News: July 2020

The July 2020 edition of the ESRC Wales DTP newsletter

Publication date: 31 July 2020

Cancer research published in Science Advances

Cancer is a disease that has touched us all, and although we now know a lot about how cancers develop and grow, we still have a lot to learn.  A major factor in cancer development and in treatment resistance is the presence of genome instability. This essentially involves frequent alterations to the genomic DNA of the cell, including changes to the letters of the genetic code as well as more obvious changes such as chromosome deletions, or even movement of large DNA fragments from one chromosome to another. Work in UKRI Future Leader Fellow Dr Chris Staples’ laboratory housed at the North West Cancer Research Institute (in the School of Medical Sciences at Bangor University) focuses on how cells normally prevent such genome instability from occurring.

Publication date: 26 July 2020

Bangor expert advises on US public health emergency preparedness and response

The lessons learned from responding to public health emergencies tend to fade, and public health funding and research priorities shift.

That is why an expert from Bangor University’s School of Health Sciences was called on to join a US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine review of the current state of the evidence for public health emergency preparedness and response (PHEPR) in the United States.

Publication date: 24 July 2020

We discovered a new species, but war means it may now remain hidden forever

The world has a new species. My colleagues and I were hugely excited to announce it but, alas, this stingray – a distant cousin of sharks – can’t be claimed to be a particularly spectacular or awe-inspiring animal. It’s small – about the size of an outstretched hand – and, as far as we know, plain, without distinctive markings. But what’s special about this stingray is where it came from, how we came to discover it – and why we may never see it again.

This article by Alec Moore, Post-Doctoral Fisheries Scientist, at the School of Ocean Sciences is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Publication date: 23 July 2020

Post-Covid shift away from global supply chains could boost North Wales economy

A backlash against globalisation in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis can kick-start North Wales’s powerful manufacturing sector with a boom in cutting edge technologies like 3D printing boosting the recovery, according to a top expert.

Bangor University economics lecturer Dr Edward Jones, predicts more businesses and governments will want to have their supplies closer to home as they emerge from months of unprecedented lockdown.

Publication date: 9 July 2020

Forest Research wins funding for collaborative research into oak tree health

A pioneering new project to investigate the health of our British oak trees has been the go-ahead thanks to almost £2 million investment from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Defra and Scottish Government.

The project, named ‘BAC-STOP’ (Bacteria: Advancement of Control and Knowledge to Save Threatened Oak and Protect them for Future Generations’), will focus on Acute Oak Decline (AOD) - an emerging complex disease in which bacteria cause stem lesions on native species of British oak.

Publication date: 8 July 2020

Solving mysteries with Leverhulme Research Grants

Three awards to Bangor University will enable scientists to solve some of the unanswered mysteries of science and record one of the earth’s most diverse ecosystems.

Publication date: 7 July 2020

The impact of climate change on marmot survival differs between seasons

Many animals have evolved life cycles and strategies (patterns of survival and reproduction) in line with predictable seasonal variation in environmental conditions. Short and mild summers produce bursts of vegetation and food, the perfect time to give birth to young. Long, harsh winters when food is scarce have shaped animals to largely depend on fat reserves for energy, and in extreme cases, to hibernate or migrate.

However, climate change is altering these seasonal conditions to which many species are adapted. Temperatures are increasing, winter snowfall is declining, snow is melting earlier, summers are extending, and the frequency of extreme events (e.g., droughts, floods) are on the rise.

Publication date: 7 July 2020

Work begins on UK system for estimating COVID-19 cases from wastewater

Scientists will develop a standardised UK-wide system for detecting coronavirus in wastewater, in order to provide an early warning of future outbreaks and reduce reliance on costly testing of large populations.

The majority of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 - the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease - are believed to shed the virus in their faeces, even if they are asymptomatic, so sewage surveillance is widely seen as a promising way of identifying future disease hotspots.

Publication date: 2 July 2020

Learned Society of Wales Newsletter: June 2020

Publication date: 1 July 2020