Research

Essex researchers discover coral reef

Researchers from the Department of Biological Sciences have discovered a previously unknown coral reef in the Seychelles.

Drs Dave Smith and Dave Suggett visited Curieuse Island as part of an ongoing study funded by Mitsubishi Corporation in conjunction with the Earthwatch Institute. They were joined by PhD student Seb Hennige as well as local Seychelles collaborators.

The island, which is managed by the Seychelles Centre of Marine Research and Technology-Marine Protected Areas (SCMRT-MPA), is home to over 200 giant tortoises but it was thought no coral reefs were present.

Dr Smith said: ‘Diving revealed an extensive coral reef to the south of the island, at a depth which would not be visible to the occasional snorkeller.’

As well as discovering the reef, Drs Smith and Suggett found signs of destruction, and subsequent recovery, caused by the 2004 tsunami.

Speaking of their other findings, Dr Smith said: ‘From the field data we were able to design experiments to test species’ ability to tolerate climate change events in a makeshift laboratory. These studies demonstrated that there are clear physiological differences between the tolerant and sensitive species, and provided evidence for different mechanisms.’

He added: ‘Our findings will result in a change in approach to how we design future experiments to predict the fate of coral reefs faced with climate change.’

The high diversity and productivity of the reef supports a large number of mega-fauna including one tiger shark which was so curious during one of the research dives it got a little too close for comfort!

The team was also joined by a writer from National Geographic Japan and their findings have resulted in a plan by authorities to establish a centre of marine field-based research on Curieuse Island.

Dr Smith has since been elected to the SCMRT-MPA research steering committee.

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New grant for blood substitutes

Researchers in the Department of Biological Sciences have been awarded almost £115,000 to develop a life-saving blood substitute.

Anyone who has given blood or received a transfusion knows just how vital blood supplies are. Although no one would doubt the need for blood in life-saving emergencies, there are growing concerns about its use in routine operations.

There are other limitations as Professor Chris Cooper explained: ‘Blood has a short shelf-life, needs to be matched for blood group and there is the ever-present possibility of a new blood-borne virus, such as HIV-AIDS, contaminating the supply.’

It is these concerns that have for some time fuelled the drive, amongst academic and industrial communities, to develop an artificial replacement that would be guaranteed virus free and storable, for long periods of time, in ambulances and locations far from hospitals.

Professor Cooper, with his colleagues Professor Mike Wilson and Dr Brandon Reeder, have now received £114,938 from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council to develop their patented ideas for a novel blood substitute.

Professor Cooper said: ‘Our inventions relate to toxic molecules called free radicals that are produced from haemoglobin, the red oxygen carrying protein in blood. We have worked out a way to control radical reactivity when modified haemoglobins are used as artificial oxygen carriers.’

The new molecules are being manufactured by collaborators at the University of Lund, Sweden, and tested in the Federal Drug Administration laboratories in the US under the supervision of Essex graduate Dr Abdu Alayash.

The project was recently featured in the Daily Telegraph.

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Food and the First World War

A PhD student from the Department of History will talk about her research on the First World War at two events marking the 90th Anniversary of the Armistice.

Rachel Duffett will present her work at an event at Chelmsford’s County Hall, and at an Ipswich event arranged by Suffolk Records Office. Her research is on the significance, both physiologically and emotionally, of food to the rank and file soldiers (rankers) of the Western Front.

Soldiers cooking in a trench at Ovillers with a scrounged stove.
Photgrapher: Lt JW Brooke. Image from the Imperial War Museum

She explains: ‘It is, in part, a narrative of army provisioning (unappetising rations, inadequate supplies, rotten cooks, dirty mess halls etc) but also an exploration of the emotions food was freighted with for many of the men. For example, food parcels from home personified the love and concern of families who could not express it explicitly in letters, while the army’s rationing failures became a metaphor for other perceived injustices.’

Rachel’s research analyses letters, diaries and unpublished memoirs, primarily from the Imperial War Museum. Her research sheds new light on both wartime culture and the emotional experience of war.

Much of the existing writing on food and the war is confined to discussions of the Home Front. Scholars have described the physical conditions of the rankers but only hinted at the complex emotional implications of food. In exploring the affective aspects of the conflict, Rachel’s research makes an important contribution to recent work on wartime culture and the emotional experience of war.

Rachel will also speak at the Essex Book Festival in March and at the International Commission for Research into European Food History Symposium in Paris next September.

The Chelmsford County Hall event on 11 November follows the 11am ceremony and is open to the public, no tickets needed.

For more information on the Ipswich event at 10am, Saturday 15 November, see: www.suffolk.gov.uk/LeisureAndCulture/LocalHistoryAndHeritage/
SuffolkRecordOffice/Events/TheArmistice90thAnniversary.htm

Also in the printed November edition of Wyvern:

• Grant helps paint a picture of post-war art
• Crime and drugs tackled in ISER research
• Detect a linguistic link