Exeter university

£100,000 grants for Exeter medical research leaders of the future

Authored by Mary Youlden
Posted: Wed, 05/04/2016 - 11:27am

Two talented researchers from the University of Exeter have each been awarded £100k to further their work in developing our understanding of cancer and schizophrenia as part of a prestigious new grant scheme.

Dr Richard Chahwan, a lecturer in Molecular Immunology and Dr Emma Dempster, a lecturer at the University of Exeter Medical School, have received grants from the Academy of Medical Sciences’ inaugural £1.8million Springboard scheme, designed to support promising early career researchers.

The two were selected from more than 100 applicants to receive the two-year £100,...

Exeter researchers in celebrity-endorsed research to save swans

Authored by Mary Youlden
Posted: Wed, 04/27/2016 - 11:17am

Researchers at the University of Exeter’s Penryn Campus are involved in a pioneering project to safeguard Europe’s smallest swan, which has won support from Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Pen Hadow and Sir David Attenborough and a swathe of businesses, charities and individuals.

Flight of the Swans will be the first ever attempt to follow the migration of the Bewick’s swan from the air. Setting off this September, Sacha Dench of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) will fly a paramotor from the Bewick’s swans’ breeding grounds in arctic Russia 7,500km across 11 countries...

Scottish mountain man’s legacy supports Exeter-led expedition to combat elephant decline in Kenya

Authored by Mary Youlden
Posted: Fri, 04/22/2016 - 10:21pm

A ground-breaking expedition that aims to save African elephants while encouraging the creation of sustainable local business in rural Kenya has won a funding award run by a Scottish wild land charity.

The Bee Elephant Enterprise project (BEE) aims to build beehive fences around farmland in the Tsavo National Park in deter elephants – which are afraid of bees – from destroying crops.

Small farmers, often desperately poor, can lose their livelihood overnight from a single elephant raid. Elephants in turn are often killed in retaliation.

By deterring the animals, the...

Easier diagnosis for fungal infection of the lung

A new clinical imaging method developed in collaboration with a University of Exeter academic may enable doctors to tackle one of the main killers of patients with weakened immune systems sooner and more effectively.

The spores of the fungus Aspergillus fumigatus are tiny, everywhere in the air and breathed in by humans every day.

They do not usually cause a problem for healthy people as their immune systems kill the spores before they can grow and infect the body. But in patients with an immune system weakened by leukaemia or bone marrow transplantation, the fungus faces...

Dementia: New insights into causes of loss of orientation

Authored by Mary Youlden
Posted: Mon, 01/18/2016 - 10:54am

New research has revealed how disease-associated changes in two interlinked networks within the brain may play a key role in the development of the symptoms of dementia.

The University of Exeter Medical School led two studies, each of which moves us a step closer to understanding the onset of dementia, and potentially to paving the way for future therapies. Both studies, part-funded by Alzheimer’s Research UK, are published in the Journal of Neuroscience and involved collaboration with the University of Bristol.

Both studies shed light on how two parts of the brain’s ‘GPS’...

SETsquared ranked top university business incubator in world

University business incubator SETsquared, a partnership involving the University of Exeter, has been ranked as the best in the world by UBI Global.

SETsquared, the enterprise partnership of the universities of Exeter, Bath, Bristol, Southampton and Surrey, has been recognised as the best performing university business incubator on the globe at its investor showcase event in London today (Wednesday 25 November).

From start up only 13 years ago, SETsquared has supported over 1,000 hi-tech start-ups to develop and raise more than £1bn of investment, as well as contributing...

Marine airgun noise could cause turtle trauma

Authored by Mary Youlden
Posted: Wed, 11/25/2015 - 10:13am

Scientists from the University of Exeter are warning of the risks that seismic surveys may pose to sea turtles. Widely used in marine oil and gas exploration, seismic surveys use airguns to produce sound waves that penetrate the sea floor to map oil and gas reserves.

The review, published in the journal Biological Conservation, found that compared to marine mammals and fish, turtles are largely ignored in terms of research attention and are often omitted from policy guidelines designed to mitigate the environmental risks of seismic surveys.

Possible ramifications for...

Exeter academics recognised

Two rising research stars at the University of Exeter have been recognised by each receiving a highly prestigious Philip Leverhulme Prize.

Climate scientist Dr James Screen and optical physicist Dr Jacopo Bertolotti have both been awarded prizes of £100,000 towards their continued research, in recognition of their respective work on rapid Arctic climate change and light scattering in fundamental physics.

The Philip Leverhulme Prize is awarded to researchers who have already had a significant international impact and whose future research career is exceptionally promising...

Exeter Provost joins high-level taskforce to tackle harassment on university campuses

Professor Janice Kay, Provost of the University of Exeter, has accepted an invitation to join a high level taskforce designed to address all forms of harassment on University campuses.

The influential taskforce, set up by Universities UK, will explore what more can be done by universities across the country to prevent students from becoming victims of harassment and hate crimes on campus.

The taskforce has been established following a request from Jo Johnson MP, Minister of State for Universities and Science, in September 2015.

Professor Janice Kay commented: “I am...

Intensive farming link to Bovine TB

Authored by News Desk
Posted: Wed, 11/11/2015 - 8:56am

Intensive farming practices such as larger herd size, maize growth, fewer hedgerows and the use of silage have been linked to higher risk of bovine TB, new research has concluded.

A study by the University of Exeter, funded by BBSRC and published in the Royal Society journal Biological Letters, analysed data from 503 farms which have suffered a TB breakdown alongside 808 control farms in areas of high TB risk.

Dr Fiona Mathews, Associate Professor in Mammalian Biology, who led the study, said: “TB is absolutely devastating for farming, and it’s essential that workable...

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