The latest Business updates from the science industry
by Heather Hobbs Wolfson Grant supports UK’s First Marine Microbiome Facility
Marine Fungi Culture Collection. Credit: Cunliffe Lab, MBA
The Wheeler Group at MBA are studying Marine Phytoplankton using a combination of genomic and physiological techniques to understand how algae sense and respond to their environment. Pic Credits: Wheeler Lab, MBA.
A £1.35-million Wolfson grant awarded to the Marine Biological Association (MBA) will help support the building of a new Marine Microbiome Centre of Excellence that will focus on the microscopic world of the ocean to expand our understanding of ocean health and the impacts of climate change.
The new centre will be located in Plymouth, Devon, where proximity and access to the sea, coupled with the MBA’s own research vessels will provide a focal point for international researchers in a dedicated facility.
Paul Ramsbottom, Chief Executive of the Wolfson Foundation said: “We were enormously impressed by the quality of the current research at the MBA and the ambition to create world-class research infrastructure to match. The broad area of marine biology could scarcely be of greater importance at the current moment and we are delighted to support the organisation in building on its long, proud history.”
Welcoming the investment MBA Director Professor Willie Wilson said: “We are excited to receive such a prestigious grant which will make an enormous difference to improving research facilities at the
MBA. The new Centre is part of a wider strategy we have termed, “Pathway to 150 Years of the MBA” which takes inspiration from the Marine Biological Association’s eminent scientifi c roots and spirit of discovery.”
Work is already well underway on the new facility, with the recent completion of the Huxley Imaging Centre that houses some of the most advanced microscopes in the world thanks to over £1.4-million in grants from the Natural Environment Research Council and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.
Professor Wilson further noted: “the research conducted at the new Centre will be a lens to a marine microbial world that is critical for the planet’s health, it is akin to the role the human gut bacteria play in human health.”
MBA President, Dr Gill Rider said: “Never has there been a more important time in human history for us to better understand the role of our oceans, the life they support and the impact of climate change. This exciting new Centre will ensure that the MBA remains at the forefront of Marine Biology research.”
Working with Burwell Architects, this phase of the MBA infrastructure improvement programme (which is part of an ambitious £20-million site masterplan) should be completed by the end of 2021.
Further information from
www.mba.ac.uk 52933pr@reply-direct.com
Prestigious Award Presented to RMS President Professor Grace Burke
The Royal Microscopical Society is proud to report that current RMS President Grace Burke has received the prestigious Henry Clifton Sorby award of the International Metallographic Society/ ASM International, which is awarded annually to an individual who is internationally recognised for contributions to metallurgy/ materials science made throughout their career.
A pioneering materials research scientist, Grace has a wealth of experience on both sides of the Atlantic. Since joining the University of Manchester in late 2011, she has been Director of the Materials Performance Centre where her research group focuses on understanding the role of microstructure on the behaviour of materials used in power generation applications, including irradiation damage of structure alloys, stress corrosion cracking and environment-sensitive behaviour of steels and Ni-base alloys, as well as applications of in situ analytical TEM to study nanoscale metal/environment reactions.
Professor Grace Burke
Her emphasis on advanced microstructural characterisation techniques to understand the microstructure and its role in materials performance has been a continuing theme of her research.
Returning to the US after her PhD in Metallurgy at Imperial College of Science and Technology, Grace has over 35 years’ experience as a research scientist in the United States, including the Westinghouse Science and Technology Centre and the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory. During her time at the latter, she became the fi rst woman Consultant in the history of the Bettis Laboratory, performing research on structural materials for nuclear power systems.
Grace said: “I am deeply honoured to receive the prestigious Henry Clifton Sorby Award for 2020. As a ferrous metallurgical scientist and as president of the Royal Microscopical Society, I consider myself privileged to follow in Dr Sorby’s footsteps.
In providing
his seminal contribution to linking the properties of steels to their microstructures, Dr Sorby paved the way for the systematic approach of materials science and laid the foundations for the development of the many materials that are the basis of our modern world. His recognition that microstructure controls the properties of steels is a mantra that is as valid today as when he fi rst articulated it.”
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