Research

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Giant Astronomical Telescope

Dr Richard Wade, of CLRC's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and Dr John Richer, of the Cavendish Laboratory, are preparing to join the largest international ground-based astronomy project ever - the Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA) - consisting of 64 individual telescopes each with a receiving dish diameter of 12 metres. Britain, in collaboration with its European and US partners, is starting a wide-ranging research and development programme that will lead to the construction of 64 individual telescopes commencing in 2002, with completion in 2009. The ALMA will pinpoint galaxies at their birth as they emerge from the Dark Ages of the Universe that lie between the bright flash of the Big Bang at the start of space and time and the surge of stars that appeared about one hundred million years later. It will also view the birth of planetary systems in our own Galaxy, the Milky Way, in unprecedented detail.

New DERA-Cambridge Research Lab

A partnership between DERA (Defence Evaluation and Research Agency) and Cambridge has led to the founding of a new laboratory in the Department of Material Sciences and Metallurgy. The laboratory, officially opening on 10 June, is named after the distinguished materials scientist, Professor James Gordon, who died last year. The joint DERA-Cambridge team will be headed-up by Dr Bill Clyne, and staff from both Cambridge and DERA will be closely involved. This new venture has been established in recognition of the growth in importance of advanced composite materials in engineering applications.

GM Plants Eat Explosives

Research led by Dr Neil Bruce at the Institute of Biotechnology has revealed that soil polluted by high explosives could be cleaned up by planting genetically-modified plants. The plants produce a bacterial enzyme that breaks down explosives such as TNT and dinitroglycerin. Dr Bruce said: "Effectively they use the explosives as a food source. The bacteria would take centuries to break down the explosives, but plants would clean up the soil in just years." The research, published in Nature of Biotechnology, is the first of its kind to show how genetically-engineered plants reduce poisonous chemicals to harmless ones. In the journal Dr Brian Hooker of the Northwest National Laboratory USA said: "Some of these sites are literally on the verge of exploding. They present serious exposure risks to humans and wildlife. This is a new option for cleaning up these toxins and mutagens, and could soon become a reality."

Research Links Leukaemia to Boats

A study by the Department of Community Medicine at the Institute of Public Health has discovered that those who build boats or sail are at a greater risk of developing leukaemia. This is due to exposure to resins, solvents, paints and petroleum products. The research, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, looked at the postcodes of all those diagnosed with acute leukaemia in East Anglia since 1981. The findings showed an increase in cases in those areas adjacent to major estuaries. Compared to a previous study in 1990, the new research shows the relative risk is twice that reported before. Professor Nicholas Day, one of the authors said: "The message is that do-it-yourself boat people need to be a lot more careful because they are using a range of chemicals that they don't understand. Organic solvents are at least as powerful as radioactivity and can cause cancers."

Arthritis Research

Scientists at the Department of Medicine have been awarded a grant of almost £31,000 by the Arthritis Research Campaign for their work on osteoporosis and osteoarthritis of the hip. Osteoporosis, or thinning of the bones, affects around 3 million people in the UK. Osteoarthritis leads to the wearing away of cartiledge in the joint and affects more than one million people. Dr Nigel Loveridge and Dr Jonathan Reeve will spend the next 12 months investigating the causes of these diseases. Their ultimate aim is to identify better treatment and improved exercise regimes to prevent them occurring.

"The skeleton is constantly being remodelled to remove damaged bone and provide the best structure for normal life," said Dr Loveridge. "This process is modulated by cells which are entombed within the bone itself. We will measure differences in the number and longevity of these cells, and the consequent effects on the rates of bone removal and replacement in bone biopsies taken during hip replacement operations."

Research into Skin Cancer

The Cancer Research Campaign is funding a study into the possible genetic causes of malignant melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer. Previous research shows that people with a large number of moles are more likely to get melanoma, but the reason for this is still unclear. One possibility is that genes responsible for moles could be behind melanoma. The study, led by Dr Doug Easton from the CRC Centre for Genetic Epidemiology, has called for brothers and sisters with a large number of moles to come forward for examination. Dr Easton said: "We already know of one skin cancer susceptability gene, but believe there are many more which have not yet been discovered." Professor Gordon McVie, Director General of the CRC said: "Malignant melanoma is the fastest growing cancer, so it is particularly important that we discover the genes responsible."

Dinosaur Unearthed!

Some of the secrets of Cambridgeshire's past have been revealed in a recent study by Dr Paul Barrett at the Department of Earth Sciences. Dr Barrett has been reviewing remains of ankylosaurian dinosaurs found around Trumpington, Haslingfield, Bottisham, Reach and Burwell. The study has shown that previous attempts to catalogue the materials, last undertaken in the 19th century, had resulted in several different species of ankylosaur being recorded. Dr Barrett's review demonstrates that a large proportion of the samples belong to only one species. As a result Cambridgeshire's first near-complete skeleton of an armoured dinosaur has been revealed. Dr Barrett believes that the work that he has completed will aid future study of the evolutionary history of the ankylosaur group.

Dinosaur skull scares Sedgwick Museum visitors. Photo: David Norman