York Science and Innovation Grand Tour
Posted on 8 August 2012
Mark Coles and Peter O'Toole
Did you know that University of York scientists use cutting edge 4-Dimensional imaging technologies to understand how your immune system works?
Shown in the image are cancer cells used by researchers to study how blood cells communicate to fight infection. Sophisticated 4-Dimensional (3D space and time) imaging technology allows researchers at York to understand how the immune system protects against disease and develop new treatments for cancer, autoimmune and infectious disease.
CNAP and East-west Seed
Did you know that York plant biologists, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, have developed new varieties of a medicinal plant that cures the killer disease malaria.
This image shows the leaf surface of Artemisia annua where artemisinin, a vital drug in the fight against malaria, is made in specialised cells called trichomes. Malaria claims a million lives every year and University scientists are using the latest technologies to develop high-yielding varieties of the plant, to help meet the increasing demand for affordable malaria medicines. Working in partnership with East-West Seed, an international seed production company, the aim is to introduce seeds commercially from 2012.
Bioscience Technology Facility, Peter O'Toole, Chris Elliott and Henry Leese
Did you know that state-of-the-art equipment and expertise at the University of York’s Bioscience Technology Facility enable York scientists to work at the forefront of their specialist research area.
This image of a perfectly intact root tip, just 150 micrometres across, was produced using the £350,000 microscope in the Bioscience Technology Facility where specialist laboratories and expert staff support cutting-edge research and solve technological challenges for scientists and businesses throughout the world.
Andrew King, Marjan van der Woude, the Imaging and Cytometry Laboratory, Meg Stark, Ken Jarrell, James Chong, Mel Thompson, James Moir, and Peter Young
Did you know that York scientists are developing novel ways to fight bacterial disease and to exploit these microscopic organisms to improve our environment.
Some bacteria cause disease but others can be used to our benefit. The image shows intestinal Escherichia coli bacteria, each just 1/1000th of a millimetre long and expressing either red or green fluorescent protein. At York, researchers are looking at novel ways to combat disease-causing bacteria but also to exploit bacteria for our benefit, such as cleaning explosives from contaminated soil and generating energy from plant waste.
Gareth Evans, Will Brackenbury, Sean Sweeney, Chris Elliot and Sangeeta Chawla
Did you know that neurobiologists at the University of York use fruit flies and cultured brain cells to study learning and dementia.
Calcium isn’t just good for healthy teeth and bones, it’s also an important signalling molecule in the brain. The picture shows calcium in cultured neurons, with warmer colours indicating high calcium. When we learn, calcium levels rise, telling neurons to strengthen connections with their neighbours and thus encode memories.
Tom Keef, Jess Wardman, Neil Ranson, Peter Stockley and Reidun Twarock
Did you know that Viruses, like this Pariacoto Virus, have the same geometric structure as a football and obey the same mathematical rules of symmetry.
An interdisciplinary team from the Universities of York and Leeds have been able to predict the geometric shapes of viruses. Understanding more about their geometry in terms of size, symmetry and internal structure could help scientists to predict how viruses mutate and spread and find new ways to treat viral infections.
Geoff Oxford
Did you know that University of York researchers have used the iconic Tansy beetle to explore important ecological processes and to establish a model system for future insect conservation.
In Britain Tansy beetles (Chrysolina graminis) are only found within 25km of York on the banks of the River Ouse, often feeding on the leaves of their favourite food, the tansy plant. Their beautiful iridescent green colouring has led to them being christened the ‘Jewel of York’.
Simon McQueen-Mason, CNAP, BDC
Did you know that Enzymes found in the wood-boring isopod, the gribble, could hold the key to converting wood and straw into liquid biofuels.
For centuries sea-farers were plagued by wood-eating gribbles that destroyed their ships.
Lorna Maclean, Debbie Smith, Peter O'Toole
Did you know that scientists in York are developing new drugs and vaccines to combat some of the world’s most deadly tropical diseases caused by microscopic organisms.
Leishmania parasites, transmitted by blood-feeding sandflies in 90 countries worldwide, cause chronic disease in man and other mammals. The parasites move using a long flagellum which is lost following introduction into the mammalian host. Here, fluorescent dyes show the flagellum and internal structures of the parasite, features that are normally invisible to the naked eye.
Jenny Southgate, Jack Birch Unit
Did you know that York scientists were the first to create human bladder tissue in the laboratory and this is now being used to find new treatments for bladder diseases including cancer.
Bladder cancer is the seventh commonest cancer, affecting twice as many men as women.
Norman Maitland, YCR
Did you know that York scientists were the first to isolate prostate cancer stem cells allowing them to explore why they are more resistant to treatment than other cancer cells.
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Last updated on 13 August 2012
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