Visits – Barrett Centre for Helminth Control

BCHC members attend the Life Sciences Research Network Wales Congress

In February, members of the BCHC travelled to Cardiff to attend the Life Sciences Research Network Wales (LSRNW) Congress 2023 held in St David’s Hotel, Cardiff. This network is led by Cardiff University and unites HEIs from across Wales with the aim of developing new precision therapeutics and diagnostics in areas of unmet medical and…

BCHC strengthens collaborations with University of Cambridge

This month we welcomed Klara Stark a PhD student from the Department of Veterinary, University of Cambridge. Her PhD focuses on the question ‘How does the Schistosoma mansoni egg alter the intestinal microbial makeup of its host?’ with an overall aim of new antibiotic discovery. While at Aberystwyth University she tested the antibacterial effect of Schistosoma mansoni egg excretory-secretory products using a…

Dundee Drug Discovery Unit visit

In January, members of the BCHC travelled to Dundee University and met with the team at the Drug Discovery Unit for a one-day symposium. With the aim of driving the development of new anthelmintic treatments and future collaborations, the in person meeting allowed for open discussions between chemists and data-analysts from Dundee and Cardiff Universities…

BCHC takes part in British Science Week

At the beginning of March, Aberystwyth University took part in British Science week, a UK wide initiative to celebrate science, technology engineering and maths. Over the course of 3 days pupils from local primary and secondary schools visited Penglais campus to engage in a range of lively science activities, games and quizzes. Undergraduate, Masters and…

BCHC visit local primary school

During October, Dr Jo Forde-Thomas visited local primary school, Ysgol Gynradd Llanilar, to deliver 4 sessions on ‘The world of Parasites’. Dr Forde-Thomas talked with pupils ranging in age from 4 through to 11 about some commonly encountered parasites before leading students through a drug discovery experiment drawing parallels to the work currently being conducted…

BCHC establishes new collaborations with the University of Oxford

Last Month the BCHC welcomed Professor Stuart Conway from the Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford for collaborative discussions. Professor Conway’s research focuses on the use of synthetic organic chemistry to enable the study of biological problems. Discussions focused around collaborations into the development of new anti-schistosomal agents. This proved to be a hugely productive…

When beheading isn’t the end…..

Yesterday the BCHC welcomed Professor Aziz Aboobaker to Aberystwyth University to speak with us about his work. Aziz is particularly interested in understanding how some animals are able to regenerate and the stem cells that underpin this process. His work uses the planarian flatworm Schmidtea mediterranea as a model system to investigate the process of…

The BCHC meets the creator of the ‘Guardians of the Gut’

We were recently joined by Dr Lindsay Hall, the Microbiome group leader from the Institute of Food Research based at the Quadram Institute who presented a fascinating seminar on the establishment of the microbiota in newborn babies and the important role that this plays in an infant’s growth and development. In addition to her research…

The beginning of a beautiful friendship

This morning we were joined by Prof Mingzhong Li, Professor of Crystallisation Science & Drug Delivery at Leicester School of Pharmacy at De Montfort University. Professor Li gave an impressive presentation on the co-crystallisation technology his lab has been developing to improve the bio availability of chemical compounds being pursued as chemo-therapeutics. Discussions focused on…

BCHC PhD Student travels to the USA

In May, a BCHC PhD Student, Ben Hulme travelled to the USA as part in a knowledge exchange with Professor Paul Brindley’s laboratory at George Washington University, USA. Ben spent time learning how to optimise a new functional genomics technique, CRISPR-CAS9, which has never been performed in adult S. mansoni worms before. Preliminary findings looked…

Category: Visits