Research teams at the Universities of Warwick and Nottingham have been awarded funding from the EPSRC to meet this challenge with a ground-breaking new programme of research for Lubrizol, a UK based global leader in the manufacture of speciality chemicals.

Ingrained prejudices and a lack of action addressing discrimination are some of the main reasons why academic chemistry is overwhelmingly white. Data and discussions on racial inequalities are often greeted with scepticism and cynicism within the community, yet they are necessary to fight racism — and anti-Black racism in particular.

When biological material (cells, blood, tissues) is frozen, cryoprotectants are used to prevent the damage associated with the formation of ice during the freezing process. New polymeric cryoprotectants are emerging, alongside the established cryoprotectants, but how exactly they manage to control ice formation and growth is still largely unknown. This is especially true for PVA, a deceptively simple synthetic polymer that interacts with ice by means of mechanisms that have now been revealed at the atomistic level thanks to the efforts of Dr. Sosso and co-workers.

Achievements and Events.

The discovery of how hormone-like molecules turn on antibiotic production in soil bacteria could unlock the untapped opportunities for medicines that are under our very feet.

An international team of scientists working in the Department of Chemistry, the School of Life Sciences and the Warwick Integrative Synthetic Biology Centre at the University of Warwick, UK, and Monash University, Australia, have determined the molecular basis of a biological mechanism that could enable more efficient and cost-effective production of existing antibiotics, and also allow scientists to uncover new antibiotics in soil bacteria.

It is detailed in a new study published in the journal Nature.

A new biotechnology company, CryoLogyx, has been spun-out from the department, supported from a grant from InnovateUK. Cryologyx will be led by Dr Tom Congdon (A UoW UG and PG alumus) and will exploit technology developed by the GibsonGroup. Cryologyx will use innovative macromolecular (polymeric) cryoprotectants to protect biological samples, including cells used in therapy, diagnostics and drug discovery.

Read the news story here and more details will be released soon.