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University of Warwick

University of Warwick

2,935 Projects, page 1 of 587
  • Funder: UK Research and Innovation Project Code: 2871816

    Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

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  • Funder: UK Research and Innovation Project Code: MR/X013553/1
    Funder Contribution: 173,040 GBP

    Mass spectrometry (MS) is a powerful analytical technique that is widely used to identify compounds from a vast array of materials and to study biological molecules and relate them to function. Frequently we compare samples to understand the differences between normal and diseased or treated conditions, for example healthy tissue compared with tissue infected with a naturally occurring pathogen, for example bacteria or a virus. Understanding the molecular responses to infection are key to implementing treatments. To carry out MS experiments, samples such as bacteria or cells are normally broken down as a whole and compounds extracted for analysis. Whilst extremely sensitive at identifying the molecules present, this method loses the spatial location of the compounds; they may be distributed differently in different areas. Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is a technique that allows characterisation of biological molecules across surfaces. A laser is fired at a very small area on the surface of a sample to generate charged molecules (called ions) from that position, and these are analysed by the mass spectrometer. The sample is moved very slightly, and the laser fired again. In this way we can detected analytes across the surface and build up an image-map. This will allow us to relate the position of biological molecules to function and will be a great improvement on the equipment already available to us. We propose to use this equipment undertake projects aligned with MRC research portfolio and priorities in themes such as antimicrobial resistance, immunity and infection through the life course, and neurodegeneration supporting existing MRC projects and planned MRC submissions. The project will also support the development of research technical professionals.

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  • Funder: UK Research and Innovation Project Code: MR/Y503241/1
    Funder Contribution: 151,141 GBP

    Describe the research in simple terms in a way that could be publicised to a general audience. If awarded, this will be made publicly available, and applicants are responsible for ensuring that the content is suitable for publication.? 4000 characters, including spaces and returns Many office-based jobs follow a Monday-Friday 9-5 working pattern that matches up with the natural day-night, light-dark cycle. However, some jobs such as healthcare, farming, manufacturing, transport, and military, require different working hours, and 15-20% of working people in the UK work non-standard or shift work hours. Working in shifts and having to sleep and be awake at different times can mean lower quality sleep and struggles with alertness and concentration when awake. One in three shift workers are affected by insomnia symptoms. These symptoms include difficulty falling asleep, fatigue, excessive sleepiness when required to stay awake and emotional problems such as irritability. All of this has a big impact on shift-workers' mental and physical health and can impact wider safety factors such as contributing to more accidents at work or on the roads. In the UK, around 75% of adults are in employment and spend on average a third of their waking hours working, making the workplace a good place to deliver support. The objective of this study is to create a new sleep management intervention to prevent sleep problems developing. The intervention will be created with the help of people working shifts and their employers and will be delivered through the workplace to new starters or current staff. The programme will be for all staff working shifts, whether they have existing problems with mental health and sleep or not. The intervention will aim to provide them with the skills and knowledge to manage their sleep and prevent problems developing. Research shows that women, older people, and people from socially or economically challenged backgrounds are more likely to have insomnia. We will ensure that those we recruit to help us with this work are diverse so that project outputs are relevant and can benefit all those affected. To create the programme, we will develop a theory of change to describe what it is about shift work that actually impacts sleep. We will define the ways in which the intervention can impact those factors, and the things we will measure in order to see if the intervention has worked in the way we expected. We will recruit shift workers and employers to help us create the intervention from those we already work with in the Midlands Engine region of the UK. Our team's experience in creating and delivering sleep interventions (e.g., for people with chronic pain, and people working non shift hours) will be combined with existing evidence about the behaviours that affect sleep health to produce the intervention with our partners. We will create the content with shift workers during several workshops. Different groups of workers will be asked to review the content created to make improvements and make sure the intervention is easy to understand and follow. To make sure the final intervention is practical for employers to offer, we will also discuss delivery challenges with both employers and staff. A focus group and interviews with employers will aim to improve their awareness of how best to address mental health and sleep problems for shift-work employees. A training handbook will also be developed for employers, which will help guide the delivery of the programme after the research development has finished.

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  • Funder: UK Research and Innovation Project Code: 2881823

    Core modules taken: MA930-15 Data Analysis and Machine Learning MA931-50 Individual Research Project MA932-40 Group Research Project MA933-15 Stochastic Modelling and Random Processes MA934-15 Numerical Algorithms and Optimisation MA999-15 Topics in Mathematical Modelling

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  • Funder: UK Research and Innovation Project Code: BB/Y003187/1
    Funder Contribution: 3,381,420 GBP

    PURPOSE OF RESEARCH Bacteria are surrounded by a mesh-like cell wall, made out of a polymer called peptidoglycan, which gives them their shape and protects them from bursting due to high internal turgor pressure. In many rod-shaped bacteria, including pathogens such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella species and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, cells grow by adding new material around the cell sidewall. This is principally performed by a multi-protein complex called the elongasome which maintains the cell's rod shape by precise insertion of new cell wall material. Inactivation of the elongasome leads to loss of rod-shape and severely impaired cell fitness. Antimicrobial resistance now represents a major threat to modern medicine, motivating the urgent search for fundamentally new ways to attack the formation of the bacterial cell wall. Elongasome proteins are structurally very similar to the divisome cell wall synthesis proteins that divide the cell, and together, elongasome and divisome proteins represent the primary architects of the bacterial cell wall. Therefore, the research into the molecular basis of elongasome function proposed will not only advance our understanding of how the bacterial cell wall is built but may also identify new routes to next generation antibiotics that target elongasome and divisome cell wall synthesis proteins and are effective against a wide range of bacteria. In this project we will determine the basis of elongasome function and regulation from an atomic to macromolecular scale. This will be achieved using synergy between advanced molecular imaging techniques, advanced biochemical and structural biology analysis, cutting-edge computational analysis and simulation methods and bespoke chemical probes, in a fundamentally integrative team-science research programme. TIMELINESS - We recently solved the structure of the E. coli RodA-PBP2 core of the elongasome, providing a foundational basis for understanding the molecular mechanism of elongasome function - We have developed a repertoire of new approaches to realise this project including new chemical biology tools based on elongasome substrate mimetics, innovative molecular simulations of multi-protein complexes and new methods for single molecule biophysics of cell wall synthesis proteins - This makes us uniquely placed to make major advances in our understanding of the elongasome and the molecular basis of bacterial cell wall synthesis. VALUE FOR MONEY The highly integrated team science work packages proposed here will enable major advances in bacterial cell wall biology that are simply not possible in an ordinary responsive model proposal. Direct added value is provided by sustained strategic investment at Warwick to build a national centre of excellence in bacterial cell envelope biology, including: - Recruitment of Stansfeld (2019) and Holden (2022) - £54M investment in the new laboratory complex occupied by all Warwick applicants, - A £1.7M charitable donation for a Howard Dalton research centre which provides underpinning support for cell wall research and funds a £120K smFRET instrument heavily used in this in this proposal. Team science is greatly facilitated by location of Warwick applicants in the same new building and established collaborations between all Warwick and Belfast applicants. OUTCOMES -Fundamental knowledge gain: This proposal approach will reveal broad insights into the molecular function and regulation of the SEDS-PBP proteins that are the major architects of the bacterial cell wall. -Potential applications in biomedicine and biotechnology: This will lay the foundations for future antimicrobial therapies targeting cell wall synthesis by SEDS proteins. -Staff training: We will train a cohort of interdisciplinary pre and postdoctoral scientists orientated in an area of microbiology that desperately needs new talent and enable future generations of antimicrobial research in academia and industry.

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