Biology News Spring/Summer2011

Please download the current Biology Newsletter (PDF, file size: 197.79KB) here.

The First Biology Newletter (PDF, file size: 237.3KB) is also available here.

The Second Biology Newsletter (PDF, file size: 231.93KB) here.

The Third Biology Newsletter (PDF, file size: 231.59KB) here.

‘HEDGEROW FUTURES’ INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM:
3rd -5th September 2012.

 

Hedgelink’s first International Symposium on Hedgerow Ecology, Conservation and Management ‘Hedgerow Futures’ is to be held at Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent , UK. The meeting will address the following themes: Biodiversity, Connectivity, Ecosystem Services, Sustainability, Management, Relationship with People.

 

Further information is available at: http://www.hedgelink.org.uk/hedgerow-futures-conference-2012.htm or from the conference convenor Prof. John Dover j.w.dover@staffs.ac.uk

 

A Staffordshire University lecturer has won first prize at a major national conference. Ian Davies (Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Science within the Faculty of Sciences) won the prize for the best education, training and management poster presentation at the recent Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS) Congress held at the ICC in Birmingham in September 2011. The IBMS is the professional body for biomedical scientists and its biennial 3-day conference attracts scientists and educationalists from across the UK. Having recently completed a postgraduate certificate in medical education Ian’s poster aimed to identify areas of commonality between the assessment of junior doctors and biomedical scientists working in clinical practice. Ian, who is also a full time biomedical scientist within the NHS, said “registered biomedical scientists are responsible for analysing clinical samples which provide doctors with information to aid the diagnosis or monitoring of a disease. This requires high standards of analytical skills often in busy or pressurised conditions; in addition they must adhere to strict standards of professional behaviour to ensure that their patients’ welfare is protected and that they receive the best clinical care. By adapting and utilising some of the assessment tools used by junior doctors biomedical scientists can demonstrate their ongoing competency to practise together with developing their own skills and knowledge”.

Ian's poster can be accessed here (PDF, file size: 93.34KB) .

IBMS website www.ibms.org

John Dover was a co-convenor of Butterfly Conservation’s annual conference in March 2011 and, together with Butterfly Conservation Director Dr. Martin Warren and Dr. Tim Shreeve of Oxford Brookes University, has now edited a volume of the conference papers. The papers have been published as a special issue of the Journal of Insect Conservation (volume 15) and also as a book entitled Lepidoptera Conservation in a Changing Landscape (2011 Springer, Dordrecht).

 

‘The Great Fat Debate’ - Student engagement with contemporary lifestyle issues.

As part of the Science Working for You project Dr Sue Bird has been working with a group of year 12 students from St Josephs College Trent Vale.  Sue’s role has been to initiate and support them providing the initial topic area of obesity. This was chosen as it is identified as being a major health problem in the next 30 years and so will have an impact on their lives. This topic encourages their critical thinking on a contentious issue where they can research opinion and make decisions potentially affecting their lives enabling them to engage with science in the real world.
We have been impressed by the way in which the students have taken ownership and used their initiative in defining the question – ‘Who control’s what we eat?’ and devising appropriate questions for  their varied audiences.  To date they have developed and run a session within school to introduce the subject area, engage their peers and generated statistical data from the response to the question ‘Should the School control what we eat?’.  Following on from this very successful event the group are planning activities in the Potteries shopping centre where the wider public will be asked ‘Should the Government control what we eat?’ The project will culminate in a ‘Question Time’ event in school with a panel of ‘experts’ and an audience of peers, parents and carers.

 

NEW for 2010 - Short Courses and CPD in Biological and Biomedical Science. (PDF, file size: 178.28KB)

 

Dr. Dave Skingsley is a founder of a new natural history group for this region - Cheshire Active Naturalists.

Cheshire Active Naturalists is a new society to cater for adults who wish to advance their skills in a variety of natural history-related taxon groups.

It is run by a group of passionate naturalists who wish to use their skills to benefit other naturalists which in turn benefits wildlife and wildlife recording in

For several years a small research group (of Dr Arthur Callaghan, Ian Hopkins, the late Steve Waters and Dr Rob Manning) at Staffordshire University has studied the biology of fungi of the genera Condiobolus and Basidiobolus. These are close allies of the important group (Entomophthorales) researched world-wide as potential control agents of agricultural pest insects and mites. Strains of the test fungi used in my work are from a small plantation of hybrid larch at Keele, in an area repeatedly sampled as a model habitat (Smith & Callaghan 1987; Hopkins unpublished; Callaghan unpublished.).

For the mainly saprotrophic Conidiobolus spp., there are very few reports on the interactions of our fungi with invertebrates of soil and litter (living or dead) and on the subsequent outcomes of such interactions. My research directly addresses questions on trophic (feeding) abilities of these fungi and on the behaviour of their spores (conidia). For example, in laboratory studies, I have quantitatively compared the ability of Conidiobolus spp. (and Basidiobolus ranarum) to colonise groups of leaf litter arthropod cadavers (mostly mites and collembola) and plant fragments (Manning et al., 2007).  Also, I have used novel methods to disclose the ability of a number of Conidiobolus spp. to kill arthropods of the mesofauna (Manning & Callaghan, 2008). The overall aim was to get at least a preliminary indication of the type of trophic interactions occurring between the selected Conidiobolus spp. and a range of freshly extracted arthropods from the surface and subsurface larch litter.

Ongoing work is aimed at understanding the effect of arthropod cadavers, or other substrates, on conidium germination. In leaf litter, cadavers may be a nutrient-rich substrate for species of Conidiobolus and Basidiobolus, with the potential to act as triggers for localised vegetative sprouting of conidia prior to any subsequent fungal colonisation. The effects of substances leaking from arthropod (mite and collembolan) cadavers, diffusing into a surrounding water agar medium and initiating spore germination is being explored in laboratory experiments.

Following on from preliminary studies (RM thesis), future work will examine the variation of the germination of conidia on the external surfaces of invertebrates to disclose possible specific animal targets.

Staffordshire University student’s success at Bournemouth University on the MSc Forensic and Biological Anthropology: Crime Scene and International Investigations – one finishes as the next one joins!  Karen Redmile has just successfully completed the course at Bournemouth and hot on her trail of success is Kelly Eggleton.

“Forensic Archaeology involves the use of archaeological principles and techniques for the location, recovery, and interpretation of evidence for past events within the constraints of the criminal justice system. Forensic archaeology utilises both field and laboratory skills in the investigation of serious crime, missing persons cases, human rights and mass disasters which ranges from searching for and excavating clandestine graves to the international investigation of crimes against humanity.”

As part of their degree studies both Karen (B.Sc. Biomedical Science) and Kelly (B.Sc. Forensic Biology) completed final year undergraduate projects at Staffordshire University with Professor John Cassella and decided that they wished to make the specialist discipline - Forensic Archaeology their career choice.

We wish both Karen and Kelly success and we will follow their careers with interest.

Foundation Degree in Biomedical Science – the Employer Perspective

The Associate Practitioner role is a new and very important role in pathology. Many of our Associate Practitioners have worked in the laboratory as Medical Laboratory Assistants prior to becoming an Associate Practitioner so they have laboratory experience but often limited formal qualifications. Working closely with Staffordshire University to develop the curriculum means that the foundation degree offers exactly what the students and the workplace needs. The strong focus on Work Based Learning leads to students gaining credit for structured evidence collected whilst in the laboratory.
The students studying for the University Certificate are kept in a small group with modules specifically aimed at improving their learning skills. This gives the students confidence in their ability and the confidence to give feedback on the course content. In the second and third years the students spend some time with students on the BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science course which helps both the full time students and those on the foundation degree as they can share knowledge and the foundation degree students can pass on their laboratory experience.
Regular communication between Staffordshire University and the University Hospital of North Staffordshire provides feedback on the student’s progress and any issues raised by laboratory or student have been promptly and professionally dealt with by the University. Laboratory based mentors spend time each week with the students to discuss current modules and any issues. There has been a very positive impact on the whole laboratory since the introduction of the foundation degree for the Associate Practitioner.

Katie Berger
Quality Manager, Training Officer and Health & Safety Co-ordinator
Pathology Directorate.
University Hospital of North Staffordshire.

Dr Angela Priestman has just completed her first year of research characterising different populations of the screwworm fly Cochliomyia hominivorax. This fly is a significant pest species of the new world tropics but has been introduced into the old world via the trade in animals. The fly lays its eggs in open wounds on cattle (for example) and the resulting larvae consume the tissues causing much harm. Dr Priestman’s work, which is funded by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) aims to compare wild populations of new world screwworm fly with those bred in fly factories and sterilised before release into the wild. Sterilised release male flies should mate normally with wild female flies and, of course, no offspring are produced. This has the effect of reducing fly numbers in a given locality.

The first year of Dr Priestman's studies have focused on establishing the technique, with the assistance of Pete Martin (Experimental Officer), in the Analytical Suite of the Faculty of Sciences. Angela and Pete have submitted their progress report and await confirmation of the second year of funding.

• Dover, J.W.; Rescia, A.; Fungariño; S.; Fairburn, J.; Carey, P.; Lunt, P.; Arnot, C.; Dennis R.L.H. & Dover C.J. (2011) Land-use, environment, and their impact on butterfly populations in a mountainous pastoral landscape: individual species distribution and abundance. Journal of Insect Conservation, 15: 207-220.

• Dover, J.W.; Spencer, S.; Collins S.; Hadjigeorgiou I. & Rescia. A. (2011) Grassland butterflies and low intensity farming in Europe. Journal of Insect Conservation, 15: 129-137.

• Dover, John, Warren, Martin and Shreeve, Tim (2011) 2010 and beyond for Lepidoptera (editorial note).  Journal of Insect Conservation, 15:1-3.
  

• Merry S, Skingsley DR and Orsmond P. Fostering lifelong learning within a social constructivist environment. In: Proceedings of the 17th Improving Student Learning Symposium 2009. Ed C.Rust Oxford Centre for staff and learning development. Ch7 pp168-180 ( 2010). ISBN 978-1-873576-79-3 http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsld/isl/isl2009/papers/session4/merry.html 

• Skingsley, D. Introduction to the central nervous system. In The New Prescriber: An integrated approach to medical and non-medical prescribing. Ed Lymn, Bowskill, Bath-Hextall and Knaggs. Wiley-Blackwell. Ch29 pp372-382 (2010) ISBN 978-0-470-51987-5

• Skingsley, D. Neurdegenerative disorders. In The New Prescriber: An integrated approach to medical and non-medical prescribing. Ed Lymn, Bowskill, Bath-Hextall and Knaggs. Wiley-Blackwell. Ch30 pp383-393 (2010) ISBN 978-0-470-51987-5

• Skingsley, D. Depression and Anxiety. In The New Prescriber: An integrated approach to medical and non-medical prescribing. Ed Lymn, Bowskill, Bath-Hextall and Knaggs. Wiley-Blackwell. Ch31 pp394-405 (2010) ISBN 978-0-470-51987-5

• Skingsley, D. Schizophrenia. In The New Prescriber: An integrated approach to medical and non-medical prescribing. Ed Lymn, Bowskill, Bath-Hextall and Knaggs. Wiley-Blackwell. Ch32 pp406-415 (2010) ISBN 978-0-470-51987-5

• Dover, J.W.; Rescia, A.; Fungariño, S.; Fairburn, J.; Carey, P.; Lunt, P.; Dennis, R.L.H. & Dover, C.J. (2010) Can hay harvesting detrimentally affect adult butterfly abundance? Journal of Insect Conservation, 14: 413-418.

• Hopkins, Ian J. and Callaghan, Arthur A. (2010) Survival of Conidiobolus spp. and Basidiobolus ranarum in relation to relative humidity and temperature. Fungal Ecology, 3: 148-159.

• Rescia, A.J.; Fungariño, S.G. & Dover, J.W. (2010) Reactivación del sistema socioecológico ganadero de Picos de Europa (norte de España)/ Recovery of social-ecologial livestock farming system of the Picos de Europa (northern Spain). Ecosistemas, 19(2) May.