The new £11 million IRC, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (total investment £16 million), will develop mobile health technologies that allow doctors to diagnose and track diseases much earlier than ever before.

Welcoming the new centres, David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science, said: “New British technologies are transforming healthcare and saving lives, for example, in future, our smart phones will tell us when we are ill, controlling the spread of infectious diseases. As healthcare challenges become more complex, our world-class scientists are finding the next generation solutions.”

The IRC brings together scientists, engineers and clinicians from UCL, Imperial College, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Newcastle University, together with NHS stakeholders UCL Partners, Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the UCLH and Newcastle NIHR Biomedical Research Centres, Public Health England and industry partners – OJ-Bio, Microsoft, Cambridge Life Sciences, Mologic, O₂ Health, Zurich Instruments, XFAB and Cepheid.

The IRC will pioneer low cost, easy to use mobile phone-connected diagnostic tests based on advances in nanotechnology for use in GP surgeries, pharmacies, elderly care homes, developing countries and at home.

The mobile tests aim to identify diseases with high sensitivity and specificity and give results within minutes from just a pin-prick of blood or a simple swab. Rapidly transmitting results into secure healthcare systems will alert doctors to potentially serious outbreaks with geographically linked information.

The UCL team are already developing a smart-phone-connected prototype test for HIV with industry partners OJ-Bio.

The IRC will also track reported symptoms of infection by searching millions of internet sources including media reports, search engine queries (e.g. Google Trends and Bing) and social networking sites (e.g. Facebook and Twitter) to identify outbreaks even before people attend clinics or from parts of the world that lack the resources for traditional public health surveillance.

Worldwide, there are an estimated 6.8 billion mobile phone subscriptions, 2.7 billion people on-line and 1 billion social network users, representing a massive opportunity to widen access to tests and track emerging disease outbreaks.

Dr Rachel McKendry, from the London Centre for Nanotechnology UCL, who will lead the new centre, said: “A new generation of diagnostic test and tracking systems could save millions of people from deadly diseases such as new strains of influenza, HIV and MRSA.

“The revolution in mobile communication, nanotechnology, genomics, and ‘big data’ analysis offers tremendous opportunities to actively manage outbreaks and ultimately prevent infectious diseases. Widening access to tests in community settings will empower patients to gain faster access to treatment, reduce the inappropriate use of antibiotics and protect the wider public.”

A microelectronic chip that processes signals from wireless sensors, developed by Professor Andreas Demosthenous

The new centre will bring critical mass and multidisciplinary expertise in biomarker discovery (“pathogen-specific fingerprints”) which require minimal sample processing steps, nano-enabled sensors, temperature-stable biomimetic capture coatings, nanoparticles, microfluidics, wireless networks, data security and health economics. UCL Engineering will be contributing expertise in microelectronicsto interface between biosensors and smart devices, led by Professor Andreas Demosthenous (UCL Electronic & Electrical Engineering), and also through computer science strengths in digital surveillance and data mining, where Professor Ingemar Cox will be co-deputy director of Digital Surveillance Systems.

Early diagnosis plays a vital role in the treatment, care and prevention of infectious diseases. However, worldwide, many infections remain undiagnosed and untreated or are diagnosed at the late stage due to poor diagnostic tools. The result is on-going transmission of serious infections and delays in the identification of emerging threats.

Professor Deenan Pillay, Infectious Diseases Programme Director for the NIHR UCL Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre, and UCL Partners, Head of Department of Infection, UCL, and clinical lead in the new centre said: “Infectious diseases remain among the top killers in the world. Newly emerging pandemics of, influenza, for example, provide major threats, and the spread of infections within hospitals and communities often undermines our effective management of patients, whatever their health problems.

“One of the major limitations to effective prevention, treatment and cure is the lack of appropriate tools to diagnose infections in the first place and monitor effective treatment.”

To meet the needs of end users, the team will work closely with leading NHS clinicians from UCL Partners and Newcastle NHS Trusts, NIHR Biomedical Research Centres, Public Health England, patient groups and the public to address the wider issues of increased testing, care pathways and data security. The centre also benefits from links to more than 100 countries in Africa, Asia and South America via the LSHTM International Diagnostics Centre led by Professor Rosanna Peeling.

Professor Calum McNeil, lead investigator from the Newcastle University said, “For me the EPSRC IRC is a long-term ambition come true. It presents a fantastic opportunity to work with world-leaders in nanotechnology, engineering, bioinformatics and communications technologies in order to provide real-time predictive, preventive, point-of-care healthcare provision – a hugely exciting undertaking.”

Professor Molly Stevens from Imperial College London added, “We are extremely excited about integrating our expertise in biosensing with such an excellent consortium to enable maximum impact in the fight against infectious diseases.”

EPSRC IRC in Early Warning Sensing Systems for Infectious Diseases.

Team: UCL – Dr Rachel McKendry, Prof. Deenan Pillay, Prof. Ingemar Cox, Prof. Anne Johnson, Prof. Robin Weiss, Prof. Vince Emery (now Surrey), Prof. Andreas Demosthenous, Prof. Quentin Pankhurst; LSHTM – Prof. Rosanna Peeling; Imperial College – Prof. Molly Stevens; Newcastle University – Prof. Calum McNeil, Dr Neil Keegan, Prof. Colin Harwood, Prof. Anil Wipat, Dr Philip Manning; Dr John Hedley; Public Health England: Prof. Mike Catchpole; Prof. Richard Pebody.

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Researchers from UCL Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, Warwick Business School and the Department of Physics at Boston University highlight the insights large data sets can give into collective decision making. While stock market data provide detailed records of the actions which drive market movements, they say little about how traders decide to take these actions. Dr Helen Susannah Moat (UCL Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering) said: “We were intrigued by the idea that data from usage of online search engines might reflect how humans gather information before making decisions.”

The closing prices of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) are shown here as a black line, plotted against a colour code representing how the number of searches by US users for the term ‘debt’ changes over time. Red shows an increase in searches, while blue shows a decrease.

Tobias Preis, Helen Susannah Moat and H. Eugene Stanley looked for relationships between records of searches on Google between 2004 and 2011 and movements of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Their analysis of seven years of historical data detected increases in searches for financial market related keywords before stock market falls.

The researchers identified a set of 98 terms, such as “debt”, “stocks”, “derivatives” and “finance”, and investigated the behaviour of a simple hypothetical trading strategy based on how the frequency of searches for these terms changed weekly between 2004 and 2011. If the number of searches for a term had decreased in the previous week, compared to earlier weeks, they took a long position on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, buying stock at the start of the week and selling it at the end, benefiting if the price had increased. If, on the other hand, the search volume for a given term had increased then stock was sold at the beginning of the week and bought back at the end, making a profit if the price had dropped.

Performance of this simple Google Trends based investment strategy varied depending on the term chosen. To investigate this variation, Preis, Moat and Stanley created an index of ‘financial relevance’ by calculating how often each term occurred in the Financial Times between August 2004 to June 2011, and adjusting this count for how frequently it was used in more general language, estimated using the number of Google hits for a term. Analysis showed that more financially relevant terms tended to lead to higher trading strategy returns.

The results of the study are in line with the suggestion that investors may expend more efforts searching for information about the market before they are prepared to sell at lower prices.

Dr Helen Susannah Moat (UCL Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering) said,

“By combining data created through our everyday Internet usage with large data sets capturing decisions we make in the real world, we have an opportunity to investigate how information flow affects our behaviour at an unprecedented scale.”

The study was carried out as part of the IARPA Open Source Indicators programme, which aims to develop methods for continuous, automated analysis of publicly available data in order to anticipate significant societal events.

Dr Tobias Preis (Warwick Business School) said,

“Our results help illustrate the possibilities that large social data sets are creating for a new interdisciplinary ‘computational social science’.”

“This work illustrates the insight that publicly available data can provide to identify early warning signals of emerging events in the world,” said Jason Matheny, programme manager of the Open Source Indicators programme at IARPA.

Study authors Tobias Preis (Warwick Business School), left, Helen Susannah Moat (UCL Engineering), centre, and H. Eugene Stanley (Department of Physics, Boston University), right.

Read more:

• Read the paper, “Quantifying Trading Behavior in Financial Markets Using Google Trends”, Scientific Reports DOI: 10.1038/srep01684  (open access, freely available to all)
• UCL SpaceTimeLab (Dr Moat’s research centre)
• UCL Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering

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The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council is one of nine bodies responsible for allotting government funding to research projects that meet the needs of the UK and the world as a whole. The council of EPRSC is its senior decision making body, responsible for determining policy, priorities and strategy, as well as being accountable for budget and performance issues.

The chair of EPSRC council, Dr Paul Golby, said:

“I am very happy to be able to welcome our three newest council members. Their knowledge and experience will undoubtedly add to an EPSRC Council that is already strong and rich in talents. Their combined experience and valuable insight into computer science, nano-technology and the multi-national chemical industry will add a breadth of academic and business skills that will help us and the scientific communities address the major challenges facing the UK.”

 

Professor Finkelstein said:

“Partnership between research funders and the science space is critical, and the role of council members is to develop and enhance that partnership.  We need to make contributions to innovation and growth to support the UK economy, and to address the global scientific challenges that make for a better world. It is crucial to continue and sustain the emerging consensus, evident in government and the public, that investment in science and engineering is important and worthwhile.”

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Engineering Experience Visits such as this one to the Olympic Velodrome under construction will be part of the Arkwright Scholar’s experience

The sponsorship will provide the scholars with CAD/CAM software and training in its use, attendance at engineering events, mentoring and advice, as well as £600 each per year to purchase books, materials and experiences to widen their experience of their studies. Participating schools will also receive funding for ICT, Engineering and Design and Technology teaching equipment, passing the benefits on to the scholars’ classmates also.

Dr Martin Thomas, National Director of the Arkwright Scholarships Trust, said:

“I am delighted that UCL and the Arkwright Scholarships Trust are working closely together to locate and inspire the next generation of high-calibre engineers, scientists and technical designers. This shared commitment will provide significant benefits to Arkwright Scholars through the opportunity to learn from current engineering students and access to facilities and know-how at UCL to enrich the experiences of Scholars during their year 12 and 13 school studies.”

Anthony Finkelstein, Dean of UCL Engineering, said:

“We are excited and passionate about engineering and the ways in which it can change the world for the better. We are very happy to be working with the Arkwright Scholarships Trust who share our excitement. We look forward to working with school students and inspiring future leaders.”

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The UCL near-infrared brain imaging device is also finding applications in developing countries, due to its portability.

The research, which was funded by the UK Medical Research Council, The Simons Foundation and Autistica, was conducted at the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London using the device developed by researchers at UCL Medical Physics & Bioengineering. Results are published in the 13^th March issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B as the paper “Reduced neural sensitivity to social stimuli in infants at risk for autism”, available to read freely online.

In their first six months of life, babies who have an older brother or sister with autism show different brain responses compared with a group of babies with no autism in the family. The activation of the brain can be measured by changes in the way near infra-red light reflects off areas of the brain depending on the level of oxygen used there. Differences can be seen between the babies viewing socially interesting videos of, for example, actors playing ‘Peek-a-boo’, and listening to vocal sounds such as laughter and yawning, compared with sounds such as running water and toys rattling.

Dr Sarah Lloyd Fox, who led the study, explained: “Our findings demonstrate for the first time that direct measures of brain functioning during the first six months of life may help further our understanding of the development of autism. Future work will determine whether these differences in brain responses to socially relevant information are associated with later autism or the broader autism phenotype, which is sometimes seen in unaffected family members.”

The behaviours characteristic of autism emerge over the first few years of life and firm diagnoses are now made in children only after the age of two. As a result, the vast majority of research on autism has necessarily concentrated on children two and up, who have already been diagnosed.

“We still know very little about the earliest appearing symptoms and warning signs,” Lloyd-Fox said.

To find out more, the team looked to four-to-six-month-old babies at greater risk of developing autism because they had an older brother or sister with the condition. The researchers used an optical imaging system which had been custom designed and built by engineers from the Biomedical Optics Research Laboratory at UCL Engineering. Optical sensors were placed on the baby’s head to register brain activity while they viewed videos of human actions (such as Peek-a-boo or Incy Wincy Spider) or listened to sounds such as laughter, yawning, running water and toys rattling.

“At this age, no behavioural markers of autism are yet evident, and so measurements of brain function may be a more sensitive indicator of risk. The earlier that we can measure infants’ responses, the clearer an idea we can develop of how genes and the environment might be interacting, and this will help us to develop interventions which could support typical brain development.” Lloyd-Fox said.

Lloyd-Fox explains “It is important to note, however, that individual babies did not all show the same pattern of brain responses. It is paramount that we revisit these findings when the babies are over two years of age and can be assessed for a diagnosis of autism. Future work will determine whether these differences in brain responses to socially relevant information are associated with later autism or the broader autism phenotype, which is sometimes seen in unaffected family members.” The method will require further refinement, most likely in combination with other factors, to form the basis of a predictor accurate enough for clinical use in the general population.

Professor Clare Elwell (UCL Medical Physics & Bioengineering), whose group developed the optical sensors that made this work possible, said: “It’s really satisfying to produce work which enables important developments in other disciplines. The gentle nature and portability of our technique of near infra-red measurement means that we have been able to find uses for it in athletics, developmental studies such as this, and are currently exploring applications it could have in developing countries.”

The research has been funded by the UK Medical Research Council, Simons Foundation and the BASIS funding consortium led by Autistica, a charity seeking to fund biomedical research to bring benefits to individuals and families affected by autism spectrum disorders.

Read more

• UCL Biomedical Optics Research Lab
• UCL Medical Physics & Bioengineering

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Winners will be chosen in 3 age categories to have their work turned into digital designs and printed by Black Country Atelier, and the overall winner will receive a class on 3D printing for their school. Our own Professor of Materials and Society and 3D printing enthusiast Mark Miodownik will be helping with the judging!

You can still enter even if you can’t make it to our stall between 14th-17th March. Look up our 3D printing brochure to find out about how this exciting new technology works, as well as how researchers at UCL are using it in their work, and things to consider about the impact it will have on our world

The competition is open to all children between 7 and 16, who must submit their entry via their school.  Entries must be received by 1st of April.

Find the full information in the competition details sheet on the STEMNET website.

The complete set of rules is available on the STEMNET site.

If you would like to promote the competition, please print and share the competition poster.

Good luck!

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Funding for the projects will be announced by the UK’s Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts, at the first Global Grand Challenges Summit in London.

The event is organised by the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng), the US National Academy of Engineering and the Chinese Academy of Engineering and is proudly supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and other partners.

Five Frontier Engineering projects will receive £25 million in total, the successful applicants cover a range of topics that align with the themes of the Global Grand Challenges Summit.

One of the five Frontier projects, the UCL Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering, will draw lessons from nature to engineer innovative solutions to our grand challenges in energy, water, materials, health, and living space.

Evolution over the eons has made Nature a treasure trove of clever solutions to sustainability, resilience, and ways to efficiently utilise scarce resources.

Professor Marc-Olivier Coppens, Ramsey Memorial Professor and Head of UCL Chemical Engineering will be the Director of the new Centre. He said:

“Rather than imitating nature out of context or succumbing to superficial analogies, research at the Centre will take a decidedly scientific approach to uncover the fundamental mechanisms behind desirable traits, and apply these to designing and synthesising artificial systems that borrow the traits of the natural model.”

An example of nature-inspired design: a fractal gas injector design inspired by the scaling of tree branches

These systems – desalination membranes, fuel cells, catalysts, adaptive materials, or built environments – thus gain the same desirable characteristics as their models in nature – cell membranes, lungs, trees and bacterial communities – with the associated extraordinary performance, such as scalability, robustness, and material and energy efficiency.

Based at UCL, the Centre aims to be a world-leading, national resource that welcomes broad UK and international participation. Using theory and simulation assisted rational design, complemented by experiments, synthesis and testing, the Centre unites a highly interdisciplinary team of researchers. Contributions may come from genetics, computer science, chemical and materials engineering, architecture and beyond. Collaborations with a wide range of industrial partners allow us to accelerate the translation of research findings into practice.

The Centre will have three theme leaders: Asterios Gavriilidis, Professor of Chemical Engineering, Nigel Titchener-Hooker, Professor and Head of Department of Biochemical Engineering and Mark Miodownik, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director, Institute of Making.

Mr Willetts said:

“Over the last two centuries engineering innovations have transformed lives, but we still face global challenges like tackling climate change, improving healthcare and meeting basic needs, like access to clean water. This significant investment recognises the vital role that the UK research base can have in providing solutions to these challenges.”

 

/Earth image by Kevin M Gill on Flickr, made available using a Creative Commons license.

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Professor David Hawkes and others at CMIC will identify breast cancer microstructures

Professor David Hawkes, (UCL Centre for Medical Imaging Computing), leads a project with Professor Andrew Evans of the University of Dundee to develop new ultrasound and MRI techniques to examine the microstructure of breast tissue. The aim is to help identify different types of breast cancer and classify them as high risk and low risk, as well as predicting their likely response to therapy. These methods will be used not only to examine the cancer itself but also microscopic changes in tissue near the cancers that could develop further. The project receives £812,000, and it is hoped that results will lead to a clinical trial.

Professor Elwell and her group will be working on a flexible brain imaging device

Imaging techniques focusing on the brain will be pursued by a team led by Prof Clare Elwell (UCL Medical Physics & Bioengineering) and including Custom Interconnect Ltd, g tec Guger Technologies, and the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability. Their new imaging techniques will be developed to assess and improve therapies for brain injured patients and help very disabled patients to interact with the world. With the £993,000 awarded, the team will create a wearable, comfortable, brain imaging system capable of measuring the level and location of electrical activity and oxygen use in the brain. Researchers will investigate whether these systems can be used to help patients communicate and control the world around them and how clinically relevant information can be extracted from the captured signals and images.

Professor Nick Tyler and others at UCL will be working on developing novel support materials

A multidisciplinary team drawn from UCL Engineering and the physical sciences at UCL, in partnertship with URT Group Ltd, will be studying the properties of new materials and composites that could be used to provide joint support, or even full exoskeletons, for patients needing rehabilitation or permanent support. This could be used to support joints which bend, to rehabilitate weak muscles needing exercise whilst healing after fractures, or in an exoskeleton to help people walk. Professor Nick Tyler, head of UCL Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Enginering and also Director  of the UCL Accessibility Research Group, will lead this £994,000 project.

Richard Prager, from the University of Cambridge, who chaired the panel assessing the research proposals, said:  “Technology for rehabilitation, acute care and imaging has huge potential to transform lives and improve medicine.  It is great that such an exciting set of ambitious projects has been funded.

“The referees and review panel were greatly impressed by the large number and outstanding quality of proposals received.”

Professor David Delpy, CEO of EPSRC said: “The research we are funding is aimed at developing a range of innovative technologies which can improve the diagnosis and treatment of serious illnesses including Alzheimer’s and cancer, improve patient outcomes, and help severely disabled people. EPSRC funds projects which are both world-leading research, and can make a real difference to people’s lives.”

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Videolectures.net, a UCL-supported project to make quality academic videos available freely online, received a World Summit Award in the e-Science & Technology category last night. The awards, which form part of the United Nations Summit on the Information Society, are a global competition highlighting the best in e-content and web creativity. To commemorate the 10 years since the founding of the summit, the awards this year recognize the best initiatives over this entire period. Videolectures.net is currently expanding through an associated foundation in London, led by UCL Computer Science professor John Shawe-Taylor.

The website is an online video library which aims to make scientific lectures given by distinguished scholars and researchers at conferences, workshops and university courses accessible to all. Based at the Center for Knowledge Transfer, Josef Stefan Institute, Slovenia, it currently holds over 16,000 open access Creative-commons licensed videos, and also serves a publication channel for research projects funded by the European Commission. Advanced technologies and support to create videolectures.net were provided by PASCAL, a European Network of Excellence for Pattern Analysis, Statistical Modelling and Computational Learning whose scientific coordinator is the head of UCL Computer Science, Professor John Shawe-Taylor.

As the capacity, and demand, for online learning have increased, the project has also expanded. The Knowledge 4 All Foundation Ltd. (K4A), led by Prof Shawe-Taylor, will pass on the legacy of PASCAL2 and create tools and intelligent services that will enhance the libraries’ video content. The Foundation aims to combine the latest technology in artificial intelligence with new trends in education to produce excellence in open education. It also develops innovative video journals, and supports the development of advanced technologies for VideoLectures.Net. K4A works closely with the OpenCast Community and OpenCourseWare Consortium, which both operate in the field of open source video capture systems and open educational resources, and provides intelligent solutions for these two initiatives.

John Shawe-Taylor said:

“Videolectures was a great initiative that we helped to support from the PASCAL Networks. It is fantastic to see how it has blossomed through the Jozef Stefan institute. I am really proud of what we and they have achieved and look forward to developing this site through the Knowledge 4 All Foundation. The development is very timely given the move towards the use of technology in on-line education that we are promoting through events such as the conference planned for this autumn.”

K4A will organize the first regional “Internet of Education 2013″ conference in Slovenia this year in order to explore the new and rapidly-changing global trends in higher education, and how intelligent and advanced technologies have influenced and will go on to instigate fundamental changes within traditional higher education systems around the world.

Read more:

• Knowledge 4 All
• Videolectures.net
• UCL Computer Science

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Professor Clare Elwell has been recognised for her expertise in medical imaging using infra-red radiation

Descendants of suffragist leader Emmeline Pankhurst will award the women bespoke heirloom jewellery, reminiscent of the specially crafted jewellery received by noted women of the suffrage movement. The ceremony will take place in the tearoom of the Waldorf Hilton Hotel, echoing suffrage meetings held in tearooms across the country. After a period of ownership, the recipients will pass on their awards to another selection of high-achieving women. Science writer, broadcaster, and member of UCL Council, Vivienne Parry conceived of the heirloom jewellery scheme, which is now in its third year.

Bringing together the arts and the sciences, the heirloom jewellery will be designed by students at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. The designs will be showcased at a pop-up exhibition during the event, which will also launch the unique, keepsake publication Suffrage Science: 2013, comprising interviews with the nominated women scientists. Ms Parry will also host a debate on whether Nobel prize-winning physicist Marie Curie would have made it as a woman in science today.

As Professor Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer for England, commented at the inaugural launch of Suffrage Science: “A successful career in science is always demanding of intellect, hard work and resilience; only more so for most women”. Representing the women who are at the forefront of science today, nominees also include Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Honorary Research Associate at UCL Physics & Astronomy.

In 2015 these women and their fellow nominees will pass on their heirloom jewellery to the next group of excellent female scientists and communicators, in a bid to encourage them to make their way to the top. Recent reports suggest men are six times more likely than women to work in science, engineering or technology (UKRC statistics guide, 2010). The tradition of passing on the heirlooms aims to promote a future where more women stay in science and pursue leadership roles.

Suffrage Science is supported by Imperial College London, the Medical Research Council, L’Oreal and the University of the Arts London. The award ceremony will take place from 6.30 – 9.30 on 8th March.

Read more:

• Suffrage Science
• UCL Women in Engineering Project

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