By Heather Hobbs BRINGING YOU THE LATEST RESEARCH & EVENTS NEWS FROM THE SCIENCE INDUSTRY Teeside University Pioneer Early Diagnosis of Sepsis


Academics at Teeside University are leading research with potential to dramatically reduce the amount of time it takes to diagnose patients at risk of developing sepsis, one of the most common causes of death in hospitalised patients, which could also save healthcare service sacross the globe billions of pounds. The £1.3 million CE- microArray project, which includes eight other European academic and SME partners, plans to use cavity enhanced absorption spectroscopy to improve the sensitivity of blood tests which are based on the absorption of light, by passing light many times through the sample.


Dr Meez Islam (left) and Professor Zulf Ali


In conjunction with the development of a more reliable biomarker panel for the diagnosis of sepsis risk, which will be undertaken by academic partners at the University of Freiburg and the University of Ulm in Germany, this could lead to a test which could be up


Nicholas Kurti Science Prize 2014


The Nicholas Kurti Science Prize 2014, which this year celebrates its 10th anniversary, has been awarded to Dr Alexander Ako Khajetoorians from Institute of Applied Physics, University of Hamburg. This prestigious award is sponsored by Oxford Instruments, a leading provider of high technology tools and systems for industry and research.


Dr Alexander Ako Khajetoorians


Dr. Khajetoorians joined the Institute of Applied Physics, University of Hamburg in 2008, following his graduate work in the group of Prof. Chih-Kang Shih at the University of Texas, Austin. He was awarded the prize for the first demonstration of all-spin atomic-scale logic devices as well as the realisation of artificial nanomagnets with tailored properties, based on the fundamental knowledge of the atomic-scale spin-dependent interactions. More recently, Alexander Khajetoorians has begun to


explore new materials like topological insulators, as well as address magnetisation dynamics at the atomic scale. He has already published several papers concerning the magnetisation dynamics of single spins coupled to metallic surfaces.


His achievements were recognised by the Gerhard Ertl Young Investigator Award at the spring meeting of the German Physical Society (DPG) in 2012, which is an international award for young researchers recognising significant achievements in the field of surface science. He was also awarded an Emmy Noether Research Group in summer 2013, sponsored by the German Science Foundation (DPG), which he presently leads.


Professor George Pickett of Lancaster University, chairman of the committee of senior scientists who assess the nominations, commented: “The panel have decided to award the prize to Alexander Khajetoorians from a very strong panel of nominees. We were particularly impressed by his pioneering work on the magnetic aspects of nanoscience including spintronics down to the single-atom scale. His work shows much potential for the development of novel devices. The importance of this field has been demonstrated by its high prominence among the work of the prize nominees in recent years.”


The Nicholas Kurti European Science Prize is intended to recognise and promote outstanding achievements of young scientists in the field of physical sciences research and to support their career development. It is named after Professor Nicholas Kurti known for his distinguished work in ultra-low temperature physics at the Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford University. The prize winner receives a €8000 cash prize, a unique trophy and certificate. The winner also has the opportunity to present his work at a conference of his choice.


29351pr@reply-direct.com to 100 times more sensitive than conventional testing.


The project is being carried out under the EU Seventh Framework programme (FP7) and is being coordinated by Dr Meez Islam, a Reader in Physical Chemistry in the School of Science & Engineering at Teesside University. One of the SME partners in the project is Anasyst, a company specialising in novel analytical systems which was spun out of Teesside University research. Dr Islam said: “At the end of this project, we hope to have novel ways of testing for sepsis which could have a massive impact across the world. We’ve seen that it can work in specialised cases and anything that can speed up the diagnosis times and start treatment earlier, even by a small amount, could potentially save thousands of lives each year.”


Professor Zulf Ali, the Dean of Teesside University’s Graduate Research School, and CEO of Anasyst, added: “This is an extremely prestigious project for Teesside University which could have enormous benefits worldwide. It showcases the high quality research which is done at Teesside and the way in which we can work with the healthcare industry to provide practical solutions to global problems.”


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Students Recover Space Experiment from Arctic Circle


A team of students has recovered crucial data from an innovative experiment that could reduce the cost of space construction with help from Swedish hunters.


Science and engineering students from the Universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow along with Stockholm’s Royal Institute of Technology have been developing a smart space foundation that will support larger structures, such as telescopes or telecommunications antennae.


The web-like platform, known as Suaineadh – or ‘twisting’ in Scots Gaelic, was launched on- board the sounding rocket REXUS12 from the Swedish space centre Esrange in March 2012; however the section containing recorded data could not be found after re-entry despite a 10- day recovery mission in Northern Sweden, where the students faced freezing arctic conditions and were forced to concede defeat – until its discovery, with data intact, by Swedish hunters 18 months later.


Experiment shortly before launch in March 2012 (from left to right: Mark Fittock (payload manager), Jerker Skogby, Adam Wujek, Fredrik Rogberg, Thomas Sinn, Malcolm McRobb, Junyi Wang and Mark Uitendaal (payload manager)


Delighted that the huge amount of work behind the project, involving years of collaboration with partners had not been in vain, Thomas Sinn, Project Manager for the experiment at the University of Strathclyde, said: “The cameras attached to the central section have provided almost 1,000 images that have let us see the ejection of the web and show the deployment held in tension by the centrifugal forces resulting in an interesting deployment sequence. This is a significant step forward and will allow future projects to improve the concept and help make ambitious space projects involving large structures more technically feasible.”


Suaineadh platform


Malcolm McRobb, of the University of Glasgow, added: “The purpose behind the Suaineadh experiment was to provide a proof-of-concept that is scalable in design. We imagine that such a device could one day be adapted to deploy much larger structures in space, ranging from huge antenna arrays, solar isolators, solar panels, solar sails, and even scaffolding structures from which to build other structures from whilst in orbit about the Earth. The possibilities are as endless as they are vast, and that is the reason why Suaineadh was such an exciting project to work on as a university student.”


Researchers at the three institutions are now working on the post-processing of the collected data to validate deployment simulations. Such simulations can be used to develop space structures faster, without the need for expensive testing in space.


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