News

• Scissoring the lipids 28 July 2014 A new strategy which enables molecules to be disconnected essentially anywhere, even remote from functionality, is described by researchers from the University of Bristol in Nature Chemistry today. The method is now being developed to explore the possibility of creating a tuberculosis (TB) vaccine.
• Vet School academic receives AVMF/Winn Feline Foundation Award 28 July 2014 This week the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) will recognise the University of Bristol feline medicine specialist Professor Timothy Gruffydd-Jones with the 2014 AVMF/Winn Feline Foundation Award at its 2014 meeting.
• Girls enjoy an engineering experience 28 July 2014 Last week, 97 girls aged 12- to 14-years-old from across the UK benefited from a unique hands-on learning experience at the University of Bristol. Financially supported by the ERA Foundation and Lloyd’s Register Foundation, this three-day residential programme [21-23 July] was organised by The Smallpeice Trust to provide students with the opportunity to learn about engineering through a series of presentations and practical workshops.
• Noise pollution impacts fish species differently 25 July 2014 Acoustic disturbance has different effects on different species of fish, according to a new study from the Universities of Bristol and Exeter which tested fish anti-predator behaviour.
• Fossils found in Siberia suggest all dinosaurs had feathers 24 July 2014 The first ever example of a plant-eating dinosaur with feathers and scales has been discovered in Russia. Previously only flesh-eating dinosaurs were known to have had feathers so this new find indicates that all dinosaurs could have been feathered.
• Seeing the same GP at every visit will reduce emergency department attendance 24 July 2014 Attendances at emergency departments can be reduced by enabling patients to see the same GP every time they visit their doctor’s surgery. This is just one of several recommendations made in a report published today, led by researchers at the University of Bristol.
• Age of puberty in girls influenced by the parent they inherit their genes from 23 July 2014 The age at which girls reach sexual maturity is influenced by ‘imprinted’ genes, a small sub-set of genes whose activity differs depending on whether the girl got her copy of the gene from her mother or her father, according to new research published today [23 July] in the journal Nature.
• Fingers on buzzers! Bristol’s quiz team prepares for Paxman 23 July 2014 The University of Bristol’s quest to prove its quizzing prowess begins on Monday, when they take on the Courtauld Institute of Art in the first round of the new series of University Challenge.
• Researchers hope to identify new drug targets to treat brain tumours 23 July 2014 Around 7,000 people in the UK develop primary brain cancer each year but only ten per cent of patients are still alive five years after diagnosis. A new research project has been awarded a grant of over £200,000 to look at a pathway in brain tumours called peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) and identify any possible new drug targets to treat the disease.
• £614,000 to continue exploration beneath Greenland Ice Sheet 18 July 2014 Last summer, scientists from the University of Bristol discovered the longest canyon in the world buried beneath three kilometres of ice in Greenland.