News

Why social networking will change society

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

A report published on 19 November by the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) says that the growth of Web 2.0 is allowing Internet users to play an important role in the way that commercial and public products and services are shaped and used. Web 2.0, a term for the 'second wave' of the world wide web, is characterised by applications with user-generated content (such as blogs and social networking sites), and by cloud computing (where data and applications are stored on Web servers and are accessible from any Web browser rather than being locally installed in an office, for instance). The report, 'The Impact of Social Computing on the EU Information Society and Economy', says that in 2008, 41% of Internet users were engaged in 'social computing activities' through social networking sites such as blogs, online multi-player games, and photo and video sharing sites such as YouTube. The social networking phenomenon is changing everyday ways of communicating and interacting and it could also play an important role in getting citizens involved in political and social debates. The report discusses how social computing is changing our everyday lives as people use Internet social networking sites to participate more in education programmes outside work to improve their knowledge and skills, join online political or environmental organisations, sign online petitions and become involved in social and political debate. More involvement in social and business computer networking means that people can become more involved in the community, which could particularly help groups at risk of social exclusion such as immigrants. The report makes the point that in the next 10 to 20 years, social computing will have a huge effect on many areas of life including the innovation and development of new products and services, and helping to make companies more competitive as they can use social networking sites to publicise themselves, their products and ethics. More citizen involvement in social and public life may also lead to more transparency in government processes and greater empowerment for people. The report highlights some of the risk involved in increased social computing such as the new 'digital divide' separating those with the skills and knowledge to fully benefit and those without. It also discusses the emerging threats to safety, security and privacy with regard to the large amounts of personal information that people are depositing on social networking sites. Web 2.0 refers not to technical changes in the way that Web applications work, but to the expanding nature of what they are being used for. The Internet is now used by 1.7 billion people (24.7% of the world population). More than 160 million people every month are logging on to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and there are now over 100 million blogs with more than 100,000 new ones being created every day.
Quality validation date: 2009-11-20

Gamma waves give clue to information processing in brain

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

A team of Norwegian and Dutch researchers has discovered a mechanism that allows the brain to differentiate between different kinds of information. In the journal Nature they describe how gamma waves - specific kinds of brain waves thought to contribute to conscious perception - operate on different frequencies, depending on the kind of information they carry. The researchers measured brain waves in rats, focusing on three different parts of the hippocampus, the area of the brain that is largely responsible for long-term memory and spatial navigation. 'We found that there are slow gamma waves and fast gamma waves coming from different brain areas, just like radio stations transmit on different frequencies,' explained lead author of the study Laura Colgin, postdoctoral fellow at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience and Centre for the Biology of Memory. 'When brain cells want to connect with each other, they synchronise their activity,' Ms Colgin continued. 'The cells literally tune into each other's wavelength. We investigated how gamma waves in particular were involved in communication across cell groups in the hippocampus. What we found could be described as a radio-like system inside the brain. The lower frequencies are used to transmit memories of past experiences, and the higher frequencies are used to convey what is happening where you are right now.' This mechanism facilitates communication with distributed cell groups that process related information, making sure that different kinds of information do not get confused. While cells seem to be capable of switching quickly to tune in to slow or fast waves, the researchers believe that they cannot process both at the same time. 'This is like when you are listening to your radio and you tune in to a frequency that is midway between two stations - you can't understand anything - it's just noise,' explained Ms Colgin. 'Your current perceptions of a place would get mixed up with your memories of how the place used to be.' If different kinds of gamma waves are confused, mental disorders and abnormalities can be the result. 'We cannot tell for sure if it is this switch that is malfunctioning, but we know that gamma waves are abnormal in schizophrenic patients,' the lead author noted. 'Schizophrenics' perception of the world around them is mixed up, like a radio stuck between stations.' Traditionally, researchers assumed that information handling in the brain followed fixed routes. This new study suggests, however, that the brain is much more flexible. 'Among the thousands of inputs to a given brain cell, the cell can choose to listen to some and ignore the rest, and the selection of inputs is changing all the time,' summarised Dr Edvard Moser, director of the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience. 'We believe that the gamma switch is a general principle of the brain, employed throughout the brain to enhance interregional communication.'
Quality validation date: 2009-11-20

Novel protein implicated in genetic control

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

An international team of scientists has identified a novel protein called BAHD1 that can change chromosome structure and is responsible for the silencing of gene expression. The study, which will help improve our understanding of how genes are regulated, was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS). The research was part of the eight-year EU-funded ERA-NET project PATHOGENOMICS ('Trans-European cooperation and coordination of genome sequencing and functional genomics of human-pathogenic microorganisms') which runs until 2012 with EUR 3 million in funding under the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6). The research was a collaboration between 15 partners including the Paris, France-based Pasteur Institute, the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), and the German research institute Forschungszentrum Jülich. The development of a tumour cell is a result of a change in the genes and therefore the chemicals of a cell. One of these pathways to cancer has been discovered as a result of research into embryo development. As an adult, cells must be replaced to keep tissues and organs healthy. However, the embryo requires all its organs to be developed 'from scratch'. It seems that the awakening of genes active only in the embryo might hold the key to the growth of a cancer. Gene expression is the way that genes express their own unique genetic code. All cells have identical sets of genes, but each cell type is usually only able to use the genes that are directly related to its own function. Sometimes this system goes wrong and pathological variants of genes are expressed which can lead to genetic disorders or cancers. All the cells in any organism - a human body, a flower, a tree or an animal - have the same sets of genetic information, but this is expressed in many different ways. For example, human skin, hair and teeth are all made from different tissues, yet the genes that provided the coding information to create these organs do the same job. The reasons they can produce such different organs from the same genetic coding is because each cell type only activates a small set of genes, meaning each is unique. Cells choose which genes to activate by regulating the structure of a substance called chromatin, genetic material which consists of strands of protein and DNA that make up our chromosomes. Chromatin strands can be arranged in tight 'clumps', thereby silencing the genes, or they can be packed more loosely, thereby activating the genes. Therefore, identifying the factors that regulate the structure of chromatin is essential; if the structure alters it can lead to neurological disorders, cancer or developmental abnormalities. The research team's discovery of BAHD1 is a step in the right direction as its presence in a cell silences the gene IGF2 which is mainly active during the development of embryos. IGF2 and other cells involved with embryo development are normally inactive in healthy adults, but in many cancers they are activated causing the proliferation of cells that can lead to tumour formation. 'The discovery of the BAHD1 complex contributes to the understanding of how genes in cells of our body are regulated,' said Dr Marion Karrasch-Bott from German research centre Forschungszentrum Jülich, which is coordinating PathoGenoMics. 'Such knowledge could lead to new cancer therapies aimed at re-silencing inappropriately activated genes or to new prognosis markers.'
Quality validation date: 2009-11-20

EU-funded researchers discover new immune cell

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

EU-funded researchers have discovered a new type of immune cell that plays a role in certain chronic inflammatory diseases such as psoriasis and asthma. The team hopes that their discovery will eventually lead to the development of new drugs to treat these diseases. The study, published online in the Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI), was partly supported by the EU through the SENS-IT-IV ('Novel testing strategies for in vitro assessment of allergens') project, which was funded to the tune of EUR 11 million under the 'Life sciences, genomics and biotechnology for health' Thematic area of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6). The scientists, from Germany, Italy and the UK, found the new cells by studying skin samples taken from people suffering from psoriasis, atopic eczema and allergic contact dermatitis. Dubbed Th22, the newly-discovered cell is a type of immune cell called a T helper cell. T helper cells are white blood cells that activate other immune cells when the body comes under attack from a virus or bacterium, for example. In addition, T helper cells control inflammation in the body to help fight off infection. Th22 cells appear to be involved in overseeing and coordinating the immune cells that cause inflammation. The scientists' investigations revealed that the Th22 cells produce a signalling molecule called interleukin-22 (IL-22). This molecule provides tissues with an advance warning that inflammation or infection is going to happen, thus giving the tissues time to prepare to attack the invading pathogen or protect themselves against inflammation. In healthy people, the Th22 cells therefore have a protective effect. However, in people with chronic inflammatory skin diseases, the Th22 cells do not work properly, causing skin cells to grow too quickly, ultimately resulting in painful, flaky skin. 'We are seeing an increase in chronic diseases like skin and airway disease because of changes in people's lifestyles,' commented Dr Carsten Schmidt-Weber of the National Heart and Lung Institute of Imperial College London in the UK. 'These diseases can have a big impact on people's lives, and patients can face a constant battle to keep their symptoms at bay. We are very excited about discovering this new subset of T-helper cells, as we believe it could provide a new target for the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases in the future.' The researchers are now studying the Th22 cells in greater detail with a view to clarifying their role in inflammatory diseases. The team is also keen to find out where the cells are produced in the body and if there is any way of controlling them before they start to cause problems. The aim of the SENS-IT-IV project is to reduce experiments on animals by developing alternative, in vitro ways of testing for allergens. The project brings together 15 universities and research institutes as well as 9 companies and a small number of industrial and other organisations. According to the project partners, 'the successful project outcome will contribute to a reduction in the number of animals required for safety testing and the establishment of more accurate tools for product development. Thus, the project will be of substantial benefit to all European citizens and will enhance the competitiveness of European industry'.
Quality validation date: 2009-11-19

Start technology education young, EU-funded team recommends

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Including technology in the curriculum in early childhood could help to raise the interest of both girls and boys in science and technology, according to recently published, EU-funded research. The study, published in the Journal of Technology and Design Education, was supported by the EU-funded UPDATE ('Understanding and providing a developmental approach to technology education') project, which is funded with around EUR 900 000 under the 'Science and Society' activity area of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6). The UPDATE team comprises 16 partners in 11 countries. The researchers suggest that by making better use of creative play with young children, teachers will be able to raise the level of interest in technology for both sexes. The authors concluded that improving the quality of technology education and providing it at a young age could further the realisation of equality within education systems as well as whole societies. A second article published in the same journal examines the gender roles produced by the school systems in Finland and Germany. It concludes that teachers' lack of confidence that they can provide high-quality education in science and technology is contributing to the problem. The authors of the article say that one solution is to make science and technology a more integral part of the training of elementary school teachers. The latest surveys on the academic performance of pupils in the early years of education show that girls are now increasingly obtaining good results in subjects traditionally considered male strongholds such as science, technology and mathematics. Unfortunately this is not reflected in later life by the number of women working in science and technology. Men still seem to be more attracted to a career in these areas than women. According to the UPDATE project coordinator, Professor Päivi Fadjukoff from the University of Jyväskylä in Finland, the project aspires to defeat the established gender barriers in the science and technology fields by discovering more efficient methods of technology education.
Quality validation date: 2009-11-19

Europeans tackle wind turbine development

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Researchers at Risø DTU (the National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy at the Technical University of Denmark) and their European colleagues have discovered a way to develop a more reliable wind turbine design. By taking detailed measurements of the load distribution on a 10-metre-long wind turbine blade under natural wind conditions, the team can offer precise information concerning the wind flow over the wind turbine blade surface. The research is part of two EU-funded projects: UPWIND and TOPFARM, with support totalling EUR 14.6 million and EUR 1.7 million, respectively. Led by Risø DTU's Wind Energy Division's Helge Aagaard Madsen and Christian Bak, the team included researchers from the Danish groups Vestas, LM Glasfiber and DONG Energy, and Germany's Siemens. LM Glasfiber developed the wind turbine blade, which has 350 measuring points in the form of pressure sensors and microphones, among others. These features are linked to a measuring laboratory at the root of the wind turbine blade. The Norwegian group Det Norske Veritas (DNV) checked the safety calculations for the wind turbine. According to DNV, the maximum wind speed at which the turbine should run is 15 metres per second (m/sec). It should be noted that the experiment could only be conducted under perfectly dry weather conditions. The team effectively fitted in 12 measuring periods, from late spring to late summer, and obtained extensive data. 'Our measurements are by far the most comprehensive to date, and because they were conducted out in the open and on an industrial full-scale wind turbine, they take account of the impact of turbulence and blade rotation as well as elasticity,' explained Dr Helge Aagaard Madsen. 'There is no doubt that they will be valuable for international wind energy research as a whole. Moreover, we have - so to speak - been listening to the air flow across the blade using 60 microphones and recording 50,000 measurements a second, thereby obtaining an extremely detailed picture of how the wind is translated into load on the blades, i.e. looking at what lies at the very heart of utilising wind power.' According to the researchers, one of the objectives of the experiment is to provide a basis for designing the optimum wind turbine blade profile. The goals are to find a balance between design strength and sensitivity, as well as to guarantee that the maximum amount of energy is produced in a consistent manner. The team are continuing with their measurements this month. They hope to establish the difference between the properties of a blade profile on a full-scale wind turbine in the open air, and the properties of a similar profile under controlled wind conditions in a wind tunnel, they said. Risø DTU also tested a laser-based wind scanner, which was part of the UPWIND ('Integrated Wind Turbine Design') project, funded under the 'Sustainable development, global change and ecosystems' Thematic area of the EU's Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) to the tune of EUR 14.6 million. The researchers said the scanner allowed them to conduct three-dimensional measurements of wind speeds, wind direction and turbulence around a wind turbine. UPWIND targets the development of large wind turbines, both onshore and offshore. The team also used another laser to measure the velocity distribution in the wake of the rotor. The results obtained were part of the TOPFARM ('Next generation design tool for optimisation of wind farm topology and operation') project, which received EUR 1.7 million under the same thematic area.
Quality validation date: 2009-11-19

EU businesses investing in R&D despite economic crisis

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Corporate investment in research and development (R&D) increased by 8.1% in the EU in 2008 in spite of the economic crisis, according to new figures published this week in the 2009 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard. The figures reveal that European companies outperformed their counterparts in the US and Japan, who increased their R&D spending by 5.7% and 4.4% respectively. Corporate R&D investment worldwide increased by 6.9%. Two EU companies feature in the top 10 in the Investment Scoreboard figures. German car manufacturer Volkswagen took third place with an R&D investment of EUR 5.93 billion, and Finnish communications company Nokia took eighth place. Overall top world performer was the Japanese company Toyota Motor with EUR 7.61 billion invested in R&D. Among the other top 10 investors worldwide are US companies Microsoft, General Motors, Pfizer, Ford and Johnson & Johnson. The Investment Scoreboard figures also show promisingly strong R&D investments by companies in the renewable energy technology sector. 'It is good news that EU companies kept up their R&D investment against the background of the economic crisis in 2008,' said European Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik. 'This is the best strategy to emerge stronger out of the crisis. 'We must support EU companies' efforts and provide incentives to reinforce the EU research-intensive sectors. Building a truly European Research Area is part of the answer, together with EU actions to promote smart investments in R&D. I also welcome the increase of R&D investments by EU companies active in low-carbon energy technologies. They represent new sources of EU growth and jobs.' The Investment Scoreboard figures show that EU companies are leading the way in R&D investments in sectors such as automobiles and parts, electronic and electrical equipment, and chemicals. The figures also show that the top areas for R&D investment worldwide are the pharmaceuticals and biotechnology industries. Another universally popular choice for R&D investment is the automobiles and parts industry: 27% of R&D investment targets this industry in Japan, and 25% in the EU. Companies in developing countries showed the highest R&D investment growth, led by China with a 40% increase, India with a 27% increase, Taiwan with a 25.1% increase and Brazil with an 18.6% increase. The effects of the current economic downturn are not fully reflected in the latest figures, but there are some indications of it in areas such as sales, market capitalisation and company operating profits, which fell by 30.5% in EU companies and by 19.1% in US companies. The EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard is a benchmarking tool published annually by the European Commission. It has an EU focus and provides up-to-date information on corporate investment and other economic, business and financial data. Data comes from the top 1,000 EU and top 1,000 non-EU companies investing in R&D investment.
Quality validation date: 2009-11-18

CO2 emissions up, carbon sinks weakening - is Earth's carbon budget in the red?

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels have risen by 29% since 2000, and a growing body of evidence suggests that the ability of natural carbon sinks to absorb these emissions may be dwindling. These are just two of the main findings from a major international effort to calculate the Earth's 'carbon budget'. The study, which is published online by the journal Nature Geoscience, was partly supported by the EU through the CARBOOCEAN ('Marine carbon sources and sinks assessment') project, which received EUR 14.5 million from the 'Sustainable development, global change and ecosystems' Thematic area of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6). According to the researchers, atmospheric CO2 levels rose by 1.8 ppm (parts per million) in 2008, bringing total CO2 levels to 385 ppm. This is 38% higher than the pre-industrial CO2 levels of around 280 ppm. In fact, atmospheric CO2 levels are now higher than at any other time during the past 2 million years. The bulk of this rise in emissions can be attributed to the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. Fossil fuel emissions have risen by 29% since 2000, and 41% since 1990, the reference year for the Kyoto Protocol. Furthermore, while CO2 emissions from fossil fuels rose by just 1% per year during the 1990s, they rose by an average of 3.6% per year between 2000 and 2007. The economic crisis helped to slow the rise in emissions; in 2008, they 'only' increased by 2%. Nevertheless, the researchers warn, 'emissions continued to track the average of the most carbon-intensive family of scenarios put forward by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change'. Looking at expected changes in gross domestic product (GDP), the team expects emissions for 2009 to fall back to 2007 levels, before rising again in 2011. So what is driving this rise in emissions? A major culprit is coal, which has now overtaken oil as the dominant fossil fuel emission source. Coal was responsible for 40% of all fossil fuel CO2 emissions in 2008, compared to 37% for the period from 1990 to 2000. In contrast, oil's contribution to total fossil fuel emissions fell from a high of 41% during the 1990s to 36% in 2008. While emissions from developed nations have remained relatively stable during the last decade, emissions from developing countries have risen sharply. However, around a quarter of this rise in emissions from developing countries is accounted for by the production of goods and services destined for consumption in developed countries. Furthermore, while developing countries are home to some 80% of the world's population, they account for just 20% of all the CO2 emitted since 1751. Emissions from land use change such as deforestation and forest fires have changed little over the past decade. Because emissions from fossil fuel burning have risen, the proportion of total CO2 emissions released by land use change has fallen in recent years; in 2008, land use accounted for 12% of CO2 emissions. During the period from 1959 to 2008, natural carbon sinks removed an average of 57% of man-made CO2 emissions every year. However, there is evidence that the effectiveness of these sinks may be declining; 50 years ago the sinks absorbed 60% of our emissions, but in recent years this figure has fallen to around 55%. Computer models suggest that this weakening of the carbon sinks may itself be due to climate change. However, more research is urgently needed to better quantify where the carbon is going and what is driving changes in the strength of the carbon sinks. 'The only way to control climate change is through a drastic reduction in global CO2 emissions,' commented lead author Professor Corinne Le Quéré of the University of East Anglia, UK, and the British Antarctic Survey. 'The Earth's carbon sinks are complex and there are some gaps in our understanding, particularly our ability to link human-induced CO2 emissions to atmospheric CO2 concentrations on a year-to-year basis. But, if we can reduce the uncertainty about the carbon sinks, our data could be used to verify the effectiveness of climate mitigation policies.' Meanwhile, the researchers conclude by warning that 'the key to sustained emissions reductions after the global economy recovers lies in restructuring the primary energy use to decouple emissions from GDP'. Scientists working on the CARBOOCEAN project recently called for more ambitious carbon dioxide reduction targets.
Quality validation date: 2009-11-18

'Happy hormone' crucial in preventing diabetes

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Diabetes is growing into one the biggest health problems in the world and is now responsible for nearly 4 million deaths a year. A team of researchers studied the role of the hormone serotonin, which is stored in the pancreas along with insulin, to see if its absence had any effect on insulin production. Their results showed that the absence of serotonin in the pancreas of mice led to their rapidly developing diabetes. The results, published in the journal Public Library of Science (PLoS) Biology, offer a promising new direction in diabetes research. Diabetes is the most widespread metabolic disease in the developed world and pioneering research is crucial in addressing this worldwide health emergency. Diabetes causes serious health problems including stroke, blindness and kidney failure. It is also causing a huge economic burden on health service resources worldwide. Now a breakthrough has occurred. An international consortium of scientists has identified the role that serotonin plays in the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas and consequently in the development of diabetes. The consortium, led by the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin, Germany, included researchers from the University of Maribor, Slovenia, and the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the Free University Berlin, Germany. The team carried out experiments on mice and found that the absence of serotonin is a precursor for the development of diabetes. Serotonin has long interested the scientific community. Called the 'feel-good hormone' because high serotonin levels make you feel happy, it affects many aspects of human behaviour such as mood, relaxation levels and the ability to sleep. Serotonin plays many roles in the body. It works as a neurotransmitter in the brain, and is found in blood platelets and in the intestinal walls. It is also present in the beta cells in the pancreas which release insulin to regulate blood glucose levels. Serotonin was discovered in beta cells more than 30 years ago, but the exact connection between it and the development of diabetes has not been not uncovered until now. Insulin and serotonin are both stored in beta cells in the pancreas. When insulin is released from the pancreas, it plays a crucial role in regulating blood glucose levels by distributing sugar in the bloodstream to other cells, effectively feeding blood sugar to cells throughout the body and then lowering blood sugar levels if they remain too high in the bloodstream. Diabetes occurs when this regulatory mechanism stops working properly. The research team carried out experiments on mice that lacked an enzyme called tryptophan hydroxylase, essential for production of serotonin in the body. Without this enzyme, the mice were unable to produce serotonin and developed signs of diabetes. They were also resistant to pargyline, a chemical that normally precipitates insulin release. The team found that when serotonin levels were low, insulin production in the mice was lowered and blood glucose levels rose swiftly after they ate. 'Under normal conditions, serotonin controls the release of insulin, the most important hormone in the regulation of blood glucose concentration of humans and animals,' explained Dr Diego Walther from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Genetics. The research team hope their discovery will open the way for further research and offer hope for diabetes sufferers.
Quality validation date: 2009-11-18

Top EU grant goes to nanotechnology

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded a prestigious EUR 2.5 million Advanced Grant to the Institute of Nanoscience at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands (TU Delft) for its work in bio-nano research. The ERC, funded under the 'Ideas' Theme of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), is the first EU funding body set up to support challenging new research and advance excellence in creative scientific thinking. It also seeks to encourage scientists to identify new opportunities and challenges rather than having their research led by governments and policy makers. Nanotechnology is one of these frontier areas of research, and the recipient of the ERC Advanced Grant, Professor Cees Dekker from the Institute of Nanoscience at TU Delft, said, 'We want to use the power of nanofabrication [...] to find out more about big biological questions such as the precise working of processes within cells.' In the first part of his research project, Professor Dekker and his team will study the evolution and adaptation of bacteria. 'Nanofabrication techniques allow us to build precisely defined landscapes on a chip, in order to study the adaptation and evolution of bacteria,' he explained. 'We are actually creating a kind of miniature Galapagos Islands for bacteria. Some of them will cross over to a different island; others won't. By varying the environmental factors and properties of the bacteria, we can gain more insight into how bacteria adapt. We can directly observe evolution in space and time.' The bacteria in the study move through narrow channels where they are completely flattened before emerging in different shapes. The research being carried out by Professor Dekker and his team suggests that that there may be far more bacteria present in narrow spaces than previously thought. This may have critical consequences for products such as medical equipment. In the second part of the research, the team will use electron bundles to make nanometre-wide holes. DNA molecules will be able to move through these holes while being tracked and screened. The aim is to read their genetic codes and observe which genes are either switched 'on' or 'off'. In the final part of the research, the team will attempt to 'mimic' the construction of biological pores by focusing on the microscopic holes in the membrane of the cell nucleus. 'In those holes there are certain proteins which function as a kind of gatekeeper to the cell nucleus,' said Professor Dekker. 'They determine which molecules are allowed out or in. But exactly how they do that is still a mystery. By mimicking these holes with nanofabrication and coating them with these gatekeeper proteins, we hope to discover more about this important mechanism.' For Professor Dekker, a particularly interesting element of the research is the element of chance. 'Some bacteria aim for cooperation while others are 'cheaters' which benefit from the work of their fellows,' he explained. 'We can manage those properties too, and study them under controlled circumstances.'
Quality validation date: 2009-11-17

EU-funded researchers aim to speed up data processing

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

EU-funded researchers are building a services development platform that, once complete, could combat credit card fraud, mobile telephone SIM card cloning and even fraudulent unpaid telephone calls in real time. The breakthrough is possible via a technological advance that would significantly increase the current speed of data processing. The platform is being built as part of the STREAM ('Scalable autonomic streaming middleware for real-time processing of massive data flows') project, which has been partially funded with EUR 2.6 million from the 'Information and communication technology' Theme of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). The project's aim is to build a scalable technology for real-time processing of massive data flows. Banks, payment processors and other companies dealing with credit card payments have a variety of systems and safeguards to protect against fraudulent credit card use. These range from matching signatures electronically to blocking a card number after it has been reported stolen. There is often a delay, though, between reporting a card as lost and its cancellation taking effect. This delay is due to computing applications which require strong analysis and processing capabilities. People using stolen cards often know about this time gap, and try to make purchases soon after a card is stolen. The platform developed by STREAM would eliminate this delay by implementing a scaling system that makes use of large node clusters, or stand-alone servers, to process massive data throughput on an order of millions of data per second. This massive increase over current processing rates would allow real-time processing of information flows and provide unsupervised and autonomous operation. This change, say the project organisers, will allow for broader deployment of data-processing products and services to new areas that need to manipulate large information flows in a cost-effective manner. Like credit card providers, telecom companies have to block numbers after a mobile phone is stolen. The cloning of SIM cards is a great concern to security and police services since it renders location-based services (LBS) unreliable when more than one handset uses the same SIM. At present, the use of cloned cards and stolen phones is only detected after the fact and is subject to the same kind of delay as credit cards. The STREAM platform is related to cloud computing initiatives. Cloud computing typically involves the provision of scalable and often virtualised resources as a service over the Internet. STREAM is designed for deployment in a cloud computing environment, with features like elasticity and scalability. The technology can automatically increase or decrease the number of nodes according to the computational requirements at any given time. This type of organisation helps reduce costs while eliminating single points of failure. Other areas of use for the STREAM platform include the Internet protocol (IP) traffic of an organisation, the output of a large sensor network, e-mail processed by an Internet service provider and market feeds from a stock exchange or financial markets. Ricardo Jiménez-Peris of the School of Computing in Spain's Technical University of Madrid is responsible for developing the scalable data flow processor, which is STREAM's hard core. To do this, it parallelises the query operators, and can deploy each operator on a 100-node cluster. This multiplies the processable data throughput a hundredfold. The processing capacity of current single-node technologies is now two orders of magnitude lower than what STREAM's will be. Other research partners, apart from UPM, are Telefónica, a Spanish telecoms provider, and Exodus, a subsidiary of Piraeus Bank, based in Greece. The former will employ STREAM in an antifraud system for mobile telephony, while the latter will apply the project results to its credit card payment antifraud systems.
Quality validation date: 2009-11-17

Research shows the genetic base of fungal infections

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Two independent research studies, published together in the New England Journal of Medicine, used DNA sequencing and genetic mapping techniques to identify two proteins that when missing or mutated impair the body's ability to fight off the fungal Candida infection. The research findings, funded in part by the EU, could increase our understanding of the genetic basis of fungal infections and lead to new treatments not only for Candida but for other types of fungal infection too. EU support for the work came from the EUR 1.6 million MC-PIAID ('Marie-Curie grant on primary immuno-deficiencies and auto-immune diseases') project, which was financed under the human resources and mobility budget line of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) Fungal infections such as thrush (Candida albicans) and athlete's foot (tinea pedis) are common and affect many thousands of people every year. Many of us have the occasional brush with a fungal infection, but some people seem to be particularly susceptible. There are many treatments with varying degrees of success, but fungal infections are known for their persistence and some people succumb over and over again. Now two independent international research teams may have found the reason for this. The teams, one led by Radboud University in the Netherlands and the other by University College London, UK, have discovered that mutations in two particular proteins called Dectin-1 and CARD9 impair the immune system's ability to control fungi in the body. When the protein Dectin-1 has recognised the presence of Candida in the body, immune cells send signals to CARD9 which acts as an adaptor molecule. CARD9 then initiates response mechanisms from the immune system to protect the body from the microorganisms. But if either Dectin-1 or CARD9 are missing or mutated, then the immune system will not be able to keep the infection under control, which will mean increased occurrences of Candida infections, particularly the vaginal fungal infections caused by C. albicans. 'These findings are a first step in understanding the genetic susceptibility to common and disabling fungal diseases such as onychomycosis and recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis,' said Dr Bart Ferwerda from Radboud University, who first identified the Dectin-1 mutations in a family suffering from mucocutaneous fungal infection. Dr Erik-Oliver Glocker from the research team at University College London, which identified CARD9's connection to Candida, said the research results had great potential for advances in treatment. 'This discovery enables further insights into the interaction between fungi and the human immune system and may pave the way for future therapeutic options in patients suffering from Candida infections,' he said. Previous experiments have been carried out to determine the responses of mice to fungal infections with similar results, so the results of this study show that the ability to protect against fungal infections is the same in human beings. Professor Mihai Netea, whose team from Radboud University discovered the relationship between fungal infections and Dectin-1, said, 'Although the process of host response to fungal infection has previously been studied in mice, it is very interesting to see that it is the same in humans. The new results show that the mechanisms to protect against fungal infections have been largely conserved by evolution between mice and humans, which is not necessarily the case for other microbes.' The research consortia included the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) in the US and the Technical University of Munich, Germany.
Quality validation date: 2009-11-17

Researchers follow spread of HIV between cells

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

A team of German researchers has successfully tracked a key protein in the HIV (human immuno-deficiency virus) intercellular infection and virus assembly process in real time. Their partly EU-funded research now published in the open-access journal Public Library of Science (PLoS) Pathogens has improved our understanding of the Gag (group-specific antigen) protein's infectious route from cell to cell, and might lead to new treatments. The study was in part funded in the framework of the HIV ACE ('Targeting assembly of infectious HIV particles') project. HIV ACE receives support from the EU under the Health Theme of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). In order to follow the protein, the researchers from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and the University of Heidelberg cultured cells containing eight HIV-1 genes. One of those genes had been manipulated in such a way that it produced a fluorescent form of the Gag protein. The Gag protein provides structural elements of HIV. For instance, when HIV RNA (genetic material) is shipped from an infected cell to the next susceptible cell, the membrane in which the RNA is wrapped is constructed from the Gag protein. Gag is also highly versatile, as it can bind to the inner face of the cell membrane as well as viral RNA and cellular proteins, and Gag can even form virus-like particles in the absence of other viral proteins. 'Using a 'photoconvertible' version of the famous green fluorescent protein - whose discovery and utilisation in biological systems were honoured with the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2008 - attached to the Gag protein, we were able to convert the colour of membrane-bound Gag proteins from green to red,' says Professor Don Lamb, head of the research group at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. Thanks to specially adapted microscopic techniques, the researchers were thus able to determine that - from initiation of virus assembly to its release - it takes about 25 minutes to produce an HIV virus. They also found that virus particle production happened completely asynchronously all over the culture, and after their assembly, viruses were released from individual assembly sites and not from preformed budding platforms. Such reusable assembly platforms are assumed to exist for other viruses. The new findings 'add essential dynamic information to our picture of virus release and provide an experimental basis for interfering with this stage of virus replication', the paper reads. Ultimately, they could help find ways to interrupt intercellular viral spread.
Quality validation date: 2009-11-16

EU-funded researchers develop new plastic optical fibre technology

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Plastic optical fibre (POF) is making headway in the technology world and the EU-funded POLYCOM ('Plastic optical fibres with embedded active polymers for data communications') project has played a central role in its success. Backed with EUR 1.55 million under the 'Information Society Technologies' (IST) Thematic area of the EU's Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), POLYCOM has promoted the use of POF in optical computing, ultra-high-speed LANs (local area networks) and new sensing devices. POF for data transmission is known as the 'consumer' version of glass optical fibre, and is used in the long-distance trunk routes of global telecommunications networks. Flexible plastic fibres, which are produced by polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and have a core diameter of one millimetre (mm), are unique in that their production costs are low, their installation is simple and trouble-free, and their light transmission is safer and easier to maintain than infrared versions. The downside is that their use is limited to short-distance and low-speed data transmission. 'The range of applications for POF and the optical technology that underlies it is extensive, and its development beyond the current state of the art could benefit a wide range of sectors over the coming years,' said Guglielmo Lanzani of the Milan Technical University in Italy, and coordinator of POLYCOM. The POLYCOM consortium, comprising six partners from Germany, Italy, Portugal and the UK, succeeded in developing the first-ever all-optical high-speed switch for POF networks. This groundbreaking result will fuel the research sector's and industry's need for fast optical data transmission. The project partners tested the technique by using two beams of light from a single pulsed laser source in a special plastic optical fibre. The physical properties of the plastic optical fibre were altered chemically, or doped, with photoactive polymers to modify the transmission of photons. According to the researchers, one light pulse could be used to cancel out the other since they overlapped the light pulses in space and time. The end result was that they were able to switch it from on to off and transmit a data signal. Also, the light's cancellation was reversed within only a few hundred femtoseconds (one femtosecond equals one billionth of one millionth of a second) thanks to the doped POF's specific properties. 'Not only will this increase data transmission rates in POF networks, but it could be used for time division multiplexing (TDM) to increase the bandwidth of optical networks beyond what is possible with current wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) techniques,' Professor Lanzani explained. The partners said the doped POF they used for the all-optical switch was a polyfluorene called F8BT. They also succeeded in developed a number of new types of doped POF. 'In all, we developed and tested five or six new generations of materials, using different chemical agents to dope them in order to improve their optical properties and achieve very good dispersion of the doping agent in the polymer in several cases,' the project coordinator said. 'Each of the materials has different characteristics that may make them suitable for different applications.' The research sector and industry are currently assessing the use of POF for the creation of new sensing devices.
Quality validation date: 2009-11-16

MASIS report puts spotlight on science in society activities in Europe

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The EU has long recognised the importance of ensuring that European research is rooted firmly in society and is responsive to its needs. In the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), efforts to reinforce the societal dimension of research are channelled through the 'Science in society' (SIS) programme. The SIS programme supports activities focusing on the governance of the research system, research ethics, carrying out research responsibly, public engagement in science, women in science, and the promotion of scientific education and science communication. Now the MASIS (Monitoring Activities of Science in Society in Europe) group of experts has drawn up a report analysing the emerging trends and cross-cutting issues in science in society in Europe. The report is addressed to policymakers and researchers and is designed to contribute to the realisation of the European Research Area (ERA). One of the most important trends identified by the group is the apparent emergence of a European model of science in society. 'While uniformity should not be the aim, there is the possibility that trends, experiments and mutual learning add up to a European model for science in society,' the report reads. 'Europe may have come further than other countries and regions, and in that sense it offers an alternative model: not by being different from the rest of the world, but by playing a leading role. 'European institutions tend to attribute a more active and creative role to their publics, and as a result, further encourage such social capacity,' the report adds. According to the experts, the EU's SIS programmes 'can and should' play a role in supporting the exploration of these ideas. Elsewhere, the report notes that a lot of discussions on science in society are based around the question of what place science should have in society. This debate should continue, and experiments should be carried out to address tensions in this area, the experts recommend. At the same time, science is increasingly thinking about its role and impacts. The authors point out that while policymakers rightly emphasise the links between science, innovation and quality of life, 'the political dimension [...] and the cultural and intellectual dimensions are also important'. On the issue of the governance of science in society, the authors note that new forms of governance are emerging. These include discussions on responsible development, the growing importance of ethics and codes of conduct, and experiments with public engagement. 'These are not without tensions, but they indicate that we do not have to fall back on traditional forms of governance,' the report reads. One part of the science in society debate revolves around human resources. Women continue to be under-represented in many areas of science, while many bright young people are choosing not to go into research careers. 'Appreciating diversity and making space for including social context can help to strengthen potential,' the report reads. A positive note comes in the section on science communication. Although the traditional mass media remains the most important option for raising awareness of science, the Internet offers increasingly easy access to scientific information. Writing in the foreword of the report, European Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik comments: 'I am confident that this thought-provoking report will provide a basis for reflection and innovative ideas on the ways European societies interact and shape science in the context of a true European Research Area.'
Quality validation date: 2009-11-16