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Feature: Keeping everyone informed

Winter 2010

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Scientists are increasingly being called upon to communicate with the general public, private sector partners and politicians. BBSRC External Relations Unit staff have been involved in 2 university courses that aim to develop early-career researchers’ skills in these areas.

Researchers are increasingly taking on the challenge of communicating with lay audiences about their work. For example, many are actively engaged with their local communities, setting up partnerships with other organisations and companies, or proactively seeking media coverage. For the majority there are key conflicts inherent in this – in particular, how to deal with issues such as risk and uncertainty, giving hope without hype, expressing statistics, and negotiating ethical and political issues. It is vital that skills to deal with these conflicts are maintained across the scientific community.

To this end, BBSRC staff members have been invited as guest lecturers on 2 science communication courses for postgraduate students. Head of External Relations, Monica Winstanley, and Deputy Head of External Relations, Matt Goode, have been involved for a number of years with a postgraduate workshop on ‘Biotechnology and Public Affairs’ at the University of Kent. Media Officer, Nancy Mendoza, lectures to Masters students studying ‘Micro- and Nanotechnology Enterprise’ at the University of Cambridge. Both courses give students theoretical background and practical experience in communicating science to lay audiences.

Prior to their course, students at the University of Cambridge submit a written assignment – a news article based on a press release. Very often these emphasise what the discovery means for scientific progress rather than focusing on why the average person on the street wants to hear about it.

Researchers develop a lexicon that is extremely specific to the field they work in and stepping out of that can be a real challenge. Compared to scientific publishing, articles for lay audiences can seem clumsy, inelegant, and unsubtle and may miss caveats that, in science, are vitally important.

Part of the students’ development is learning to recognise what it is about a discovery that is relevant, important and interesting to most people. Their success is evident in their final assignments, which demonstrate a major shift in identifying the news value of a piece of research, and are engaging and easy to read. Students from the University of Kent also robustly take on this challenge and you can read some of their attempts below.

BBSRC Director of Innovation and Skills Dr Celia Caulcott said, "So that their science brings the widest possible benefit, to society and the economy, scientists must develop a broad and well-rounded skill set. Having the ability to talk and write about science in an engaging and understandable way is important in many areas – for example to demonstrate the impact of research to end user communities and government, or to manage business interactions."

Keep it simple

"A domesticated feline mammal with fur, four legs and a tail, placed its hind quarters in contact with the upper, or dorsal, surface of a thick flat pad used as a floor covering."

Or:

"The cat sat on the mat."

Understanding science

As well as training scientists, sometimes BBSRC staff are called upon to help journalists negotiate the scientific landscape. For example, Zoe Dunford, Media Manager for the Norwich bioscience institutes, has given talks to journalism students – most recently at Harlow College – in a double act with Dr Sam Mugford from the John Innes Centre to promote an understanding of scientific method. Topics include:

• Probability and risk
• Balancing uncertainty with clarity
• How to spot ‘bad science’

In a practical exercise, students from the University of Kent summarise their research in a letter to the Science Minister.

Dear Minister,
Model organisms further understanding of disease

Many humans are known to be carriers of infectious fungi and bacteria. A healthy individual’s immune system is able to cope with the infections caused. However, within the immuno-compromised population, if infection occurs there are extremely high mortality rates. Fruit flies are used as a model organism for humans in terms of immunity against fungal and bacterial infection. Fruit flies and humans share a remarkably similar immune system that is activated in response to fungi and bacteria. It is important to understand the interactions between the patient and the infecting disease, as understanding of these interactions will enable the development of new prevention and treatment techniques.
Richard Roberts

Dear Minister,
Models of motor neuron disease in yeast

We are using yeast cells to model genetic alterations in the enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD), which is associated with the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a form of motor neuron disease thought to affect around 3,500 people in the UK. Mutations in the SOD molecules cause them to stop working and clump together, effectively poisoning cells in the brain stem and spinal cord. Mimicking this in yeast allows us to look at where clumping occurs and how this might be affected by ageing. Ultimately we will explore how novel proteins as well as chaperones might be used therapeutically to break up clumps or prevent them forming.
Emma Bastow

Dear Minister,
When bugs go bad

Harmless bacteria and fungi living in the normal skin flora and mucous membranes of the human body are able to attack any tissue when it is weakened, and even cause death when the immune system is compromised. These microorganisms may become pathogenic in response to a change in carbon dioxide concentration, which is approximately 150 times higher in the blood than in the air. We are exploring the effects of carbon dioxide on growth, virulence and other characteristics of bacterial and fungal populations. By using various microbial mutants we hope to find a possible signal triggered directly by carbon dioxide and determine the position of this signal in the chain of microbial communication.
Miro Janco

Dear Minister,
Helping industry produce cheaper medicines

Some patients lose their life because they cannot afford vital but expensive medication. Treatment with Herceptin, for example, costs around £20,000 a year. Other patients may die due to lack of availability of the drug at the time it is needed. We are trying to optimise the strategy for making protein-based drugs in a cost- and time efficient way. Finding optimal conditions for efficient production of these proteins requires considerable optimisation, therefore any process that facilitates the development of efficient protocols would be highly beneficial to the bio-manufacturing industry and to the patients.
Farnaz Forouzandehfard

Dear Minister,
Engineering antibody molecules for enhanced stability

This project is funded by UCB and in collaboration with the University of Kent we are working towards making a more stable therapeutic antibody. Antibodies are prime candidates as therapeutics in areas such as auto immune diseases. However, there are problems associated with the molecule: certain antibody molecules tend to be unstable and can clump together. We are using the principles of protein engineering to alter some of the bridging bonds that hold the antibody molecule in shape to see if we can develop a more stable form which retains its activity and remains useful as a therapeutic, but is easier to manufacture.
Shirley Peters

Dear Minister,
Production of factor VIII for the treatment of haemophilia

Haemophilia is a rare blood clotting disorder resulting from either the lack of, or incorrect function of a protein found in the blood, factor VIII. Patients are treated by infusing factor VIII – so called ‘replacement therapy’. Currently the production of factor VIII is difficult and costly due to its large size and complexity. We are working to improve the production of factor VIII in animal cells with the aim of increasing the yield and lowering production costs. This will significantly improve the availability of treatment to haemophilia patients worldwide.
Caroline Tolley

Read more letters in .

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