We are currently waiting for the outcome of our strategic programme grant

applications from the BBSRC, but we know that all three of our programmes were highly-ranked and that our Core Capacity Grant was graded ‘Excellent’. Council will consider the funding allocations in December and we will hear the outcomes in January.

Message from the DirectorThe Times They Are a-Changin’

(continued overleaf)

ROSLINWinter 2016

Chilean Research Directors visit Roslin

David Hume presents staff awards

Councils and The Roslin Institute is ideally positioned to apply for those tackling food security, global infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance. Moreover, through the Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH) we are in a unique position to support the growth of research capability in developing African countries. The Centre’s partner organisations are delighted to have jointly appointed Professor Appolinaire Djikeng as Director of CTLGH. Appolinaire is currently Director of Biosciences East and Central Africa (BecA) and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience of agriculture development. We also appointed Dr Tim Connelley, Dr Christelle Robert and Dr Musa Hassan to Career Track Fellow positions in the Centre. CTLGH’s research programmes are gaining momentum with substantial support from BBSRC Data and Resources and Impact Accelerator awards under the GCRF banner.

In addition to GCRF, the Newton Fund budget has also been bolstered. In October we hosted a delegation of Research Directors from Chile as part of a Newton Fund Institutional Skills award. A reciprocal visit at the end of November has cemented relations and supported

With the Government aiming to start negotiations about the UK’s departure from the EU early next year, it is vital to raise awareness of the risks that this poses to research. Through the National Institutes of Bioscience (NIB) partnership, we submitted evidence to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee’s inquiry into the implications of leaving the EU on UK science and research. To ensure that the UK maintains its status as a world leader in science research and innovation, international links need to be maintained and strengthened. This will require assurances that the UK will still be able to participate and shape EU projects, as well as safeguarding freedom of movement for researchers, scientists and students. Of course, after years of flat cash funding it is also time for the Government to invest in science to support economic growth. The recent announcement of a £2Bn increase in funding for Research and Innovation by 2020, with a focus on Biotechnology, gives cause for cautious optimism.

On the bright side, the Government has committed £1.5Bn over five years to ‘Tackling Global Challenges in the National Interest’. Over sixteen Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) calls have been released since June across the Research

ROSLIN Reporter Winter 20162

the development of bilateral research projects in the future.

In September we hosted the Wellcome Trust’s Board of Governors who were suitably impressed with the research and training on offer at Easter Bush Campus. They also highlighted opportunities in the ‘Our Planet, Our Health’ programme, aimed at discovering further links between our health and the environment, and through Institutional Strategic Support Fund (ISSF) awards.

I am especially pleased to note the successful formation and funding of Roslin Technologies, which will have an initial valuation of £30M, making it one of the largest biotechnology start-ups in Scottish history. Roslin Technologies will commercialise the expertise, know-how, capabilities and intellectual property of the Institute and Vet School. It will employ its own staff and be a key tenant in the Roslin Innovation Centre, which is rapidly approaching completion. Thanks to the efforts of the CEO, John Mackenzie, we are confident that there will be a pretty full house when it opens in mid-2017.

As you will be aware I will be stepping down as Director of the Institute next year and the recruitment process for my replacement is underway with interviews anticipated in January. I first applied for the position in late 2006, and it will be 10 years in May 2017 since I started. It has certainly been a time of great change. I do have substantial ongoing commitments to students and grant-funded projects, so I am not intending to disappear. I am rather looking forward to being just another scientist in the future, aiming to split my time roughly 50% with sunnier climes.

This has certainly been a year of surprises. But what can be more exciting than the constant surprise of discovery in science. The last 10 years has seen a technology revolution in life sciences. I do not see it slowing down any time soon.

(continued)

Driven by the opportunity to harness the power of livestock systems for

sustainable and global development, The University of Edinburgh/Roslin Institute, Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) and the Africa-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) joined forces to create the Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH), envisioned as a partnership for livestock research and innovation that benefits vulnerable small holder farming communities in tropical parts of the world.

At its launch in Nairobi in December 2015, CTLGH had already secured a foundational grant of US$16M awarded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support work at the three founding institutions. The first CTLGH-hosted projects are focused on identifying optimal genotypes for dairy cattle and poultry production in Africa, utilising precision breeding technologies to improve tropical livestock productivity and health, and securing open data and biological sample resources.

Assisted by the International Advisory Committee (IAC), Centre partners and scientists are developing the future strategy and business plan that will further leverage the resources of the foundational grant and establish the Centre’s presence as a leading international player, connecting scientific excellence and innovation to sustainable development in the field of livestock genetics and health.

The first CTLGH Annual Meeting held in September in Naivasha, Kenya, initiated stakeholder consultation on the CTLGH vision. The emerging view of founding partners and programme scientists was that CTLGH should provide a coherent framework linking upstream research to interventions that improve livestock productivity and livelihoods in the tropics.

Making the vision a reality will require CTLGH to foster open, multi-disciplinary collaborations with new strategic partners as well as cultivating communities of practice to maximise the impact of new knowledge and technologies across the whole value chain of agricultural innovation systems. This will be an exciting challenge for the recently appointed CTLGH Director Appolinaire Djikeng who, along with programme leaders and participating scientists, will be at the forefront of the CTLGH’s strategic development in the coming months.

As one IAC member said in Naivasha: “CTLGH is filling a gap that has long been apparent in research worldwide, and is the first attempt to pull together people working on tropical livestock internationally”.

Further information: www.ctlgh.org / @ctlgh_info or contact us (info@ctlgh.org) to ask more, and to have your say.

CTLGH Coordinator Peter Freeman reflects on the Centre’s establishment and first year of operations.

CTLGH Annual Meeting participants in Naivasha, Kenya

Dolly’s Birthday Party

ROSLIN Reporter Winter 2016 3

Ross Houston rounds up current research on fish and shellfish.

Aquaculture genetics at Roslin: Making a bigger splash

LARIF work commences on Easter Bush Campus

The number of Roslin-led research projects on aquaculture species

has increased rapidly in the past two years. In fact, we now probably study as many food production species that are farmed in water as those farmed on land! These include Atlantic salmon, rainbow trout, Coho salmon, European sea bass, Gilthead sea bream, common carp, turbot, European flat oyster, Pacific oyster and blue mussels.

Work on the Large Animal Research and Imaging Facility

(LARIF) has commenced with the essential ground, road and infrastructure work well underway. LARIF will accommodate facilities for two Agri-Tech Innovation Centres funded by Innovate UK: CIEL (Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock) and Agri-EPI (Agricultural Engineering Precision Innovation Centre). Innovate UK representatives and auditors visited the LARIF site in

September and October. The visitors donned hard hats to review the work on the site and thankfully did not get too muddy! In early 2017, the actual building work for LARIF will commence, so keep looking out the back windows of the Institute to see its progress.

Further information: www.cielivestock.co.uk/www.agri-epicentre.com/

Val Hughes-White

Atlantic salmon remains the major aquaculture species of interest to the UK, and the Institute has built upon successes in identifying genes affecting resistance to viral disease. This research and its commercial application took a significant step forward this year with the development of a framework agreement between Roslin and Hendrix Genetics, a major animal breeding company. This agreement covers studies into the use of

new breeding technologies to improve infectious disease control in farmed salmon and trout.

This year, Roslin received a Newton Fund award to lead a large project aimed at improving salmon aquaculture breeding in Chile. This involves studying genetic resistance to the bacterial disease Salmon Rickettsial Syndrome (SRS) and to sea lice. Thanks to another prestigious award from the Royal Society, postdoctoral researcher Diego Robledo will be spending two years at Roslin studying resistance to Amoebic Gill Disease in salmon.

Scientists at Roslin play a large role in the EU consortium project ‘FISHBOOST’ to boost the breeding programmes for six major finfish aquaculture species. This project involves large-scale disease challenge experiments combined with genotyping by sequencing to map genes affecting traits related to disease resistance in juvenile fish.

Shellfish genetics and breeding research has developed rapidly in recent years thanks to funding from the BBSRC. These projects will develop genomic tools for oyster species and enable the breeding of oysters with increased resistance to Oyster Herpes Virus. A BBSRC partnering project between Roslin and the Cawthron Institute in New Zealand has enabled Carolina Peñaloza, a PhD student at Roslin, to spend several weeks performing experiments in their high-tech hatchery facilities. These experiments will improve our understanding of bivalve inheritance and de novo mutations in pair crosses of mussels and oysters. These projects will contribute to develop selective breeding programmes to enhance UK shellfish production and sustainability.

ROSLIN Reporter Winter 20164

Coming of Age: The Legacy of Dolly at 20

As part of this year’s anniversary celebrations of Dolly’s 20th birthday,

The Roslin Institute in collaboration with the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, organised a scientific symposium to reflect on Dolly’s legacy and the wider impact that the research that led to Dolly has had on science and society.

On the 2nd September we welcomed over 260 delegates for a day packed with fascinating talks and a lively poster session. The symposium was opened by the Principal of the University of Edinburgh, Professor Sir Timothy O’Shea, and kicked off with a keynote lecture by Professor Sir Ian Wilmut.

Meeting participants were able to hear about how Dolly was brought to life, the amazing progress that has been made in the engineering of livestock animals using genome editors and the discovery and regulation of factors that determine pluripotency.

Professor Shinya Yamanaka, the Nobel Prize Laureate for Physiology or Medicine 2012, gave an inspiring talk

in which he described the challenges he faced as a young investigator to find funding for his work on iPS cells which is now progressing to the clinic for the treatment of multiple human diseases. Recorded videos of all the presentations can be found on the Institute’s website. Dolly’s legacy lives on!

Andreas Lengeling

To celebrate Dolly@20, our stand at this year’s Royal Highland Show

was devoted to sheep research at The Roslin Institute. We talked to over 4,000 visitors of all ages about our current work on lung microbes, brain disease, reproduction and genetics in sheep, as well as Dolly and her impact on our research today.

ROSLIN Reporter Winter 2016 5

To round off our Dolly@20 celebrations, Dolly made several

appearances at this year’s Midlothian Science Festival, with a team of researchers delivering our DNA, Dolly and You workshop in three local primary schools, a week-long exhibition of the Dolly Memories project at Ikea in Straiton and Dolly-themed questions and a Dolly prize at the inaugural Midlothian Science Festival Pub Quiz.

For more information about Dolly the Sheep, visit our website: www.dolly.roslin.ed.ac.uk

Dolly the Sheep was born on 5th July 1996 just outside Roslin

village, and to celebrate the 20th anniversary we held a birthday party in the village for local residents and members of the original Dolly team. A great to chance to hear about the day it all happened from some of the people who were there!

On 1st September we brought together Prof. Sir Ian Wilmut, leader of the Dolly

team, Nobel Prize Laureate Prof. Shinya Yamanaka and Prof. Angelika Schnieke for our Coming of Age: The Legacy of Dolly at 20 public lecture at Surgeon’s Hall. The three talks and subsequent discussion about Dolly and her legacy in the fields of stem cell science and genetically engineered animals were ably chaired by science writer Dr Kat Arney. The drinks reception afterwards provided opportunities to meet researchers from The Roslin Institute and the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine. Attendees also tried out our new ‘Genetic Toolbox’ exhibit, which describes how Roslin researchers are changing the DNA of animals to combat disease.

Dolly also made an appearance at the 2016 Edinburgh Festival Fringe

as part of the Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas. In “Dolly the Sheep: Major Discovery or Minor Distraction?” Prof. Helen Sang, alongside University of Edinburgh colleagues from the MRC

Centre for Regenerative Medicine and the School of Social and Political Science, challenged the audience to question whether we should still be talking about Dolly twenty years on, or focusing on new research. The consensus was – both!

Prof. Yamanaka shares his memories of Dolly

ROSLIN Reporter Winter 20166

Cat Eastwood outlines the opportunities for young people on Easter Bush Campus.

A place where young people thrive…

Campus Operations have invested heavily in the recruitment of

apprentices across different areas. We currently have four apprentices on Campus:

Joe Rutherford - IT Technical Support ApprenticeConnor McLeod - Digital Resources Apprentice Morgan McKnight - Stable hand Blair Smith - Purchasing and Stores Apprentice

The Campus will continue to invest in apprentices in operational areas with an anticipated three other apprentices to be advertised in 2017. Apprenticeships normally last 12-24 months and require the completion of a formal national qualification. If you are interested in hiring an apprentice, please contact HR for further information.

Career Ready Scheme

The Campus also participates in the Career Ready Scheme. This is a

UK-wide charity linking employers with schools and colleges to give young people an insight into the world of work. The scheme runs over two years, with mentors and mentees meeting twice a term, and includes a 4-week paid internship at the end of year one. The aim is to give students from lower income families the confidence, skills and networks to achieve their potential. The Campus has hosted three Career

Ready mentees this year. Damon Querry, who has been heavily involved in the programme said: “Career Ready presents a real opportunity to make an enormous difference to the future career aspirations of a young person. Quite a responsibility for mentors who take part, but it also affords them with a personal development opportunity. Together you’ll both end up getting a great deal out of the programme.”

Cat Eastwood

This year’s Science Insights work experience programme, run

in partnership with the University’s Widening Participation team, was offered to 40 high-school pupils. They spent two days on Easter Bush Campus meeting researchers, touring our facilities and taking part in workshops. The highlight for many was the tour of Dryden Farm followed by a thought-provoking session on the use of animals in research. Feedback from pupils and staff has been brilliant and we’re looking forward to running the programme again in 2017.

In line with our Youth Strategy, the Campus is committed to recruiting and

developing young people in the local area and beyond. The Campus was recently awarded a Silver Investors in Young People Award (the first University department to hold an award at this level). This recognises our commitment

to ensure that we attract young people and provide them with a supportive learning culture. All activities are supported by the Easter Bush Youth Forum chaired by Ben Morse. To find out more about the Youth Forum and how to get involved please e-mail:

Eb.Youthforum@ed.ac.uk

Scottish Modern Apprenticeships

ROSLIN Reporter Winter 2016

Tim Connelley is interested in understanding the immunological

parameters that determine the efficacy of vaccines for livestock species. His work on immune responses and correlates of protection will help guide novel vaccine development.

Adam Balic is investigating the molecular and cellular mechanisms

that underpin lymphoid organ development in chickens by developing novel gene transfer and gene editing technologies to visualise and manipulate specific immune cell populations. His work will contribute to enhance breeding strategies to produce more robust and healthy chickens.

Christine Burkard’s research focusses on the interactions of viral

pathogens with their host. Her work on the economically important porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) and porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDV) will aid the development of new antiviral drugs and vaccines, as well as the use of genome editing and genomic markers for virus resistance and resilience.

We also welcomed a group of 20 high-school pupils to the Institute as part of the Kickstart programme, a free week-long summer school that gives pupils

from the Lothians and Dumfries and Galloway a taste of the subjects they could study at university. Our Neurobiology of Love workshop, led by Prof. Simone Meddle and her group, was a big hit with the pupils, many of whom said that it made them more interested in studying neuroscience at university.

7

Employ.Ed on Campus Internship Programme

Every year the Campus hosts 10 or 12 week-long internships for

University of Edinburgh undergraduate students. The annual call for internship projects usually takes place at the end of the year. Interns are fully paid on a fixed term contract on the UE03 scale. Funds and local approval is required for anyone thinking about taking on an intern. Operational leads should contact Val Hughes-White or Tim King in the first instance.

The Institute welcomes six recently appointed Career Track Fellows.

On track to success

Abigail Diack’s research centres on defining the mechanisms of prion

disease transmission in animals and humans. Her work contributes to further understand neurodegenerative diseases associated with protein misfolding, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, and to identify new therapeutic targets.

Christelle Robert uses computational approaches to analyse next-

generation sequencing data in mammalian genomes. She is particularly interested in understanding host–microbe interactions in the gut of livestock animals and investigating their effects in the context of stress factors.

Musa Hassan’s work focusses on understanding susceptibility to

infection and how it varies between individuals. He uses the parasite Toxoplasma gondii as an infection model to investigate host–pathogen interactions.

ROSLIN Reporter Winter 20168

New Postgraduate Convenors

Our success in attracting postgraduate students has required putting in place

a new Postgraduate Support Structure to aid the Postgraduate Director and Deputy Director roles. Each Division now has its own Postgraduate Convenor who takes on the role of postgraduate advisor for the Division offering guidance on recruitment, interviews, admission and on-going support for students and supervisors in the Division. The Convenors oversee thesis committees, sign off reports and act on any issues. They are the first point of contact for students and staff. The team is led by the Postgraduate Director for the School. After nine years, Bernadette Dutia is stepping down from the role of Postgraduate Director and is handing over to Colin Farquharson on 1st January 2017.

Bernadette Dutia

The new convenors are:Scott Pirie Clinical Studies

Gerry McLachlan Developmental Biology

Andy Law Genetics and Genomics

Jo Stevens Infection and Immunity

Andy Gill Neurobiology

Postgraduate news

Away Days in the Highlands

This year we welcomed over 30 new postgraduate research students to

Roslin. In mid-Oct, soon after their arrival at the Institute they spent three days at Firbush Point Outdoor Centre on Loch Tay. This was a chance for them to get to know each other and members of the Postgraduate Studies Committee in an informal setting before settling into work on their projects. Students and staff spent the daylight hours canoeing, kayaking, windsurfing and hill-walking whilst evenings were spent in the lecture theatre. Each student gave a five minute presentation on their project and then answered questions. The students all did a fantastic job and the variety of projects gave everyone a chance to learn about the breadth of research in the Institute.

The Easter Bush Campus Human Resources team along with the

Career Development Committee have produced a new booklet for parents and parents-to-be. The booklet summarises parental support available through the University of Edinburgh’s family-friendly policies and local initiatives such as the additional caring costs expenses grants (for academics speaking at conferences), parking arrangements for pregnant women, live streaming of seminars outside the auditorium, baby-changing facilities near the cafeteria and much more. Feedback from staff has been very positive, with comments about the usefulness of having all the information in an accessible format. Printed booklets have been distributed around the Campus and electronic copies can be found on the Easter Bush Campus website.

Easter Bush Parental Support Booklet – Published!

ROSLIN Reporter Winter 2016

Midlothian Science Festival 2016

9

Our first Midlothian Science Festival 2016 event was the Easter Bush

Campus Open Day, which used interactive displays and activities to showcase research, teaching and clinical work from across the Campus. Over 420 visitors came to meet our staff and students and to find out more about our work and exciting new developments on Campus. We were also delighted to host the Royal Society of Biology Scotland Branch Annual Meeting: ‘Genomics - From Bench to Product’ which included a series of talks about the science behind genomics and how it can benefit society.

Our researchers joined visitors and their dogs of all shapes and sizes at Dog Day: The Science Behind the Wag, a brand new event at Vogrie Country Park. This fun event combined displays and talks with dog behaviour and agility demonstrations and was a great way for us to talk to dog owners about our research into canine genetics and health.

Other festival highlights were our family-friendly Meet the Cows tour of Langhill Dairy Farm, which featured talks from two Roslin researchers and an exciting opportunity to see a newly born calf, and Honey Bees: Past, Present and Future at Rosslyn Chapel, which linked beekeeping in medieval times to current research at Roslin.

Nicola Stock rounds up some of this year’s events at the festival.

Midlothian Science Festival 2016

Events roundup

ROSLIN Reporter Winter 201610

Roslin Science Day

On the 17th June approximately 200 Institute researchers gathered for

a one-day symposium featuring talks from Group Leaders and Career Track Fellows from across all Divisions. The day was a big success and based on the feedback gathered, which highlighted

the usefulness of the event to foster collaborations and scientific synergy within the Institute, it is to become an annual event. If you wish to get involved next year, please contact Anagha Joshi or Peter Hohenstein.

Events roundup

In September, the Roslin Post-Doc Society hosted a visit by two

BBSRC Future Leader Fellows, Dr Lauren Guillette (School of Biology, University of St Andrews) and Dr Elizabeth Ballou (Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen). Lauren and Elizabeth gave talks about their research to the whole Institute and then led a workshop for postdocs and PhD students. Lauren and Elizabeth, who are mentored by Megan Davey (Group Leader and former BBSRC fellowship holder), talked about their experiences ranging from the application process and preparing for interviews, to life as a recipient of a BBSRC fellowship. The workshop was well attended and received extremely good feedback.

On the 6th September leaders in the field of livestock genetics, regulation

and food supply gathered at The Roslin Institute to discuss the latest technologies and their applications in a one-day meeting co-sponsored by the OECD Co-operative Research Programme: Biological Resource Management for Sustainable Agricultural Systems, the UK’s National Institutes of Bioscience (NIB) and the Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH). This free, open meeting attracted over 100 representatives from a range of research organisations, industry, funding and policy-making bodies and highlighted the need for ongoing dialogue among specialists from different backgrounds for driving future agricultural innovation.

BBSRC Future Leader Fellowship workshop

Genome Editing and the Future of Farming Meeting

ROSLIN Reporter Winter 2016

Recognising Excellence Awards 2016

Evolutionary Quantitative Genetics Course

11

Events roundup

At the beginning of November, we hosted a short course entitled

Evolutionary Quantitative Genetics at The Roslin Institute. The course was instructed by Bruce Walsh, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona and co-author of the book ‘Genetics and Analysis of Quantitative Traits’. He is an internationally renowned expert in his field which ensured a large attendance of both home and overseas participants.

The course covered a wide range of topics from basic statistics, algebra and population genetics to quantitative genetics, evolutionary response in quantitative traits …, in only five days. Bruce’s enthusiasm for teaching meant he effectively communicated very complex topics to a wide range of specialists. The varied background of the participants made the discussions vivid and interesting, engaging us all in debates and conversations that continued beyond the auditorium.

The feedback gathered from the participants was very positive and we hope to run a similar course next year. Profits from running the course will be used to support a student’s attendance to an internationally recognised conference on Quantitative Genetics.

Maria Sanchez

On the 10th October Institute staff and students gathered for the

biennial ‘Recognising Excellence Awards Day’. The 135 nominations submitted were shortlisted by The Roslin Institute’s Impact Committee and submitted to the Institute’s Science Management Group for final approval.

The presentation of awards by the Institute Director, Professor David Hume, was followed by lunch and refreshments. Cat Eastwood, Easter Bush Campus Human Resources Manager, said: “This was another successful awards event with some very deserving winners. It was really good to see a number of PhD students being nominated and receiving awards! The feedback is always tremendously positive, such peer recognition generates a great sense of value and appreciation”.

Full list of winners:Outstanding Science Team Pig Reproduction Team: Claire Stenhouse, Cheryl Ashworth and Charis HoggExcellent Scientific Support Edith PaxtonKnowledge Exchange and Commercialisation Award Lissa HerronPublic Engagement Award Megan DaveyOutstanding Researcher Award Liam MorrisonOutstanding Operational Service Award (Individual) Isobel BlairEmerging Researcher Award (PhD Student) Jason IoannidisEmerging Researcher Award (Post-doc) Derya OzdemirInspiring Supervisor/Mentor Award Jo StevensOutstanding Operational Service Award (Team) The Roslin Communications Team: Monica Hoyos Flight, Damon Querry, Nicola Stock, Emilie Brady, Norrie Russell, Gordon MacPherson and Connor McLeodThe 3Rs Award Laura Graham and Macia LLaveroDirector’s Special Recognition Award Damon Querry Special Mention Award The Dolly@20 organising committee

ROSLIN Reporter Winter 201612

Events roundup

The Career Development Committee held a ‘Pathways to Professor’

lunchtime workshop on 3rd November 2016. Four members of staff described their personal route to becoming a professor: John Hickey, Professor of Animal Breeding; Susan Rhind, Professor of Veterinary Education; Catherina Becker, Professor of Neural Development and Regeneration; and David Argyle, Professor of Veterinary Clinical Studies and Head of the Vet School. Each speaker’s career had developed in different ways but common elements were: determination to pursue goals about which they were passionate, seeking advice from mentors, managing work/life balance – and luck! There were plenty of questions and discussion with attending postdocs, research fellows and group leaders. The workshop provided insights into the various achievements that can be recognised in the promotion process and at the end David Argyle talked about the contributions that are expected from staff once they have reached professorial level.

‘Pathways to Professor’ workshop

Once again on the 27th October, for one day and one day only, the

Purchasing & Stores Team embarked on its annual mission to rearrange every bit of furniture on the ground floor. We managed to fit almost 50 stands for Roslin’s Laboratory Suppliers Fair. This year’s event was organised by Jonathan Nicol and Chris Carpenter and received great feedback.

The event enhances the Institute’s relationship with key suppliers and gives

researchers on the Campus (and beyond) the chance to catch up on the latest products and services on offer. It is thanks to their interaction and enthusiasm on the day that it is deemed one of the top lab supplier events in Scotland.

As always, we are open to suggestions on how we can improve and develop the event so if you have any comments please let us know at:

roslin.stores@roslin.ed.ac.uk

Lab Suppliers Fair

ROSLIN Reporter Winter 2016 13

Prion diseases, such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy

(BSE) in cattle and Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD) in humans, are fatal, infectious, neurodegenerative diseases. The infectious agent (prion) is not a conventional micro-organism, and is thought to consist solely of misfolded and aggregated prion protein (PrP). PrP aggregates are able to bind to and convert normal host PrP into the abnormal form, leading to the spread of misfolded PrP through the CNS. These newly formed prions can then transmit

disease to other animals. Rona Barron, Pedro Piccardo and colleagues have shown that inoculation of synthetic, pre-formed PrP amyloid fibrils into mice expressing a P101L-PrP mutant causes the formation of PrP amyloid plaques in the brain. However, this happens without the development of clinical prion disease or replication of any infectious agent. These results indicate that PrP misfolding and aggregation in the brain does not always create an infectious prion or cause neurotoxicity.

Prion disease: When is a prion not a prion?

Research highlights

Bird flu: An early warning system

Sam Lycett and colleagues in a global consortium of bird flu researchers have

investigated how the avian flu virus H5N8 has spread around the world following outbreaks in South Korea in early 2014. They found that H5N8-infected wild birds migrating from Asia to Europe and North America contributed to outbreaks of avian flu in birds in these continents between autumn 2014 and spring 2015. Their findings, published in the journal Science, highlight how greater surveillance of wild-bird migration routes, rapid data sharing and collaboration, could provide an early warning system of potential bird flu outbreaks. Furthermore, given that certain strains of bird flu viruses pose a major threat to poultry farms, these findings reinforce the importance of maintaining strict exclusion areas around them to keep wild birds out.

Companion animals: A wagging tale

Astudy led by Carys Pugh sheds light on a painful condition that

affects dogs’ tails. Limber tail is a poorly understood condition that typically affects large working dog breeds such as Labrador Retrievers causing tail limpness and pain. Using data collected from the Dogslife project, which follows the health and wellbeing of more than 6,000 Labradors from across the UK, the authors revealed an unexpectedly high illness burden. They were also able to identify swimming and living in northern areas as risk factors for developing the condition. Limber tail was more frequent in dogs that were related to each other suggesting that there may be an underlying genetic predisposition. Finding the genes associated with the condition could help breeders to identify animals that are likely to be affected and over time, reduce the prevalence of disease.

PrP amyloid plaques seeded in P101L-PrP mice

ROSLIN Reporter Winter 201614

An international team of researchers led by Anna Meredith, head of the

Exotic Animal and Wildlife Service at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, have found the bacteria that causes leprosy in red squirrels. The DNA analyses published in Science revealed that red squirrels from England, Scotland and Ireland were infected with Mycobacterium lepromatosis, though not all showed signs of the disease. Interestingly, all samples from squirrels living on Brownsea Island, off England’s south coast, were infected with a strain that shares close similarities with the one responsible for outbreaks of the disease in medieval Europe. The authors stress that the risk of humans catching the disease is negligible, but their findings suggest that squirrels could be a reservoir for the bacteria, thwarting efforts to eradicate the disease.

Research highlights

Infection reservoir: Squirrels struck by medieval strain of leprosy

Most E. coli strains live in the guts of people and animals without

causing illness, but E. coli O157 causes serious food poisoning in humans. Using software that compares genetic information from E. coli O157 strains isolated from cattle herds and infected humans in both the UK and US, David Gally and colleagues were able to identify the hallmarks of strains that are likely to cause food poisoning outbreaks.

This study highlights the potential of machine learning approaches for identifying other strains of bacteria isolated from animals – such as Salmonella and Campylobacter – that have the potential to cause human disease. Further investigation of the genes the software uses to discriminate the strains may reveal why certain isolates are more of a threat to human health than others.

Food poisoning: Spotting the culprits

Figure produced by Eliza Wolfson

The macrophage regulating protein colony-stimulating factor (CSF1) has

a key role in regulating liver size. Previous studies have shown that macrophages contribute to liver regeneration by stimulating cell proliferation and removing necrotic tissue. CSF1 is vital for triggering such a response following liver damage. David Hume and colleagues report that treatment CSF1-Fc, a fusion protein designed to prolong the factor’s half-life, significantly increases the size of the liver in mice and in pigs. The enlarged livers, which function normally, harbor increased numbers of macrophages and proliferating liver cells. These findings not only support the safety and efficacy of CSF1-Fc for the treatment of liver failure, but also contribute to understand the biology underlying organ size control.

Developmental biology: Pushing organ size limits

ROSLIN Reporter Winter 2016 15

Being Artist-in-Residence at Easter Bush Campus, amidst so much research and

knowledge on animals and humans, is proving to be an immensely exciting and rewarding experience.

My ambition has been to respond to the research of the Animal Behaviour and Welfare team at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) and to bring scientists on Campus together around creative workshops exploring questions on individuality and animal personality, and how the environment and stockperson shape and enrich an animal’s life.

An important aspect of my project is to involve the animals on Campus and react to ideas of animals as agents, as well as considering their position and visibility on site. Ideas for the workshops have evolved through meetings with incredibly committed individuals, and by observing animals, and thinking about the Campus itself as a shared territory. Participants have been involved in Piglet Gentling and Toy Making, Worm Husbandry and Empathy, and Animal Nature, which was initially trialled at the Campus Open Day.

One of the most gratifying aspects of the residency has been devising workshops with support from staff who have influenced ideas and offered their time and knowledge. This, and being introduced to the synching sound of sow vocalisation, and watching a pig’s enthusiasm for exploring materials and form, and having tiger worms arrive through my letterbox, have all encouraged thinking about how interestingly different our life experiences are, but also how co-dependent we are on other species.

Notes from the Artist-in-Residence, Andrea Roe

Print created at a workshop on Animal Nature

Using recycled materials to make personal wormeries at a Worm Husbandry workshop

If you have any articles you would like to submit for the next Roslin Reporter or have any questions or feedback on this issue please contact us: info@roslin.ed.ac.ukThe University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336.Photography by Norrie Russell, Laura Dow and Alan Inglis.Designed by Graphic Design Services, LTW, ISG, The University of Edinburgh www.ed.ac.uk/is/graphic-design

The BDFA is a national charity which aims to support families, raise

awareness and fund research into the group of devastating neurodegenerative diseases collectively known as Batten disease. Whilst there are some differences between the forms of the disease they share many features including progressive loss of vision, seizures, sleeping difficulties and a decline in cognitive and motor skills that results in loss of mobility. Death is inevitable and, depending on the specific diagnosis, may occur anywhere between early childhood and young adulthood. Whilst the condition recently gained media attention following an appearance of the Carroll family, whose children Ollie and Amelia have Late Infantile Batten disease at the WellChild Awards, presented by HRH Prince Harry (see BDFA website: www.bdfa-uk.org.uk), there are very few research groups in Scotland working on this condition.

Batten Disease: Looking for the common factor

I’s To The Future

Over 40 families registered this year for the conference, which was held in Stratford-Upon-Avon. The conference provides a full programme for affected children and siblings (catered for by professional carers and volunteers),

research sessions and the opportunity to meet professionals working in the field. Perhaps most importantly, this meeting provides the opportunity to meet other families who know what it is like to cope with these conditions on a daily basis.

Delegates from over 100 innovation locations attended the UKSPA’s

(United Kingdom Science Park Association) October Conference in Midlothian. Conference sessions and study tours were hosted at The Roslin Institute and the Moredun Research Institute.

The theme of the conference reflected four key areas prioritised by the Scottish Government - Innovation, Investment, Inclusive Growth and Internationalisation.

Professor David Hume, Director of The Roslin Institute, opened the conference and informed delegates of the research activities within the Institute. John MacKenzie, CEO of the Roslin BioCentre and CEO of Roslin Innovation Centre, talked about how the new Centre, opening summer 2017, has been designed specifically to encourage innovation amongst its tenant companies.

The newly created ‘Midlothian Science Zone’, which includes Easter Bush Campus and Pentlands Science Park, was also announced at the conference. The critical concentration of animal science expertise could see the area becoming a Business Improvement District in which organisations work together and invest collectively in improvements which benefit them and the wider economy.

Tom Wishart reports from this year’s Batten Disease Family Association (BDFA) annual conference where he was invited to talk to families about his research into the molecular mechanisms underlying these devastating conditions.