̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - European Commission (EC)

̽��ֱ��life-changing artificial pancreas

cjb250 — Thu, 20 Jan 2022 08:30:12 +0000

An artificial pancreas developed by Cambridge researchers is helping protect very young children with type 1 diabetes at a vulnerable time of their lives. New research shows that it is both safe to use and more effective at managing their blood sugar levels than current technology.

Cambridge partners in new €1 billion European Quantum Flagship

sc604 — Mon, 29 Oct 2018 11:00:00 +0000

̽��ֱ��Quantum Flagship, which is being officially launched today in Vienna, is one of the most ambitious long-term research and innovation initiatives of the European Commission. It is funded under the Horizon 2020 programme, and will have a budget of €1 billion over the next ten years.

̽��ֱ��Quantum Flagship is the third large-scale research and innovation initiative of this kind funded by the European Commission, after the Graphene Flagship – of which the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge is a founding partner – and the Human Brain Project. ̽��ֱ��Quantum Flagship work in Cambridge is being coordinated by Professor Mete Atature of the Cavendish Laboratory and Professor Andrea Ferrari, Director of the Cambridge Graphene Centre.

Quantum technologies take advantage of the ability of particles to exist in more than one quantum state at a time. A quantum computer could enable us to make calculations that are well out of reach of even the most powerful supercomputers, while quantum secure communication could power ‘unhackable’ networks made safe by the laws of physics.

̽��ֱ��long-term research goal is the so-called quantum web, where quantum computers, simulators and sensors are interconnected via quantum networks, distributing information and quantum resources such as coherence and entanglement.

̽��ֱ��potential performance increase resulting from quantum technologies may yield unprecedented computing power, guarantee data privacy and communication security, and provide ultra-high precision synchronisation and measurements for a range of applications available to everyone, locally and in the cloud.

̽��ֱ��new Quantum Flagship will bring together academic and industrial partners, with over 500 researchers working on solving these problems, and help turn the results into technological opportunities that can be taken up by industry.

In close partnership with UK, Italian, Spanish, Swedish universities and companies, Cambridge will develop layered quantum materials and devices for scalable integrated photonic circuits, for applications in quantum communication and networks.

Cambridge is investigating and refining layered semiconductors just a few atoms thick, based on materials known as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). Certain TMDs contain quantum light sources that can emit single photons of light, which could be used in quantum computing and sensing applications.

These quantum light emitters occur randomly in layered materials, as is the case for most other material platforms. Over the past three years, the Cambridge researchers have developed a technique to obtain large-scale arrays of these quantum emitters in different TMDs and on a variety of substrates, establishing a route to build quantum networks on compact chips. ̽��ֱ��Cambridge team has also shown how to electrically control emission from these devices.

Additionally, the researchers have found that TMDs can support complex quasi-particles, called quintons. Quintons could be a source of entangled photons - particles of light which are intrinsically linked, no matter how far apart they are - if they can be trapped in quantum emitters.

These findings are the basis of the work being done in the Quantum Flagship, aimed at the development of scalable on-chip devices for quantum integrated photonic circuits, to enable secure quantum communications and quantum sensing applications.

“Our goal is to bring some of the amazing properties of the layered materials platform into the quantum technologies realm for a number of applications,” said Atature. “Achieving compact integrated quantum photonic circuits is a challenge pursued globally and our patented layered materials technology offers solutions to this challenge. This is a great project that combines quantum physics, optoelectronics and materials science to produce technology for the future.”

“Quantum technology is a key investment area for Europe, and layered materials show great promise for the generation and manipulation of quantum light for future technological advances,” said Ferrari. “ ̽��ֱ��Graphene Flagship led the way for these large European Initiatives, and we are pleased to be part of the new Quantum Flagship. ̽��ֱ��Flagships are the largest and most transformative investments in research of the European Union, and will cement the EU leadership in future and emerging technologies.”

Andrus Ansip, Commission Vice-President for the Digital Single Market, said: “Europe is determined to lead the development of quantum technologies worldwide. ̽��ֱ��Quantum Technologies Flagship project is part of our ambition to consolidate and expand Europe's scientific excellence. If we want to unlock the full potential of quantum technologies, we need to develop a solid industrial base making full use of our research.”

Inset images: Mete Atature and Andrea Ferrari; Artist’s impression of on-chip quantum photonics architecture with single photon sources and nonlinear switches on optical waveguides, credit Matteo Barbone.

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge is a partner in the €1 billion Quantum Flagship, an EU-funded initiative to develop quantum technologies across Europe.

̽��ֱ��Flagships are the largest and most transformative investments in research of the European Union, and will cement the EU leadership in future and emerging technologies

Andrea Ferrari

panthermedia.net/agsandrew

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

Yes

̽��ֱ��European roadmap for graphene science and technology

sc604 — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 08:00:00 +0000

In October 2013, academia and industry came together to form the Graphene Flagship. Now with 142 partners in 23 countries, and a growing number of associate members, the Graphene Flagship was established following a call from the European Commission to address big science and technology challenges of the day through long-term, multidisciplinary R&D efforts.

In an open-access paper published in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Nanoscale, more than 60 academics and industrialists lay out a science and technology roadmap for graphene, related two-dimensional crystals, other 2D materials, and hybrid systems based on a combination of different 2D crystals and other nanomaterials. ̽��ֱ��roadmap covers the next ten years and beyond, and its objective is to guide the research community and industry toward the development of products based on graphene and related materials.

Graphene - a two-dimensional material made up of sheets of carbon atoms - and related materials are expected to revolutionise the fields in which they are applied, and they have the potential to become the materials of the 21st century. They will supplement and at times replace existing substances in a range of applications. Two-dimensional materials shall in some cases be integrated into existing platforms in order to enhance them. For example, graphene could be integrated into silicon photonics, exploiting established technology for constructing integrated circuits.

̽��ֱ��roadmap highlights three broad areas of activity. ̽��ֱ��first task is to identify new layered materials, assess their potential, and develop reliable, reproducible and safe means of producing them on an industrial scale. Identification of new device concepts enabled by 2D materials is also called for, along with the development of component technologies. ̽��ֱ��ultimate goal is to integrate components and structures based on 2D materials into systems capable of providing new functionalities and application areas.

Eleven science and technology themes are identified in the roadmap. These are: fundamental science, health and environment, production, electronic devices, spintronics, photonics and optoelectronics, sensors, flexible electronics, energy conversion and storage, composite materials, and biomedical devices. ̽��ֱ��roadmap addresses each of these areas in turn, with timelines.

Research areas outlined in the roadmap correspond broadly with current flagship work packages, with the addition of a work package devoted to the growing area of biomedical applications, to be included in the next phase of the flagship. A recent independent assessment has confirmed that the Graphene Flagship is firmly on course, with hundreds of research papers, numerous patents and marketable products to its name.

Roadmap timelines predict that, before the end of the ten-year period of the flagship, products will be close to market in the areas of flexible electronics, composites, and energy, as well as advanced prototypes of silicon-integrated photonic devices, sensors, high-speed electronics, and biomedical devices.

"This publication concludes a four-year effort to collect and coordinate state-of-the-art science and technology of graphene and related materials," says Andrea Ferrari, director of the Cambridge Graphene Centre, and chairman of the Executive Board of the Graphene Flagship. "We hope that this open-access roadmap will serve as the starting point for academia and industry in their efforts to take layered materials and composites from laboratory to market." Ferrari led the roadmap effort with Italian Institute of Technology physicist Francesco Bonaccorso, who is a Royal Society Newton Fellow of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Hughes Hall.

"We are very proud of the joint effort of the many authors who have produced this roadmap," says Jari Kinaret, director of the Graphene Flagship. " ̽��ֱ��roadmap forms a solid foundation for the graphene community in Europe to plan its activities for the coming years. It is not a static document, but will evolve to reflect progress in the field, and new applications identified and pursued by industry."

Europe's Graphene Flagship lays out a science and technology roadmap, targeting research areas designed to take graphene and related two-dimensional materials from academic laboratories into society.

This publication concludes a four-year effort to collect and coordinate state-of-the-art science and technology of graphene and related materials

Andrea Ferrari

NIST, via Wikimedia Commons

Graphene flowers

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Yes

Artificially-intelligent Robot Scientist ‘Eve’ could boost search for new drugs

cjb250 — Wed, 04 Feb 2015 00:00:01 +0000

Robot scientists are a natural extension of the trend of increased involvement of automation in science. They can automatically develop and test hypotheses to explain observations, run experiments using laboratory robotics, interpret the results to amend their hypotheses, and then repeat the cycle, automating high-throughput hypothesis-led research. Robot scientists are also well suited to recording scientific knowledge: as the experiments are conceived and executed automatically by computer, it is possible to completely capture and digitally curate all aspects of the scientific process.

In 2009, Adam, a robot scientist developed by researchers at the Universities of Aberystwyth and Cambridge, became the first machine to independently discover new scientific knowledge. ̽��ֱ��same team has now developed Eve, based at the ̽��ֱ�� of Manchester, whose purpose is to speed up the drug discovery process and make it more economical. In the study published today, they describe how the robot can help identify promising new drug candidates for malaria and neglected tropical diseases such as African sleeping sickness and Chagas’ disease.

“Neglected tropical diseases are a scourge of humanity, infecting hundreds of millions of people, and killing millions of people every year,” says Professor Steve Oliver from the Cambridge Systems Biology Centre and the Department of Biochemistry at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge. “We know what causes these diseases and that we can, in theory, attack the parasites that cause them using small molecule drugs. But the cost and speed of drug discovery and the economic return make them unattractive to the pharmaceutical industry.

“Eve exploits its artificial intelligence to learn from early successes in her screens and select compounds that have a high probability of being active against the chosen drug target. A smart screening system, based on genetically engineered yeast, is used. This allows Eve to exclude compounds that are toxic to cells and select those that block the action of the parasite protein while leaving any equivalent human protein unscathed. This reduces the costs, uncertainty, and time involved in drug screening, and has the potential to improve the lives of millions of people worldwide.”

Eve is designed to automate early-stage drug design. First, she systematically tests each member from a large set of compounds in the standard brute-force way of conventional mass screening. ̽��ֱ��compounds are screened against assays (tests) designed to be automatically engineered, and can be generated much faster and more cheaply than the bespoke assays that are currently standard. This enables more types of assay to be applied, more efficient use of screening facilities to be made, and thereby increases the probability of a discovery within a given budget.

Eve’s robotic system is capable of screening over 10,000 compounds per day. However, while simple to automate, mass screening is still relatively slow and wasteful of resources as every compound in the library is tested. It is also unintelligent, as it makes no use of what is learnt during screening.

To improve this process, Eve selects at random a subset of the library to find compounds that pass the first assay; any ‘hits’ are re-tested multiple times to reduce the probability of false positives. Taking this set of confirmed hits, Eve uses statistics and machine learning to predict new structures that might score better against the assays. Although she currently does not have the ability to synthesise such compounds, future versions of the robot could potentially incorporate this feature.

Professor Ross King, from the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology at the ̽��ֱ�� of Manchester, says: “Every industry now benefits from automation and science is no exception. Bringing in machine learning to make this process intelligent – rather than just a ‘brute force’ approach – could greatly speed up scientific progress and potentially reap huge rewards.”

To test the viability of the approach, the researchers developed assays targeting key molecules from parasites responsible for diseases such as malaria, Chagas’ disease and schistosomiasis and tested against these a library of approximately 1,500 clinically approved compounds. Through this, Eve showed that a compound that has previously been investigated as an anti-cancer drug inhibits a key molecule known as DHFR in the malaria parasite. Drugs that inhibit this molecule are currently routinely used to protect against malaria, and are given to over a million children; however, the emergence of strains of parasites resistant to existing drugs means that the search for new drugs is becoming increasingly more urgent.

“Despite extensive efforts, no one has been able to find a new antimalarial that targets DHFR and is able to pass clinical trials,” adds Professor King. “Eve’s discovery could be even more significant than just demonstrating a new approach to drug discovery.”

̽��ֱ��research was supported by the Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council and the European Commission.

Reference
Williams, K. and Bilsland, E. et al. Cheaper faster drug development validated by the repositioning of drugs against neglected tropical diseases. Interface; 4 Feb 2015.

Eve, an artificially-intelligent ‘robot scientist’ could make drug discovery faster and much cheaper, say researchers writing in the Royal Society journal Interface. ̽��ֱ��team has demonstrated the success of the approach as Eve discovered that a compound shown to have anti-cancer properties might also be used in the fight against malaria.

[Eve's artificial intelligence] reduces the costs, uncertainty, and time involved in drug screening, and has the potential to improve the lives of millions of people worldwide

Steve Oliver

̽��ֱ�� of Manchester

Eve, the Robot Scientist

Yes

Europe pledges one billion euros on graphene as platform for emerging technologies

hps25 — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:16:15 +0000

̽��ֱ��European Commission announced today that it has chosen Graphene as one of Europe’s first “Future Emerging Technology” flagship programmes, described as “the largest research excellence awards in history”. Worth a total of €1 billion, the project will aim to take graphene and other, related, layered materials from academic laboratories to society. ̽��ֱ��hope is that, in the future, it will revolutionize industries and stimulate economic growth.

Graphene, a one-atom-thick layer of carbon atoms with remarkable properties and potential, has been the subject of a scientific explosion since ground-breaking experiments in Manchester in 2004. ̽��ֱ��flagship is also one of three graphene-related initiatives announced since December alone which feature Cambridge in a central role, confirming the importance of its strength as a centre of expertise both in related research and commercialisation activities.

Professor Andrea Ferrari, Director of the Cambridge Graphene Centre, said “ ̽��ֱ��grand challenge for the flagship is to target applications and manufacturing processes, at the same time broadening research to other two-dimensional materials and hybrid systems. ̽��ֱ��integration of these new materials could bring a new dimension to future technologies, creating faster, thinner, stronger, more flexible broadband devices”.

“We recognize that there is still much to be done before the early promise of graphene becomes reality. ̽��ֱ��large funding the EU is ready to invest in our vision puts a huge burden or responsibility on our shoulders, and will require us to focus on results and stay away from hype.”

̽��ֱ��Graphene Flagship is a joint, co-ordinated research initiative of unprecedented scale. It brings together an academic and industrial network from 17 different countries and 126 research groups. Together, they will work on graphene development programmes designed to cover the entire value-chain, from production through to the manufacturing of graphene-based components and systems integration.

Cambridge, which led the original “science & technology roadmap” of the successful bid for the Graphene Flagship – will guide on the development of opto-electronic devices based on graphene, as well work on flexible electronics, nano-composites, energy and large scale production of the material. In the future, researchers hope to be able to create technologies such as electronic paper and bendable personal communication devices based on the material, as well as lighter and more energy-efficient aeroplanes.

̽��ֱ��initial, 30-month budget for the flagship will be €54 million from the EU, which will be complemented by significant investments from several of the member states.

̽��ֱ��flagship will be co-ordinated by Chalmers ̽��ֱ�� of Technology based in Gothenberg, Sweden. ̽��ֱ��Director is Professor Jari Kinaret, who will lead the research activities together with the leaders of different work packages, details of which can be found at: www.graphene-flagship.eu

During its first 30 months, the Flagship will focus on developing new information and communications technology based on graphene, the physical transport sector, and supporting applications in the fields of energy technology and sensors.

After this “ramp-up” phase, the flagship will incorporate additional research groups and incorporate new development activities as well. These will be guided partly by the Horizon 2020 programme of the European Union.

A major research initiative which will create a European network of academics and companies working on graphene has been approved, with the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge set to take a leading role.

̽��ֱ��integration of these new materials could bring a new dimension to future technologies, creating faster, thinner, stronger, more flexible broadband devices.

Andrea Ferrari

Jynto from wikimedia commons

Graphene

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Licence type:

Attribution

Challenging “us versus them”

Anonymous — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 15:00:21 +0000

̽��ֱ��on-going financial crisis, the rise of right-wing populist and anti-immigration political parties, and continuing sectarian conflicts across the world, all multiply the tensions associated with globalisation. Under increasingly difficult conditions, people with widely differing viewpoints are compelled to rub shoulders - often uncomfortably - with each other. What many groups experience is the feeling that their values and their identity are under threat, whether that threat is real or perceived.

Our values are a primary motivating force, underpinning the way we think, behave and relate to the wider world. When we feel that our values or identity are under threat, we go into cognitive constriction, failing to see or even consider opposing points of view. This way of thinking becomes quite self-limiting, potentially leading to a clash with those who disagree, and can affect any group or belief system.

An original programme to address the tensions of worldview clash has been designed for young British Muslims by Dr Sara Savage and Dr Jose Liht, members of the Psychology and Religion Research Group in the ̽��ֱ��’s Faculty of Divinity. ̽��ֱ��programme, entitled Being Muslim Being British (BMBB), uses multimedia and role-play activities, giving participants the tools they need to see some worth in opposing viewpoints while remaining true to their own values. This shift in perception is the groundwork needed for people to work out mutually beneficial solutions to address complex social problems. ̽��ֱ��aim is to promote social cohesion while respecting difference by promoting participants’ Integrative Complexity (IC) – the ability to see value in differing viewpoints around a given issue, and to perceive a wider framework that can make sense of difference.

̽��ֱ��course serves as a primary prevention to build resilience in Muslim youth against the pull of radical groups and radical discourse that has been so prevalent online. ̽��ֱ��team have thoroughly tested seven pilot programmes around the country and are currently working with the Ealing Borough Council in London to roll out BMBB in schools.

Individuals have different lenses on the social world: some see the world in black and white, and some see it in shades of grey. There are advantages and disadvantages to both ways of thinking, and most individuals are able to adapt their level of IC as different situations may require.

“We are not promoting high IC as a universal ideal, because there are times to be very clear, to cut down alternatives and make a decision,” says Dr Savage. “Our approach makes people aware of fluctuations in IC levels in response to stress, and to be able to raise IC when the context calls for that.”

When parties with opposing viewpoints on a contentious issue both experience a drop in IC, conflict is likely to occur - people often see no other option than to go head to head. However, when people are able to see some validity in differing points of view, they are able to interact with those who have opposing viewpoints without feeling threatened or losing their commitment to their own values.

Radical ideas are quite widespread: even so, Dr Savage says of the BMBB participants, “These are not problem people: they are lovely, warm, intelligent young people. But when they are constantly exposed to a discourse that says you can’t be both British and Muslim, and it uses ‘wedge’ issues to polarise them, it’s easy to get stuck in that black and white way of thinking.”

“Our courses don’t so much ‘engineer’ a change as to remove obstacles to young people being able to think about the social world according to a wider array of their own values. By creating a safe context with the needed resources, the obstacles disappear and people are free to think for themselves.”

̽��ֱ��overall experience shows that the approach prmotoes more complex ways of thinking which value both Muslim and British heritages. Dr Ryan Williams’ research on the BMBB pilots shows that higher IC becomes socially validated and valued within the participating peer groups.

“BMBB is about enabling young people to flourish. We present a dilemma and give them the resources to try out various solutions for themselves – we never steer them toward a certain solution,” says Dr Savage.

Using a well-established coding framework to pre and post test every pilot group, participants in BMBB showed a significant increase in IC in their group discussions and projects by the end of the course.

Anti-Muslim rhetoric propagates the idea that Islam has a cognitive constricting effect, but participants in the BMBB programme discover that the opposite is true: their faith is a resource that can help them raise their level of IC.

In addition to the BMBB programme, Dr Savage and colleague Anjum Khan are in the process of adapting BMBB for use in the Netherlands, Italy, Germany and Spain, which will address the way right-wing extremism interacts with Islamic extremism. As well, Dr Eolene Boyd-MacMillan and Dr Savage have received funding from the Scottish government for a programme to address sectarian issues between Catholic and Protestant groups in Scotland - all of which are programmes running through Cambridge Enterprise, the ̽��ֱ��’s commercialisation group.

̽��ֱ��BMBB programme is funded by the European Commission. Dr Williams’ research is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust.

A series of programmes which aim to address and counteract radical thought in British youth is now being adapted for use across Europe.

Our courses don’t so much ‘engineer’ a change as to remove obstacles to young people being able to think about the social world according to a wider array of their own values. By creating a safe context with the needed resources, the obstacles disappear and people are free to think for themselves.

Dr Sara Savage

Danny McL (Flickr Creative Commons)

Whitechapel Market

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Deep issues: communicating CCS

lw355 — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 09:00:17 +0000

CCS has been described by advocates as the single biggest lever to combat climate change. ̽��ֱ��technology – which aims to capture carbon dioxide generated by fossil fuel power stations and store it safely and permanently deep underground – has, said Rt Hon. Chris Huhne MP, UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, “a key part to play in ensuring that we can keep the lights on at the same time as fighting climate change.”

Despite the enthusiasm, no commercial-scale CCS projects for power plants are yet in operation. For governments and industry, the main barrier is cost. By contrast, for environmental groups, concerns have been voiced about the continued use of fossil fuels and the impact on their preferred options such as renewable energy sources.

Concerns about CCS also extend to local populations, as Dr David Reiner from Cambridge Judge Business School explained: “Recent early stage CCS projects in Germany, the Netherlands and America have all generated substantial local opposition and led to projects failing. Aside from technical progress that will bring down costs, more needs to be learned about what factors will affect the chances of CCS becoming widely adopted.”

His research team, together with colleagues from across Europe, has focused on how information about CCS is communicated, asking whether key lessons can be learned that will affect the technology’s deployment.

Communication strategy

A key step was to carry out a global review of CCS communication practices: who is communicating what aspects of CCS, and why? “We found that most CCS communication, which is principally via websites, is very good at explaining the technological processes involved. But, in areas that are likely to be of most concern to society, such as costs, policy alternatives and wider social implications, there is scant coverage,” said Dr Reiner. “Moreover, most of the information about CCS is from sources that are perceived by the general public as ‘less trusted’, such as business and governments, rather than research institutions, established media or NGOs.”

These are serious obstacles believe the researchers, particularly as their findings indicate that environmentalists base their evaluations about CCS on what role they believe it will play in society rather than on whether they think CCS technology works or not. This view of environmental activists is based on data the researchers gathered in Climate Camps – grassroots movements that advocate direct action on climate change – and Green Party conferences in the UK. Participants at both displayed considerable understanding of the issues involved.

When it comes to the general public, though, the level of understanding of CCS was found to be considerably less. ̽��ֱ��research team investigated the opinions and perceptions of CCS by residents in five European Union member states who live in the region of planned projects. “One major finding was that if the residents felt that the planning process was fair or that their local community had been treated fairly in the past, this had a direct relationship to their attitudes towards the local project,” added Dr Reiner.

Avoiding a ‘perfect storm’

“Our research has shown that many of the first projects have engendered a type of ‘perfect storm’, whereby the communication with the local community is problematic, is presented as a fait accompli and is provided by ‘less-trusted’ sources, such as the developers,” explained Dr Reiner. “In addition, the community is frequently sceptical from the start because of previous bad experiences with local infrastructure planning.”

̽��ֱ��researchers believe that improving communications and thinking more carefully about the social characteristics of the project at the design stage will reduce the likelihood of opposition. Under certain conditions, they found that even many strident environmental activists are willing to support (or at least not oppose) CCS.

“There is no magic formula,” he added, “but taking the extra time needed to bring in more-trusted voices such as university scientists or environmental groups will increase the likelihood that these first projects, and ultimately CCS more generally, will be successful.”

New research has identified communication gaps that could hinder the deployment of carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technologies to mitigate climate change.

Most of the information about CCS is from sources that are perceived by the general public as ‘less trusted’, such as business and governments, rather than research institutions, established media or NGOs.

Dr David Reiner

lewishamdreamer on flickr

Demonstration banner

Cambridge Centre for Carbon Capture and Storage launched

A recently launched Centre, led by Director Professor Mike Bickle (Department of Earth Sciences), with Dr Stuart Scott (Department of Engineering) and Dr David Reiner, will facilitate collaborative research and act as a focal point for CCS research at Cambridge.

For more information, please visit www.ccs.cam.ac.uk/

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Patenting ethics in stem cell research

lw355 — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 07:53:03 +0000

A storm could soon hit European courts over whether it is ethical to patent work involving human embryonic stem cell lines. Scientists fear that the lengthy legal debate could spark more restrictive legislation, or even a ban on such work in Europe.

Professor Austin Smith, Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Stem Cell Research at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and scientific co-ordinator of the EuroSyStem Project, and other prominent coordinators of European stem cell research bodies, weigh in with an open letter in this week’s Nature supporting the right to patent in this field, now under review by the European Court of Justice.

Arguing that these established cell lines do not involve commercialisation of the human embryo and are superior to other available technologies for developing therapies, they say that European bioindustry must have patent protection in order to realise the clinical benefits of stem cell lines.

“We trust that [the court] will deliberate on the full implications before making a legally binding ruling,” say the signatories.

̽��ֱ��letter plus comments from ethicists and scientists is available on eurostemcell.org, along with the opportunity to comment or add a signature at www.eurostemcell.org/stem-cell-patents

̽��ֱ��EuroSyStem Project is a member of EuroStemCell and is an EC-funded partnership between Europe's top stem cell research groups. ̽��ֱ��Project aims to interlink complementary biological and computational expertise to drive the generation of new knowledge on the characteristics of normal and abnormal stem cells.

Scientists say ‘No’ to a ban on stem cell patents recommended by the European Court of Justice.

European bioindustry must have patent protection in order to realise the clinical benefits of stem cell lines.

Dr Thomas Moreau

Human embryonic stem cell colonies

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Yes