Award Winners

June 5, 2008

BIOTECHNOLOGY AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH COUNCIL

Details of the 12 projects to be funded under the Sustainable Agriculture Research for International Development (SARID) intitiative with the Department for International Development. SARID aims to address the challenges of agriculture and food security in developing countries.

- Award winner: Howard Atkinson

Institution: University of Leeds

Value: £524,216.21

Nematode-resistant plantain for African subsistence growers

- Award winner: Lesley Boyd

Institution: John Innes Centre

Value: £563,389

Assessment of genetic biodiversity of durable disease resistance in African wheat genotypes, leading to the development of markers for wheat breeding

- Award winner: Matthew Dickinson

Institution: University of Nottingham

Value: £355,683.94

Phytoplasma diseases of coconuts: understanding their transmission, and the sustainable breeding of resistant and tolerant varieties

- Award winner: Richard Gibson

Institution: Natural Resources Institute

Value: £601,901.42

How resistant plant varieties avoid suppression of RNA silencing by viruses as exemplified by sweet potato: better food security through virus control

- Award winner: Paul Hand

Institution: University of Warwick

Value: £602,937.89

Accelerated breeding of black rot-resistant brassicas for the benefit of East African smallholders

- Award winner: Tony Hooper

Institution: Rothamsted Research

Value: £620,876.83

Towards incorporating the biosynthetic transformation required for Striga inhibition from Desmodium into edible legume intercrops

- Award winner: Brian Kerry

Institution: Rothamsted Research

Value: £408,307.66

Nutrient regulation of the saprotroph to parasite transition in Pochonia chlamydosporia, a soil microbial inoculant for nematode control

- Award winner: Andrew Meharg

Institution: University of Aberdeen

Value: £657,328.22

Characterising genetic and soil-induced variation in arsenic uptake, translocation and metabolism in rice to mitigate arsenic contamination in Asia

- Award winner: Wayne Powell

Institution: National Institute of Agricultural Botany

Value: £607,806.88

Cis-acting regulatory elements in the rice genome: a novel source of alleles for rice breeding

- Award winner: Julie Scholes

Institution: University of Sheffield

Value: £596,880.06

Unravelling the molecular genetic basis of Striga resistance in cereals: integrating Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) and genomic approaches

- Award winner: Kenneth Wilson

Institution: University of Lancaster

Value: £617,328.13

Understanding the mechanisms of persistence and dispersal of an insect pathogen and its potential for novel strategic control of African armyworms

- Award winner: Rattan Yadav

Institution: Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research

Value: £634,859.42

Integrating genomics and mapping approaches to improve pearl millet productivity in drought-prone regions of Africa and Asia

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH RESEARCH

Seven partnerships between National Health Service organisations and universities have been announced. The Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) will share £64 million to conduct research and to improve care in major conditions.

- Lead NHS organisation: University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust

Academic partner: University of Birmingham

Collaboration: Birmingham and Black Country Collaboration

- Lead NHS organisation: Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Academic partners: University of Leeds and University of York

Collaboration: Leeds York Bradford Research Alliance (LYBRA)

- Lead NHS organisation: University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust

Academic partner: University of Leicester

Collaboration: Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland CLAHRC

- Lead NHS organisation: Salford Teaching Primary Care Trust

Academic partner: University of Manchester

Collaboration: Manchester CLAHRC