News Centre

International advisory board for Biosciences

27 May 2010

Left to right: Professor Kevin Fox, Professor Jim Murray, Professor Kim Barrett, Professor Ole Petersen, Professor Alan Clarke, Professor Mike Bruford

The School of Biosciences has appointed a team of highly distinguished academics from around the world to act as its International Scientific Advisory Board.

The School has also re-structured itself into new divisions to build on and promote its key thematic research strengths, as part of its drive to be among the world’s very best Biological Sciences Schools.

Marking the launch, Professor Kim Barrett, Dean of Graduate Studies at the University of California, San Diego and a member of the new Advisory Board, visited the School to discuss its future plans. Professor Barrett, a leading world specialist on the gastrointestinal system, is a regular visitor to Cardiff. Her sister Lynne Barrett-Lee is a novelist and Western Mail columnist and married to Professor Peter Barrett-Lee of the School of Medicine.

Professor Kim Barrett, said: "I’m extremely honoured to have been asked to serve on the new Advisory Board. I think it will have two important roles. The first will be to provide advice on the strategic direction in which the School wants to go. The second will be to get the word out around the world about all the good work which is happening here."

Professor Barrett was given a tour of the School’s facilities and the new structure was explained to her. The School has now established four new internationally competitive research divisions, each led by a major world figure. The four areas are: Molecular Biosciences; Neuroscience; Organisms and Environment; Pathophysiology and Repair.

Professor Barrett said: "The re-organisation of the research structure is very encouraging. It has created some very interesting groups which are going to bring people closer together and create more opportunities for new research projects both within the School and with outside collaborators on pressing social issues including sustainability and health."

Professor Ole Petersen, Director of the School of Biosciences, said the new organisational structure and the creation of the International Scientific Advisory Board were linked. He said: "The new divisions will provide a structure for reporting back to the Board about research activity in the School. The Board will then be able to advise on the work that it thinks is good and the areas which it feels need further development.

"I am delighted that we have been able to appoint such a very eminent Board, who I hope will act as frank and constructive friends of the School in years to come. We also have four very strong divisions, with acknowledged international experts at the head of each and more than 350 active members involved in dynamic research programmes."

International Scientific Advisory Board

Professor Kim Barrett, University of California, San Diego, USA

Professor Anders Björklund, University of Lund, Sweden

Professor Charles Godfray FRS, University of Oxford

Professor John Heath, University of Birmingham

Professor Dame Louise Johnson FRS, University of Oxford

Professor Arthur Konnerth, Technical University Munich

Professor Oleg Krishtal, Bogolometz Institute, Kiev

Professor Michel Lazdunski, CNRS Institut de Pharmacologie Moleculaire et Cellulaire Sohpia Antipolis

Professor James Tiedje, Michigan State University

School of Biosciences Research Divisions

Molecular Biosciences – the molecular mechanisms underpinning biological function. Leader – Professor Jim Murray

Neuroscience – a broad range of neurobiological research, from the molecular to the behavioural level. Leader – Professor Kevin Fox

Organisms and Environment - the biology of whole organisms and their roles and interactions in changing ecosystems, in infection and health and at the genetic level. Leader- Professor Mike Bruford

Pathophysiology and repair – the molecular mechanisms underpinning disease and the processes that drive repair and regeneration. Leader – Professor Alan Clarke.

http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/biosi/research/index.html

Caption: Left to right: Professor Kevin Fox, Professor Jim Murray, Professor Kim Barrett, Professor Ole Petersen, Professor Alan Clarke, Professor Mike Bruford