Wellcome News Issue 60

ISSUE 60 OCTOBER 2009

Conceptions of beauty Wellcome Image Awards 2009

Medical engineering Four new research centres launch Developing science Research capacity in Africa

Wellcome News

Editorial

Wellcome News is published four times a year and is available free of charge.

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Please contact: The Editor Wellcome News Wellcome Trust Gibbs Building 215 Euston Road London NW1 2BE E wellcome.news@wellcome.ac.uk Editor Chrissie Giles Writers Craig Brierley, Chrissie Giles, Mun-Keat Looi, Michael Regnier Design Cosima Dinkel Assistant Editor Tom Freeman Photography David Sayer Publisher Hugh Blackbourn All images, unless otherwise stated, are from the Wellcome Library. Copies of images can be obtained through Wellcome Images (http://images.wellcome.ac.uk).

The Wellcome Trust is the largest charity in the UK. It funds innovative biomedical research, in the UK and internationally, spending over £600 million each year to support the brightest scientists with the best ideas. The Wellcome Trust supports public debate about biomedical research and its impact on health and wellbeing. www.wellcome.ac.uk This is an open access publication and, with the exception of images and illustrations, the content may, unless otherwise stated, be reproduced free of charge in any format or medium, subject to the following constraints: content must be reproduced accurately; content must not be used in a misleading context; the Wellcome Trust must be attributed as the original author and the title of the document specified in the attribution. The views and opinions expressed by writers within Wellcome News do not necessarily reflect those of the Wellcome Trust or Editor. No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. ISSN 1356-9112. First published by the Wellcome Trust, 2009. © The trustee of the Wellcome Trust. The Wellcome Trust is a charity registered in England, no. 210183. Its sole trustee is The Wellcome Trust Limited, a company registered in England, no. 2711000, whose registered office is at 215 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE, UK. PU-4550/13.5K/10-2009/CD Cover: Sperm and ovum in IVF. See pages 8–9. Spike Walker

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This document was printed on material made from 25 per cent post-consumer waste & 25 per cent pre-consumer waste.

WellcomeNews | Issue 60

Biology and medicine are powerful disciplines in their own right, but they do not stand alone. Each interacts with, and is dependent upon, a variety of other disciplines, and we should always look to enhance these links – for they can stimulate new ideas, approaches and innovations.

Chemistry, for example, is intimately linked to biology, explaining the properties of complex molecules and being central to drug development. Meanwhile, physics has brought us brain imaging for research and diagnostics and, on a grand scale, the Diamond synchrotron in Oxfordshire: a massive particle accelerator that is being used to solve the structures of proteins and other materials.

Away from the ‘classic’ science areas, computing has perhaps brought the most profound shifts in biomedical research over the last two decades – and bioinformatics has emerged as a discipline in its own right. Every day, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute produces the equivalent of one human genome’s worth of DNA sequence data; without computing power on an industrial scale, the capture, storage, analysis and sharing of these terabytes of data would be impossible. Parallel developments in networks are bringing us electronic patient records, which will not only help doctors to look after their patients but also be powerful resources for researchers looking to understand our long-term health.

The discipline that has had and will continue to have a huge impact on healthcare is that of engineering. There is a long history of collaboration between doctors and engineers, bringing us healthtransforming developments such as hip and knee replacements, pacemakers, dialysis machines and video laryngoscopes, and today it is the fastest-growing area of engineering.

An exemplar collaboration was between Glasgow obstetricians Ian Donald and John McVicar and engineer Tom Brown, who in the 1950s launched the field of prenatal diagnosis by ultrasound scanning. Donald had come across radar and sonar while serving as a medical officer in World War II, and led the development of a prototype scanner that fused industrial metal flaw detector technology with Meccano sprockets and chains and a borrowed hospital bed table. Their 1958 Lancet paper, ‘Investigation of abdominal masses by pulsed ultrasound’, which demonstrated the utility of the technique, noted that their findings “encourage great efforts to refine our technique”. Such refinements have brought ultrasound scanning to the forefront of antenatal care.

It is this spirit of innovation that underpins our newly awarded funding to four Centres of Excellence in Medical Engineering (see page 5). At these centres, engineers and medical scientists are using the latest technologies to tackle major unmet needs in medicine. The Imperial College London team is developing small, tailored artificial knee implants and tissue-engineered stem cells to repair joints damaged by osteoarthritis. The Leeds centre is taking a wider view of the ageing body and is working on bioregenerative scaffolds to repair cartilage, bone, heart valves and blood vessels. The Oxford team’s work includes liver cancer treatments that are encapsulated in nanoparticles and are guided to their target in the body and released using ultrasound.

And finally, King’s College London is developing improved imaging tools for detecting arrhythmia and robotic guides to aid keyhole surgery procedures.

The Health Innovation Challenge Fund is another exciting initiative that we hope will bring many new products, technologies and interventions into routine healthcare. This collaboration with the Department of Health launched its first themed call for proposals in July, under the banner of ‘advancing genetic discoveries into clinical practice’ and with funding of up to £20 million. Given the tremendous pace of developments arising from the application of genome sequencing to improved understanding of human variation in health and disease, this initiative is both timely and important.

Sir Mark Walport Director of the Wellcome Trust

60th

In this issue

issue Funding

3

Latest Trust fellowships news

6

Translational research scheme launches

6

Mary Rose museum wins support

7

7

News Wellcome Library looks back

2

Bioluminescent art on show

3

Win a new book on Henry Wellcome

3

2

Research New chlamydia test for men

12

Videos: MRI scans and pain research

12

Using science for good or ill

13

Schistosome genome sequenced

16

Noticeboard

17

Features Medical engineering centres open

5

Wellcome Image Awards 2009

8

African Institutions Initiative

10

Studying adverse drug reactions

14

5

9 WellcomeNews | Issue 58 |60 3 WellcomeNews | Issue

News Wellcome Library looks back The Wellcome Library’s Year in Review has been published. Detailing Library activities over 2008, this review highlights the Library’s digitisation programme and features some exciting acquisitions from the year, including the casebooks of the ‘father of modern forensics’ Sir Bernard Spilsbury and the notebooks of double Nobel Prize-winning geneticist Fred Sanger. Two of the Library’s regular readers, independent researcher Andy Clark and postgraduate student Katherine Rawling, offer insights into their experiences as Wellcome Library

users. Read a PDF version of the Year in Review at library.wellcome.ac.uk/doc_ WTX055805.html or request a print copy (subject to availability) from t.tillotson@ wellcome.ac.uk.

The Wellcome Library blog (wellcomelibrary.blogspot.com) is the perfect way to stay in touch with Library activities. The blog covers everything from updates on Library services to news of new acquisitions, and also includes more discursive pieces on interesting items from the Library’s collections.

Thanks for the funding, 50 years on An email landed in the Wellcome News inbox that we had to share. In 1961, Dr Karlis Adamsons received a Senior Research Fellowship (SRF) from the Trust.

Now a professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Puerto Rico, he says: “I wanted to contact you to say how much my SRF helped me – specifically because it freed me from the obligations of private practice.” Indeed, of over 200 publications Professor Adamsons has authored in his career, 90 were published in 1963–72: during and immediately after his Fellowship. The financial freedom afforded by the Fellowship also allowed him to consult for organisations such as the National Institutes of Health.

Do you have any comments on Wellcome News to share? Email us at wellcome.news@wellcome.ac.uk and let us know.

• In 2008, the Library recorded over 33 000 visitors to its facilities and over 486 000 unique visitors to its website.

• The Library had over 12 000 registered readers, of whom 5000 were new during the year.

New teaching materials online Take a look at www.wellcome.ac.uk/ bigpicture for our Big Picture supplement on influenza – a primer and source of background information produced in light of the unfolding H1N1 flu pandemic.

Drawing on the previously published Big Picture on Epidemics, this online resource looks at past flu pandemics and places a particular focus on implications for, and activity in, the UK.

‘Swine Flu’ glass sculpture by Luke Jerram.

2 | WellcomeNews | Issue 60

Over at www.wellcometreeoflife. org there are three curriculum-matched lesson plans that help students to use the interactive Tree of Life to explore how living things are related. There are activities for Key Stages 3 and 4, and for students aged 16–19.

Also as part of Darwin200, The Great Plant Hunt treasure chests have been sent to every state primary school in the UK, and over 8000 Survival Rivals kits have been ordered by secondary schools.

Initial results of ‘A Question of Taste’ – an experiment in one of the Survival Rivals kits that explores taste and genetics – are now online, and the UK-wide survey will remain open until summer 2010.

Workshops are underway to allow students to use molecular biology techniques to investigate their findings further. survivalrivals.org/a-question-of-taste/

Party in the parliament The All Party Parliamentary Group on Medical Research held a summer reception in July to celebrate medical research in the UK. Over 150 people attended, including around 40 MPs and peers and representatives from 60 member organisations of the Association of Medical Research Charities. Attendees had the opportunity to talk with researchers from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and the Trust-funded Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, as well as play the popular ‘Sneeze’ game from our Routes Darwin200 project (www.miniclip.com/ games/sneeze).

News in brief

Exploring the invisible There’s more to bioluminescent bacteria than their use in scientific research. With Arts Award funding, artist Anne Brodie, microbiologist Dr Simon Park and curator Dr Caterina Albano are exploring the wider relationship between humans and microorganisms.

By inverting the standard practice of using bacterial bioluminescence as an internal marker, and making it an external source of light, they expose objects and bodies, surfaces and skin to the soft ethereal glow of bacterial light, establishing new points of contacts and visual punctures.

Part of their project has been the use of bacterial light to illuminate the personal letters and journals of Joseph Lister, held in the Wellcome Library, producing a series of ghostly photographs more reminiscent of X-rays.

The project will involve a unique live installation and photographic projections at the Old Operating Theatre, St Thomas’s Street, London (www.thegarret.org.uk) on 3 December, and projections from 4–7 December. The team will be giving a talk at the Old Operating Theatre on 8 December. bioproject.tumblr.com

Eyes on the prize The Wellcome Trust Book Prize’s first year is going well, with 70 books submitted. The Prize is open to fiction and non-fiction entries, and celebrates the interaction between medicine and literature. The judging panel, led by Jo Brand, is compiling a shortlist to be released at the Cheltenham Literature Festival in October. The overall winner will be announced in November at a special reception at Wellcome Collection. www.wellcomebookprize.org

Bioluminescent images from the project. Anne Brodie and Simon Park

New book explores Wellcome’s collection A new book about Sir Henry Wellcome’s collection has just hit the shelves. An Infinity of Things: How Sir Henry Wellcome collected the world (Oxford University Press, £18.99) draws on hundreds of documents from the Wellcome Library archives to shed light on the remarkable world of competitive collecting that Wellcome mastered.

Author Frances Larson investigates the history of the collection, from Wellcome’s earliest recorded purchases as a boy to his death in 1936 – by which time his collection had become a major enterprise.

The book charts his relationships with his

growing team of collecting agents, who travelled through Europe, Asia and beyond, acquiring objects during the opening decades of the 20th century. It also analyses the displays at the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, which opened in 1913.

We have two copies of the book to give away. For a chance to win one, tell us the address of the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum. Email your answer (one entry only per person) to wellcome.news@wellcome.ac.uk using the subject line ‘Henry competition’.

Competition closes 17.00 GMT, 13 November 2009, after which two correct entries will be randomly selected.

Winners will be notified by email by 20 November 2009 and announced in a future issue of Wellcome News.

Neuroscientists make memories last Neuroscience has been one of the key areas we have supported for nearly 60 years. A new Trust-funded research project will record interviews with prominent neuroscientists about the field, providing a valuable resource for historians, journalists, policy makers and aspiring young neuroscientists.

Career Tracker We’ve launched a new study to give us a better understanding of the career progression and choices Trustsupported researchers make, helping us to improve research and career support.

The first wave of the Wellcome Trust Career Tracker ran this summer, looking at students on Basic PhD Programmes, Research Career Development Fellows and International Senior Research Fellows who have recently finished or are in the final year of their awards.

The results will appear soon online and in Wellcome News.

The interviews and transcripts are freely available online. www.ucl. ac.uk/histmed/audio/ neuroscience

Alexander Kalina/ iStockphoto

Survival of the fittest The growing field of synthetic biology is the focus of a new Trust bursary scheme aiming to get UK students to the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition (iGEM). Run by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, iGEM challenges student teams to build biological systems that can operate in living cells. Our scheme will enable up to five UK teams to compete.

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News Discover the autumn Collection

Robert Byron/iStockphoto

Wellcome Collection has an exciting series of events to tickle your brain this autumn.

Our newest exhibition, Identity: Eight rooms, nine lives, looks at how science has tried to determine human identity. From fingerprinting to DNA sequencing, it will explore different aspects and approaches

in eight discrete rooms. The exhibition opens in November and is part of our Identity Project, with further activities and events to be announced.

Also this autumn, Wellcome Collection partners with the BBC World Service to host some of biggest names in science in a series of talks examining the social impacts of their discoveries and the frontiers of scientific knowledge. The series, hosted by philosopher A C Grayling, has already welcomed theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss and neurophilosopher Patricia Churchland. Upcoming guests include Tejinder Virdee, Seth Shostak and Rajendra K Pachauri.

Sex and revulsion are on the menu for the autumn run of Packed Lunches, our series of lunchtime events where local scientists discuss their research. In October, we welcome Dr Catherine Mercer, a statistician at University College London, discussing the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyle, and Dr Val Curtis from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, talking about the protective power of disgust. www.wellcomecollection.org

Prizes and honours

The Trust-funded Tree of Life (above) animation has won the Judges’ Choice award in the Institutional Category of The Scientist Video Awards. The video, which can be viewed at www. wellcometreeoflife.org or www. youtube.com/wellcometrust, was praised for its “beautiful graphics” and “well-written script [that] conveyed info in a clear, concise, engaging manner”.

Lucinda Jarrett, Wellcome Trust Fellow and Artistic Director and Chief Executive of artist-led charity Rosetta Life, has been awarded a Clore Leadership Fellowship. The Fellowships aim to strengthen leadership across a range of cultural activities.

Wellcome News is 15!

Ah, 1994. Bruce Springsteen in the charts, the opening of the Channel Tunnel, and the publication of the firstever issue of Trp3 – the esoteric original name of Wellcome News.

As in Wellcome News today, funding was a popular topic for issue 1 of Trp3, which included articles on the newly constructed Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in Oxford and the Functional Imaging Laboratory at the Institute of Neurology, London (now the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging).

Other stories included a report on one of the Trust’s first-ever funding interviews conducted via satellite, and a piece by Max Perutz on his efforts to deduce the alpha-helix structure of proteins.

While the title Trp3 may have lasted just ten issues, Wellcome News is still going strong 15 years on.

You can browse present and past issues at www. wellcome. ac.uk/ wellcomenews.

If you have any story ideas, comments or queries, let us know by emailing wellcome. news@wellcome.ac.uk. And if you haven’t worked it out yet, the derivation of the name Trp3 is revealed at www.wellcome. ac.uk/news.

1 in 10 000 We’re thrilled to welcome our 10 000th subscriber to Wellcome News: Dr Farhan Abdul Rauf, a health coordinator and consultant physiotherapist in Karachi, Pakistan. “I’m interested in medical research and development,” says Dr Rauf.

“I’ve subscribed to Wellcome News to 4 | WellcomeNews | Issue 60

get updates on education, research and development. I’d also like to read more on medical and clinical ethics.”

To join Dr Rauf and the thousands of others who receive Wellcome News free every quarter, see www.wellcome.ac.uk/ subscribe.

Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow Professor Vikram Patel (above) of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has been elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and was also awarded the Chalmers Medal for 2009 by the Royal Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene for his contributions to the field.

A People Award-funded website that promotes greater awareness of genetics has won the Best Use of New Media Award at the Association of Healthcare Communicators’s Communicating Health Awards. ‘Telling Stories’ aims to help nurses, midwives and health visitors understand how genetics has an impact on the people they care for. www.geneticseducation.nhs.uk/ tellingstories

Engineering medicine Replacement joints that exactly fit your body’s needs, monitoring tools that tell you which type of medicine will best cure your illness…

Mun-Keat Looi finds out about four new Centres of Excellence in Medical Engineering.

Professor Reza Razavi in his laboratory at King’s College London.

“The synergy of medicine and engineering is a powerful combination that both medics and engineers can benefit from,” says Professor Ross Ethier, head of the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London. Indeed, pacemakers, X-rays, ultrasound and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are just some of the innovations that have come from engineers partnering with clinicians.

Today, medical engineering is the fastest-growing area of engineering, and the field has had a further boost from the launch of four Centres of Excellence funded by a new initiative from the Wellcome Trust and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). Projects range from improved diagnostic technologies to better knee or hip implants (see box).

Such new technologies have many implications for healthcare. They may, for example, reduce our current reliance on drugs: “Better diagnostic technologies can help us make more efficient use of drugs and occasionally develop therapies that don’t involve drugs at all,” says Professor Lionel Tarassenko, Director of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Oxford. Furthermore, as the development of medical devices has fewer regulatory hurdles than for drugs, the time to get them to market tends to be shorter and the costs can be much lower.

Hence, as Professor John Fisher, Director of the Institute of Medical and Biological

Engineering, University of Leeds, points out, “Medical engineered technologies have the potential to deliver treatments at a cost level that patients, communities and

developing countries can afford.”

For more, read our feature article on medical engineering at www.wellcome.ac.uk/news.

Centres of Excellence funded by the Wellcome Trust– EPSRC Medical Engineering initiative Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London • Osteoarthritis Osteoarthritis is the most common cause of chronic pain in the UK. The work of Professor Ross Ethier and colleagues includes tailored artificial knee implants that replace only the damaged part rather than the whole joint. They are also creating tissue-engineered implants that are preconditioned in the laboratory to withstand the wear and strain of the individual patient’s daily life before they are implanted.

Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Oxford • Personalised healthcare Professor Lionel Tarassenko and colleagues are targeting individual patients’ needs at different stages of their lives. Examples include mobile phone software to teach patients how to manage conditions such as diabetes and asthma, and liver cancer treatments encapsulated in nanoparticles that are released at the right place and time using ultrasound.

Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, University of Leeds • ‘50 years after 50’ Professor John Fisher and colleagues aim to make the last 50 years of our (increasingly longer) lives as comfortable as the first 50. They are developing low-wearing, durable hip and knee joint replacements, implants to replace discs in the lower back and spine, and bioregenerative scaffolds to repair heart valves and blood vessels.

Division of Imaging Sciences, King’s College London • Imaging the body Professor Reza Razavi and colleagues are concentrating on new imaging technologies to aid diagnosis and treatment. Examples include computer models and combined PET and MRI scanners to look at cardiovascular disease at the cellular level. For psychiatric diseases such as depression, their improved neuroimaging techniques could help to improve initial diagnoses and monitor the effects of drug treatments.

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Funding Prestigious postdoc funding

Andrew Wood, a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow.

The Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme is now taking applications for its fourth year of awards.

Who can apply? Talented researchers who are in the final year of their PhD or who have less than one year’s postdoctoral experience. Candidates should have no more than 12 months’ postdoctoral experience by February 2010.

What’s available? £250 000 for a fouryear, full-time fellowship to develop an independent research career in the best labs in the UK and overseas.

What’s the deadline? Preliminary applications must be received by 2 November 2009. Full applications will be invited by 1 December 2009.

For further information on the application process and a taste of what it’s like to be a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow, watch the video featuring some of the current Fellows. www.wellcome.ac.uk/shwpf

Beit back We and the Beit Memorial Fellowships for Medical Research have announced the launch of the Wellcome–Beit Prize Fellowships. The new £25 000 Fellowships will be awarded annually to the top-scoring early career scientists interviewed for our Research Career Development Fellowships and Intermediate Clinical Fellowships.

The prizes will be given in addition to the salary and research expenses provided to the fellows and can be used flexibly in support of their research. The first recipients will be announced in December 2009.

These awards replace the Beit Memorial Fellowships for Medical Research, which

were originally founded in 1909 by the philanthropist Sir Otto Beit in memory of his brother, Alfred Beit, another notable philanthropist. www.wellcome.ac.uk/beit

Alfred Beit (left) and Sir Otto Beit.

Health Innovation Challenge Fund launches We have launched a new £100 million fund in association with the Department of Health to further the development of innovative healthcare products. The Health Innovation Challenge Fund will facilitate technological developments that deliver economic and patient health benefits to the UK. By providing ‘gapbridging’ funding, the initiative hopes

to stimulate the delivery of technologies, products and interventions to clinical use in the NHS within three to five years.

The fund will make a series of themed calls, the first of which, ‘advancing genetic discoveries into clinical practice’, was announced in July. www.wellcome.ac.uk/hicf

Drug Discovery deadlines

The Health Innovation Challenge Fund will support technological innovation in the NHS.

Klebsiella, a bacterium targeted by previous work funded

by Seeding Drug Discovery. John E Richens

The November deadline is fast approaching for applications to our Seeding Drug Discovery funding stream, which helps researchers with a potential drug target or new chemistry to embark on a programme of compound discovery and/or lead compound optimisation. Preliminary applications must be received by 9 November. The next round of funding will close in May 2010. www.wellcome.ac.uk/sdd 6 | WellcomeNews | Issue 60

Fellowships strengthen Kenyan research capacity The Consortium for National Health Research in Kenya, supported by our Health Research Capacity Strengthening Initiative, has so far awarded ten research internship fellowships to graduates and six Research Leadership Grants to senior researchers.

The Consortium is currently processing 68 Research Training Fellowship applications for eight training slots under the fellowship scheme. www.wellcome.ac.uk/hrcs

Researcher in Kenya. Michael Chew

Engaging funding for India

We are continuing to increase funding in Indian science, both for research and for public engagement. Debating Matters – which brings together students from all backgrounds to debate topical scientific issues – will enter its second year in Indian high schools thanks to an extended Society Award. Run by the Institute of Ideas, the competition will culminate with a final in Delhi on 14–16 January 2010. www.debatingmatters.com/projects/ debating_matters_india/ Elsewhere, the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore will host our International Public Engagement workshop in December. This will bring together scientists, artists, policy makers, journalists, educators and health workers to explore how narrative and storytelling can help to communicate with and engage audiences in biomedical science and health issues.

Meanwhile, the Wellcome Trust–DBT India Alliance continues to go from strength to strength, offering fellowships at key career stages to support Indian biomedical research of the highest quality. Applications have just closed for its Early Career and Senior Fellowships, with a new round due to open next year. www.wellcomedbt.org

New vaccine initiative Affordable vaccines for developing countries are the focus of a new not-forprofit joint venture we have launched with pharmaceutical company Merck & Co., Inc. The MSD–Wellcome Trust Hilleman Laboratories will receive up to £90 million in support from its founders over the next seven years. The labs, based in India, are expected to be operational by the second half of 2010. Dr Altaf Lal, as CEO, is leading on the establishment of a portfolio of vaccine development projects. www.wellcome.ac.uk/hilleman

Museum receives ship-shape support

Painting of the Mary Rose, by Geoff Hunt. © The Mary Rose Trust

The Mary Rose Trust has received £1 million from us towards its new £35m museum for the 16th-century warship. The Capital Award will help to establish sections of the museum focusing on the medicine practised on board the Mary Rose, as seen through the eyes of a Barber-Surgeon. The BarberSurgeon’s cabin will be reconstructed to include a new character case and a reconstruction of the heads of key members of the ship’s crew. The award

will also cover a ‘medicine aboard’ display, and the construction and fit-out of the secondary collection, including racking, displays and environmental controls.

“We believe that the Mary Rose is a great vehicle for science education and a new and exciting way to engage young people with modern biomedical science,” said Clare Matterson, Director of Medicine, Society and History at the Wellcome Trust.

For more details on the museum, see www.maryrose.org.

Awards to make a song and dance about A People Award has been made to Ymogen for NHS the Musical – Live. The project will portray a day in the life of a hospital and the impact of modern medical treatments, as well as the hopes and fears of patients and staff – in song. Performed by a cast including real health professionals, the musical will draw inspiration from user-submitted stories, and play at a major London venue.

The Opera Group has received a Large Arts Award to develop a new opera exploring the social, emotional and physical aspects of Alzheimer’s disease.

Building on research funded by a Small Arts Award, the team is working with Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London on the production, which will premiere at the Brighton Festival in May 2010 before touring the country.

On a non-musical note, we have made a Small Arts Award to Gina Czarnecki of Forma Arts & Media Limited for ‘Wasted: Realising the potential of discarded body parts’. This will generate sculptures exploring the myths and history surrounding the lifegiving potential of ‘discarded’ body parts, including a piece made up of children’s milk teeth and another made of preserved human fat from liposuction.

Brent Melton/iStockphoto

WellcomeNews | Issue 60 | 7

Looking at life This year marks the tenth Wellcome Image Awards.

Here, we present our pick of the winning entries.

The Wellcome Image Awards recognise the most informative, striking and technically excellent images acquired by Wellcome Images. Over the years, the images presented in the awards have impressed audiences with their powerful insights into the structures of the body and the diseases that affect it.

Previously, winning images have been created using a range of microscopic techniques, from combinations of light microscopy and innovative histological approaches to electron microscopy and cutting-edge imaging research. This year, to celebrate the tenth awards ceremony,

two additional categories have been included: photography and illustration.

The winners of the tenth awards have been selected from images acquired by Wellcome Images since the previous awards in 2008.

The 2009 awards were presented by Dr Alice Roberts in a ceremony at Wellcome Collection on 14 October 2009.

Catch a display of all the winning images at Wellcome Collection from 15 October until spring 2010, or view them at www.wellcomeimageawards.org.

To browse Wellcome Images, visit images.wellcome.ac.uk.

3D reconstruction of villi from the mouse small intestine. Multiphoton micrograph. Paul Appleton

8 | WellcomeNews | Issue 60

Sensory nerve fibres at the end of a hair follicle.

Light microscopy image. Spike Walker

A premature baby in an incubator in a neonatal unit. Medical Illustration Department, Leicester Royal Infirmary

“ Imaging and imagery can help scientists in many ways: to understand structures that are too small to be seen by the naked eye, or perhaps to elucidate the relationship between structure and function, or even to illustrate abstract ideas that are otherwise difficult to grasp...But as well as deepening understanding, the art of science can also be – in its own right – beautiful and awe-inspiring.”

Dr Alice Roberts, host, Wellcome Images Awards 2009 Summer plankton. Light micrograph. Spike Walker

Sickle-cell anaemia: a sickle cell alongside a normal red blood cell. Scanning electron micrograph.

EM Unit, Royal Free Medical School

Co-polymers used in drug delivery. Scanning electron micrograph.

WellcomeNews | Issue 60 | 9

Platform for research: the African Institutions Initiative Africa has an abundance of pressing research questions, but a shortfall of scientists and research capacity to tackle them. The Wellcome Trust’s £30 million African Institutions Initiative has recently awarded funding to plug this gap. The Initiative is supporting seven Africanled international consortia – involving over 50 scientific institutions from 18 African countries – with awards lasting five years. Mun-Keat Looi spoke to the African scientists heading them.

Southern Africa Consortium for Research Excellence (SACORE) Director: Dr Newton Kunwendo, Malawi College of Medicine “The major obstacle African science faces is probably the prevailing limited understanding about scientific research and its benefits. Science is a profession and a long-term commitment, and its returns are not always dramatic nor immediate.

Our programmes will address the way the public and government officials view research, while creating a more conducive environment for researchers. We also plan SACORE sabbaticals that will allow young scientists, who may have just completed their higher degree training, to get individual tailored supervision and mentorship from established scientists at partner intuitions.”

Research Institute for Infectious Diseases of Poverty (IIDP) Director: Dr Margaret Gyapong, Dodowa Health Research Centre, Ghana “Africa is losing many of its best scientists to the brain drain, partly because of the absence of coordinated institutional strategies and national research environments that enable research.

IIDP is an interdisciplinary consortium.

We hope to bring together researchers from the social sciences, public health, epidemiology and laboratory sciences to 10 | WellcomeNews | Issue 60

form a single network. Our shared vision is for sustained training and retention of world-class public health research leaders in a vibrant research environment, with shared ownership of activities, enabling us to address the challenges of infectious diseases of poverty in West Africa.”

Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) Director: Dr Alex Ezeh, African Population and Health Research Centre, Kenya “One of CARTA’s aims is to introduce skills such as critical thinking, data analysis, literature reading, writing skills and management – all of which can enhance research. Many universities, including those in the North, do not have courses for these – people pick them up through their interactions with other more senior researchers, at regular seminars or at conferences. But these skills are what encourage scholars to think about how to manage and conceptualise research; they provide ways of challenging people to think outside of the box.”

One Health Initiative: African Research Consortium for Ecosystem and Population Health Director: Professor Bassirou Bonfoh, Swiss Centre for Scientific Research, Côte d’Ivoire “Research in public and veterinary epidemiology increasingly demands

quantitative and interdisciplinary skills that are difficult to acquire without a broad network of collaboration, effective partnerships, sharing of resources and exchange programmes among institutions.

We will establish well-supported postdoctoral research fellowships and training opportunities, as well as lecturer ‘buyouts’ – short-term grants that allow scientists to take up to six months out of teaching to visit a different research institution and develop their own research proposals.”

One Medicine Africa–UK Research Capacity Development Partnership Programme for Infectious Diseases in Southern Africa (SACIDS) Director: Professor Mark Rweyemamu, Sokione University of Agriculture, Tanzania “The most cost-effective approach for addressing Africa’s infectious disease burden is to foster research collaboration between institutions and sectors. SACIDS will produce postdoctoral students whose research activities evolve around defined themes such as tuberculosis and haemorrhagic fevers. We hope that this will encourage collaborative, thematic research, generating a cadre of scientists focused on research rather than administration.”

Strengthening Research Capacity in Environmental Health (SNOWS) Director: Professor Esi Awuah, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana “Aspiring water and sanitation researchers suffer from a global shortage of research funding – it is not considered cutting-edge science by the bodies that fund research in engineering or health.

Moreover, most of the African staff in this field have little research training or experience, or the funds to carry out research. SNOWS is developing a programme of short courses for academic

staff, as well as courses on administrative issues for staff who manage grants and administer resources. These are designed to promote the exchange of experiences between African universities, Northern universities, and academics and practitioners in government agencies, nongovernmental organisations and the private sector.”

Senegal

Training Health Researchers into Vocational Excellence in East Africa (THRiVE) Director: Professor Nelson Sewankambo, Makerere University, Uganda “In Africa, we are not attracting and retaining enough talented individuals to allow us to expand our pool of highclass scientists. This is in part due to an environment that is not ideal for stimulating and supporting trainees at the highest level, with few mentors and inadequate research infrastructure.

Our consortium aims to empower institutions to build a critical mass of welltrained researchers capable of winning competitive grants, augmented with a conducive research environment with improved governance and management.

We hope our efforts will strengthen South-to-South collaborations including partnerships between the older, stronger universities and younger ones in postconflict areas of Africa.”

Mali Chad

Ghana Côte d’Ivoire

KEY

Country of lead institution Country of consortium collaborators

Sudan

Nigeria

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Uganda Kenya

Rwanda Tanzania

CONSORTIA

Malawi Zambia

Mozambique

Zimbabwe Botswana

South Africa Further information on the African Institutions Initiative and a longer version of this article are available on the Wellcome Trust website.

See www.wellcome.ac.uk/aii

WellcomeNews | Issue 60 | 11

Research New kit takes pain out of chlamydia test

Kenneth C Zirkel/iStockphoto

A new urine test can diagnose chlamydia infection in men within the hour, improving the ability to treat the infection on the spot and prevent re-transmission.

Caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis, chlamydia is the most common sexually transmitted bacterial infection in the UK. In the majority of cases, people suffer no symptoms, yet research suggests that the infection may cause reduced fertility – with more serious complications for women – if left untreated. Once diagnosed, the disease can be treated easily with a one-off antibiotic pill. However, until now, male rapid tests for chlamydia have been relatively inaccurate and have involved urethral swabs, which can cause discomfort.

The new test uses a collector that gathers six times the amount of Chlamydia bacteria than a standard urine sample, and a signal amplification system that boosts sensitivity. In clinical trials of over 1200 men, the new test correctly identified infection in 84 per cent of samples.

“Without an effective and rapid testing programme for men, we are unlikely to succeed in efforts to control chlamydia infection,” said Dr Helen Lee from the University of Cambridge, who developed the test. “Our test is both accurate and swift, allowing men attending the clinics to be tested and treated on site in one visit.”

Nadala EC et al. Performance evaluation of a new rapid urine test for chlamydia in men: prospective cohort study.

BMJ 2009;339:b2655.

Artemisinin resistance spreads Resistance to artemisinin, the first-line treatment for malaria, has been detected in western Cambodia, according to researchers at the Wellcome Trust– Mahidol University–Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Programme in Thailand. They studied people with malaria in western Cambodia and northwestern Thailand, looking at the susceptibility of Plasmodium falciparum parasites to artemisinin-based drugs.

Their data revealed that patients in western Cambodia took twice as long to clear the parasites as those in Thailand.

“It suggests that malaria parasites in Cambodia are less susceptible to artemisinin than those in Thailand,” said Dr Arjen Dondorp, lead author of the study. “This has very important consequences for the lifespan of artemisinin-based combination therapies. Losing these would be a disaster for malaria control.”

In a separate study, an analysis of parasitology papers from 1996 to 2007 reveals that Trust-funded researchers make up over three-quarters of the top 30 most cited authors in the field. Professor Nick White, Chair of the Wellcome Trust South-east Asia Programme, is at the top (12 000 citations), with Professor Kevin Marsh, Director of the Kenya Medical Research Institute–Wellcome Trust Research Programme second (7700 citations). The most cited paper was ‘The global distribution of clinical episodes of Plasmodium falciparum malaria’ by Professor Robert Snow and colleagues at the Kenya Programme, published in Nature and cited over 600 times.

Dondorp AM et al. Artemisinin-resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria. N Engl J Med 2009;361:455–67.

Neumann R. Publication analysis 1996–2007: parasitology.

Lab Times 2009;3:38–40.

Watching Wellcome: new videos now online Our YouTube channel is packed with thought-provoking videos that examine the work we do and the people we support.

Ever wondered what it’s like to have your brain scanned? A new video follows our Design Manager, Steve, through an MRI scan at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging. Researchers always need people to take part in scans, and it is hoped that the video will help to encourage more volunteers.

Scenes from the latest Trust videos.

12 | WellcomeNews | Issue 60

In two related videos, we find out about the London Pain Consortium, a network of scientists and clinicians working to eliminate chronic pain. Then we meet a mother and daughter who visit a Consortium member about a genetically induced pain condition they seem to share. Other videos include Oxford’s Dr Helen McShane on tuberculosis, and one on the debilitating condition sleep apnoea.

Short-sighted view on sports Scientists studying children from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children found that short-sighted children were less physically active than those without short-sightedness. In the study, researchers studied the shortsightedness of nearly 5000 children aged 10, and fitted the same children with accelerometers to measure their physical activity at age 12.

Short-sighted children had lower total activity, lower levels of moderate-tovigorous activity and were more sedentary than those without short-sightedness.

Although short-sighted children may be reluctant to join in with vigorous activities if they wear glasses, adjusting for glasses wearing in this study made little difference to the results, indicating that other factors may be responsible.

The authors suggest that interventions targeted at short-sighted children are required, to make them aware of the risks of low physical activity, particularly as there is evidence that childhood behaviours can be carried into adulthood.

Deere K et al. Myopia and later physical activity in adolescence: a prospective study. Br J Sports Med 2009;43:542–44.

Michael Flippo/iStockphoto

Gene links to brain tumour The first genetic variants that increase the risk of developing glioma, the most common form of brain tumour, have been identified by Wellcome Trust-funded scientists. Researchers from the UK’s Institute of Cancer Research, the USA’s University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and colleagues identified five common gene variants after studying the genomes of over 4000 people with cancer.

Humans have two copies of each gene, so a person may carry up to ten of the variants associated with glioma. The researchers found that the more variants a person carries, the greater the risk – indeed, those carrying eight or more variants are three times more likely to develop glioma than the general population.

Shete et al. Genome-wide association study identifies five susceptibility loci for glioma. Nat Genet 2009;41(8):899–904.

Q&A that in the future it might be possible to use neuroimaging techniques to invade people’s privacy and see what’s going on in their mind. Another issue is the development of DNA synthesis techniques that might allow the creation of viruses or bacteria that are human pathogens for use in biological weapons.

The ‘dual-use dilemma’ arises when an area of science has the potential to be used to do both good and harm.

Tom Douglas recently completed a Trustfunded fellowship at the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, where he produced a ‘POSTnote’ briefing document on this issue.

What is the dual-use dilemma?

Traditionally, ‘dual-use’ was used to describe technologies with both military and non-military applications, and it had positive connotations. More recently, the term ‘dual-use dilemma’ has been used to refer to the quandary arising when scientific work can be used in ethical or unethical ways, and it’s not clear whether the risk of misuse is outweighed by the likelihood of good uses or not. A classic example is nuclear physics in the first half of the 20th century, when scientists knew that their work could be used for good (e.g. power generation and medicine) and for bad (e.g. nuclear weapons).

What are the major issues today?

More recently, discussion has been prompted by two studies published in 2001 and 2002 – one reporting the synthesis of polio virus, the other the genetic modification of the mousepox virus. These papers coincided with the events of 9/11 and prompted a concerned response in the USA. There was even some suggestion that scientific journals might need to be censored.

Now, many people believe that this was an overreaction, and think that it is important to be careful when introducing any new regulations, as these could stifle scientific progress.

What did you include in the POSTnote?

The note includes case studies – areas of science that have raised concerns about misuse – and possible policy responses.

One issue revolves around the concern

Why worry about dual-use?

The problem of the misuse of science has attracted a lot of interest from those working in areas such as peace studies. There has been an effort by academics and governments to develop and strengthen chemical and biological weapons conventions, and misuse is now on the agenda of science policy makers and security policy makers.

However, the dual-use dilemma isn’t something that ethicists have really thought about much in the past, even though it’s a practically important problem that raises difficult ethical issues. For example, it’s not at all clear whether or to what extent scientists are morally responsible for how their work gets used. There’s a clear opportunity for ethicists to have an input now.

What’s next for you?

When I’ve finished my DPhil I’ll be starting a three-year Research Fellowship in Biomedical Ethics. The POSTnote, being neutral, did not give any ethical argument as to what should be done.

In my postdoc I’m going to look at some specifically ethical questions, including: when, if ever, is it necessary to think about the risks of scientific work being misused; who should think about these risks; and how should the risks and benefits be balanced? I’m also looking forward to collaborating with colleagues at Bradford, Exeter and Bath Universities who have recently been awarded a Wellcome Trust Biomedical Ethics Enhancement Award to study dual-use.

What do you do outside of work?

I play cricket and do a bit of sailing and hiking. I used to be a competitive runner and still run a lot.

Tom Douglas’s POSTnote is at www.parliament.uk/documents/ upload/postpn340.pdf.

WellcomeNews | Issue 60 | 13

Meds behaving badly Unwanted side-effects can be distressing, harmful and costly consequences of many common drugs. The Serious Adverse Events Consortium, an international collaboration, is leading the way in understanding the genetic background to these reactions, and has recently published its first results. By Chrissie Giles.

Medicines are meant to make us better, but, for a small proportion of the population, taking something as routine as a dose of aspirin or a course of antibiotics could trigger a potentially fatal reaction.

So-called serious adverse events are severely debilitating or life-threatening reactions to a normal dose of a drug, and usually require the medication to be stopped immediately.

Currently, it is almost impossible to tell which people are prone to these reactions, meaning that drug-induced serious adverse events continue to injure thousands across the world every year.

Enter the Serious Adverse Events Consortium (www.saeconsortium.org), an international collaboration founded in August 2007 by Arthur Holden. The Consortium brings together the Wellcome Trust, medicines regulators, academic researchers and representatives from ten multinational pharmaceutical companies.

Something as routine as a course of antibiotics could trigger a potentially fatal reaction Its activities are based on the hypothesis that there is some genetic basis to drug-induced serious adverse events.

Although this is little understood so far, Holden is confident about this approach.

“Serious adverse events lend themselves beautifully to genomics: their phenotypes [characteristics] are very clear, and you don’t have a lot of the complexity seen in studies that are looking for genetic links to common diseases.”

14 | WellcomeNews | Issue 60

Genome screen “The typical way to find out if genetic factors have a role in an outcome is to look in families,” says Professor Lon Cardon. A former Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow and now Head of Genetics at GlaxoSmithKline, Professor Cardon sits on the Board of Directors of the Consortium.

“We don’t have that option here because these adverse events are rare, and so we hardly ever see them in families.”

The involvement of genetics in these events is pure conjecture on some level, he adds, although their nature is “idiosyncratic enough” to be genetic. He describes the results of the Consortium’s research so far1 – which show a strong link between a particular gene type and liver damage caused by the antibiotic flucloxacillin – as nothing short of remarkable.

Published in Nature Genetics, this research is the result of a genome-wide association study, an emerging technique that allows researchers to search for gene variants associated with a particular condition across the whole genome.

Drug-induced liver injury is rare, which adds an extra level of complexity to recruiting people for studies. What’s more, the cases collected need to represent people of different ethnic backgrounds, to understand the role of ethnicity in susceptibility to these events.

For the liver damage study, the Consortium used cases collected by academic researchers before the Consortium was established.

Retrospectively collected samples are not ideal: there is no set standard version of how the event under investigation is

recognised and recorded in the patient’s notes, and permission to obtain and use blood samples from the patients must be sought – a potentially time-consuming and costly process.

To try to make sure that a particular event is defined consistently by hospital staff and researchers across the world, the Consortium is launching the Phenotype Standardization Project. It is also looking into how to achieve real-time identification of patients with a particular adverse event.

“We’re experimenting at the moment,” says Holden. “For example, we’re looking to see if we can pull patients in from pharmaceutical clinical development trials.” He explains that, while there are sensitivities to commercial pressures, the opportunity to encourage different companies to share information on situations where these events occur, early in the process, is too good to miss.

The development of nationwide electronic patient records, as is planned for the UK, could be a massive boost to recruiting for research into serious adverse events. It could also, Holden hopes, eventually help to prevent the events occurring.

“Eventually we could be putting data into an electronic medical record before people get given drugs, to help tailor the drug both to the condition and the patient.”

In translation How else might a better understanding of the genetics underlying serious adverse events help to prevent them happening?

Well, as for many other research areas, translating laboratory findings into practice that will improve patient care is a priority for Consortium members.

“ It’s a global effort – that’s the only way we can crack this” Munir Pirmohamed Munir Pirmohamed is Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Liverpool and the NHS Chair of Pharmacogenetics. An adviser to the Consortium, he says that the translatability of its findings depends on how common and severe the individual events being studied are. Still, he adds, the Consortium’s work could mark the first time that findings from genome-wide association studies have been translated into practical use.

Things look promising: there is already evidence that knowledge of genetic variants linked to serious adverse events can be used to help to prevent them. In 2002, findings were published that linked certain genetic variants with susceptibility to a hypersensitivity reaction following treatment with the antiretroviral drug abacavir.

This variant, HLA-B*5701, lies on chromosome six, and is one version of a key immune gene called HLA-B. In the UK and across the EU, people are now routinely screened for the variant before being given abacavir. The frequency of hypersensitivity reactions in those given the drug has since dropped from 5–7 per cent to less than 1 per cent.2,3,4 In its paper on flucloxacillin, the Consortium identified the same allele, HLA-B*5701, as conferring susceptibility to liver injury. However, this event occurs roughly once in 10 000 cases, so a predictive test may not be cost-effective.

“However, you could use it diagnostically, to determine if a patient’s acute liver injury is related to flucloxacillin, because of the high negative predictive value,” Professor Pirmohamed says.

The structure of the Consortium, now moving into its second phase, was informed by the SNP [single nucleotide polymorphism] Consortium, which Holden also organised and led. The SNP Consortium was a not-for-profit, international collaboration between the Trust, academic centres and industry established to identify common mutations in human DNA.

“For a long time, people have been discussing the need for a multi-centre, international collaboration to tackle serious adverse events,” says Professor Pirmohamed. “Nobody can have all the expertise, and Arthur Holden has had the foresight to bring together geneticists, clinicians, epidemiologists, academics and representatives from the pharmaceutical industry. It’s a global effort – that’s the only way we can crack this.”

References 1. Daly AK et al. HLA-B*5701 genotype is a major determinant of drug-induced liver injury due to flucloxacillin.

Nat Genet 2009;41(7):816–9.

2. Rauch A et al. Prospective genetic screening decreases the incidence of abacavir hypersensitivity reactions in the Western Australian HIV cohort study. Clin Infect Dis 2006;43:99–102.

3. Waters LJ et al. Prospective HLA-B*5701 screening and abacavir hypersensitivity: a single centre experience. AIDS 2007;21:2533–4.

4. Zucman D et al. Prospective screening for human leukocyte antigen-B*5701 avoids abacavir hypersensitivity reaction in the ethnically mixed French HIV population. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 2007;45:1–3.

More information at www.saeconsortium.org.

Getting serious Common serious adverse events include: DILI (drug-induced liver injury): Associated with over 30 medicines, the severity varies but can result in acute liver failure and death. Liver toxicity is also the most common reason for stopping clinical trials.

“ Serious adverse events lend themselves beautifully to genomics” Arthur Holden

At a glance Serious adverse events are: • defined as severe, possibly life-threatening reactions to a normal or ‘therapeutic’ dose of drug • often due to an immunological response but can also be due to non-immune processes, for example, those that trigger abnormal activity in the heart • thought to have a genetic and an environmental component, i.e. are multifactorial.

SSR (serious skin rash): For the Consortium, this refers to Stevens–Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis – related rare reactions that are associated with over 200 medicines. They cause severe blistering of the skin and mucous membranes and can be fatal.

Hypersensitivity syndrome: This affects the whole body, with symptoms including fever, rash and inflammation of internal organs (such as hepatitis).

Cardiac arrhythmias: These involve abnormal electrical activity in the heart.

Angioedema: Swelling of the lower layers of the skin.

WellcomeNews | Issue 60 | 15

Research Round-up

Are kids best target for flu jabs?

Bone marrow, showing red blood cells. Ivor Mason

Measuring iron Assessing iron deficiency is difficult but now improved thanks to a new protocol developed at the Malawi– Liverpool–Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme. Bone marrow iron microscopy, the ‘gold standard’ method, is still highly subjective in grading iron. The researchers have developed a better way of examining samples, assessing iron in bone-marrow fragments, macrophages and red blood cells. Phiri KS et al. J Clin Pathol 2009;62(8):685–9.

Cell sorted Retromer is a cellular machine that transfers material between two specialised cell compartments: the endosomal network and the Golgi apparatus. Scientists have now shown how retromer coordinates the selection and movement of material by associating with a specific molecular motor. This insight may have important medical implications, with growing evidence for retromer’s role in tissue and organ development and late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Wassmer T et al.

Dev Cell 2009;17(1):110–22.

iStockphoto

Language learning A study by Professor Dorothy Bishop and colleagues at the University of Oxford shows how people good at learning languages are better at processing rapidly presented speech syllables than poor language learners.

They conclude that language learning depends on our ability to extract and remember the important information contained in a continuous and rapidly changing stream of speech. Barry JG et al. PLoS One 2009;4(7):e6270.

16 | WellcomeNews | Issue 60

Alexander Raths/iStockphoto

Targeting children may be the most effective way to use limited supplies of flu vaccine, according to research funded by the European Union and us. Dr Thomas House and Professor Matt Keeling from

Toxic models on the fly The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is one of the most commonly used model organisms in biology, and has been used extensively to study bacterial infection.

Now scientists at the University of Bath have found a way to use Drosophila embryos to track the way bacterial toxins work in real time at the critical early stages of infection – a system that could prove useful in studying other pathogens and their toxins.

The researchers looked at how embryonic Drosophila haemocytes (part of the organism’s immune system) responded to disease-causing and non-disease-causing bacteria, using time-lapsed microscopy.

While the haemocytes recognised and ingested non-disease-causing E. coli with no problems, the disease-causing bacterium P. asymbiotica made them instantly ‘freeze’ and caused significant rearrangement of their structure.

The scientists were able to reproduce this effect using a purified toxin found in P. asymbiotica, by either injecting it into the haemocyte or introducing it via bacteria expressing the toxin gene. This, together with studies of Drosophila mutants – such as those with haemocytes deficient in their ingestion machinery – suggests that the entry of the toxin into the cell is key to its method of action.

Vlisidou I et al. Drosophila embryos as model systems for monitoring bacterial infection in real time. PLoS Pathog 2009;5(7):e1000518.

the University of Warwick used computer modelling to predict the spread of pandemic influenza and find ways to control it effectively, particularly where vaccines are in short supply.

They found that vaccinating key individuals offered sufficient protection to others in their household and was a much more efficient and effective strategy than vaccinating entire households at random.

“Our models suggest that the larger the household – which in most cases means the more children living at home – the more likely the infection is to spread,” says Professor Keeling. “This doesn’t mean that everyone in the household needs to be vaccinated, but suggests that vaccination programmes for children might help control a potential pandemic.”

This ‘herd immunity’ means that significantly less vaccine would be required to control the spread of the virus.

House T, Keeling M. Household structure and infectious disease transmission. Epidemiol Infect 2009;137(5):654–61.

Just a fluke? Schistosome genome sequenced

An international team including researchers from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute has published the complete genome sequence of Schistosoma mansoni.

The parasitic worm

(known as a

blood fluke) causes schistosomiasis, a disease that causes about 280 000 deaths in sub-Saharan Africa alone each year.

There is currently only one drug used to treat the disease, and there are growing fears that the parasites will become resistant to this. The researchers have already used the sequence to identify several potential new drug targets.

“This genome sequence catapults schistosomiasis research into S. mansoni flukes.

CDC/Dr Shirley Maddison

a new era,” said Dr Matthew Berriman of the Sanger Institute, who co-led the study.

Berriman M et al. The genome of the blood fluke Schistosoma mansoni. Nature 2009;460(7253):352–8.

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Courses, conferences and workshops January 2010 24–29 Genomics and Clinical Microbiology Advanced Course GC

February

Confocal micrograph of C. elegans. Dr David Becker

GC: Event takes place at the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambs.

For information on Wellcome Trust Conferences, see www.wellcome.ac.uk/ conferences.

For information on Advanced Courses and Open door Workshops, see www.wellcome.ac.uk/advancedcourses.

November 2009 30–2 Dec Functional Genomics and Systems Biology Workshop GC

24–27 Genomic Disorders Conference GC

May

10–14 Computational Cell Biology Conference GC 15–26 Mathematical Modelling for Infectious Disease Dynamics Advanced Course GC

9–15 Molecular Basis of Bacterial Infection: Basic and applied research approaches Advanced Course GC 10–12 Working with the Human Genome Sequence Workshop GC

March

June

1–3 Therapeutic Applications of Computational Biology and Chemistry: TACBAC 2010 Conference GC 7–12 Virus Discovery in the Clinical Setting Advanced Course GC

6–9 The Evolutionary Biology of Caenorhabditis and Other Nematodes Conference GC

WellcomeNews | Issue 60 | 17

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CEREMONY CHOLINESTERASE MOSAIC EMBLEMATIC OIL ASYMPTOTE ASKLEPIOS LEARNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE SUBLIMINAL INVITING SUPER FASCINATING NEURON HIEROGLYPHICS ANEURYSM CHARIOT RETICENT PHOTOGRAPHY PERSPICACITY SOLUTIONS MILLION MATERIA MEDICA NURSE FROND NINETEEN MOLECULAR TORTURE REVOLUTIONA ANKLET LYMPH NODE OPERATION GLUCOSE GLORIFICATION ENGLISH PANELLING continuous process of reincarnation ICONOGRAPHIC NEUROFIBROMATOSIS CURIOUS NUDE GENETICS CENTURY ANTHROPOLOGY COSMOPOLITAN PAINTIN LONG RECEIPT UNUSUAL BULLET INFORMING DECORATED SORANUS JOINTS MONUMENTAL MUSCULOSKELETAL IMPR ENLIGHTEN ENGAGEMENT POSSET RESTORATION PLETHORA NOMENCLATURE ORIENTAL HIPPOCRATES SYLLOGISM M TRANSCRIPTION KNOCKOUT INTERIOR SOURCE SNAPSHOT APOCALYPTIC VALUE CANON the dangerous art of surgery STEROID FIDUCIARY SOMMONTE SWIM CANOPIC ACADEMY CHALLENGE MYOCARDIUM ALLEGORICAL ILLUMINATIVE C PROPERTY FIFTEENTH BIRD DEPICTING SILVER COMPARTMENT INTESTINE CADUCEUS ALLOPATHIC JEWEL TIMELESS S NEOCLASSICAL EARCAP IMPRESSED ANTRUM NOTEBOOK SCALABILITY CONFOCAL COMPASS CHASTITY BIOARCHAEO FETUS PEOPLE ODDITY SANDAL BRUSH SCIENTIST aural and visual landscape MENDELIAN ENIGMA BRAHMAN RE SCAR RENOVATION SHRUNKEN BIBLIOMANIA CANVAS ARTIFICIAL APPETITE ECORCHE FOREHEAD FRESCO BEZOAR ER PAROCHIAL DEPICTION MAGNILOQUENT ABSCESS ORNAMENT FLOURISH CONCEPTUAL SPEAR BORBORYGMI BOTTLE FILM ANAMORPHIC DIAGONAL DEVELOPMENTAL APOTHECARY WIND AMALGAMATION MUTATION EFFIGY ESOTERICA D CLASS PHARMACOLOGY code that makes you human LIMB WITCH WOODEN STUCCOWORK OBSTETRIC ALBUMINO GESTATION ABRACADABRA BRIDLE CONTINGENCY CONGENITAL RENAISSANCE SYMBOLISM MODERN MACHINE RITUA PSEUDO PULSATING ANATOMY VEINS WAR DYNAMO BORDERS HUMUNGOUS PLASTINATION NUTRITION PHARMACEUT MOLOCHISM MINNESOTA RETROVIRAL EXQUISITE ABSTRACTION TATTOO intimate biological secrets CHALLENGIN MANUSCRIPT SNUFFBOX PHTHISIS ZYGOTE SHARING GARMENT SCENES EXPRESSION BABY DRUGS WHIMSICAL PHIL SPECIMEN UNREQUITED SNORING ANOMALY ANTHROPOMORPHIC EMBALM WATERCOLOUR SCULPTURE STATUE SKEL MAINVILLE BURROUGHS FLUORESCENT DATA CLASSICAL GRAVE FIGMENT VITAMIN BIRTH HISTORICAL ICONOCLASTIC MUSEUM concepts of beauty SHRINE CADAVER HEAD ANTAGONIST DOCTOR ANATOMICAL KLEPTOMANIAC SKETC SURGEON EASEL ARMS WILL STASIS FLUX ANTIBODIES CERAMIC TOOTH MUMMY ALCHEMY DECAY GERATOLOGY TINN MANIKIN STYLE MUSE HENRY SOLOMON WELLCOME NUCLEUS CALCIUM BRAND INLAY FLEETING MOLECULAR TORTU DISTILLATION masterpieces of the carvers’ art ANTIQUITY WATER VISIONARY SEQUENCING HUMANE HERITAGE M MAJESTIC METAPHORICAL BONE MALADIES TOXICOLOGY DIGITISATION TRIBE VENTRICLES PSYCHIATRY CULTURE PHY PARASITE RELIC GALVANIC BREASTS HUMAN MYTHOLOGY LEATHER LABORATORY GUILLOTINE EPISTEMOLOGY PROST OESTROGEN ORTHOPAEDICS SHIELD STETHOSCOPE OXYGENATED OBESITY LEECHES a jumping-off point SPECTA PATHOLOGICAL FORGET POLYMATH LISTERIA LIVES CABINET STONE HIPPOPOTAMUS FASHIONABLE MYRIAD GROWTH ARCHITRAVE RENAISSANCE MAN HISTORIC ILLNESS FERTILISATION PARAGON COLOSSAL INVASIVE ANCIENT CRADLE H ENEMA PRAYER ACQUISITION EXPERIMENT EPIDEMIOLOGY SEX BIOPSY COMPOSITION CORPSE CONCEALED MUSCLE AGONIST ITALIAN GENITALIA WONDER SCIENCE IMAGINATION GALEN NATURE walking collections of information VENEER BRAINSTEM DENTIST GENE TOOTHPICK VESSELS VISTAS FUNCTIONAL DISEASE GROTTO DRAGON ARCHAEOL RHETORIC PANORAMIC MYSTERY STIRRING AXON FEATHERS GASTROSTOMY TABLET MELLIFLUOUS GLOW FREAKS IN INSPIRING VAULTS PLAGUE PILL MASTERPIECE PHARMACY ARTERIES UPPER INSTALLATION PLACEBO FANTASY HYSTE PALLIATIVE PHRENOLOGY HOMOEOPATHIC ARTERY IVORY TRACHEA HISTOIRES PRODIGIEUSES NEOTERIC COLLAGEN viscera exposed DIVERSITY DIAGNOSTIC BIENVENIDO UTERUS VIRTUE INSOMNIA PREGNANT STURGEON BEQUEST F INFLAMMATION REPOSITORY TALISMAN TEXTILE SLEEP APNOEA PIPE PERSONAL SHAVING DEPICTED BACTERIA ENGRA FRANCIS CRICK PHYSICIAN ARCHETYPES FOCUS HISTORY ILLUMINATION VERTIGO MULTIFARIOUS GUARDIAN EXECUT IMAGINATIVE hundreds of millions of short pieces SEEK BIOTECHNOLOGY EMPOWERING CHALONES INTERGAL ECLECTIC AVANT-GARDE RESEARCH AMULET PORTRAIT GEOMANCY TRANSPLANT RAZOR PHYSICIST DISSECTION LUC INVESTIGATE VISCERA TECHNOLOGY DIASPORA XENOTRANSPLANTATION ORNAMENTAL VIVID DIURETIC PAINTED BOUN CAPILLARIES HYPNOTIC PHANTOM FRAME FREE RADICAL BEAUTY TERRA INCOGNITA GLAZE BELT GASTRIC JUICE ANO INVISIBLE WOMAN rare survival of royal dna SCARIFICATION SPECIOUS TEACHING PUS ALCHEMIST EMPATHIC O STAINED PERUVIAN GLOBES CHAETAE REMEDIES HEREDITARY CHRONOLOGICAL FRIEZE AMPHORA AUTHORITIES INMA EXTREMITIES CHINESE YAGE COMPRESSED CHAMBER ANTHROPOMORPHISM TSANTA WALKING CATHOLIC STUDIO CH CATALYST DEBUNK PYGMY SAW SINUSES STELLAR GENOME FIGURATIVE ATTACK PERCEPTION DROSOPHILA REASONA NARCOLEPSY ARTIST FANTASTICAL ELECTROTHERAPEUTIC FACILITIES alternative medicine BILLIONS ASYLUM POS ENZYMES AORTA SENSIBILITY HIPPOCAMPUS FORM SAINT LINEAR LANDSCAPE YELLOW FEVER ZYGOSIS SHUAR GOSP TEXT REALIST SOUP CARDIOVASCULAR SABALOKA CELESTIAL PAPER BAZOMBO COMPASSION ALZHEIMER’S ROCOCO RAY NATURALISM GAS CHROMOSOME DOTTY UNICORN APOCALYPSE AIM FORCEPS RECEIVE EMBROIDERED FACILITAT SHINGLES GROUNDBREAKING THINGS THELERETHISM GENETICIST ROSACEA FISSIPAROUS ASTROLABE CHEMOTAXIS ARCHITECTS SYNC AWESOME METLAKAHTLA LACHRYMAL HELIX HYDROCHLORIC ACID NOK CULTURE POLITICAL

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