Grant/Award News 2009
Reprogramming of adult cells into embryonic kidney progenitor cells and synthetic morphology grants awarded: 21 August 2009
Dr Peter Hohenstein
Two project grants were recently awarded to Dr Peter Hohenstein (MRC Human Genetics Unit) and Professor Jamie Davies (University of Edinburgh). A project funded by Kidney Research UK will study the reprogramming of adult cells into embryonic kidney progentitor cells with the aim of making patient-specific cells for kidney replacement therapy.
A second project was funded by BBSRC and will investigate the possibilities of ‘synthetic morphology’, a combination of synthetic biology and developmental biology.
Links
- Kidney Research UK
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council: BBSRC
- The University of Edinburgh
- PubMed: Synthetic morphology: prospects for engineered, self-constructing anatomies
Promoting risk assessment and personal protection via visual communication award:
1 October 2009
The Human Genetics Unit came third in a recent MRC Health & Safety Competition, promoting risk assessment and personal protection via visual communication. The unit’s Design and Publication Specialist, Craig Nicol, in consultation with Marion Richards, (Health and Safety Officer) came up with an innovative design, that focused on originality and impact and which addressed the serious issue of Eye Protection.
Craig said: “After reading the design brief, I wanted to create a concept that would show a serious aspect of Health and Safety in the lab and engage laboratory staff in the importance of risk awareness and good health and safety practice.
“My aim was to involve as many unit staff as possible in the final design by actively encouraging and acting on the feedback received and I also included two further posters to show how this concept would work as a set."
Craig’s design used a die-cut process: (a printing process where you cut an object out of a sheet of paper using a steel rule die). This kind of process is used widely to produce such materials as door hangers, pocket folders and stationery tabs.
Craig added “I also wanted to create a design which stripped away all complexity and pretty much work in raw typography and mono shapes rather than a busy digital image."
There were 18 entries altogether and the top four designs, judged by the MRC panel, were:
- MRC Clinical Sciences Centre: Alison Church
- MRC Epidemiology: Julie Hands
- MRC Human Genetics Unit: Craig Nicol
for Concept 1 - MRC WIMM: Kathryn Robson
The award for the winning units will be presented during European Safety Week (October 19-25) at the Medical Research Council, Head Office, London
Links
Unit Poster Design Submissions