ISSUE 64 SEPTEMBER 2010

Pick of the postdocs

What’s on the cards for our Sir Henry
Wellcome Fellows?

Picture this
Using comics to explain medicine

Bad science?
The dual-use dilemma
 Wellcome News
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Cover: Playing cards of Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral
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WellcomeNews | Issue 64
Editorial
of Oxford, Dr Heidi Johansen-Berg has
recently had her Senior Research Fellowship
renewed; she is looking at how the structure
of the brain changes when we learn new
skills and when the brain recovers from
damage such as stroke. Meanwhile, Dr
Parashkev Nachev at University College
London has been funded to produce a
system that marries automated brain
imaging, to capture patterns of brain
damage, with computers that can infer the
relationship between the damage and the
outcome in the patient. This will help
doctors to determine the best treatment for
the patient.
At the heart of our Strategic Plan are the five
In our challenge on ‘combating infectious
research challenges that will shape much
disease’, a Strategic Translation Award to
of our work over the coming decade. Each
Professor Andrew Pollard at the University of
challenge is a theme that brings together
Oxford will help to take a new vaccine
the many different activities of the Trust –
against meningitis B from preclinical studies
including research in biology and medicine,
to phase I clinical trials in humans.
the translation of research into healthcare
Meningitis B is the leading cause of bacterial
products, public engagement, history of
meningitis in the UK, causing 1500–2500
medicine and the ethics of research.
cases each year, and is also a major infectious
For both our Strategic Awards and
cause of death in childhood. Meanwhile,
Investigator Awards, we are asking
Professor Kaspar Althoefer at King’s College
applicants to consider how their research
London and colleagues are developing a way
will address one or more of these challenges.
to combat the emerging problem of
This is particularly important because each
counterfeit medicines. In low-to-middle-
challenge comes with intent – that the work
income countries, 10–30 per cent of
we fund should make a difference. For
medicines are fake, placing patients at
example, ‘maximising the health benefits of
extreme risk. Professor Althoefer’s system
genetics and genomics’ makes clear that if
uses radio waves to detect signals from
we and our partners are to be successful,
medicines (or their imposters), even through
genetics research must feed through into
packaging.
important improvements in the lives and
Under our challenge on ‘investigating
health of patients and others.
development, ageing and chronic disease’
The last few months have seen the launch
we have awarded £3.8 million to a team at
or funding of a number of projects that
the University of Bristol to develop a new
address our challenges directly. In the field
painkiller for the severe chronic pain
of genetics, alongside the celebration of the
associated with diabetes, for which there are
human genome sequencing’s ten-year
currently limited effective treatments. The
anniversary in June came the launch of the
new analgesic is based on galanin, a small
ambitious UK10K project. As its name
protein that is made by nerve cells and that
suggests, UK10K will decode the genomes of
can reduce neuropathic pain.
10 000 people over the next three years and
Finally, in our challenge on ‘connecting
is expected to uncover many rare genetic
environment, nutrition and health’, I was
variants that are important in human
very pleased that we could announce £10m
disease. The project will studying 4000
of funding, through the Insect Pollinators
people from TwinsUK and the Avon
Initiative, for nine projects investigating the
Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children
decline of honeybees and other pollinating
– two extremely fruitful studies that the
insects in recent years. These projects will be
Trust supports – as well as 6000 people with
exploring the causes and consequences of
extreme obesity, neurodevelopmental
threats to these insect populations.
disease and other conditions.
In our challenge area of ‘understanding
the brain’, two projects looking at stroke
– the leading cause of adult disability in the
UK – aim to help us to understand and
reduce the devastating effects it can have on
Sir Mark Walport
the lives of those affected. At the University Director of the Wellcome Trust
In this issue
Funding

2 African genomics studies

Investigator Awards open
7
8
Capital funds for UK universities 8

20
News

New biomedical research centre 2

Wellcome Collection’s millionth visitor 2
Giant trypanosome in Glasgow 3

Research

Malaria-carrying lizards 12
Dopamine and willpower 13
Blood donors’ views 17

18
Genes linked to diabetes 18

Features
Noticeboard 21
Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellows 4
Picture this: comics and medicine 10
The dual-use dilemma 14
Illuminating Florence Nightingale 20

12
10
WellcomeNews | Issue 64 | 1
News
Visions of new biomedical research centre
Impression of UKCMRI seen from Eurostar Terminal. Justin Piperger/Wadsworth3d. Inset: UKCMRI entrance atrium. Glowfrog
These are the latest artist impressions of how one of the biggest centres for biomedical
research in Europe will look. The designs and a video fly-through for the UK Centre for
Medical Research and Innovation (UKCMRI), at St Pancras in London, were released
alongside the Centre’s scientific vision and research strategy. UKCMRI, to be headed by
Nobel Laureate Sir Paul Nurse, is founded by the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research
Council, Cancer Research UK and University College London. www.ukcmri.ac.uk
Wellcome Collection reaches 1 million visitor milestone
On 20 July 2007 Wellcome Collection
opened to the public. Just three years later,
one million people have passed through
its doors. Yaphet Berihoun, a student and
regular user of the Wellcome Library, was
the milestone visitor and received a goodie
bag to mark the event.
Wellcome Collection’s latest temporary
exhibition, Skin, wrapped up in September.
Yaphet Berihoun, Wellcome Collection’s 1 millionth visitor.
2 | WellcomeNews | Issue 64
A summer of related events included
sessions on the science of healthy skin
(audio recording available at www.
wellcomecollection.org), the history
and cultural significance of tattoos and
the ‘Skin: Exposed’ symposium, which
explored nakedness in different periods,
cultures and contexts.
High Society, which opens in November,
will look at mind-altering drugs in history
and culture. The exhibition will explore
everything from apothecary to laboratory
studies, self-experimentation, collective
intoxication and the drugs trade. An
accompanying series of events will include
a two-day symposium and discussion
events curated by cultural historian Mike
Jay. Also in November, free Friday-night
extravaganza ‘Hand’ will celebrate the
functional organ that allows us to make,
touch and hold.
Finally, a new app for the iPhone and
iPod Touch gives you your very own
multimedia Medical London guide in your
pocket. Produced in association with City
Stories Walks, the free app ‘Blood, Guts,
Brains and Babies’ leads you through the
streets of London, bringing together film,
audio and photographs from our archives.
Download the app from iTunes, or find the
app and more at www.citystorieswalks.com.
Trust embarks on new
education strategy
We have recently completed our new
education strategy, which was agreed
at the Wellcome Trust Governors
meeting in June. The strategy will focus
on four key areas: playing a leading
role in science education; embedding
continuing professional development
for teachers; building our reputation as a
trusted deliverer of contemporary science
resources; and strengthening research and
development in primary science and the
transition to secondary school, informal
learning, and understanding the links
between neuroscience and learning.
More immediately, we will be publishing
the findings of an investigation into pupil
and parent attitudes to assessment at Key
Stage 2 (age 11). This innovative study
incorporated children aged 10 and 11 into
the research team, providing fresh insights
into children’s views of assessment. We will
also publish the outcomes of a seminar,
held in July, marking 21 years since the
National Curriculum was introduced.
These reports are timely, given that the
new UK government is currently outlining
its proposals to revise the curriculum and
school assessment in England.
Pacific Health Summit held
in the UK
Sir Mark Walport addresses the Summit.
In June the Pacific Health Summit, the
world’s most prestigious health policy
summit, came to London for the first time.
The annual meeting brings together key
leaders from science, industry, health
systems and government to discuss how
scientific advances and appropriate policy
can be combined to make dramatic health
improvements around the globe. This year’s
topic was maternal and newborn child
health. The Summit was co-presented by the
Wellcome Trust, the Fred Hutchinson
Cancer Research Center, the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation and the National Bureau
of Asian Research.
www.pacifichealthsummit.org
Meetings explore medical futures
As the drug development industry looks
for alternative ways to find new medicines,
‘open source’ partnerships between
academics and pharmaceutical companies
are increasingly common. But challenges
remain. These were explored in a two-day
Frontiers meeting hosted at the Trust and
attended by representatives from both
public and private sectors. The conclusions
include the development of a cross-sector
working group for the identification and
validation of drug targets, and agreement
on the need for common repositories
for drug targets, failed drugs and key
compounds.
Comics and comics
The giant trypanosome is marched through Glasgow. Stewart Cunningham, Great Scot Photography
There was an unusual addition to the
Glasgow West End Festival parade this
summer: a giant trypanosome. The
7-metre model, 500 000 times the size of
the actual parasite, was created to raise
awareness of research on human African
trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), a
devastating disease that affects 70 000
people and countless animals on the
continent. The work was the brainchild of
Jamie Hall, a PhD student at the Wellcome
Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology in
Glasgow. He and artist Edward Ross created
a comic book to accompany the parade
(download it at www.wellcome.ac.uk/
Making history
A new book charts
A separate workshop at the Trust looked
the history of the
at hospital-associated infections, such
Trust, from Sir
as MRSA and Clostridium difficile, and
Henry Wellcome’s
the patient pathway. Some 40 delegates,
interest in medicine
including scientists, healthcare workers,
and the challenges
industry representatives, policy makers
of establishing a
and patients, highlighted the many facets
medical research
of the problem, such as detection and
charity, to the shaping of the
surveillance, hospital design and disease
organisation it is today. Written by
transmission. Among the conclusions
former Trust Director Peter Williams,
were the need for standard operating
The Story of the Wellcome Trust is
procedures, new diagnostics and a national
published by Quiller Press and priced
surveillance database.
at £16.95.
www.countrybooksdirect.com
Students win Galápagos trip
From left: Eleri Morgan, Jessica Woodfield, Charlotte
Woodfield and Rebecca Hill.
Four lucky students from St Cyres School
in Penarth, Wales, have won the Survival
Rivals competition and received their
prize at the British Science Festival in
Birmingham. Jessica Woodfield, Becky Hill,
Eleri Morgan and Charlotte Woodfield will
be packing their bags in October for the trip
of a lifetime to the Galápagos Islands, 175
years after Charles Darwin was there himself.
The students won the prize for producing
a film called Bacteria: The future, in which
they explain to Darwin how science has
progressed since the publication of On the
Origin of Species and show him evolution in
action using the Wellcome Trust X-Bacteria
kit produced as part of the Darwin200 year
celebrations.
parasites).
www.survivalrivals.org
Comics of another kind, Timandra
Harkness and Matt Parker, brought the
maths of death to Edinburgh Fringe Wellcome Image Awards
Festival with the People Award-funded
Judging for the next Wellcome
comedy act ‘Your Days are Numbered’.
Image Awards takes place very soon.
As they put it, “You have a 0.000043 per
A panel of expert judges from the
cent chance of dying during this show.
world of science and media will
You will at least die laughing.”
consider all images acquired before
15 October 2010. If you produce
Read our feature about images as part of your research we
comics and medical want to hear from you. Contact Dr
education on pages 10–11. Laura Pastorelli:
l.pastorelli@wellcome.ac.uk.
WellcomeNews | Issue 64 | 3
Carving a niche
In 2006, the Wellcome Trust launched
the Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral
Fellowships, which give newly
qualified postdoctoral
researchers £250 000 to pursue
research questions and establish
an independent research career.
Chrissie Giles caught up with some of
these pioneering postdocs to hear how
they’re getting on.
You’ve got your BSc, maybe an MSc too.
A year or four chained to the laboratory
bench, the long days of experiments and
even longer nights of thesis writing behind
you and you’ve earned your PhD. So what
now? For many researchers, the next step is
to find a postdoctoral position in a lab.
But not all postdocs are the same. In
2006, the Wellcome Trust introduced a
scheme unlike any other available in the
4 | WellcomeNews | Issue 64
UK. Every year since, up to 20 researchers
each receive £250 000 over four years to
launch their independent research careers.
Fellows can divide their time between
different institutions across the world,
giving them the chance to get experience
in the best labs for their field, gain
independence and make contacts.
We spoke to some of the current Fellows
to find out about their experiences and
research so far, and the best ways to
secure one of these Fellowships. Inspired?
It’s not too late to apply for this year’s
competition; visit www.wellcome.ac.uk/
shwpf for details.
Dr Shane Herbert
Dr Shane Herbert was one of the first 20
researchers to be awarded a Sir Henry
Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship, in
late 2007. Having completed a PhD and a
year of postdoc research at the University
of Leeds, Shane headed to the USA to
undertake his Fellowship.
“The best place in the world to do what
I wanted to do was California, so I’ve
based my Fellowship at the University of
California, San Francisco. There’s such a
large network here that I’ve had multiple
collaborations with other researchers
within the faculty,” he says.
Shane is investigating how new blood
vessels form, on a molecular level.
Insufficient or excessive growth of blood
vessels plays a role in many different kinds
of disease, including cancer, blindness
and stroke. The ultimate aim of his work is
to identify the molecules that affect how
blood vessels behave and try to use them to
design drugs to combat these diseases.
He had planned to split his four-year
Fellowship between working on two
models: zebrafish and mouse. However,
when the zebrafish work proved
particularly promising early on, his plans
changed. “The flexibility of the award
allows me to stick with this model for now
and then pick up the mouse later on in my
career,” he says.
He appreciates the greater autonomy
“I don’t think I’d be in the
position I’m in currently
without my mentor”
and independence that this Fellowship
gives, compared with some other
postdoctoral schemes. “The salary is
included in the Fellowship, but then so
is money for consumables [the everyday
items needed for lab research],” he says.
“When you’re working in somebody
else’s lab as an independent fellow, this
is critical, because it means that you
can direct your own research and do the
experiment you want to do.”
Fellows are asked to find a mentor,
someone’s who’s independent of their
work, as part of the scheme. Shane has
found this invaluable: “I don’t think I’d be
in the position I’m in currently, looking
at future jobs, without my mentor, Steve
Watson at the University of Birmingham.
He’s helped with job negotiations, putting
together offers etc. You have tons of
questions, so it’s vital you choose someone
you feel comfortable with.”
Dr Tim Hallett
Like Shane, Dr Tim Hallett received one of
the inaugural Fellowships. Currently based
in Seattle at the University of Washington,
he’s studying interventions to stop the
spread of HIV and how these could be
tailored for different populations and
different epidemics.
“So far, my Fellowship’s been really,
really busy, but productive,” he says. “The
best thing has been being able to switch
focus and follow my nose a bit – following
up developments in the field, for instance,
as they arise.”
An example of this is the ‘test and treat’
debate, when a group working on HIV
said that to stop the disease they should
treat everyone who had the infection.
“This created an enormous debate in the
international research community,” Tim
says. “I switched focus for a little while to
work on that, and published a paper quite
quickly to add to the discussion. That was
really satisfying.”
He’s been part of many collaborations
as part of his Fellowship. As well as
keeping close links with Imperial College
London, where he did his PhD, he’s
also worked with agencies including
UNAIDS, the US Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention and the World
Health Organization. He’s travelled to a
number of places including Qatar,
Kenya, Zimbabwe and Thailand.
Most recently, he’s been working
with researchers from Karachi,
Pakistan to develop evidence-based
recommendations on how to help
injecting drug users there.1
“The travel was one of the
big draws for me,” he says.
“The field I’m in is very
international and there are
groups working all over the
world that I’d always wanted
to work with. The Fellowship
let me do that.
“It was quite a big step,
particularly as I’ve got two children
who came with me – but they’re
enjoying their holiday out here!”
Dr Marie-Jo Brion In a paper
Travel has played a large part in Dr Marie- recently
Jo Brion’s Fellowship. Her PhD involved published in
looking at the factors that influence Pediatrics,2 Marie-Jo
childhood blood pressure in the ALSPAC and colleagues showed that
cohort, made up of children born to over while socioeconomic predictors of
14 000 mothers living in the Bristol area maternal smoking in pregnancy differed
in the early 1990s. For her Fellowship she’s between ALSPAC and Pelotas, there was
expanded this work by also looking at a remarkable consistency in the association
second cohort, consisting of 5000 children
born in the Brazilian city of Pelotas in “It’s about taking forward the
1993. She is comparing both groups to try conventional approaches for
to understand what factors are involved in
different aspects of child health.
studying health and disease
While it’s not new to compare and trying to improve it and
populations, researchers tended to use get more reliable answers”
similar populations, with most research
coming from cohorts based in high- between maternal smoking and child
income countries, Marie-Jo says. For her behavioural problems, strengthening the
Fellowship, she’s comparing high- and likelihood that these problems are due to
middle-income groups. intrauterine effects of fetal exposure to
“When you compare two cohorts tobacco smoke.
that are as dissimilar as ALSPAC and Around halfway through her Fellowship,
Pelotas you get a better idea of whether she’s already spent six months working
something is causing a
particular condition or
not,” she says. “We can
compare and contrast,
for example, predictors
of maternal smoking
in pregnancy and then
use this to explore how
maternal smoking relates
to aspects of child health
in both populations.
These comparisons can
then give us a better idea
of whether biological
intrauterine factors are A meeting of Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellows at the Trust.
likely to be driving these associations, or in Brazil and 12 months at the University
if it’s more likely to be due to wider social, of Western Australia’s Centre for Genetic
psychological or environmental factors.” Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Here,
WellcomeNews | Issue 64 | 5

she’s been gaining experience in the latest
techniques for using genetic information
in epidemiological studies, something new
to her for the Fellowship.
“I’m looking to use genetic information
as proxies for maternal exposures in
“Four years of research
funding, a generous
amount of travel and
opportunities to work
abroad. It’s a gift – if you
can get it, go for it!”
pregnancy,” Marie-Jo says. For example,
there are genetic variants related to
whether or not mums stop smoking during
pregnancy, and how effectively people’s
bodies break down the ethanol in alcohol.
You can use these genetic variants as a
means to tease out to what extent mothers’
smoking or drinking in pregnancy
might biologically affect components of
development in children.
“It’s about taking forward the
conventional approaches for studying
health and disease and trying to improve it
and get more reliable answers,” she says.
Do it yourself
So what do these researchers think is the
secret to securing one of these prestigious
Fellowships? Shane is emphatic about
getting the right people behind you. “The
most important thing to do is to identify
the key people in the field doing what you
want to do, then approach them about
being sponsors for your application,” he
says. “Finding the best people is critical.”
6 | WellcomeNews | Issue 64
For the application itself, you must
identify a niche within your field of
interest that you can develop into. “This
will give you the best opportunity to
develop an independent research career
in the future. If you want a chance to
become one of the top three people in the
world in your field, then you need to be a
competitive researcher.”
Marie-Jo agrees about finding a unique
question: “I tried to think of a project
that pushed the boundaries a little bit.
It was exciting and interesting to try and
come up with things that might extend
conventional approaches and improve the
way we’re able to get answers.”
“It is a big jump from PhD,” she says, “but
a big learning curve, which is excellent. It’s
great knowing that how things turn out
is, by and large, a function of what you do
with your time, how well you liaise with
people and how well you work.”
“I have very warm and fuzzy feelings
for the Wellcome Trust for giving me this
opportunity and for filling this gap in the
market,” Tim laughs. “What would I say
to prospective applicants? Well, you’ve
got nothing to lose by applying. It’s one of
those really rare opportunities: four years
of research funding, a generous amount of
travel and opportunities to work abroad. It’s
a gift – if you can get it, go for it!”
References
1S
 trathdee SA et al. HIV and risk environment for injecting
drug users: the past, present, and future. Lancet
2010;376(9737):268–84.
2B
 rion M-J et al. Maternal smoking and child psychological
problems: disentangling causal and noncausal effect.
Pediatrics 2010;126(1):e57–65.
For more information on the scheme and to watch some
of the current Fellows, including Marie-Jo Brion, talk about
their experiences, visit www.wellcome.ac.uk/shwpf
This year’s Fellows
Congratulations to the 2010 Sir Henry
Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellows:
• Oliver Bannard, University of Oxford – The
regulation of B-cell responses during malaria
infections.
• Ross Chapman, CRUK London Research
Institute – Defining the role of BRCA1 and
associated proteins in suppressing 53BP1-
dependent toxic DNA repair.
• Molly Crockett, University College London
– Automatic and analytical altruism:
neurobiological foundations of human
prosocial behaviour.
• Samuel Dean, University of Oxford – The
trypanosome flagellar pocket functions and
adaptations in differentiation, pathogenicity
and immune evasion.
• Helge Dorfmueller, University of Dundee –
Mechanism and inhibition of chitin synthesis.
• Daniel Fazakerley, University of Dundee
– Use of proteomics and systems biology
to dissect the molecular adaptability of
metabolism in muscle and fat cells.
• Demis Hassabis, University College London
– Understanding the episodic memory
system and its critical role in future thinking.
• Nerea Irigoyen, University of Cambridge –
Ribosomal frame-shifting and read-through
in virus gene expression.
• Benjamin Judkewitz, London School of
Hygiene and Tropical Medicine – Optofluidic
microscopy for portable low-cost malaria
diagnostics.
• Line Löken, University of Oxford – Feelings
of pain and pleasure: delineating hedonic
sensation in the brain.
• Andrew MacAskill, University College
London – Spine-specific targeting of ion
channels in striatal neurons.
• John Perry, University of Exeter – Identifying
low-frequency and rare genetic variation
involved in type 2 diabetes using next-
generation sequencing data.
• Sridharan Rajagopalan, University of Oxford
– Proteases as next-generation therapeutics
for influenza A.
• Oliver Ratmann, Imperial College London
– Unravelling the dynamics of rapidly
evolving infectious diseases in humans with
approximate Bayesian computations.
• Anthony Roberts, University of Leeds –
Mechanisms regulating movement and force
generation by cytoplasmic dynein.
• Aleksandra Watson, University of Cambridge
– The structural basis of the interactions of
the NuRD co-repressor complex.
• Elton Zeqiraj, University of Dundee – A
structural and biochemical approach to
understand the molecular mechanism of
glycogen synthesis.
• Kaixin Zhou, University of Dundee –
Heritability and pharmacogenetics in patients
with type 2 diabetes.
Funding
Trust partnership to fund African genomics studies
The H3 Africa Project will support research across the continent.
A new $38 million (£24m) partnership
will be studying thousands of people
in Africa to discover how genes and the
environment interact in the development
of cancer, heart disease, malaria and other
diseases. The Human Heredity and Health
in Africa Project (H3 Africa), which we have
established with the US National Institutes
of Health, will see African researchers
leading studies of population-wide diseases
on the African continent. These will cover
both non-communicable diseases and
disorders, such as diabetes and mental
health, and infectious diseases such as
tuberculosis.
Previous research suggests that there
Scheme for global health
trials launched
In partnership with the UK Medical
Research Council and the UK Department
for International Development, we have
committed up to £12 million per year for
the next three years to fund late-stage trials
of health interventions that, by addressing
major causes of mortality or morbidity,
will help to improve health in low- and
middle-income countries.
The scheme focuses on late-stage
(phase III/IV) efficacy and effectiveness
trials, and its scope includes behavioural
interventions, disease management, drugs,
vaccines, and hygiene and diagnostic
strategies. Applications are now closed
for 2010, and final decisions on who will
receive support are expected in May 2011.
UK researchers gear up
for 10 000 genomes
Over the next three years, scientists
will be decoding the genomes of
10 000 people in one of the largest
DNA-sequencing programmes ever
undertaken. It is hoped that the
Trust-funded £10.5 million UK10K
project will help to uncover many
rare genetic variants important in
human disease.
Researchers from the Wellcome
Trust Sanger Institute, working
with clinical researchers from
around the UK, will sequence the
complete genomes of 4000 people
from the TwinsUK and ALSPAC
(Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents
and Children) studies, who have
been studied for many diseases and
traits over many years. They will
also look at the gene-containing
regions of the genomes of 6000
is greater genetic diversity in African
people with extreme obesity,
populations than those in Europe and
neurodevelopmental disease and
Asia. The project may help researchers to
other conditions.
identify rare genetic variations that affect
people all over the world. And as new
genetic factors are identified, this may
open up new ways to diagnose disease and
develop treatments.
“H3 Africa will build the capacity for
African researchers to study African
populations to solve African problems, and
will create strong collaborations between
African researchers and those in Europe,
the United States and other parts of the
world,” said Dr Charles N Rotimi, President
of the African Society for Human Genetics.
Ethicists meet to consider UK10K will draw on a twins database.
community UK10K follows on from the 1000
Genomes Project, an international
We supported a one-day meeting on the
collaboration to build the most
concept of community in bioethics in the
detailed map of human genetic
run-up to the World Congress of Bioethics
variation to date. The consortium
in Singapore in July. Convened by our
behind the project recently
Biomedical Ethics team with the help of Dr
announced the completion of three
Angus Dawson and Dr David Hunter from
pilot projects, the data from which
Keele University, the meeting brought
are now freely available in public
together some 50 ethicists, philosophers,
databases. The pilot studies have
social scientists and scientists from around
helped to optimise the sequencing
the world. They discussed philosophical
technology for the full-scale effort,
and cultural positions on how we define
which will build a database from
‘the community’ when thinking about the
the genomes of 2500 people from 27
ethical aspects of different areas of research
populations around the world.
and healthcare practice, such as genomics
research, research in disaster settings and
vaccination.
WellcomeNews | Issue 64 | 7
Funding
Investigator Awards to open in October
Neil Leslie
Our brand new Investigator Awards open
for applications on 1 October. These aim to
give exceptional researchers the flexibility
and support they need to innovate and
pursue bold ideas. The scheme extends
the successful model of fellowship support
to researchers in established academic
posts – that is, those who have permanent,
open-ended or long-term rolling contracts
Trust hails first Senior Fellow in Public Health
and Tropical Medicine
Professor Hector H
Garcia from the
Universidad
Peruana
Cayetano
Heredia,
Lima, Peru has
become the first
ever Wellcome
Trust Senior Fellow
in Public Health and
Tropical Medicine (for
researchers from low- and middle-income
countries).
He will continue his work on the brain
disease neurocysticercosis. The disease is
the major cause of acquired epilepsy in
low-income countries, and occurs when
the larvae of the pork tapeworm Taenia
solium enter the brain. Although the
parasites die eventually, they can become
calcified brain scars (above), and people
can suffer seizures years later. Recent
research led by Prof. Garcia at the Institute
of Neurological Sciences in Lima has
shown that some scars become inflamed
8 | WellcomeNews | Issue 64
UK universities receive
of employment salaried by
millions in capital funding
their university or research
Over £30 million is being invested in
institution.
large-scale university infrastructure
There are two categories:
projects courtesy of the Wellcome–
New Investigator Awards,
Wolfson Capital Awards initiative.
for world-class researchers
The scheme is intended to facilitate
who are no more than five
internationally competitive, leading-edge
years since appointment
biomedical research in a way that would
to their first established
not otherwise be possible.
academic position; and
Building on our Capital Awards
Senior Investigator Awards,
initiative launched in 2007, the
for exceptional researchers
new partnership with the Wolfson
who hold an established
Foundation has awarded funding
academic position and
of between £3m and £5m to seven
already have an outstanding
universities from across the UK. Professor
track record. We’ll be making
Simon Duckett at the University of
the first Awards in May 2011.
York has secured funding for the York
“This scheme furthers
Centre for Hyperpolarisation in MRI.
our focus on supporting the
Hyperpolarisation enables imaging
most outstanding scientists and providing
measurements that were previously
the flexibility needed to best enable them
impossible to be made in a few seconds.
to ask the most challenging questions,” says
The Centre’s ten-year programme of
Alan Schafer, Director of Science Funding at
interdisciplinary work will turn this
the Trust.
important scientific discovery into
We strongly advise potential applicants to
specific clinical applications.
contact us so we can review their eligibility
“World-class science needs to be
and provide advice.
supported by world-class infrastructure,
www.wellcome.ac.uk/investigators
which requires significant investment,”
said Sir Mark Walport, Director of the
Trust. “The Capital Awards partnership
between the Wellcome Trust and the
Wolfson Foundation will provide
an important injection of cash into
our universities at a time when they
when patients have a new seizure, raising
face uncertainty about future capital
questions about the role of these scars in
funding.”
causing seizures.
Prof. Garcia (below) will investigate
the contribution of neurocysticercosis to
the burden of seizures in Peru, where the
disease is endemic. He will also explore the
Brand new way to ask:
characteristics of the inflamed brain scars who am I?
and conduct a clinical trial to see whether
steroids can reduce seizures in people with The refurbished Who Am I? gallery is now
these scars. open at the Science Museum in London.
Funded in part through a £2.5 million
Wellcome Trust capital award, the gallery
presents the latest in biomedical research,
from neuroscience to genetics, exploring how
science is transforming our understanding of
what it means to be human.
National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins and
Nobel Laureate John Sulston at the Who Am I? gallery.
TNR/Science Museum
 Recent biomedical
sciences awards
Among the new awards made through
our Neuroscience and Mental Health
funding stream is one to Professor
Phil Maguire, a psychiatrist at King’s
College London who will be researching
psychosis at an early outreach clinic
in south London. He will investigate
why individuals develop the condition
using a combination of neuroimaging
methods.
Prof. Andrew Wilkie has been
awarded a programme grant through
our Molecules, Genes and Cells stream
to explore the consequences of ‘selfish
mutations’, which confer a growth
advantage to cells in the testes that
produce sperm. He and colleagues at
the University of Oxford will investigate
whether these mutations are more
common than thought and whether
they contribute to cancers and other
complex diseases in the offspring.
‘I’m a Scientist’ celebrates best year yet
Science’s answer to The X Factor – ‘I’m a
Scientist, Get Me Out of Here!’ – took place
in June, bigger and better than before. For
two weeks, over 5000 students from 150
schools read about the work of the 100
scientists involved, asked them questions
and joined them in live online chats. They
then voted for the scientist they wanted
to win, with those with the fewest votes
evicted, until a single winner from each of
20 zones was crowned.
The event inspired everyone who took
part: students formed fan clubs, scientists
stayed up all night making videos, and one
participant even responded to questions
from the toilet queue at Glastonbury.
Sophia Collins, co-producer of the event,
said: “I think the reason ‘I’m a Scientist’
is so successful is because it makes young
people feel empowered – by letting them
vote and having their vote count, it gives
them a reason to engage with the science,
Kidney anatomy. Medical Art Service, Munich
Prof. Dario Alessi from the University
of Dundee will use a project grant
awarded through the Physiological
Sciences stream to investigate a kidney
protein that’s targeted in the first-line
treatment for high blood pressure. His
work, in conjunction with researchers
in Mexico, should improve our
understanding of hypertension, which
could ultimately lead to new treatments.
and shows them that their opinion
matters. The fact that the event is real – real
scientists, real science, real prize money –
makes it a far more vivid experience.”
The event will run again next year, with
core funding from the same Welcome Trust
Society Award. The team is also looking to
run similar events in other countries and is
seeking local partners. imascientist.org.uk
Trust renews support for
Centres
A participant in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents
and Children being tested.
Our Strategic Award Committee recently
renewed funding for a number of our
best-known Centres. The Wellcome Trust
Centre for Cell Biology at the University
of Edinburgh was awarded £5 million over
five years to continue its work into the
molecular principles that underlie cellular
function. Professor David Tollervey will
replace Prof. Adrian Bird as Director there
in 2011.
The Wellcome Trust–Cancer Research
UK Gurdon Institute, Cambridge, which
promotes research at the interface of
developmental biology and cancer
biology, was awarded £10m funding
over five years. Researchers there study
normal animal development, including
cell differentiation, morphogenesis and
cell proliferation, and aim to understand
how cancers may develop when these
processes fail.
We awarded just under £8m over five
years to the Wellcome Trust Centre for
Neuroimaging at University College
London and its Director, Prof. Ray
Dolan. Plans include the development
of a model-based framework to better
address fundamental questions in systems
neuroscience and the breakdowns in
function that characterise common
neurological and neuropsychiatric
disorders.
With the Medical Research Council’s
Molecular and Cellular Medicine Board,
we approved the renewal of core funding
for the Avon Longitudinal Study of
Parents and Children, at a total of £6m
over three years. Running for nearly 20
years, the study has collected, among
other information, genome-wide data
from over 20 000 mothers, children and
fathers.
WellcomeNews | Issue 64 | 9
Picture this
In June, the Wellcome Trust sponsored the first ever
conference on comics and medicine at the Institute of English
Studies in London. Mun-Keat Looi, science writer and comic
aficionado, went along to see out how the graphic medium is
helping doctors and patients alike.

Comics and medicine may seem like strange
bedfellows. The former you may dismiss
as a frivolous medium for children, while
the latter is a critically important, serious
endeavour. But graphic stories are hugely
popular among all age groups and are today
seen as a legitimate form of literature. And
not just fiction: graphic novels have dealt
with all kinds of medical and scientific
subjects: substance abuse, depression, HIV,
diabetes, epilepsy, mental illness.
‘Graphic pathographies’ provide
powerful, personal insights into medical
conditions. The visual format can
communicate the personal experience of
conditions such as depression and help
to destigmatise and demystify an illness.
As Paul Gravett, a writer and lecturer on
comics says, creating autobiography and
first-person fiction allows graphic novelists
to explore aspects of coping with illness, as
patient, professional, carer and relative.
Researchers have found how combining
pictures and text enhances understanding.
The activities of reading and viewing
activate different information-processing
systems within the brain, and the
combination fosters connections between
new information and existing knowledge.
Comic artist and former journalist Brian
Fies says comics have the capacity for
powerful visual metaphors and universality.
The spare and stylised use of text and art
allows readers to project themselves into
the story.
“These powerful images illustrate the
patient’s and family member’s experience
in a way that standard clinical reportage
could never achieve with such economy,”
says Dr Michael Green, a physician and
bioethicist at Penn State University.
Green runs a course for fourth-year
medical students at Penn State College of
Medicine. This uses comics to enhance
observational and communication skills
and improve understanding of patients’
experience of illness. The novel approach
helps students to consider discrete
elements more efficiently than if they’d
been assigned a whole book to read.
Further evidence comes from Professor
Keith Stevenson, Stella Williams and Dr
Paula Nunes of the University of the West
Indies, who have used cartoons to make the
For the 2010 Glasgow West End Festival,
the Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular
Parasitology produced a comic to raise
awareness of the parasitic disease
trypanosomiasis.
‘mundane’ topic of communication skills –
which medical science students rarely take
seriously – ‘come alive’.
Reading graphic stories may enhance
students’ observational and interpretive
skills, as well as raising awareness of broader
social and political issues associated with
medicine. The comic series Depresso by
Nottingham-based artist Brick, for example,
has been used to train student mental
health workers and is recommended by GPs
to patients.
M K Cserwiec, a nurse and graphic
artist, has found that the graphic medium
can circumnavigate the professional
detachment that comes from wearing a
‘white coat’. She has asked caregivers to
draw their experience of an illness from
the point of view of a professional and
a patient. Those drawn from a patient

10 | WellcomeNews | Issue 64
perspective were full of emotion and
empathy, but that was lost when taking on
a professional capacity.
Obstacles remain in challenging people’s
preconceptions and biases against comics:
presenting comic-form information may
seem flippant to some.
But challenging these preconceptions
has its benefits. As Fies said: “It gives people
information they didn’t have before in a
way they hadn’t seen before. That a comic
could do that come as a surprise to people.”
For a longer version of this article see:
www.wellcome.ac.uk/comics

References
Green MJ, Myers KR. Graphic medicine: use of comics in
medical education and patient care. BMJ 2010;340:574–7.

Graphic Medicine: www.graphicmedicine.org

WellcomeNews | Issue 64 | 11
Research
Researchers probe lizard malaria parasites
Ameiva ameiva lizard. Dario Sanches
Trust-funded researchers in Brazil have
published the first description of the
malaria species Plasmodium carmelinoi,
which infects the Ameiva ameiva lizards
common in South and Central America.
Professor Ralph Lainson, who led the
research, says that as the parasite does
not cause disease to its hosts, this suggests
that the two have an ancient and well-
balanced relationship. This contrasts
to other Plasmodium species (such as P.
falciparum, the most common cause of
Antibiotics offer ‘vaccine-like’ immunity to malaria
Antibiotics could help to generate ‘vaccine-
like’ immunity against malaria – an
alternative to traditional immunisation
that uses weakened pathogens. Researchers
from the KEMRI–Wellcome Trust Research
Programme in Kenya and colleagues found
that if mice were infected with malaria
parasites and given preventative antibiotics,
they developed immunity against
reinfection. If proved to work in human
clinical trials, this could help to control
or eliminate malaria in high-risk
populations, particularly
young
children.
The
researchers
showed that two
antibiotics –
clindamycin and
azithromycin – caused a defect in the
malaria parasites when they entered the
liver. This didn’t prevent them from
multiplying, but it did stop them from
changing into the disease-causing form that
12 | WellcomeNews | Issue 64
malaria in humans), which provoke a
violent reaction in the host, often leading
to disease and the death of both organisms.
The researchers have encountered a wide
variety of malarial parasites in a range
of lizard species and have yet to find any
evidence of disease.
Lainson R et al. Plasmodium carmelinoi n. sp.
(Haemosporida: Plasmodiidae) of the lizard Ameiva
ameiva (Squamata: Teiidae) in Amazonian Brazil. Parasite
2010;17:129–32.
enters the bloodstream. This buys the
immune system time to mount a defence
– a response robust enough to protect
against subsequent infections 40 days after
the ‘immunisation’, even without the
presence of antibiotics.
Friesen J et al. Natural immunization against malaria: causal
prophylaxis with antibiotics. Sci Transl Med 2010;2(40):40–9.
Clindamycin capsules. sparktography on Flickr
Poverty linked to mental
health disorders, review
finds
Over the last 20 years, researchers
have been debating whether common
mental disorders, such as depression
and anxiety, are linked to poverty in
low- and middle-income countries.
Now, a systematic review funded by
the UK Department for International
Development has strengthened
evidence for such a link, and added
weight to calls to include mental
health on the agenda of development
agencies and international targets
such as the Millennium Development
Goals.
Researchers, including Wellcome
Trust Senior Research Fellow Professor
Vikram Patel from the London School
of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine,
looked at 115 studies, most of which
reported positive associations between
a range of poverty indicators and
common mental disorders. Some
factors, notably education, food
Children in rural Pakistan. N Durrell McKenna
insecurity, housing and financial
stress, were strongly associated with
mental health issues. Others,
including income and employment,
were less strongly linked.
Concluding, the researchers warn
that development policies aimed at
economic growth may not necessarily
carry mental health benefits: “It is
interventions that promote security,
education, social welfare and health
safety nets that are more likely to
protect the mental health of
populations, and allow for the full
development of human potential.”
Lund C et al. Poverty and common mental disorders in
low and middle income countries: a systematic review.
Soc Sci Med 2010;71(3):517–28.
 Impulsive, weak-willed, or just too much dopamine?
stockcam/iStockphoto
Scientists at the Wellcome Trust Centre
for Neuroimaging at University College
London have shed light on the brain
processes that underlie our willpower
and impulsive action. The study shows
that increased levels of dopamine,
a chemical in the brain involved
in mediating reward, motivation
Teen antisocial behaviour shows in the brain
parema/iStockphoto
The onset of severe antisocial behaviour in
teenagers may be more than just ‘falling
in with the wrong crowd’. A new study
reveals that young adults with conduct
disorder display an abnormal pattern of
brain activity compared with their peers.
Scientists from the Medical Research
Council Cognition and Brain Sciences
Unit and the University of Cambridge used
functional magnetic resonance imaging to
measure and analyse the brain activity of
75 teenage boys while they were shown
images of angry, sad and neutral faces. The
scans showed lower activity in the areas of
the brain responsible for processing
emotions in those with either childhood-
onset or adolescence-onset conduct
disorder. This may explain why teenagers
and learning through
reinforcement, make us
more likely to opt for
instant gratification,
rather than waiting for a
more beneficial reward.
Professor Ray Dolan and
colleagues tested 14
healthy volunteers given
either a placebo or a small
dose of L-dopa, a
dopamine-like drug.
Subjects were asked to
make a number of choices consisting of
either a ‘smaller, sooner’ option (for
example receiving £15 in two weeks) or
a ‘larger, later’ option (such as receiving
£57 in six months). The researchers
found that every subject was more
likely to behave more impulsively –
choosing the smaller, sooner option
with conduct disorder are insensitive to
the distress of others and to social signals
of aggression. The scientists also found
that the more severe the aggression and
antisocial behaviour in the teenagers, the
greater the level of brain abnormality.
“There are few effective conduct
disorder treatments, so collaborative
research like this, which really sheds light
on the brain processes behind why and
how these disorders emerge, is really
important if we’re to help sufferers and
their families,” said Dr Andy Calder, who
led the research.
Passamonti L et al. Neural abnormalities in early-onset and
adolescence-onset conduct disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry
2010;67(7):729–38.
– when levels of dopamine in the brain
were boosted by L-dopa.
The findings may help to explain why
people affected by conditions such as
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
tend to show extremely impulsive
behaviour. Similarly, this highlights
why such behaviour is a potential
negative side-effect of L-dopa, used to
help to alleviate the symptoms of
Parkinson’s disease
Pine A et al. Dopamine, time and impulsivity in humans.
J Neurosci 2010 [Epub ahead of print].
Research reveals brain cells’
role in breathing
Astrocytes (green) in culture. Yirui Sun
Astrocytes – brain cells named after their
characteristic star shape and previously
thought to act only as the ‘glue’ between
neurons – have a central role in the
regulation of breathing, research suggests.
Dr Alexander Gourine, a Wellcome Trust
Senior Research Fellow at University
College London, and colleagues have
shown that brain astrocytes can sense the
levels of carbon dioxide in the blood.
These then activate neuronal respiratory
networks that increase our breathing in
line with prevailing metabolism and
activity. The finding may help to explain
the causes of devastating conditions
associated with respiratory failure such as
sudden infant death syndrome.
“This research identifies brain astrocytes
as previously unrecognised crucial
elements of the brain circuits controlling
fundamental bodily functions vital for
life,” said Dr Gourine. “It indicates that
they are indeed the real stars of the brain.”
Gourine A et al. Astrocytes control breathing through pH-
dependent release of ATP. Science 2010 [Epub ahead of
print].
WellcomeNews | Issue 64 | 13
WellcomeNews | Issue 61 | 13
dem10/iStockphoto

“ Events, dear boy, events”

The biotechnology revolution is seeing an explosion of new Controlling weapons
Clearly, if biological weapons were to
knowledge, materials, skills and technologies, nearly all of
become a routine part of states’ armed
them produced with the benign aim of improving public health. forces, the consequences for international
But those same scientific findings and products could also be security and global health could be
devastating. The Biological and Toxin
used in bioterror or, worse, biowarfare – a problem known as Weapons Convention, signed and ratified
the dual-use dilemma. How real is the threat and what can we by 163 states to date (with 13 additional
signatories), came into force in 1975,
do about it? Penny Bailey talks to Trust-funded researchers to deter state-level assimilation of such
who are investigating. weapons. The Convention commits all
parties to prohibiting the development,
production, and stockpiling of biological
In June 2000, biologist Professor Matthew few bioethicists have focused on the issue. and toxin weapons.
Meselson wrote: “Every major technology In 2009, a collaboration of researchers However, it has no organisation to
– metallurgy, explosives, internal at the Universities of Bradford, Exeter look after it and no system of formal
combustion, aviation, electronics, nuclear and Bath, and the Australian National verification, such as onsite inspections,
energy – has been intensively exploited, University in Canberra, was awarded a to ensure compliance. This means that
not only for peaceful purposes but also for Wellcome Trust Enhancement Award, countries could, in practice, stockpile
hostile ones. Must this also happen with to build sustainable capacity among biological agents for offensive ends.
biotechnology, certain to be the dominant bioethicists globally to explore the dual- Moreover, although it bans research
technology of the twenty-first century?” use dilemma. for offensive purposes, the convention
This potential for scientific findings Although the threat may not be large permits research into biological agents or
produced to improve public health to at the moment, it is real. That has already toxins for medical and defensive purposes,
be used for malign ends, such as war been demonstrated by the series of in small quantities. And faced with the
or terrorism, is known as the dual-use large-scale offensive biological warfare shadowy threat of bioterrorism, many
dilemma. While biosecurity experts are programmes carried out by major states states have thriving biodefence industries.
increasingly concerned about the possible such as Japan, France, the USA, the USSR Such research, as Dr Tom Douglas at the
hostile misuse of biotechnology, scientists and the UK in the last century, and by University of Oxford points out, could be
have tended to see the threat as either recent bioterrorist attacks such as the 2001 used to enable biological attack capacities
remote, or outside their responsibility, and anthrax letters in the USA. as well. “There’s a thin line between

14 | WellcomeNews | Issue 64
defence and offence.” Protecting freedom convention, nationally implemented,
In the USA, the biodefence industry One of the difficulties is finding a way to attempting to prevent the misuse of their
has grown tenfold in the wake of the prevent hostile misuse of science, without work. And they’ve got some responsibility
anthrax letter bombs in 2001 – ironically, impeding scientific progress and the for maintaining and developing the
expanding the pool of potential terrorists. freedom to publish. convention. For instance, they should
“So there are now ten times as many Policy makers and biosecurity experts make sure that their students are educated
people who could defect, or become have advocated downstream regulation, about these dangers and what might be
deranged in some way, and decide they such as export controls and laboratory done.”
have a grudge they want to follow,” says security requirements, to prevent On a practical level, engaging the
Dr Douglas. Indeed, the perpetrator dangerous agents and technologies from scientists is essential. “Without scientists
of the 2001 anthrax attacks was later falling into the hands of possible hostile involved I don’t think there are going to
revealed to have been a scientist users. But, says Dr Rappert, they generally be effective or sensible policies,” says Dr
employed in the US government’s Rappert. “Oversight and codes of conduct
biodefence laboratories. While biosecurity experts can’t be put in place by security and
Sceptics counter that we still
are increasingly concerned, policy people who have no connection to
don’t really know how to make how life science research is practised. So
a pathogen dangerous or to scientists have tended to until scientists are aware of this problem,
disseminate it widely, and that see the threat as remote or and thinking about it, it’s difficult to see
to do so requires state-of-the-art
outside their responsibility anything meaningful being done.”
technology. However, Dr Douglas
points out that what is state-of-the- haven’t thought deeply about the wider Culture change
art now probably won’t be in ten implications of scientists conducting and The need to think about their work in
or 20 years time. “Amateur biologists publishing work. terms its potential for harm is likely to
could make weaponised agents in a garage The problem is compounded by the fact be counterintuitive for many scientists,
or basement lab. You could argue there that many scientists have tended to believe who see their research as something of
are enough crazy people in the world, and that knowledge in itself is intrinsically immense value for society – a means of
it’s only a matter of time before someone valuable and ethically neutral, and that enhancing health and lives.
does.” how it is used is the responsibility of Getting them to think about the
A few high-profile cases have illustrated politicians. possible ways that the new knowledge
how easy it could be to create such agents.
In 2001, scientists accidentally created a
highly virulent mousepox strain, simply
by inserting one extra gene into the viral
genome – and published the information,
albeit with a warning to scientists to be
aware of the potential consequences of
research. And in 2006 a Guardian reporter
purchased a 78-nucleotide sequence of
DNA based on the smallpox genome from
a commercial company with alarming
ease – bearing in mind the fact that the
full-genome smallpox sequence is readily
available on the internet.
Those cases can be disregarded to
some extent. The mousepox strain was
eventually shown to be less virulent than
at first feared, and reconstructing the
185 000-base-pair smallpox genome from
such a small sequence would be extremely
challenging, if not impossible. DNY59/iStockphoto Krakozawr/iStockphoto
However, Dr Brian Rappert at the
However, ethics work by the researchers they generate could be misused is not
University of Exeter believes that the
funded by the Trust Enhancement Award something that can happen overnight.
more problematic issue is the general
has concluded differently. “The question “We’re looking for cultural change,” says
development, proliferation of knowledge
is, what can you reasonably ask of a Dr Judi Sture at the University of Bradford,
and expertise in science, which open up
scientist?” says Professor Malcolm Dando who is overseeing the development of an
huge new possibilities, and are widely
at the University of Bradford. ethical framework with which to approach
published in journals and on the internet.
“It’s not reasonable to ask people to the dual-use dilemma. “We want to see the
“Basic blue skies research, which is so
have responsibility for things that are community of life scientists undertaking
needed for public health issues, is the same
way outside their control. But you can the transformation that medics undertook
kind of proliferation that security people
reasonably suggest to them that they after WWII. As I understand it, it’s very
look at and think, ‘oh dear’,” he says.
should be aware of the possibility of difficult now for a medical student to
misuse, and that there is an international graduate without being aware that there

WellcomeNews | Issue 64 | 15
Rowena Dugdale

are ethical issues in almost everything they
do. And that they have a responsibility
to think about these things and to act in
an ethical way. It’s going to go through a
process of professionalisation and become
part of professional identity.”
To set the ball rolling, in 2004 Professor
Dando and Dr Rappert began delivering
interactive workshops, which they have
since taken to 13 countries, including
Argentina, Uganda and Japan, to engage
scientists with the issue. “As we went to
all these seminars, we were becoming
more and more wide-eyed at the fact that
we could hardly find anybody who knew
anything at all about how their work could
potentially be misused,” says Professor
Dando.
They realised they needed to start
earlier, by educating science PhD students
on the dual-use dilemma. “People with
advanced degrees should have some more
meaningful training or education and at
least have thought about these things,”
says Professor Dando.
To this end, the group have developed
an online educational module resource, in
collaboration with Japanese colleagues. It
can be incorporated into life science and
associated teaching modules and is freely
available online (see below).
The Bradford group has also developed a
Master’s-level distance learning module, to
be rolled out in October 2010, which offers
students two hours of lectures on the dual-
use dilemma per week, and a seminar and
discussion group requiring them to think
about a range of ethical dilemmas, such as
whether they would undertake or publish
a piece of work, based on ethical analysis
using the principles and underlying ethical
themes developed within the Bradford
group’s framework.
The group will be presenting its
educational module and ethical
framework, along with findings from
international surveys exploring existing
thinking on the dual-use dilemma, at the
2011 Review Conference of the Biological
and Toxin Weapons Convention. “We’re
hoping that the state parties will agree that
scientists should have a legal obligation to
train young scientists in these issues, and
show that they’ve thought about them
in relation to their work. That’s the holy
grail,” says Dr Simon Whitby at Bradford.
There are signs that things are changing.
In a significant development in the USA,
the National Science Advisory Board for
Biosecurity recently recommended that
all federally funded institutions should
be required to provide ethics education,
including biosecurity and the dual-use
dilemma.
However, the researchers believe that
ultimately the spur to get scientists deeply
engaged with the possible misuse of their
work will be when they actually see it
happen, in an event such as a bioterrorist
attack. Says Professor Dando: “It’s down
to what Macmillan said: ‘Events, dear boy,
events’!”


Want to know more?

• Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention: www.opbw.org
• Disarmament at the UN Office at Geneva: www.unog.ch/disarmament
• The Life Sciences, Biosecurity, and Dual Use Research: projects.exeter.ac.uk/codesofconduct/BiosecuritySeminar/
• US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity: oba.od.nih.gov/biosecurity/biosecurity.html
• Bradford distance learning dual-use module: www.brad.ac.uk/bioethics

16 | WellcomeNews | Issue 64
Research
More openness could boost blood banking,
research suggests
NHS Blood and Transplant
The act of giving blood is associated with
notions of community and contributing
to the greater good. But blood services
today are an increasingly complex business
clouded by issues such as the use of
blood for research as well as the clinic,
distribution and contamination.
Dr Helen Busby from the University
of Nottingham interviewed 26 donors at
Pregnancy, vision and ageing: latest Trust films online
Should pregnant women eat for two? Why
do we age? How do we see things? These
are just some of the questions posed by the
latest films from the Wellcome Trust and
Wellcome Collection.
The phrase ‘eating for two’ is often used
when talking about the diet of pregnant
women. But how does the mother’s diet
determine her child’s future health?
Researchers find new
role for matrix molecule in
one UK blood centre as part of a
memory
wider programme of work about
Once regarded as an inert scaffold or ‘glue’,
blood banking and biobanking.
the extracellular matrix – the molecules
She found that donors often don’t
that surround and support animal cells
appreciate the complex issues
– has been shown to have crucial roles
surrounding blood donation.
in the function of organisms. Now, an
There was a lack of knowledge
international team of researchers has
and understanding of how their
identified a new role for an extracellular
contribution would be used – few
matrix molecule in memory and learning.
knew, for example, that just 8
Hyaluronic acid is a key part of the
per cent of blood donations in
extracellular matrix. The team, co-led
England and Wales are used in
by Wellcome Trust Senior Research
emergencies. Dr Busby found
Fellow Professor Dmitri Rusakov from
an implicit trust in the National
the University College London Institute
Blood Service to use the blood
of Neurology, looked at the role of this
and blood products as they saw
molecule in the activity of synapses in the
fit, though there was a strong
brain. They studied slices of mouse and rat
emphasis on the voluntary act of
hippocampus, a brain region involved in
giving blood and contributing
memory and learning.
to the NHS, a service many were
The researchers conclude that
grateful for.
hyaluronic acid regulates a particular kind
She calls for blood services to
of calcium channel found in nerve cells,
be more open about how blood is
and so affects use-dependent changes
used and processed, and for this
in the strength of synaptic connections
to be better communicated to the
(plasticity) – in particular, long-term
public. Though such information
potentiation, a mechanism thought
is openly available, little effort
to underlie learning and memory. The
is made to emphasise this. She
researchers also showed that removing
suggests that a more open discussion could
hyaluronic acid from the brains of mice
help modern blood services in the long
impaired their ability to learn to fear a
run as traditional aspects of blood banking
particular stimulus, further linking this
fail to attract the donations needed to
molecule to memory and/or learning.
sustain demand.
Kochlamazashvili G et al. The extracellular matrix molecule
Wynne Busby H. Trust, nostalgia and narrative accounts
of blood banking in England in the 21st century. Health
hyaluronic acid regulates hippocampal synaptic plasticity
by modulating postsynaptic L-type Ca(2+) channels. Neuron
2010;14:369–82. 2010;67:116–28.
In these two new films, the Trust’s May 2010 (below), the audience were be
own Jennifer Trent Staves investigates able to experience the visual world in a
the nutritional science aiming to help completely new way – in sound. At www.
mothers build healthy babies. youtube.com/wellcomecollection, join
In ‘Blue Death’ (left), David Gems from event creator and neuroscientist Beau
University College London’s Institute of Lotto as he talks us through the activities
Healthy Ageing and his student Cassandra of this fascinating evening.
Coburn take us on a journey exploring the
nature of ageing and explain how they are
using the nematode worm to unravel its
mysteries. Watch these at www.youtube.
com/wellcometrust.
How do we actually see things? What
our brains bring to perception matters
as well as what meets the eye, making
our learning an essential part of making
sense of the world. At ‘Seeing Myself See’,
an event held at Wellcome Collection in
WellcomeNews | Issue 64 | 17
 Research
High-fat maternal diet linked to birth defects
Shyman/iStockphoto
Pregnant mothers who eat a high-fat
diet before and during pregnancy could
be putting their unborn child at risk of
congenital heart disease, according to
researchers at the Wellcome Trust Centre
for Human Genetics in Oxford. Their study
suggests that a mother’s diet may interact
with the genes of their offspring.
The researchers studied mice lacking
a gene called Cited2, deficiency in which
leads to heart defects. The mice were fed
on a high-fat diet before and throughout
pregnancy, resulting in offspring with
double the average risk of atrial isomerism
– a serious heart defect – and a more than
seven-fold increase in the risk of cleft
Vitamins don’t lower pre-eclampsia risk in women
with diabetes
Anthea Sieveking
A study has added to the evidence that
taking vitamins C and E does not lower the
risk of pre-eclampsia in women with type
1 diabetes – a condition linked to reduced
antioxidant levels – but vitamins may
help those with low levels of antioxidants.
Researchers gave vitamin or placebo
pills to 762 pregnant women with type
18 | WellcomeNews | Issue 64
Round-up
More genes linked to diabetes
An international consortium of
scientists, led by researchers from the
Wellcome Trust Centre for Human
Genetics at Oxford, has identified
12 new genes associated with type 2
diabetes in the largest ever genetic
study of the condition. Though the
individual effect of each of the 12
regions is small, the findings bring
the total number of genetic regions
known to be associated with type 2
diabetes to 38. This could ultimately
have a substantial impact on our
understanding of the biology of
palate. The offspring of a control group
diabetes, and on the development of
of mice, also lacking Cited2 but fed on
therapies.
a balanced diet, were normal. Further
Voight B et al. Nat Genet 2010;42(7):579–89.
analysis showed that these factors affect
the expression of another gene called
Pitx2, required for heart development and
the body’s natural asymmetry.
“We are excited by this as it suggests
that congenital heart defects may be
preventable by measures such as altering
maternal diet,” said Dr Jamie Bentham,
one of the researchers.
Bentham J et al. Maternal high-fat diet interacts with
embryonic Cited2 genotype to reduce Pitx2c expression
and enhance penetrance of left-right patterning defects.
Hum Mol Genet 2010 [Epub ahead of print].
The structure of insulin. Anna Tanczos
Cancer drug study yields first results
1 diabetes recruited from clinics around
The largest study to correlate genetics
the UK. The rate of pre-eclampsia was
with response to cancer drugs
similar in both groups (15 per cent in the
has released its first results. The
vitamin group vs 19 per cent in the control
researchers behind the study, based
group). However, there was a significantly
at Massachusetts General Hospital
lower risk in women with low levels of
Cancer Center and the Wellcome Trust
antioxidants who took vitamins.
Sanger Institute, describe in this initial
The authors suggest that the vitamins
dataset the responses of 350 cancer
may be being given too late in pregnancy
samples to 18 anticancer therapeutics.
to affect pre-eclampsia and question
These first results, freely available on
whether individual vitamin supplements
the Genomics of Drug Sensitivity
carry the benefits of other interventions,
in Cancer website, will help cancer
such as a diet high in antioxidant fruit and
researchers around the world to seek
vegetables. However, contrary to previous
better understanding of cancer genetics
research, they found no evidence that
and could help to improve treatment
vitamin C and E supplements cause harm
regimens.
to mothers or babies. Antioxidant vitamins
www.sanger.ac.uk/genetics/CGP/translation/
also tended to reduce the risk of having
a low-birthweight baby and fewer babies
were born early to women taking
vitamin C.
McCance DR et al. Vitamins C and E for prevention of
preeclampsia in women with type 1 diabetes (DAPIT): a
randomized placebo-controlled trial. Lancet 2010 [Epub
ahead of print].
Lung cancer cells. Anne Weston, LRI, CRUK
Protein shape change
ensures pick-up in right
places
Depiction of cell membrane with different receptor types.
Medical Art Service, Munich
Research has shown the complex
molecular rearrangement that ensures
a key cell membrane transport machine
binds only to cargo proteins when in
the correct environment. The discovery
furthers our understanding of how
membrane-embedded proteins are
transported between cell membranes in
vesicles, a process vital for cell signalling,
homeostasis and cell–environment
interactions.
‘Pinching off’ a small portion of any
membrane produces a vesicle, many of
which become coated with a scaffold
made of the protein clathrin. Adaptors
link the clathrin to the membrane and
select which proteins are included into
the vesicle as cargo. Researchers from
the Cambridge Institute for Medical
Research have found that the one of the
most abundant adaptors, AP2, changes its
structure radically when binding its cargo.
This change unblocks AP2’s two cargo
interaction sites and, at the same time,
puts them on the same plane as AP2’s
membrane binding sites so that all the sites
can be used simultaneously.
Jackson LP et al. A large-scale conformational change
couples membrane recruitment to cargo binding in the AP2
clathrin adaptor complex. Cell 2010;141(7):1220–9.
Q&A: Cora Araújo
We often have a skewed perception of
how we look, particularly when it comes
to weight. This can be particularly acute
in teenagers, already uncomfortable with
the rapid changes in their bodies. With
funding from the Wellcome Trust, Dr
Cora Araújo and colleagues studied this
in a group of over 4400 teenagers from
the Pelotas birth cohort in Brazil.
What is the Pelotas birth cohort?
The 1993 Pelotas (Brazil) Birth Cohort
Study tracks all the 5249 children born
in the city of Pelotas, southern Brazil,
during 1993. These individuals were
is not the case. Providing parents with
visited on several occasions from birth
information and guidance on these
to adolescence. The cohort was set up
issues may aid this, and avoid parental
to evaluate the influence of prenatal,
views distorting a child’s body image.
infancy and childhood exposures on
Additionally, it is important to
health throughout their lifespan.
highlight publicly that the bodies
of high-performance athletes and
What was the aim of your study?
supermodels are not necessarily
To compare adolescents’ self-perceived
examples of adequate and healthy body
body image with their measured body
sizes.
size.
How does this study compare to other
What were your findings?
studies done in Europe, the USA or
Overall, two-thirds of the adolescents we
elsewhere?
met have a self-perception of their body
Our findings are similar to those
image that agrees with their measured
observed elsewhere, particularly in high-
body size. However, a third of them
income countries, which suggest that
either think they are too thin when this
teenage girls tend to visualise models
is not true, or too fat when this is not
and try to copy their body shapes.
the case. Boys are more likely to wrongly
Similarly, teenage boys tend to visualise
consider themselves as being too thin,
sports starts and try to build similar
whereas girls are more likely to consider
muscles.
themselves as being too fat, even when
Distortions in adolescents’ body image
their body size is adequate.
are an important public health issue in
the developed world, and an increasing
What impact did the parents have on
problem in low- and middle-income
this?
countries. But little data on these issues
Parents’ perceptions were a key influence
are available outside high-income
on how the adolescents saw their body
countries. Further studies like this are
image. When the parents had a skewed
vital in filling this gap.
judgement of their kids’ body image,
adolescents were more likely to also have
What do you do outside of work?
a skewed opinion. This suggests that part
I like walking outdoors with friends and
of the reason why kids have a distorted
drinking chimarrão [a typical hot drink
view of their body size is their parents’
in Brazil] on the weekends with friends
perceptions.
and family. I love being by the beach and
usually go on vacation along the coast of
What are the implications of your
the Rio Grande do Sul state in Brazil.
findings for health education?
Parents need to be aware of what a
Araújo CL et al. Measured weight, self-perceived weight,
healthy body size is. That way, they can
and associated factors in adolescents. Rev Panam Salud
help reassure their children that they Publica 2010;27:360–7.
are not too thin or too fat when that
WellcomeNews | Issue 64 | 19
 Illuminating
the Lady with
the Lamp
Few figures in medical history have been as fascinating and
enduring as Florence Nightingale, who died 100 years ago this
August. The Wellcome Library’s Ross MacFarlane guides us
through some of the items in the Library’s collection that shed
light on her life, and how it’s been viewed ever since.

Around the Wellcome Library’s main
Reading Room runs a frieze containing the
names of some of the most famous figures
in medical history. Installed in 1962, it
names 29 men but only one woman. The
woman in question – Florence Nightingale
– would perhaps see this imbalance as apt,
as she was often characterised as a lone
female bringing care to the wounded, while
arguing with the male authority figures of
the British Army.
In the year that marks the centenary of
her death, it’s particularly worthwhile to
note that the Library’s materials offer a
great insight into not only her pioneering
life but also how she was judged by her
contemporaries and reinterpreted by later
generations.
Our collections include a sizeable amount
of Nightingale correspondence: hundreds
of manuscript letters, spanning the whole
of her life and many aspects of her career,
including her attempts to become a nurse,
her famous service during the Crimean War
and subsequent work reforming nursing,
through to her concerns with sanitation,
cottage hospitals and medical statistics.
The last of these topics is illustrated by
her lengthy correspondence with William
Farr, one of the leading epidemiologists of
the 19th century, who collaborated with
Nightingale in providing statistical
evidence for sanitary reform. She became
the first female member of the Royal
Statistical Society in 1858 – in no small part
owing to her graphical representation of
statistics, mostly notably the polar area
diagram (or Nightingale rose diagram), a
form of pie chart (below).
Our collections also cast a more
disparaging light on Nightingale. For
example, the letter book of Sir John Hall,
Head of Medical Services during the
Crimean War, paints a less than flattering
portrait. Hall writes to his superiors
defending the Army Medical Services from
her criticisms, also arguing that her
intervention deprived the Army of good
nurses who were working in the Crimea
before her arrival. Hall pulls no punches in
accusing Nightingale of arrogance and
being an interfering busybody desperate for
power – a “petticoat imperium”.
However, the romanticised
representations of Nightingale – often in
object form – of the late 19th century are
Florence Nightingale Museum
2010 has also seen the reopening of the Florence Nightingale Museum, following a
£1.4 million redevelopment supported by the Wellcome Trust, Guy’s and St Thomas’
Charity and Garfield Weston Foundation. www.florence-nightingale.co.uk
mirrored in the visual representations the
Library holds. Lithographs, prints and
paintings, all putting a positive spin on her
activities in the Crimea, show how she was
objectified and romanticised.
Ever since Lytton Strachey’s revisionist
account of Nightingale in his classic
Eminent Victorians (1910), her life has been
interpreted and reinterpreted
by each generation.
Understandably, given the
range and scale of the sources
described above, many of these
biographies – such as Mark
Bostridge’s Florence Nightingale:
The Woman and her Legend
(2008) – have used our
resources and, on publication,
have gone on to find a space in
our collections.
Perhaps we can leave the last
word to Nightingale herself, through her
own voice in a recording made in 1890 to
raise money for the impoverished veterans
of the Charge of the Light Brigade (you
you can hear it at
catalogue.wellcome.ac.uk/
record=b1590740~S3):
“When I am no longer a memory, just a name, I
hope my voice may perpetuate the great work
of my life. God bless my dear old comrades of
Balaclava and bring them safe to shore.”

20 | WellcomeNews | Issue 64
 Seeding A £200 million funding initiative to facilitate
early-stage small-molecule drug discovery.

Drug Projects must address an unmet need in

healthcare and have a realistic expectation

Discovery that the product will be developed further

by the market.
Researchers from academia and companies
are invited to apply by 19 November 2010.
www.wellcome.ac.uk/sdd/wn

Courses, conferences and workshops

February May
14–27 18–22
Mathematical Models for Infectious Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors
Disease Dynamics 2011
Advanced Course GC Conference GC

20–26
Malaria Experimental Genetics
July
Advanced Course GC
A gene map of the malaria-causing Plasmodium
20–23
falciparum genome. The Genomics of Common
GC: Event takes place at the Wellcome
March Diseases 2011
Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambs.
Conference GC
For information on Wellcome Trust Conferences, see 23–27
www.wellcome.ac.uk/conferences.
Genomic Disorders 2011: The 23–29
For information on Advanced Courses
and Open door Workshops, see genomics of rare diseases Human Genome Analysis: Genetic
www.wellcome.ac.uk/advancedcourses.
Conference GC analysis of multifactorial diseases
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30–1 Apr
January 2011 Cellular Cytoskeletal Motor Proteins
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23–28
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Microbiology Drosophila Genetics and
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Computational Molecular Evolution 
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WellcomeNews | Issue 64 | 21
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