involved in the mentoring of Year 12 students in a programme organised by The British Science Association Crest Awards. The project under investigation was: Can crystals of Piezometric protein be used as a vaccine for malaria?

Surgery and Cancer news

AnaDr Ana Costa Pereira has been appointed as Joint BSc Programme Development Lead and Head of the BSc in Biomedical Science (BMS) course with Dr Christopher John from the Department of Medicine. They will lead on a key Faculty initiative to expand the Faculty’s BSc provision, heading up a team who will review current provision and identify areas for development, which likely include the expansion of the existing programmes and the introduction of new ones. They will lead the current BMS programme by ensuring the development, implementation and management of the curriculum and assessment.

Strutton

 

Dr Paul Strutton has been awarded a grant from the Dunhill Medical Trust for £176,510 to study “Optimising diagnosis and prediction of outcome of spinal decompression surgery in older people”.

 

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Prof Jeremy Nicholson has been featured in an article entitled: Collaborative research: New opportunities for scientists in the UK, which was published in Nature last month

Upcoming Mentor workshops

MentoringThe Surgery and Cancer mentor scheme is now underway and we are organising a lunchtime session for active mentors to come and talk with each other about mentoring and any challenges they are experiencing. The objective of this session is to support the growing community of mentors across the FoM and to encourage, strengthen and share good practice across the schemes.

The session will take place at Hammersmith on Wednesday the 8th of July from 12:30 – 14:00.

Lunch will be provided so if you would like to attend please contact Kathryn Johnson

Remember if you would like to learn more about the Surgery and Cancer mentor scheme, sign up to become or get a mentor then please see the mentoring pages or sign up to attend one of the up coming workshops detailed below:

  • Thursday 16th April       1 – 4          Hammersmith
  • Wednesday 20th May    10 – 1        St Mary’s

Free portrait photography now available for FoM staff

PhotoFaculty of Medicine staff are now able to arrange free portrait photography sessions directly with Andy Pritchard, to take place in his studio at the St Mary’s campus.

If you’d like to make a booking, please email Andy to arrange a time for you to visit him.

This will provide you with high resolution digital portrait photographs, perfect for your PWP, website and personal use.

HR launch new information booklet

HRHR are running a showcase event to launch the brand new HR services, initiatives and staff benefits booklet Supporting our People. The event will provide you with the opportunity to meet the HR teams and find out more about the wide range of services and information available to support you in your role. Every area of HR will be represented so you can discuss training and development, well-being initiatives, support for those with caring responsibilities and much more – all in one place.

Wednesday 15th April 
11 – 15:00
Queens Tower Rooms
South Kensington Campus

View the staff benefits booklet Supporting our People.

Phenomics and Phenomic Networks Symposium

logoThe Division of Computational and Systems Medicine are hosting a one-day symposium under the title of “Phenomics and Phenomic Networks” to be held on Thursday 30th April 2015 (10.30 am – 5.00 pm).

Purpose: To bring together like-minded individuals to facilitate deeper integration of phenomics into the wider ‘omics community, and develop a Phenomic Network in the UK.

We are delighted that leaders of various ‘omics centres/units in the UK have agreed to talk at this event, including:

  • Prof Dame Carol Robinson (University of Oxford)
  • Prof Tony Whetton (University of Manchester)
  • Dr Christoph Steinbeck (European Bioinformatics Institute)
  • Prof Mark Viant (University of Birmingham)
  • Dr Julian Griffin (University of Cambridge)
  • Prof Jeremy Nicholson (Imperial College London)

Attendance to the symposium will be free of charge but places are limited so will be allocated on a first-come basis. You can register to attend and view the programme via the eventbrite link.

Public Engagement Masterclass

Applications are invited for this new Public Engagement Masterclass. This workshop is aimed at newly independent and other mid-career researchers and will provide the opportunity to explore the role of engagement within your research and how you and your group can engage with people outside academia in an effective and rewarding way.

The programme will address the wider societal context of public engagement with research and discuss how to engage and partner with different communities (e.g. cultural organisations or community groups). The course will incorporate a mixture of workshop-style sessions, individual reflections, panel discussions and short talks from prominent researchers who have successfully embedded public engagement within their work.

The workshop is open to researchers from all disciplines, with a limited number of bursaries places available. To optimize discussions and interactions between tutors and participants, numbers are limited; therefore, early application is advised. For further information, visit the workshop website.

Topics will include:

  • The context of public engagement
  • Understanding audiences
  • Inspiring conversations
  • Engagement at the front line
  • How to engage
  • Making the most of partnerships
  • Community partners and patient groups
  • Cultural organisations
  • Strategic evaluation
  • Public engagement – turning your plans into action
  • Evidence of impact.

Programme committee
Karen Bultitude (University College London, UK)
Sophie Duncan (National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement, UK)
Chloe Sheppard (Wellcome Trust, UK)

Confirmed tutors and speakers
Kim Aumann (Boing Boing Community Interest Company, UK)
Dan Bird (Whitefire Associates Ltd, UK)
Paul McCrory (Learn Differently Ltd, UK)
Mary Chambers (Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, Vietnam)
Paul Fletcher (University of Cambridge, UK)
Sara Houston (University of Roehampton, UK)
Erinma Ochu (University of Manchester, UK)
Steven Hill (Higher Education Funding Council for England, UK)
Averil Horton (Brunel University, UK)

Application deadline: 1 June
Event date: 27-29 July 2015
Location: Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK

Find out more and apply here.

Outreach activity from APMIC

150224_fringe_animals_099Dr Robert Dickinson & Rita Campos Pires from APMIC took part in a public engagement event as part of the Imperial Fringe series, that focussed on how and why scientists and doctors use animals in research.  Their stand focussed on how new treatments for brain injuries may be developed using a variety of techniques from modelling simulations, to in vitro tissue experiments and in vivo animal models of brain injury.

For more information please see the Imperial News item on the event.

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Dr Dickinson & Rita Campos Pires also took part in an outreach activity at the innovative Lab 13 at Gillespie Primary School in Highbury where they talked about how the brain and the body work with groups of pupils from Years 2, 4 and 6.

In the photograph Rita is demonstrating to the pupils how the lungs work with the aid of a medical mannequin.

News from IGHI

IGHI logoPublications and media coverage from the Institute of Global Health Innovation


Events

  • Ryan Callahan gave a 30minute talk at NHS England Event on Digital Maturity on 3rd February 2015.
  • Professor Darzi moderated a panel discussion at the Ministerial Meeting on Universal Health Coverage, Singapore on 10th February 2015 with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and WHO Director General Dr Margaret Chan.
  • Ryan Callahan gave a talk on “Integrated primary and secondary care data to improve patient care” at Westminster Health Forum: Electronic health records and IT in the NHS: data protection, care data and implementing Personalized health and care 2020 on 10th February 2015.
  • World Innovation Summit for Health 17th – 18th February, Doha, Qatar

 

Surgery and Cancer awards and achievements

Huge congratulations go out to the following people:

  • Julia Anderson who last week found out she was the very well deserved winner of this years prestigious Imperial medal for her outstanding contribution to the Department and College
  • Prof Lesley Regan who has been given a Julia Higgins award for her continued work leading the Athena SWAN academic opportunities committee
  • Karen Pontifex who celebrated her 20th anniversiry at Imperial last week
  • Dr Sanooj Soni and Dr Paul Cathcart who were both awarded an MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship

 

Surgery and Cancer represent at Woman@Imperial week

Women of Imperial exThe ladies of Surgery and Cancer have been appearing all over the place this week to mark the Women@Imperial exhibition going on at the College this week and have been seen:

  • On the College website 
  • On Twitter #ImperialWomen 
  • In the photo exhibitions at South Kensington and Hammersmith
  • In the Imperial Reporter magazine
  • At the reception to celebrate the Women@Imperial exhibition which took place on Tuesday. Where Liz Want, Leanne Nye, Nicola Gray and Arti Sikka did an amazing job representing the Faculty of Medicine and showcasing some of the work they are involved in.

Ladies, there is still time to get involved by sending in any photos and descriptions of you at work to Al (a.mccartney@imperial.ac.uk) who will put them on twitter via #ImperialWomen. You can find out more about gender equality issues via the links below:

 

College pilot play scheme over Easter

icimages (1)Please find below details College’s pilot play scheme which will be running for 6 days over the Easter period.

As part of the College’s commitment to parent and family support, it has teamed up with Fit For Sport, the UK’s leading experts in engaging and educating children, young people and families through activity. Together we will deliver a multi-activity and educational camp utilising the fantastic facilities at Imperial’s South Kensington campus, including the Union activity spaces, science labs, the swimming pool and the outdoor secret garden.

A maximum of 60 places are offered for this trial on a first come, first served basis. Depending upon the success of this trial, we will be looking at introducing these camps across more school holidays.

Further details cane be found on the Playscheme website.

Professor Naomi Chayen launches “Chayen Reddy MIP” via Imperial Innovations

ChayenProfessor Naomi Chayen’s paper about designing the first nucleation inducing agents for automated crystallization trials so that they can be used for high throughput, has just come out in the March issue of Acta D 71, 534-540 and has also been highlighted as Research News by the International Union of Crystallography. She also has a commercial product called ‘Chayen Reddy MIP’ beeing launched by Imperial Innovations this week.

The work describes the design, fabrication and validation of the first non protein nucleating agent made specifically for robotic crystallisation experiments. The nucleating agent is called molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP; known as ‘smart material’). MIPs are created to contain nano cavities similar to the sizes of protein molecules. These MIPs are dispensed using commercially available robots and their application bypasses the concerns associated with seeding and solid heterogeneous nucleants. The MIPs are effective in finding new crystallization conditions and in improving crystal quality.

The research has paved the way to commercialization by Imperial Innovations – leading to a patented product called ‘Chayen Reddy MIP’ that can be used for the automated screening and optimization of any biomacromolecule. The application of these materials is simple and 20 nanolitres is sufficient for each trial, thus this will provide a potent tool for scientists in academia and industry.

Research prizes for Clinical Research Fellows

Congratulations to two Clinical Research FMsk 1ellows, working withing vascular surgery who have won prestigious prizes for their research.

Ms Kate Williams attended the Australasian College of Phlebology Annual Meeting in Queensland, Australia. Where she won the Best Research Presentation Award for “Results of a pilot trial of neuromuscular stimulation in chronic venous disease”.

Msk 2Mr Brahman Dharmarajah won Best Paper Award at the American Venous Forum 27th Annual Meeting, Palm Springs, USA, February 2015. The title of the paper was “Contrast Enhanced Ultrasound For Thrombus Dissolution In An In-vitro Model Of Acute Deep Vein Thrombosis” which was a collaborative project with the Division of Experimental Medicine (IC), Department of Haematology (IC) and Biomedical Engineering Department at the University of Cyprus.

Mental Health Awareness Week

Mental Health Awareness Week 11-17 May 2015

This year’s MHAW theme will focus on mindfulness, as per the Mental Health Foundation’s website. If you would like to know what events were held last year please see here.  I look forward to hearing about your events!

MHFA Awards

Wednesday 25 February was the fifth annual MHFA awards, that took place at the House of Lords. Please find links to relevant news stories below, to find out what’s going on around the country.