Grant winners - 16 October 2014

Royal Society

University Research Fellowships

• Award winner: Artem Bakulin
• Institution: University of Cambridge
• Value: £446,097

Optical control of conductivity in organic- and bio-electronic devices

• Award winner: Aires Ferreira
• Institution: University of York
• Value: £438,484

Spintronics in adatom decorated graphene

• Award winner: Roman Gorbachev
• Institution: University of Manchester
• Value: £451,383

Materials and devices assembled on demand from isolated atomic planes

Arts and Humanities Research Council

Science in Culture Innovation Awards

• Award winner: Monica Grady
• Institution: The Open University
• Value: £48,396

Iron from the sky: the science and culture of iron in ancient Egypt

Care for the Future: large grants

• Award winner: Kevin Bales
• Institution: University of Hull
• Value: £1,505,382

The antislavery usable past

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

• Award winner: Sarah Cleaveland
• Institution: University of Glasgow
• Value: £2,738,706

Social, economic and environmental drivers of zoonoses in Tanzania (SEEDZ)

• Award winner: Samar Hasnain
• Institution: University of Liverpool
• Value: £584,294

Transient and stable macromolecular complexes formed by denitrifying enzymes

• Award winner: Harry Flint
• Institution: University of Aberdeen
• Value: £319,396

Uncovering the molecular strategies that allow human gut symbionts to degrade insoluble dietary and host glycans

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Standard research

• Award winner: Claire Turner
• Institution: The Open University
• Value: £117,662

Fibre optic sensors for point-of-care health diagnostics

• Award winner: Tony Cornford
• Institution: London School of Economics
• Value: £694,954

Delivering Digital Drugs (D3)

In detail

Award winner: Ameet Pinto
Institution: University of Glasgow
Value: £249,766

Healthy drinking water

All major water treatment technologies developed focus on two objectives: removing contamination and killing microorganisms. The fulfilment of this is considered sufficient for the provision of safe drinking water. Iterative engineering applied to this idea has stifled innovation and resulted in years of complacency, without reflection on whether “safe” water itself is the appropriate ultimate goal. This project will aim to transfer the paradigm of “safe” drinking water to one that aspires to produce and supply “healthy” drinking water by developing technologies and water management strategies that use naturally occurring microbes to deliver this water to the customer’s tap. The researchers will develop two distinct ways of beneficially utilising microbial communities in drinking water. One track will explore the engineered assembly of a beneficial microflora consisting of a cocktail of naturally occurring microbes that can kill pathogens at the water treatment plant and also act as a protective barrier in the water supply system. For the other, the team will use breakthroughs in “omic” technologies and databases on human microbiome to try to identify microorganisms in drinking water that can be beneficial to human health.