Roslin Institute Newsletter - The Roslin Institute
Transcription
Roslin Institute Newsletter - The Roslin Institute
ROSLIN REPORTER Issue 30 Winter 2014 Bill Gates visits Easter Bush Campus A s 2014 comes to its close, the Roslin reporter is on hand to summarise the busy second half of The Roslin Institute’s year. Inside this issue: Director’s Message Page 3 Roslin In The News Page 4 Other News Page 12 Recent Publications Page 36 ill Gates visited the Easter Bush Campus B in July to hear about research to improve the health and welfare of people and farm animals worldwide. The renowned businessman and philanthropist was visiting in his capacity as co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The organisation has a strategic focus on agricultural development and research to improve farming productivity in a sustainable way. Mr Gates was greeted by Vice-Principal Professor Jonathan Seckl, Professor David Hume, Director of The Roslin Institute, Professor David Argyle, Head of the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, Lord Jamie Lindsay, Chairman of Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) and Dr Janet Swaddling, CEO SRUC. The party toured The Roslin Institute before visiting SRUC’s beef research facility on the outskirts of Edinburgh. The party also visited the new National Avian Research Facility at The Roslin Institute. There, scientists are developing genetic technologies that are helping to breed chickens that are less susceptible to diseases, notably those affecting developing countries. Among the scientists to highlight their work were Professor Ivan Morrison and Dr Liam Morrison of The Roslin Institute. Both are funded by the Gates Foundation to investigate new treatments for deadly trypanosome parasites that affect people and farm animals in sub-Saharan Africa. 2 SRUC’s Dr Dave Roberts and Dr Mizeck Chagunda also spoke about their work with dairy farmers in Malawi. It focuses on the use of performance recording to increase herd productivity. Professor Jonathan Seckl, Vice-Principal Planning, Resources and Research Policy, said: “It has been a great pleasure to welcome Bill Gates to the Easter Bush Campus and showcase our work as world leaders in the field of animal bioscience.” Director’s Message W ith the end of 2014 we find The Roslin Institute and wider Easter Bush Campus at the start of so many projects. With the demolition of the old vet school canteen and clearance of the ground we now have the space in which the Easter Bush Innovation Centre (EBIC) will be built. The EBIC will be housed as part of a wider ‘Centre Hub’ building that will provide a new focus for the Easter Bush Campus. In addition to the EBIC’s business incubator labs, the building will also house central scientific resources as well as providing social facilities including a shop, gym and meeting areas. The ‘Centre Hub’ building will also house the Midlothian Science Centre, a teaching lab and exhibition area that will enable University of Edinburgh and Easter Bush staff and students to bring members of the public of all ages to the campus to experience science of all disciplines in a variety of different ways. John John Mackenzie has joined us at the Easter Bush Campus where he has taken up the role of Chief Executive Officer of the EBIC. Later in this Reporter you’ll read about the start of the working life of the National Avian Research Facility’s (NARF) Bumstead Building. The Bumstead Building is a poultry facility that will be maintained under specified pathogen free conditions and provide housing for important genetic studies in chickens. Alan Hart, who guided us through the development of these facilities, has moved on to a more senior position in Sheffield, but has left us in great shape. The many ongoing developments are providing the Easter Bush Campus with the infrastructure to widen our research capabilities. A prime example of such opportunities is the Centre in Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health that The Roslin Institute and partners from the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies and Scotland’s Rural College have submitted to a major funder. I will keep you up-to-date with progress of this centre and with Campus Development in future issues of the Roslin Reporter. As Director of The Roslin Institute I was delighted that The Roslin Institute has been awarded an Athena SWAN Silver Award. More about the award later in the Roslin Reporter, but this is my opportunity to thank the Career Development Committee, especially Helen Sang and Cat Eastwood, for all their hard work in providing new and equal opportunities for all our staff and students. Roslin was also at the forefront in the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) awards. Jean Manson was highly-commended for her career achievements, and we were also short-listed in the best employer category. Sam Still on the theme of starts I am delighted to welcome Dr Sam Lycett as the latest of the University of Edinburgh’s Chancellor’s fellows to join The Roslin Institute. Sam is a Computational Epidemiologist and has joined the Division of Infection and Immunity. In October the BBSRC conducted their 3 Midterm Review of The Roslin Institute’s strategic science programmes. I’d like to thank Tricia Hart and the programme conveners for all their work as well as Cat Eastwood, Nicola Stock and Helen Dundas for presenting our policies and procedures in a very impressive way. The review has given us the starting point for development of the next proposals for strategic funding, which will be a major focus of our energies in 2015. Meanwhile, the outcome of the REF2014 assessment has just been released. The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies with which The Roslin Institute is incorporated was ranked the number one vet school once again; the submission to the panel was joint with Scotland’s Rural College. It is an outstanding result for us and will hopefully contribute to our ongoing financial sustainability. Tricia The sad news is that Tricia Hart (amongst her many other skills, the editor of this newsletter and occasional ghost writer) is leaving us at the end of this year. Tricia has supported the development of the Institute is so many different ways, not least in the massive task of preparation of the ISPGs and the REF2014 submissions. I certainly owe her a personal debt for making my job possible for the past 6 years, and I am sure all of The Roslin Institute wishes her the very best for the future. As 2014 ends and I escape to the Australian sun for a few weeks, I wish all the Reporter’s readers well for the start of 2015. Roslin in the News The Roslin Institute is part of ‘Most Powerful’ group in UK Agricultural and Veterinary Research A gricultural and veterinary research at the University of Edinburgh and Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) has been ranked as most powerful in the UK in the Research Excellence Framework (REF). The REF process is an assessment of the quality of the research being undertaken at UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and the impact it has in society. Building on a long history of collaboration and complementary activities, SRUC and the University’s Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies and Roslin Institute made a joint REF submission. The collective strength and depth of agricultural and veterinary research at the University and SRUC is reflected in its top research power ranking. Three quarters of the research and related activity submitted by the University and SRUC was judged to be “world leading” (receiving the top REF grading of four star) or “internationally excellent” (three star). The impact of group’s research scored particularly highly. This is an important area because it demonstrates how the research undertaken leads to practical benefits for society – for example in animal health and welfare, agricultural productivity and environmental protection. Over 76% of the Professor David Argyle, Head of the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies at the University of Edinburgh, said: “This outstanding result is a clear demonstration of the benefits that University and SRUC research is bringing to human and animal health, as well as food and environmental security. Our attainment of a 4* rating across the board for research environment cements our position as a worldleading hub for agricultural and veterinary research. I congratulate the hard work and dedication of our exceptional staff that has enabled this achievement.” impacts described in the submission were judged to be “outstanding” and over 83% either “outstanding” or “very considerable”. The REF panel considered case studies that demonstrated how research is having an impact on the UK and worldwide economies. These included research from The Roslin Institute that is helping salmon farmers to breed fish that are more resistant to a deadly virus called infectious pancreatic necrosis (IPN). In a severe IPN outbreak, as many as 90% of farmed fish can be lost. The discovery is estimated be worth around £26 million per year to the UK salmon farming industry. Professor Geoff Simm, SRUC’s Vice Principal Research said: “This is an excellent result fulfilling SRUC’s ambition for a top three placing on research power and further strengthening SRUC’s ongoing discussions with the University of Edinburgh about a closer alignment. It is a fantastic independent endorsement of the returns to society from investment in agricultural research. We thank our University partners for their valuable guidance over several years as we worked towards our joint REF submission.” 4 The First Exome Sequence Completed in Pigs P IC, a division of Genus plc, in collaboration with The Roslin Institute and Edinburgh Genomics at the University of Edinburgh, UK, announced earlier this year that they have been the first to complete exome sequencing in pigs. Exome sequencing is a cost-effective strategy to selectively sequence the most important parts of DNA and enables faster genomic progress. The extensive results of this research, published in the journal BMC Genomics, were generated from a targeted set of 96 pigs representing the known variation in one of PIC’s leading global proprietary populations in order to capture as many mutations as possible. Exome sequencing has been used in humans to aid in the diagnosis of Mendelian disorders (genetic disorders associated with the mutation of a single gene). PIC will use the information derived from this research, which also received funding from the Roslin Foundation and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), to achieve more accurate genomic selection in swine, including 5 work to reduce embryonic and/or foetal death loss in pregnant pigs. Professor David Hume, Director of The Roslin Institute and a co-author of the study said: “The development of a novel genomic platform is a significant output from the long term strategic partnership between The Roslin Institute and Genus. Within the Institute, we see many applications of this platform in biomedical research as well as more applied applications in animal breeding.” Dr. Jonathan Lightner, Genus Chief Scientific Officer, congratulated the Edinburgh team for a well-conducted study achieving coverage statistics similar to those seen with commercially available human exome kits. He added “PIC will continue to invest in and partner with leading global institutions to develop the next generation of technologies that drive faster genomic progress. We are committed to using these techniques to deliver the best products to our customers.” A link to the research paper can be found at:http://www.biomedcentral.com/14712164/15/550/abstract Tropical farmers’ plight is focus of animal research initiative C hallenges faced by livestock farmers in tropical developing countries are the focus of a new alliance involving researchers from Scotland and Africa. The new Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health will initially focus on the use of genetic information to improve the health and productivity of farmed animals in tropical climates. The aim is to develop technologies that will help farmers in developing countries to identify the best animals to breed from, so they can improve the economic value and quality of their livestock. Joint teams from Scotland and Africa will explore the genes that make some animals more resistant to diseases than others, as well as those that enable certain breeds to thrive in warmer, arid conditions. Researchers will also use genetic techniques to characterise new diseases that emerge and to track outbreaks. The University of Edinburgh and Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) have joined forces with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Kenya to launch the initiative. The new Centre will have locations in Scotland and Africa. The Scotland site will be located on the University of Edinburgh’s Easter Bush Campus, which includes The Roslin Institute, The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies and Scotland’s Rural College. Professor David Hume, Director of The Roslin Institute, said: “With the threat of rising temperatures due to climate change, the need for affordable techniques to improve farming and food security in warmer climates is becoming a global challenge. We are delighted to announce this new partnership to address the issue, which builds on existing, successful collaborations between our three organisations.” Professor Geoff Simm, SRUC VicePrincipal Research, said: “We are proud to be working in partnership with the University and ILRI. This is a very significant alliance because it has the potential to transform our international efforts to help improve livestock genetics, enhancing food security but also reducing the environmental impact of global livestock production. We also anticipate that SRUC’s proposed strategic alignment with the University will significantly strengthen the potential for the new Centre.” The Africa site will be located at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi, Kenya. It will involve scientists from both ILRI’s new global livestock genetics program (LiveGene) and the Biosciences eastern and central Africa (BecA)-ILRI Hub and their partners in Africa. Dr Jimmy Smith, Director General of ILRI said: “ILRI is delighted to be forming this new alliance with the eminent University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute and Scotland’s Rural College. Modern genetic approaches offer new opportunities to identify livestock suited to the diverse and demanding conditions under which African smallholder farmers work. This new alliance brings together a unique mix of skills to address these exciting and important challenges.” 6 £14.5m boost will help keep Scotland at forefront of bioscience B usiness Secretary Vince Cable visited The Roslin Institute in October to announce a boost for postgraduate training in Scotland’s biosciences. A total investment of £14.5 million will train postgraduate students in world-class bioscience that will build on UK strengths in areas such as agriculture, food security, industrial biotechnology, bioenergy and bioscience for health. Dr Cable made the announcement as he visited the Institute, where he met researchers and students. The investment in the bioscience skills base will further boost research and innovation in Scotland and will help to secure the future of the UK as a global leader in bioscience research. Highly skilled researchers are vital for addressing some of the world’s major challenges in the 21st century. They fuel discoveries aimed at solving issues such as sustainable food production, renewable energy sources and addressing the health challenges of an aging population. A £7.5 million investment from the Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council will be matched by £7 million funding committed by the Universities involved in the East of Scotland Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership (EASTBIO). EASTBIO is partnership between the Universities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and St Andrews. EASTBIO is led by the University of Edinburgh’s School of Biological Sciences and includes as associate partners the Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance (SULSA), James Hutton Institute and Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC). Business Secretary Vince Cable said: “The UK punches far beyond its weight in science and innovation globally, which is a credit to our talented scientists and first-class universities. This new funding will safeguard Britain’s status as a world leader in life sciences and agricultural technology.” 1 £ M 5 . 4 7 S cientists at The Roslin Institute have joined other dementia experts at the Dementias Platform UK, which was launched in October when the ground-breaking, multimillion pound collaboration between industry and academia, set up by the Medical Research Council, held its inaugural conference. The Dementias Platform UK received a huge investment through the Clinical Research Infrastructure (CRII), announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer a week before the launch, bolstering its funding base to £53million. World leading researchers from universities across the UK (Cambridge, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Imperial College, Oxford, Manchester, Newcastle, Swansea and UCL) and six companies (GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen Research & Development, AstraZenecaMedImmune, Ixico, SomaLogic and Araclon) will use state of the art technology to: • Get a better understanding who is at risk of developing dementia and why the progression of the disease varies from person to person • Explore the anatomy of the disease to help develop new medicines and enable more accurate diagnosis • Look into how existing drugs which are used to treat other conditions might help to treat the progression of dementia and improve symptoms. Using health and lifestyle information from over two million people over the age of 50, as well as data from the lab, the Dementias Platform UK (DPUK) will focus on improving early detection, treatment and ultimately the prevention of dementias. Dementias Platform UK: A powerhouse for dementia research The Platform, formally known as the UK Dementia Research Platform (UKDP), will create the world’s largest study group for use in dementia research. It will allow researchers to examine dementia in a whole new way, investigating not just what is going wrong in the brain, but at the brain in the context of the whole body. The Platform will look at the causes of dementia across a range of neurodegenerative conditions, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Motor Neurone Disease. Professor Jean Manson (above), Head of the Division of Neurobiology at The Roslin Institute, said “This is an important initiative for dementia and it has the potential to have considerable impact in the diagnosis, treatment and 8 prevention of these diseases. I am extremely pleased to be engaged with this initiative and hope to make a significant contribution to the UKDP.” Professor Hugh Perry, Chair of the MRC Neurosciences and Mental Health Board said, “The Dementias Platform UK is the culmination of years of dedicated work undertaken by the Medical Research Council, to identify and tackle the problems facing dementia research. Talking to scientists, it became clear that a new way of researching the disease was needed – a collaborative approach that took advantage of the wealth of population studies in the UK. I think people will look back on the creation of the Platform as a watershed moment in the study of dementias, holding the key to accelerating treatments and ultimately prevention of the disease.” Professor John Gallacher, Director of the Dementias Platform UK said: ‘If we can delay the onset of dementia by just a few years, we can halve the number of people who die from the disease. By bringing together the best scientific minds to discover the causes of these terrible diseases, we can and will beat them.’ For more information about the DPUK, please visit: http://www.mrc.ac.uk/research/facilities/ dementias-research-platform/ MRSA bugs linked to livestock are found in hospitals, study finds S ome MRSA bugs in UK hospitals can be traced back to a type of bacteria found in farm animals, a study involving scientists at The Roslin Institute suggests. According to the study a strain of drugresistant bacteria carried by some livestock – the MRSA strain Staphylococcus aureus CC398 – has also been found in patients. People and animals generally harbour distinct variants of CC398, which the team say evolved from the same original bacteria. However, the CC398 strain found in livestock can be transmitted to humans, and the study shows that this has happened on many occasions. The study provides new evidence that the livestock-associated CC398 strain could spread in hospitals. CC398 from farm animals is resistant to some common antibiotic drugs, which could make it harder to treat. The strain’s enhanced drug resistance in livestock is likely to be the result of widespread use of antibiotics on farms, scientists say. Patients in hospitals and nursing homes are at increased risk of MRSA infection, but healthy people in the wider community can also become infected with some strains. Scientists at the University of Edinburgh used a state-of-the-art genetic analysis technique to study how the CC398 strain evolved. For the first time, researchers unravelled the full genetic code of CC398 strains from the UK, and compared these with published genetic data on CC398 bugs from humans and livestock around the world. They say that CC398 has entered the UK on several occasions since the mid-1940s, though the original source of the bacteria remains unclear. Lead researcher Dr Melissa Ward, said: “Our findings emphasise the need for strict biosecurity practices in the food production industry, as well as continued surveillance and infection control of MRSA in hospitals. Responsible use of antibiotics in healthcare settings and agriculture is of utmost importance.” Professor Ross Fitzgerald of The Roslin Institute said, “‘The cross-species transmission of bacteria may lead to new strains with potential for onward spread in the new host species. “Our findings suggest that some livestockassociated MRSA may have the ability to persist and cause disease in humans in the hospital setting”. 9 The study, published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, was carried out by the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Immunity, Infection and Evolution and The Roslin Institute, in collaboration with the Scottish MRSA Reference Laboratory. The study was funded by the European Commission Framework Programme 7, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, the Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance, Pfizer and the Medical Research Council. A nimal health experts are joining forces to combat emerging infectious diseases that affect farm animals and household pets across Europe. They aim to track outbreaks of diseases such as tuberculosis and influenza, as well as bacterial infections that can cause food poisoning if they enter the food chain. The diseases can have devastating impacts on farmers’ livelihoods and also pose a threat to human health. Vets, scientists and technical specialists are teaming up to establish a new European research centre that will be coordinated from a hub at the Easter Bush Campus in Edinburgh. Experts hope to develop new diagnostic tools, vaccines and treatments that help to stop diseases from spreading. The Centre of Excellence for Surveillance Animal experts aim to keep Europe safe from infection threat of Emerging Infectious Diseases in Europe is a collaboration between the Easter Bush Research Consortium (EBRC), of which The Roslin Institute is a member, and global animal health company Zoetis. It will draw on the expertise of each consortium member to rapidly respond to disease outbreaks in animals and help protect the health and livelihoods of those who raise and care for them. Professor David Hume, Director of The Roslin Institute, added: “Our goal is to detect at a very early stage new diseases appearing in Europe. By reaching out to our partners in Africa and Asia, we hope to identify potential threats, fully sequence the genetic material of the infectious agent very quickly and identify routes to develop diagnostics and therapeutics.” Michelle Haven, a Senior Vice President and 10 vet at Zoetis, said: “Enhanced surveillance to identify these threats early makes it possible to speed development of high quality, effective medicines and vaccines to help control these diseases. By working together, we can advance unique solutions to the evolving and complex threats of emerging infectious diseases in Europe.” The Easter Bush Research Consortium brings together experts from the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies and The Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) and the Moredun Research Institute. A UK/India partnership is tackling tick borne disease of cattle By Liz Glass C ontrolling tick borne diseases (TBD) of cattle, buffalo and other livestock remains a world-wide priority. They affect over 80% of the world’s cattle populations and represent a significant threat to global food security. As part of the India-UK collaboration in Farmed Animal Health and Disease jointly funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and India’s Department of Biotechnology (DBT), a major new endeavour led by Prof Brian Shiels at the University of Glasgow will focus on the “Molecular Epidemiology of Ticks and Tick-Borne disease, Host Resistance and Development of Novel Pathogen Vaccines”. His UK collaborators include Profs Andy Tait and Rowland Kao, and Dr William Weir (all University of Glasgow) and Prof Liz Glass of The Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh. They have teamed up with Indian colleagues Drs Sunil Kolte, Nitin Kurkure and Suresh Jadhao of the Department of Parasitology, Nagpur Veterinary College, Maharashtra together with Prof G Ponnudurai Veterinary College and Research Institute, Namakkal, and Profs TJ Harikrishnan and Bhaskaran Ravi Latha, Madras Veterinary College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University. All participants have long standing expertise in aspects of ticks and TBD of livestock. Control of TBD mainly relies on chemicals such as acaricides to kill tick vectors and/or drugs that kill the parasites, or live vaccines. These all have major drawbacks including development of resistance to chemicals and difficulties of preparing and delivering live vaccines which are often only partially effective. Young livestock are particularly susceptible to TBD. However the carrier state in older animals very likely causes major production losses, but this has not been well quantified in countries such as India. The inaugural meeting took place at the Department of Parasitology, Nagpur Veterinary College from 26th – 29th November 2014 where most of the participants met for the first time. The UK visitors were treated very hospitably by the enthusiastic Indian hosts. They were welcomed by the Vice Chancellor, Professor Misra, followed by an invitation to Prof Shiels to light a candle as part of a traditional Indian ceremony of welcoming and all of the participants were presented with flowers. Over the course of the meeting the parties exchanged knowledge and ideas to formulate plans to tackle TBD in India. India has many distinct breeds as well as “non-discript” (i.e. not described) Bos indicus cattle and buffalo, but most are not well defined genetically and little has been documented about their resistance to infectious diseases. The UK team had tours of the Institute and the local farm where they saw Sahiwal/Jersey crosses (susceptible to ticks and TBD) and distinctive local breeds, such as the Gaolao, a dual purpose breed with a “coffin shaped skull” (may be more resistant) as well as buffalo breeds. Host diversity and resistance will be explored using micro-satellite markers as well as experimental challenge of cattle breeds with T. 11 annulata, a tropical protozoan. Their clinical and haematological responses as well as gene expression in blood (RNA-seq) will be compared with the aim of identifying biomarkers of resistance. Earlier studies by Prof Liz Glass has shown that purebred Sahiwals were much more resistant to T. annulata, compared to the more familiar Holstein-Friesian found in the UK and elsewhere. The collaborators were interviewed and appeared in the local paper, the Hitavada. The UK group were taken out for dinner feasting on goat curry and Indian beer – it was cold enough in the evening for braziers, though the hardy Scots did not require their jackets! They also visited the beautiful Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve where they were lucky enough to see a tiger! On their trip they also saw lots of cattle and buffalo at road edges. They were also invited to the Central India Institute of Medical Sciences which has a joint research project with the Nagpur Veterinary College on zoonoses including Mycobacterium bovis. India has a fantastic diversity of breeds with potential disease resistance traits awaiting discovery which could lead to targeted marker assisted selection in the future, whereby TBD resistance loci could selected along with loci controlling higher milk yield, resulting in higher performing cattle in local Indian environments. Other News Kim P Summers elected to Society of Biology rofessor Kim Summers from The Roslin Institute’s Division of Genetics and Genomics has become the latest senior Roslin researcher to be elected as a Fellow of the Society of Biology. The Society of Biology describes itself as “a single unified voice for biology: advising Government and influencing policy, advancing education and professional development and engaging and encouraging public interest in the life sciences.” Elected fellows are those who have made a prominent contribution to the advancement of the biological sciences in many ways including research or training. Several other Roslin Institute group leaders are already Fellows of the Society, highlighting the position of the Institute in the forefront of biology in the UK. Kim’s research interest is the molecular basis of disease, both in humans and animals. Since coming to the Institute in 2008 she has made links with the clinical staff at R(D)SVS to 12 establish a number of projects in the area of canine genetic disease. The close relationship of such diseases in dogs to similar diseases in humans means that Kim’s research spans the human and veterinary medicine fields and is an excellent example of the “One Health” approach. Also pursuing the One Health agenda, Kim established the MSc in Animal Biosciences in 2011, aiming to train future researchers in aspects of research for and with animals. The programme has now graduated 22 students, some of whom are currently undertaking PhD studies at the Institute or elsewhere while others are working in industry and government. Kim said of the Fellowship, “I’m very pleased to join the other Roslin Institute Fellows in the Society of Biology. Thank you to those who nominated me – I appreciate your support and encouragement and the opportunities to do fun science that working at The Roslin Institute has given me.” Lord de Mauley visits esearch to improve the health and welfare of animals, the livestock industry and food security were discussed when Lord de Mauley, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for natural environment and science, visited the University of Edinburgh’s Easter Bush Campus. Lord de Mauley spoke to researchers from The Roslin Institute, the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies (R(D)SVS) and Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) who are based at the Easter Bush Campus. During the visit, Lord de Mauley highlighted the role of research in helping to reach the goal of the UK Government’s Agri-Tech Strategy to make the UK a world leader in agricultural technology, innovation and sustainability. During the visit Lord de Mauley learned about the opportunities UK organisations such as The Roslin Institute and SRUC can play in addressing key issues such as global Food Security. He was provided with an overview of one of The Roslin Institute’s key assets, the National Avian Research Facility, which is based at the Easter Bush Campus. Aims for the facility include addressing the need for improved sustainability in poultry production in light of an increasing global population, developing vaccines against infections and benefiting human health through reducing foodborne diseases. Lord de Mauley, Minister for the Natural Environment, said, “The Roslin Institute and SRUC play vital roles in the UK Government’s Agri-Tech Strategy. I was fascinated to see funding being used to develop technology Easter Bush Campus R to feed cattle more efficiently while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which will greatly benefit farmers, consumers and the environment. The Roslin Institute is the UK’s leading farm animal research institution and SRUC is a brilliant model for disseminating new technology to farmers across Britain and the world.” Professor Hume said of the visit, “It is a pleasure to discuss with Lord de Mauley the opportunities for world leading UK agricultural research to develop at Easter Bush Campus.” The Roslin Institute to benefit from new Sequence-Based Genotyping K eygene N.V. an Ag Biotech company announced today that it has entered into a licence agreement with the University of Edinburgh in the field of Sequence-Based Genotyping (SBG). Under the agreement, the University of Edinburgh obtains a non-exclusive licence for the use and application for research purposes of KeyGene’s patented SBG technology including RAD-Seq. The SBG patents protect methods which allow discovery and scoring of genetic markers without genome sequence information in an extremely cost-effective way. Michiel van Eijk, CSO of KeyGene, said, “We are very pleased with licensing the University of Edinburgh in this important research field of next-generation sequencing based genetic marker analysis. The ability to perform genetic marker discovery and genotyping simultaneously finds widespread use in a huge range of species”. The license will enable ARK-Genomics, a national capability based at The Roslin Institute and strategically funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), to deliver genotyping-by-sequence projects to the farm animal genomics community. The ARK-Genomics national capability forms part of Edinburgh Genomics, a leading academic next generation genomics facility based at the University of Edinburgh. Keygene’s SBG technology will be utilized at The Roslin Institute to investigate the genetic basis of important traits in animal health and food security, such as the genetic basis of disease resistance and key production traits. For more about this story, please visit: http://www.keygene.com/keygene-licencessequenced-bases-genotyping-to-universityedinburgh/ 13 New Research Partnership to Advance Broiler Genetics A three-year research agreement between Cobb-Vantress, Inc., a global industry leader in poultry genetics, and The Roslin Institute, at the University of Edinburgh, will facilitate collaboration on avian disease resistance, genome analysis and genome preservation. Cobb is putting almost $1 million into avian research programs at The Roslin Institute to identify innovative ways to improve avian health as well as developing unique technologies to understand and preserve the current and heritage poultry genomes. The investment creates a strategic partnership between Cobb and The Roslin Institute which leverages each world class entity’s strengths. Mitch Abrahamsen, Cobb vice president of research and development, stated: “This research partnership provides a wonderful opportunity for Cobb to continue a close collaborative relationship with The Roslin Institute and their new National Avian Research Facility (NARF). “The continued financial investments by The Roslin Institute in people and infrastructure demonstrate their commitment to making significant contributions toward improving poultry health and capitalizing on the opportunities afforded by the ever expanding understanding of the chicken genome.” Professor David Hume, director of The Roslin Institute, said of the new agreement: “The joint partnership with Cobb is an excellent example of the kind of industrial interactions that allow The Roslin Institute’s research to drive sustainable improvements in animal health and livestock productivity. “I am delighted to be able to formalize the relationship we have with Cobb and capitalize on a number of key opportunities that we will be pursuing under the agreement.” One of the applications of this joint partnership is an effort to develop new technology enabling pedigree or heritage lines to be maintained without the need to physically maintain the bird stock. In addition, several projects will investigate DNA markers in the genome, targeting some of the more difficult to select for traits such as avian immunity, disease tolerance and disease resistance. “These are exciting new areas which we hope will lead to major breakthroughs in avian health and preservation.” said Dr Christine Daugherty, chief technology officer of Cobb. “Cobb has an extensive gene pool and to be able to better understand the poultry genome will be critical to meeting future demands for poultry products. We’re always striving to breed more robust chickens that will withstand disease and environmental challenges. We’re looking for birds with greater immunity to diseases or with the ability to tolerate disease without affecting their performance.” The collaboration will support research by graduate students and is for an initial three years, with potential for renewal. The agreement with The Roslin Institute, which receives strategic funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, is one of more than 30 research projects that Cobb has been supporting in 18 different universities across the globe over the past five years. M 1 $ 14 Roslin Student shortlisted in image competition D eclan King, a PhD student from The Roslin Institute, had his image shortlisted in the BBSRC’s Images with Impact competition. The competition sought images that represented how life sciences are changing the world, in areas such as: food, farming, bioenergy, biotech, industry and health. The shortlist was selected by an esteemed panel of judges. The public then had their say and voted for the category winners and runners up. Great Britain has always been the home of bioscience discovery. Penicillin, the DNA double helix and The Roslin Institute’s very own sheep called ‘Dolly’ were all born of UK research, but never before has bioscience moved at such a pace. With this competition the BBSRC aimed to capture the exciting developments and challenges happening in bioscience today, with images from the Great British public, its students and its researchers. Declan’s image was shortlisted in the “Images from a student” category and is a microscopy image of the complex networks established between nerve cells grown in the laboratory. Sadly Declan’s image was not one of the final three category winners that went on to be shown at the Great British Bioscience Festival in London in November, but we thought it was the best!. Dec with two potential scientists of the future at the recent Easter Bush Doors Open Day 15 T here is much progress and change to report in this issue of the Roslin Reporter as the National Avian Research Facility (NARF) continues to move forward to provide The Roslin Institute and further afield with the most advanced facilities to perform avian research. Change brings exciting opportunities for all willing to embrace the possibilities and it is something that as scientists we should grasp to provide the opportunities to progress. The Greenwood Building After 40 years of first-class service Margaret Murray decided to hatch her last chick and retire. Margaret’s last day was on the 3rd October 2014 and as a group we all headed out to the local Italian restaurant, Cibo. It was a fun lunch with the waiters making a fuss of Margaret which was well deserved. We all wish Margaret well and a long and happy retirement. NARF News By Alan Hart (NARF Coordinator) In August we had two new starts in the Greenwood and both Mark and Richard have settled in very well. We are awaiting Margaret’s replacement with the new incumbent in place by late November. The Bumstead Building is now fully operational with the keys handed to Kim and her team early in November. Willie has moved from The Greenwood Building to join Kim and two new members of staff Tomasz and Graham. All have been getting to grips with the facility and the procedures that are required to maintain the integrity of the building. If you walk by Willie and the guys the sweet scent of lavender, or rose petals will be apparent from the numerous showers that are taken to enter their place of work. This is just the sweet smell of success! The first eggs arrived just days after Kim got the keys and it was commendable to all involved in this build that we were able to open on time. Many thanks to all the guys involved in the construction, Miller Construction, Shepherd Engineering and others companies. With special thanks to the E&B project lead and others from the E&B team. As this Reporter was going to print the first chicks hatched in the Bumstead Building so congratulations to Kim and the Bumstead team for hitting the ground chirping! 16 NARF changes Dave Burt (above) has taking over as acting director for NARF and he’ll be your first port of call for all matters relating to NARF; enquires through narf@roslin.ed.ac.uk. As I have intimated earlier Kim Bernard is your contact for all matters relating to The Bumstead Building and SPF eggs. Kim will be happy to receive enquires through the spf.eggs@ roslin.ed.ac.uk account. Adrian Sherman will continue to be your contact for matters relating to avian work at The Greenwood Building and transgenic chicken work, enquiries through gm.eggs@roslin.ed.ac.uk account. As for myself I have moved on to pastures new to take up my new post at the University of Sheffield. Exciting times are ahead for both myself and NARF and I look forward to watching the success of NARF as it puts chicken at the forefront of scientific discovery. Millipore Prize for Laura P ostdoctoral researcher at The Roslin Institute, Dr Laura McCulloch, has been named as the winner of a Merck Millipore competition to win the company’s new Luminex MAGPIX® System, 40-072. Merck Millipore ran the competition asking entrants to describe how they would use the MAGPIX® System in their own research. The MAGPIX® System, 40-072 provides rapid, accurate biomarker quantitation in a variety of sample matrices. In essence it provides a means by which researchers can study how protein expression differs between samples. Laura said of the prize, “I was delighted to win the MAGPIX® System and can’t wait to use it in my research. This is going to be a great addition to The Roslin Institute’s technical capacity and there are a lot of researchers here that are already planning how they can use the MAGPIX® System in their projects.” Laura’s proposal and entry to the competition described a study aimed at assessing blood biomarkers of immunosuppression in mice, following a stroke, which could then be correlated in human blood samples. Dr Steven Suchyta, Product Manager at Merck Millipore said of the winning entry, “Of over 150 entries from around the world, Laura won the prize because her proposal is the most novel and translatable. “Millipore welcomes all opportunities to work with cutting edge research organisations such as The Roslin Institute and this is a great example of such interactions.” The MAGPIX® System was delivered to The Roslin Institute in June from Merck Millipore who provided Laura with some £10,000 of multiplex kits to get her started. Dr Suchyta said, “I am pleased to say that Merck Millipore will be running a Magpix grant program again this year and I look forward to receiving more proposals as imaginative and innovative as Laura’s. For more information about the MAGPIX® System, 40-072 please see http://www. millipore.com/catalogue/item/40-072 Kits for the MAGPIX® System are available 17 for many protein markers across multiple species please see http://goo.gl/sijRXn Merck Millipore representatives will be holding a seminar at The Roslin institute soon with information on how the MAGPIX® System may be useful to researchers across multiple fields of research in The Roslin Institute, R(D)SVS and SRUC and future grant programs available from Merck Millipore. Laura’s research continues to be successful, winning poster prizes at the Edinburgh Infectious Diseases annual symposium in May and the Inflammation and Disease meeting held by the British Society for Immunology Inflammation Affinity group in Manchester in September. Laura has also recently been awarded a $1,500 scholarship from the American National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) to attend a Keystone meeting “Neuroinflammation in diseases of the CNS” in New Mexico. S eptember saw the The Roslin Institute hold its biannual celebration of staff achievement, the “Recognising Excellence” Awards. The Roslin Institute’s HR Manager, Cat Eastwood, explained, “We feel that it is incredibly important to recognise our staff for the outstanding work they undertake in pursuit of The Roslin Institute’s research goals. The fact that we had so many very strong nominations from both the scientific and the operational sectors of the Institute is indicative of how highly the staff are regarded.” The Institute’s Impact Committee, chaired by Professor Helen Sang, made recommendations for the award recipients based on the nominations received from staff and students from across the Institute. The recommendations then went to the Institute’s Science Management Group for final approval. On presenting the awards, Professor David Hume, Director of The Roslin Institute, said, “I am so proud of what the individual staff and students achieve at The Roslin Institute and their combined force is what makes the Institute so strong. These awards recognise those who have really gone above and beyond in their work, but I know there are many more who would also be worthy winners.” Roslin Recognises Excellence in Staff Awards The full list of winners is: Outstanding Science Team – Team Sheep led by Iseabail Farquhar and Emily Clark Excellent Scientific Support – Rhona Muirhead Outstanding Operational Support – Liz Brown Outstanding Operational Support (Team) – Cleaning Team KEC – John Hickey PE – Katie Nightingale Inspiring Supervisor/Mentor Award – Steve Bishop Emerging Researcher (PhD Student) – Natasha Whenam Emerging Research (Post-doc award) – Louise Stephen Outstanding Researcher – Barry McColl Special Recognition – Bob Fleming 18 Small World : Huge Prize D r Nils Lindström has come 16th in the Nikon Small World Competition. His amazing image, taken while Nils was a postdoc at The Roslin Institute, shows three transgenic kidneys cultured together, showing colliding branching collecting duct systems. Nils, who is now based at the Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre, said of the placing, “I am very happy with this outcome because it is a very competitive section and I was the top UK-based image.” To see all the winning images and to find out more about the competition, please visit: http://www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/ photo/2014-photomicrography-competition Nils Festival Midlothian Science F rom 4-19 October, science-themed events were happening all over Midlothian as part of the third annual Midlothian Science Festival. The Roslin Institute is a major partner of the festival and staff and students from the Institute were involved in six events this year in addition to the Easter Bush Campus Open Day, including a genetics talk for students at Beeslack High School and ‘Farm Detectives’ workshop for P4 and P5 pupils at Roslin Primary School and a science cycle ride with the Midlothian Ranger Service and a family tour of Langhill Dairy Farm. All the events were extremely well received, with participants really appreciating the chance to find out more about the research happening on their doorsteps. The Midlothian Science Festival is a volunteerrun festival dedicated to sharing science with communities in Midlothian. Most of the events are based in community venues and as many as possible are offered free of charge. For more information about the festival visit www. midlothiansciencefestival.com 19 Easter Bush Campus Open Day T he Easter Bush Campus hosted its annual Public Open Day at The Roslin Institute Building and Veterinary Teaching Building on 4 October, welcoming around 400 members of the public onto campus for the afternoon. The 2014 event had the privilege to be the opening event of this year’s Midlothian Science Festival and it featured a programme packed with hands-on activities, science shows, talks and building tours in both buildings. The Roslin Institute Building had over 100 volunteers from The Roslin Institute and Scotland’s Rural College running 25 activities across three floors. Visitors had the opportunity to see, amongst other things, the Institute’s BBSRC Great British Bioscience Festival exhibit “Flu Fighters” as well as finding out about farming of the future, how genes determine coat colour in Labradors and a chance to meet the infamous Dr Poo! Thanks to support from the Midlothian Science Festival, The Roslin Institute was also delighted to be able to welcome Simon Watt with his Superhero Genetics Show, which was a big hit with visitors. As always, the visitor feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with many compliments about our engaging, friendly staff and student volunteers who made the science interesting and accessible to everyone. The only complaint was that we should have been open for longer to allow time to see it all! 20 E Ethics Prize Winners arlier this year, Dr Doug Vernimmen repeated his course on Ethics about what scientific issues to expect in the future and how we would solve these. Science has dramatically progressed since the full sequencing of the human genome a decade ago but also the research on stem cells. Stem cells can be differentiated in any cell type, giving new horizons for cell therapy but also in livestock. Together with the high throughput sequencing techniques, the secret of the genome can now be uncovered, which implies several ethical issues. The course used well known films to prompt discussion groups that were followed by students writing an essay of 2-4 pages. The format was presented as a competition within the Institute with two winners receiving a prize. Congratulations to Anuj and Selene. N Winner Anuj Sehgal with his first prize voucher for his essay “Until death do us apart”. Hostess Kirsty Ireland presents Anuj with a bottle of wine. Runner up Selene Jarrett receives her prize for her essay “First comes love” from Doug watched over by the other competition entrants. The bacterially inclined visit Firbush ovember is not traditionally the time of year people think about doing too many outdoor activities, but we’re a hardy bunch in infection and immunity. So, November 17th20th saw about 27 members of the bacterialfocused research groups from infection and immunity head off to the University-owned Firbush outdoor centre for a two-day retreat. After arriving Monday around mid-day, we had our first activity-a friendly competition of orienteering, which of course doubles as a team-building exercise! (Orienteering, mapreading, bumbling around in the bushes up and down hills to find a little punch to mark your scorecard.) After recovering with a bit of a hot drink, we had the first round of talks from the students and post-docs before dinner. Post dinner games and a bit of networking were the order of the evening before falling (well, for me anyway!) into bed for some quality sleep. Tuesday morning saw two more sessions of talks, interrupted by a further activity period for a change of pace. Overall, it was a great opportunity to hear what our colleagues are By Robin Cassidy-Cain By Robin Cassady-Cain 20 doing and to get feedback on direction of research or offers of help with techniques and suggestions for experiments. It was also interesting to see the commonalities and diversity of research happening across the groups from the more clinically-related 21 research to very basic research, and to get to know some of the members a bit better. It was a great experience, I think everyone got something out of it, and I look forward (hopefully) to more of them in the future! Roslin Institute ‘Flu Fighters’ at the Great British Bioscience Festival I n mid-November a team of virology researchers from The Roslin Institute headed to a marquee in Bethnal Green, East London to bring the best of British Bioscience to the general public. The Great British Bioscience Festival was the culmination of a year-long programme of activities to mark the 20th anniversary of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), enabling members of the public to explore the fascinating world of biology through interactive science exhibits with real scientists. The Roslin Institute exhibit ‘Flu Fighters’ was developed alongside colleagues from The Pirbright Institute and focused on the many ways in which our researchers are fighting influenza, a major global threat to both human and animal health. It showcases current research including creating flu-resistant poultry, novel approaches to vaccines and diagnostic tests and host/virus genetics. Visitors to the exhibit had the opportunity to get hands-on and run a diagnostic test on a (very realistic model!) chicken to discover whether it was infected with flu, create their own flu virus strain and discover more about the virus, including its huge range of host species and details of the virus life cycle. The exhibit also demonstrated how flu transmits from animals to humans and highlighted the challenges of preventing large-scale outbreaks. The Great British Bioscience Festival, a partnership between the BBSRC and LND Science Festival, was a huge success, attracting over 6,700 visitors across three days. On the Flu Fighters stand over 1,000 diagnostic tests were performed, 750 flu logo bugs and hundreds of Flu Fighters stickers were given away and there were countless conversations with visitors of all ages about flu research at The Roslin Institute. Nicola Stock, Public Engagement Officer at The Roslin Institute, said “The Great British Bioscience Festival was a great opportunity for the public to meet scientists, learn about the amazing research happening around the UK and find out about the impact that it could have 22 on their life. We were really impressed with the interest and enthusiasm of the visitors, many of whom came back for a second visit as there was so much to see.” Flu Fighters will be appearing at a range of events in 2015, including ‘Discover Science’ at the National Museum of Scotland, part of the Edinburgh International Science Festival, from 14-18 April. –Work Science Insights his July The Roslin Institute hosted T ‘Science Insights’ a brand new work experience programme for High School students interested in a career in biological and biomedical science. Created in collaboration with colleagues at the Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine (IGMM) and the University of Edinburgh’s Widening Participation team, Science Insights provided sixteen S5 students from across the region with unique access to researchers and facilities at The Roslin Institute and IGMM. The students, who gave up a week of their summer holiday to attend the programme, had a packed timetable for the week which included four lab placements with IGMM and Roslin scientists, tours of facilities including Dryden Farm and IGMM’s Bioimaging Suite and talks on current research, scientific ethics and careers in science. The two days at The Roslin Institute involved over twenty PhD students and members of staff, who kindly Experience with a Difference gave up their time to inspire these potential future scientists. Feedback from the programme was excellent, with students reporting that they found the week useful and inspiring and many of them suggesting that the programme should have been two weeks long! Science Insights will be back again in 2015 and more information about the programme is available at www. scienceinsights.ed.ac.uk Pip wins Royal College of Pathology oslin Institute Career Track Fellow, Dr Pip Beard, has been awarded the Royal College of Pathologists’ Specialty Research Medal for 2014 for her paper entitled “TRAF2 Facilitates Vaccinia Virus Replication by Promoting Rapid Virus Entry”. The work was carried out in Pip’s laboratory, in particular by postdoctoral scientist Ismar Haga. It describes the role of the cellular protein TRAF2 in allowing Vaccinia virus to enter a cell. Ismar and Pip showed that when TRAF2 was removed or suppressed the virus was unable to enter efficiently. The crucial experiment in the work involved visualising individual fluorescently labelled viruses using high powered microscopes in The Roslin Institute’s bioimaging suite. The Royal College of Pathologists’ Specialty Research Medals are awarded annually for outstanding research work undertaken by pathologists or scientists in training. Pip will be traveling to London to receive the medal in March 2015. 23 Award R Public Engagement and Science Communication Roundup By Nicola Stock (Public Engagement Officer) 2 014 has been a busy year for public engagement and science communication at The Roslin Institute, with well over eighty different activities happening through the year. These ranged from participation in external events such as the Royal Highland Show and the Edinburgh and Midlothian Science festivals, public lectures and lab placements, to work with schools both on and off campus, press articles and appearances on television and radio. This year has seen The Roslin Institute working with some new partners here in Edinburgh, including closer work with the National Museum of Scotland and a new relationship with the Edinburgh branch of the British Science Association (BSA). The Institute contributed to three of the National Museum of Scotland’s popular ‘Museum Lates’ events in 2014 and we were invited to launch the BSA’s new ‘SciScreen’ programme of film screenings with accompanying scientific talks and discussion. We also had our first experience of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, with a show entitled “We’d Eat GM Meat – Would You?” as part of the Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas, performed in a yurt on St Andrew’s Square! The Institute’s work with schools continues to grow and 2014 has seen eleven institute visits by groups from high schools across the region. Staff and students have also gone out to schools, participating in eighteen science and Coaching for Success Pip Beard ix Roslin Institute female scientists at professional goals. S various stages of their career were recently sI especially valued the time to initially reflect on sponsored to participate in the ‘Coaching for strengths and weaknesses, and later to reflect careers events, several as part of the STEM Ambassadors scheme. In addition to our new ‘Science Insights’ work placement scheme, Institute staff and students also hosted four high school students on Nuffield Research Placements for 4-6 weeks during the summer, which culminated in a celebration event at the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh. None of this would be possible without the time and hard work of our staff and student volunteers, so a huge thank you goes out to everyone who has been involved this year. Look out for more exciting public engagement events in 2015! By Success’ programme run by Equate Scotland. Professional career coaching is a process that helps coachees understand more about their work role and the issues they need to address to realise their potential and ultimately increase their job satisfaction. A coach can help you learn more about yourself and your abilities, and help you formulate your own solutions to problems - the coach will not tell you what to do, but will help you think through the options. Equate’s Coaching for Success programme is specifically aimed at SET (Science, Engineering and Technology) women who would like to progress in their career, including those who are looking to return to work after a career break. The programme at The Roslin Institute consisted of five hour long meetings with the coach, plus email and phone contact between meetings. Coaches helped participants set career goals, develop managerial skills, build confidence, and enrich professional relationships. Participant’s comments: sI found the experience to be exceptionally valuable and positive, feeding into aspects of both my work and home life. sHaving recently returned to a research role after a break due to family responsibilities, coaching helped to build my confidence, and gave me the opportunity to evaluate my priorities and longer term personal and on the impact of implementing the new tools and strategies. sI particularly appreciated being able to talk through the issues facing me with someone external who has an independent perspective. sI found coaching to be an amazingly powerful technique for highlighting my strengths, and identifying my priorities and goals sThe coaching sessions allowed me to distinguish between unnecessary pressure that I was putting on myself from real pressures that needed to be resolved sI was able to focus and prioritise my tasks better and reduced the amount of worry and stress over career progression sI would recommend professional coaching to anyone facing challenges or change in their career – it provides focus and self-assurance Established in 2006, Equate Scotland is Scotland’s expert in gender equality in Science, Engineering and Technology (SET). Their Coaching for Success programme was instigated in response to a considerable body of evidence which shows that women can encounter structural barriers to their progression in the SET professions - the “glass ceiling”. There is also evidence which points to the ‘sticky floors’ that can prevent women from making the most of their skills, knowledge and abilities. For example: Many more women train in SET subjects than move into the SET workforce. In Scotland, 27% of women graduates in SET work in the sector 24 they qualified in compared with 52% of male graduates. There is an under-representation of women in the highest academic ranks and in decisionmaking positions. For the past 20 years the bioscience undergraduate population in Scotland has been predominantly female (>50%), however the proportion of female senior lecturers in 2008-2009 was 30% and for female professors just 15%. In other words there are internal barriers which can hold women back in both SET industry and academia. In Scotland, the loss of female scientists (the so called “leaky pipeline”) results in a loss of potential income to the Scottish economy estimated at as much as £170 million per annum. Any Roslin Institute scientist who is interested in learning more about the coaching experience and what it involves should contact Pip Beard. For information about future Coaching for Success programmes contact Easter Bush HR (ebcamhr@exseed.ed.ac.uk). Pip Career Development Committee: “Awards Season!” T he Roslin Institute Career development Committee has been working towards submitting an Athena SWAN silver award over the last 3 years. Athena SWAN is a UK government-backed charter for women in science aimed at advancing the representation of women in science, technology, engineering, medicine and maths (STEMM) http://www. athenaswan.org.uk/content/athena-swan. In the application submitted in April we had to present data, for example on the proportion of women at different levels at the Institute, and describe actions that we have taken to support career development that will encourage women to progress their careers. These include our Grant Writing Course, Mentoring Scheme for postdocs, Fellowship Support Group and grants for childcare costs for parents attending conferences. The full application can be read at http://www.roslin. ed.ac.uk/about-roslin/athena-swan/ We were delighted to be successful in our application and Helen Sang (research leader at The Roslin Institute) and Cat Eastwood (HR Manager) went to the Athena SWAN awards event hosted by Cambridge University in November. Cambridge University received a silver award (organisation award), based on a big commitment from the university to make changes to systems, for example promotions and appointments, to ensure that they are fair, transparent and recognise all academic activities, including research, teaching and community contributions e.g. public engagement. They have produced an interesting book about perceptions of “The meaning of success” by consulting female staff – this book is online http://issuu.com/uni_ cambridge/docs/the_meaning_of_success_ final_revise. The Athena SWAN awards require major commitment to change that must be sustained: 83 organisations/departments applied in April, of which 69% were successful with 63 receiving bronze awards and 20 silver, so it is a significant achievement for The Roslin Institute to reach the silver award standard. We were interested in seeing how our actions are viewed in a wider context and in developing our activities towards applying for an Athena SWAN gold award. We applied for a Workingmums.co.uk Top Employer Award (http://www.workingmums.co.uk/ topemployerawards/), which recognise employers of all kinds who are progressive in their flexible working practices and proactive in seeking to retain talented staff, particularly working parents who want to combine successful careers with being a parent. 27 organisations were shortlisted in a range of categories: The Roslin Institute was shortlisted in the Family Support category alongside BAE Systems, Danone Nutricia Early Life Nutrition and the eventual category winners, Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Helen and Cat represented the Institute at the awards event. We were very impressed by the commitment of a range of companies and organisations, large and small, to providing flexible working where possible to employees and seeing real benefits in employee satisfaction and productivity as a consequence. One category that was won by the London School of Economics was the “Best for Dads” employer – any suggestions of additional support for dads that we could put in place or suggest that the University implement? We also nominated The Roslin Institute for a WISE Award (Women in Science and Engineering (http://www.wisecampaign.org. uk/ ) in the “Employer Award” category, which recognises an employer who can demonstrate an increase in the retention and progression of women in scientific, technology, engineering or mathematical roles as a result of actions they have taken to enable women to achieve their potential. Professor Jean Manson, Head of the Institute’s Neurobiology Division was also shortlisted for a WISE Lifetime Achievement Award. 25 This award celebrates the achievements of a woman who has had a truly outstanding career in science, technology, engineering or mathematics and has inspired and supported other women to follow in her footsteps. Jean and Helen Sang attended the WISE Awards event in London, a formal dinner hosted by Princess Anne, requiring the wearing of “cocktail” dresses and corsages to identify us as short-listed nominees. The event was very interesting, with some very impressive women nominated in different categories, including young engineering apprentices, dealing with being very much in the minority in their roles and visiting schools to encourage other girls to consider engineering as a career. It is very clear that major employers are making big changes to their recruitment and working practices as they recognise that they need to increase the reach of their recruitment and retention to be able to have the skilled employees they need. Several commented on additional benefits to all employees and to company performance from the introduction of flexible working, for example. The highlight of the evening (for The Roslin Institute) was the award of a Highly Commended WISE Lifetime Achievement Award to Jean Manson. We learnt a lot from these events and are always looking for suggestions for new initiatives that we can develop, either within The Roslin Institute or discuss at a College or University level – so please get in touch with catherine.eastwood@roslin.ed.ac.uk or helen. sang@roslin.ed.ac.uk Promotion success T he Roslin Institute is delighted to announce that three of its Career Track Fellow, Dr Gerry McLachlan, Dr Ross Houston and Dr Barry McColl have all recently progressed to be fully fledged Group Leaders at The Roslin Institute. Professor Bruce Whitelaw, Head of the Developmental Biology Division at The Roslin Institute, oversees Career Track Fellow development, the scheme by which they can achieve group leader status. He said of the three recent promotions, “The Roslin Institute is committed to recruiting the most talented researchers then providing them with the resources, training and mentoring that will underpin their research in its early stages of independence. “Ross, Barry and Gerry are all talented researchers who have all made excellent use of what is available to them at The Roslin Institute. Each has developed excellent, competitive programmes of research on which they will now continue to build their careers.” G erry’s focus is the development of lung gene transfer technology. Through a range of animal models he aims to understand the lung response to physical injury and evaluate new respiratory disease treatments. For more about his research go to http://www. roslin.ed.ac.uk/gerry-mclachlan/. R oss Houston undertakes research that aims to advance the understanding of host genetic regulation of disease resistance in aquacultured species through the application of genomics. More at http://www.roslin.ed.ac. uk/ross-houston/. B arry McColl (centre) has developed a group that is focussing on the neuroimmune interactions in health and disease. Much of his research centres on the role of the inflammatory response following a stroke. For more, visit Barry’s web pages at http://www. roslin.ed.ac.uk/barry-mccoll/. 26 Cake Bake K aren Bryson and Edith Paxton were two of the Roslin Baking Army that raised an impressive £260 at a bake sale in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. Well done to all the bakers and also to all those with a sweet tooth who briefly put aside will power and succumbed to the temptation of brownies, cupcakes, flapjacks and much more. Cycle to Work Day R esearch scientist Marie O’Shea got The Roslin Institute on its bike in September as part of National Cycle to Work Day. Since moving to its new building in 2011, The Roslin Institute has been taking part in schemes run by the University of Edinburgh to get more of its staff and students cycling to work. Covered cycle storage facilities, showers and dedicated cycle paths have all improved the lot of the Institute’s cyclists. However, Marie and a small group of like-minded colleagues are beginning to find new ways of encouraging others to join them as they get to work in a healthy and sustainable way. One such activity was to get involved with the National Cycle To Work Day 2014. Marie was joined by 45 other cyclists who, between them, covered 605.8 miles (roughly the distance from Edinburgh to Land’s End). To encourage everyone to get involved the Institute provided participants with a free pastry and hot drink in exchange for the hard-burned calories! Marie congratulated all those who had taken to two wheels for the day saying, “The conditions were perfect for cycling and hopefully more people will have been inspired to do it on a daily basis! It was great to see the bike sheds so full. The standard has been set for next year!” Marathon Man! D r Ross Houston, Group Leader at The Roslin Institute, ditched his labcoat in favour of running shoes as he donned the Scotland Team’s running strip and represented his country in the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Not only is Ross an outstanding geneticist but he also showed himself to be the 16th fastest man in the Commonwealth over a distance of 26 miles when he took part in the Commonwealth Games marathon. Ross’ time was an impressive 2 hours 18 minutes and 42 seconds. Everyone at The Roslin Institute was immensely proud of Ross’ achievement and it was almost as much of a talking point as the uniform he wore at the opening and closing ceremonies. Go Ross! Next stop Rio de Janeiro!! 27 BBSRC Postdoc group D r Prerna Vohra (right), a postdoctoral research fellow in Professor Mark Stevens’ Group at The Roslin Institute has recently been selected as a BBSRC postdoc representative on the BBSRC Bioscience Skills and Careers (BSC) Strategy Panel Postdoc Advisory Group. Prerna recently attended a panel meeting at which one of the main objectives was to find ways to build the BBSRC postdoc community. She said, “It was the first time postdocs have been involved in skills and careers discussions with the BBSRC, which is a huge opportunity for us. To involve postdocs from all over the country, a BBSRC Postdocs LinkedIn group has been formed where we can discuss issues and ideas that will go onto the agenda for the next meeting. It is also a platform for sharing knowledge and materials and supporting one another. “We, the postdoc representatives on the panel, are also discussing ideas such as the organisation of symposia for BBSRC funded postdocs to showcase the variety of research funded by the BBSRC and provide opportunities for networking and building collaborations. I would encourage all postdocs to join the LinkedIn group.” If you would like to know more or get involved, please contact Prerna on Prerna.Vohra@ roslin.ed.ac.uk or the BBSRC on postdoc. researchers@bbsrc.ac.uk and join the discussion on the BBSRC Postdocs LinkedIn group. Roslin Imaging’s Got Talent T he University of Edinburgh has a wide variety of outstanding, state-of-the-art imaging facilities across its campuses. These facilities provide excellent resources for PhD students at the University and their outputs were celebrated at the recent “Imaging’s Got Talent” competition organised by Edinburgh Imaging and sponsored by Prof Joanna Wardlaw, from Neuroimaging Sciences. The winners, including two from The Roslin Institute, were: Rebecca Saleeb, IB3 (Best Presentation Style), Claire Davies, The Roslin Institute (Best Scientific Content) Anuj Sehgal, The Roslin Institute (Most entertaining Presentation) The Edinburgh Imaging event, which attracted over 70 staff and students, was an excellent opportunity for PhD students to mix with each other. Anuj Sehgal, a PhD student in Dr Neil Mabott’s group at The Roslin Institute, said of the competition, “Imaging’s Got Talent was a very enjoyable meeting! The standards of presentation were extremely high and impressive; it is amazing how much information people can get across in 3 minutes and also manage to make it fun! I felt fairly confident when I went to the meeting, but upon watching some of the presentations before mine, I got extremely nervous. In the end my three minute presentation (‘Surveillance of CCTVs in the gut’) was made easier because my nerves made me speak faster.” Claire Davies, a PhD student in Dr Barry McColl’s group, won the prize for Best Scientific Content (above). She presented 28 a time course of confocal images depicting the inflammatory response in the brain and discussed future plans to investigate cellular changes and visualise cell interactions. She hopes that understanding the mechanisms that underlie inflammation and resolution will eventually lead to the development of novel therapeutics that could promote efficient resolution in the brain and would have an impact on numerous neurological conditions that have an inflammatory aspect. After the presentations the participants, including students, post-docs, and senior researchers from different universities across Edinburgh, had the opportunity to mix over pizza and refreshments. Claire noted that The Roslin Institute was represented well at ‘Imaging’s Got Talent’. She was keen to thank Bob Fleming, manager of The Roslin Institute’s Bioimaging Facility, for all the help he has provided to Institute scientists when their projects involved imaging. It is a view shared by the many who have benefited from the support offered by Bob and his team and The Roslin Reporter would like to congratulate Anuj and Claire for being excellent ambassadors for Roslin Bioimaging. For more about Edinburgh Imaging please visit its website www.ed.ac.uk/edinburghimaging and watch http://www.youtube.com/ watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CDXT2QhgS8. Thomas Christopher Carter 27th December 1917 - 18th August 2014 T he Roslin Institute was saddened to hear of the death of Thomas Christopher (Toby) Carter who was director of the Poultry Research Centre, one of the early forms of The Roslin Institute, in the 1960s. Toby’s scientific career was initiated when he obtained a first class Honours BA in Natural Science at Cambridge University, followed by an MA in the same discipline. While at Cambridge Toby was involved, too, under John Cockcroft, in the development of what later became known as Radar. When the Second World War broke out, Toby’s Natural Science background, his flying experience and his work on radar meant that he was a natural choice when it came to selecting people to set up radar stations throughout Britain. Toby was awarded an OBE Mil for a variety of heroics during action in Asia and was promoted to Wing Commander. Toby moved to Cambridge after the war where he embarked on a career in Animal Genetics, which took him to Edinburgh, in 1948, where he started to work on his first doctorate, a DSc in Natural Sciences, and then, a couple of years later, his second one, a PhD in Animal Genetics. Toby worked in the MRC group of the Institute of Animal Genetics, at King’s Building, under Conrad Hal Waddington. In 1954 Toby moved to Harwell with the MRC. There he stayed until 1958, as Head of the Genetics Section, working in the Animal Genetics Division of the Medical Research Council. A short break from Academia followed. Toby was appointed scientific director of all Western Chickens, based in Devizes, Wiltshire. When Western Chickens merged with Buxton Chickens, Toby returned to Edinburgh, where he became scientific director of Danny Marshall’s Chunky Chicks. In 1961 Toby was lured away from the business world and made Director of the PRC (Poultry Research Centre), part of the Agricultural Research Council. Toby retired from the PRC based in Roslin, at the Roslin Institute at the age of 60, in 1978. During the course of his work at the PRC he was awarded an FRSE from the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Toby died on 18th August. He is survived by his wife Jacquie and daughters Susan, Lucy and Rosemary. 29 Connecting Science between Research Institutes within the University D oug Vernimmen (Roslin) and Sari Pennings (QMRI) launched the idea to bridge the 4 campus together (Roslin, IGMM, SCRM/QMRI and KB) and to meet other people within the UoE working on this topic. With this connection, Edinburgh may be becoming the most powerful University in the UK for this topic. So lets do what we can to make it stronger! This meeting will take place 3 times a year (October, January and May) and will be a good opportunity for students and postdocs to present their work in front of a specialised audience. Moreover, it would give the opportunity to get feedback at the start/end of their project and also good practice for conference, viva exams, grant/fellowship application, etc... We also hope that these meetings will help to foster programme grants, PhD programmes between labs and institutes in Edinburgh. 30 Roslin Supplier Fair By Colin Millar A s any of our longer term residents will know, at our old site we used to now and again allow a sole supplier to loiter behind a table in the Reception area for a day. This was purportedly a “Supplier Exhibition” where the rep would desperately try to raise interest from sparse passing traffic in the various products they had on offer. There were varying degrees of success over the years and in comparison to similar events round the Edinburgh area ours were definitely low key. However, once the dust sheets were cleared from our wonderful new building in 2011, it was immediately apparent that we had the facilities to take things to a whole new level. Initial sage advice from those in the know (the editor included) was that we could perhaps comfortably fit in 12-15 suppliers on the day. Armed with a copy of the ground floor plan, (and as our fledgling Summer Supplier Fair became our Autumn Supplier fair and then finally our Inaugural Xmas Supplier Fair) we stretched the seams of that hypothesis somewhat. Eventually on the day we had 30 Suppliers in the building and many lessons learned for the future, mainly don’t do talks at the same time as a Supplier Fair. We repeated the event with similar numbers in 2012 & 2013 with its reputation growing as one of the key supplier events in the Calendar. It’s new Halloween slot as well as tying in with other local events also allowed a bit of a fun theme. However, we were also conscious that we were regularly turning away suppliers due to space restrictions and there was the danger of the event getting a bit stale. So for 2014 we decided to stretch the seams of the building a bit more by opening up the “Lower Ground Atrium” (OK, the basement). This allowed us to book in almost 50 supplier stands but did add somewhat to the logistics involved in organising the event. Arrangements were further challenged by a total of 18 other events, leaving lunches or meetings going on in the building around the time 31 of the event. We also this year decided to extend a welcome across campus and to other campuses by putting on a shuttle bus service from Little France, KB and the IGMM. It was good to see some of our wider UoE colleagues taking the opportunity to visit the event and this was well noted by the suppliers. All of which added to what was a successful event on the day and hopefully an opportunity for all involved to network and catch up on the latest developments in the lab market. Coolest person on the day was Kevin from Dundee Cell Products who was already calmly having his first meeting at 9.30 while all around chaos gradually subsided for the 10.00 start. We have to extend thanks to all who got involved on the day, the servitors team for helping to shift every stick of furniture on the ground floor and then putting it back how it was before, our facilities team for pitching in with extension leads and assistance at no notice, Dryden for once again loan of extra tables, our comms team for bouncing e-mail far and wide, Ray at Reception for helping to shepherd lost suppliers, and of course everyone else in the building who isn’t lab based for putting up with it all. As usual various fun activities and prize draws enjoyed by all on the day. Our Star prize of an iPad was won by one of the Senior Technicians at SBS who had “enjoyed” the one glitch we had in our bus scheduling which involved a tour of Edinburgh via IGMM into the bargain. Her comments on the card though summed up the spirit of the event, “Only visited the stands related to my work”. The Supplier Fair will take place again next year on 29th October so if you would like to know more, please contact the Institute’s procurement office via roslin.stores@roslin. ed.ac.uk. 2015 Genetics Society Spring Meeting Breeding for Bacon, Beer and Biofuels 16 –17 April 2015. The Roslin Institute, Edinburgh The growing world population demands a sustainable intensification of agricultural production across the globe. At the same time there is competition for land use and we have to mitigate both the causes and consequences of climate change. This poses a range of challenges for plant and animal breeders who have to select the genotypes that are best suited to future production circumstances which are uncertain. At the same time, technological and methodological advances provide breeders with a range of tools to accelerate genetic progress and enable ‘precision breeding’. This meeting will bring together scientists from different disciplines related to artificial selection and highlight different aspects on how genetics continues to be a cornerstone of food production. The topics of the meeting will be across plant and animal species and range from domestication of new species for agriculture to genomic selection, genetic modification and novel phenotyping approaches. for registration, visit www.genetics.org.uk 32 Speakers Li-Hua Zhu, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Thomas Lubberstedt, Iowa State University Jennie Pryce, La Trobe University Helen Sang, The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh Chris-Carolin Schön, Technische Universität München Alison Bentley, The John Bingham Laboratory Graham Moore, John Innes Centre Catherine Howarth, University of Aberystwyth John Hickey, The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh Anna Sonesson, Nofima Scientific Organisers Helen Sang, Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh Alan Archibald, Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh Ian Mackay, NIAB DJ de Koning, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Coming and Going A s always The Roslin Institute has seen a large number of new starts in recent months. Of particular note on that score is the new cohort of PhD students, which has been settling in and getting to grips with lab life. We at the Roslin Reporter wish them well for their studies and look forward to hearing about their awards, collaborations and massive scientific achievements over the coming years. O f-course, as we welcome new faces we also bid fond farewells to the slightly better known. One such face is that of Lesley Penny who has been the named vet at The Roslin Institute since 1999. Lesley has been a key member of many research teams and has been really important in providing robust advice and animal care throughout her tenure at the Institute. At a very well attended gathering in July, Institute Director, David Hume, thanked Lesley for her dedication to her job and for being such a great person to work with. Lesley has moved on to take the role of Director of Veterinary Services at the University of Edinburgh and we wish her well and look forward to continued interactions with her in that role. T he other big loss to The Roslin Institute team is Sheelagh Strachan who retires this year. Sheelagh joined the Institute in 1989 (when it was still part of the Agricultural and Food Research Council) and has since worked at the farm, in finance and latterly as a Departmental Administrator for the Division of Developmental Biology. Over the years she has become an asset to the Division and the wider Institute and Bruce Whitelaw, Head of the Division said, “It has been a real pleasure working with Sheelagh over the years. From being a welcoming face for new starts to resolving issues for the older faces in the Division, Sheelagh will be fondly remembered by all in Developmental Biology. We wish her a wonderful retirement.” Sheelagh is looking forward to retirement and spending more time with family. It’s well deserved 33 Tricia follows her man to pastures new O ur third big loss is the departure of Tricia Hart. Tricia has been with Roslin and its predecessors since 2001. First as post doc in NPU and latterly as the Scientific Administrator. She will be hard act to follow, both as science administrator and pantomime villain. Bruce Whitelaw, Head of Division siad “Tricia’s energy and diplomacy has been felt by most people in the Institute. Her willingness to prompt, ability to see things before they I n her own words “my wanderlust has got the better of me so I am lacing up my seriously cool new DMs and disappearing to Sheffield”. Hopefully Tricia will not disappear and find the opportunity to visit Roslin in the future. 2014 Pantomime Y es, it’s that time of year again! The Roslin Institute Building Players were back in full costume to sing and giggle their way through the annual pantomime, which this year was “The Wizard of rOzlin”. Complete with flying monkeys and super-sized Toto the cast were on fine form. Dorothy, the tin man, the scarecrow and the cowardly lion all managed to get themselves through a series of challenging seminars and lab incidents before finally finding the way to secure their dreams and kill the wicked witch, thus overcoming her constant rejection of their funding applications. With SRUC’s Jos Houdijk in fabulous drag and Tricia Hart overacting for the last time before she leaves The Roslin Institute for Sheffield’s seven hills the most was made of Aileen, Lucy’s and Alex’s script. Much fun was had by all as always. For now the makeup is back in the box and the costumes returned to their covers. Let’s see what drama 2015 brings! 34 happen and determination to get things done have been a real asset to Roslin. I am sure everyone but especially the SMG wish her all the very best in her future position.” Recent Roslin Institute Publications Aghamaleky Sarvestany, A., Hunter, G., Tavendale, A., Lamont, D.J., Llavero Hurtado, M., Graham, L.C., Wishart, T.M. and Gillingwater, T.H. (2014) Label-Free Quantitative Proteomic Profiling Identifies Disruption of Ubiquitin Homeostasis As a Key Driver of Schwann Cell Defects in Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Journal of Proteome Research E-pub 26 August, DOI: 10.1021/pr500492j. Angers, R., Christiansen, J., Nalls, A.V., Kang, H.E., Hunter, N., Hoover, E., Mathiason, C.K., Sheetz, M. and Telling, G.C. (2014) Structural effects of PrP polymorphisms on intra- and interspecies prion transmission. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 111(30), 11169-11174, DOI: 10.1073/ pnas.1404739111. Arner, E., Forrest, A.R.R., Ehrlund, A., Mejhert, N., Itoh, M., Kawaji, H., Lassmann, T., Laurencikiene, J., Rydén, M., Arner, P. and The Fantom Consortium (2014) Ceruloplasmin Is a Novel Adipokine Which Is Overexpressed in Adipose Tissue of Obese Subjects and in ObesityAssociated Cancer Cells. PLoS One 9(3), e80274, DOI: 10.1371/journal. pone.0080274. Arnold, M.F.F., Caro-Hernandez, P., Tan, K., Runti, G., Wehmeier, S., Scocchi, M., Doerrler, W.T., Walker, G.C. and Ferguson, G.P. (2014) Enteric YaiW is a surface-exposed outer membrane lipoprotein that affects sensitivity to an antimicrobial peptide. Journal of Bacteriology 196(2), 436444, DOI: 10.1128/jb.01179-13. Aungier, S.R., Ohmori, H., Clinton, M. and Mabbott, N.A. (2014) MicroRNA100-5p indirectly modulates the expression of Il6, Ptgs1/2 and Tlr4 mRNA in the mouse follicular dendritic cell-like cell line, FL-Y. Immunology, DOI: 10.1111/imm.12342. Balic, A., Garcia-Morales, C., Vervelde, L., Gilhooley, H., Sherman, A., Garceau, V., Gutowska, M.W., Burt, D.W., Kaiser, P., Hume, D.A. and Sang, H.M. (2014) Visualisation of chicken macrophages using transgenic reporter genes: insights into the development of the avian macrophage lineage. Development 141(16), 3255-3265, DOI: 10.1242/ dev.105593. Banks, G., Heise, I., Starbuck, B., Osborne, T., Wisby, L., Potter, P., Jackson, I.J., Foster, R.G., Peirson, S.N. and Nolan, P.M. (2014) Genetic background influences age-related decline in visual and nonvisual retinal responses, circadian rhythms, and sleep. Neurobiology of Aging E-pub 2 August, DOI: 10.1016/j. neurobiolaging.2014.07.040. Barnett, T.P., Hawkes, C.S. and Dixon, P.M. (2014) Tracheal Resection and Anastomosis After Traumatic Tracheal Stenosis in a Horse. Veterinary Surgery E-pub 10 September, DOI: 10.1111/j.1532950X.2014.12270.x. Barron, R. (2014) Prion disease zoonosis: assessing risk associated with new and emerging prion agents. CAB Reviews 9(023), DOI: 10.1079/ pavsnnr20149023. Bartley, K., Deane, D., Percival, A., Dry, I.R., Grant, D.M., Inglis, N.F., McLean, K., Manson, E.D.T., Imrie, L.H.J., Haig, D.M., Lankester, F. and Russell, G.C. (2014) Identification of immuno-reactive capsid proteins of malignant catarrhal fever viruses. Veterinary Microbiology 173(1-2), 17-26, DOI: 10.1016/j. vetmic.2014.07.004. Beard, P.M., Griffiths, S.J., Gonzalez, O., Haga, I.R., Pechenick Jowers, T., Reynolds, D.K., Wildenhain, J., Tekotte, H., Auer, M., Tyers, M., Ghazal, P., Zimmer, R. and Haas, J. (2014) A Loss of Function Analysis of Host Factors Influencing Vaccinia virus Replication by RNA Interference. PLoS One 9(6), e98431, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0098431. Beckham, K.S., Connolly, J.P., Ritchie, J.M., Wang, D., Gawthorne, J.A., Tahoun, A., Gally, D.L., Burgess, K., Burchmore, R.J., Smith, B.O., Beatson, S.A., Byron, O., Wolfe, A.J., Douce, G.R. and Roe, A.J. (2014) The metabolic enzyme AdhE controls the virulence of Escherichia coli O157:H7. Mol Microbiol 93(1), 199-211, DOI: 10.1111/mmi.12651. 35 Benato, L., Hastie, P., O’Shaughnessy, P., Murray, J.A. and Meredith, A. (2014) Effects of probiotic Enterococcus faecium and Saccharomyces cerevisiae on the faecal microflora of pet rabbits. Journal of Small Animal Practice 55(9), 442-446, DOI: 10.1111/ jsap.12242. Bessell, P.R., Auty, H.K., Searle, K.R., Handel, I.G., Purse, B.V. and Bronsvoort, M. (2014) Impact of temperature, feeding preference and vaccination on Schmallenberg virus transmission in Scotland. Scientific Reports 4(Article 5746), DOI: 10.1038/srep05746. Bettridge, J.M., Lynch, S.E., Brena, M.C., Melese, K., Dessie, T., Terfa, Z.G., Desta, T.T., Rushton, S., Hanotte, O., Kaiser, P., Wigley, P. and Christley, R.M. (2014) Infectioninteractions in Ethiopian village chickens. Preventive Veterinary Medicine E-pub 12 July, DOI: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2014.07.002. Bishop, S.C. and Woolliams, J.A. (2014) Genomics and disease resistance studies in livestock. Livestock Science 166(Sp. Iss. 1), 190-198, DOI: 10.1016/j. livsci.2014.04.034. Björkegren, J.L.M., Hägg, S., Talukdar, H.A., Foroughi Asl, H., Jain, R.K., Cedergren, C., Shang, M.-M., Rossignoli, A., Takolander, R., Melander, O., Hamsten, A., Michoel, T. and Skogsberg, J. (2014) Plasma Cholesterol-Induced Lesion Networks Activated before Regression of Early, Mature, and Advanced Atherosclerosis. PLoS Genetics 10(2), e1004201, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1004201. Bravo, Y., Teriete, P., Dhanya, R.P., Dahl, R., Lee, P.S., Kiffer-Moreira, T., Ganji, S.R., Sergienko, E., Smith, L.H., Farquharson, C., Millán, J.L. and Cosford, N.D.P. (2014) Design, synthesis and evaluation of benzoisothiazolones as selective inhibitors of PHOSPHO1. Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters 24(17), 4308-4311, DOI: 10.1016/j. bmcl.2014.07.013. Brazil, T.J., Dixon, P.M., Haslett, C., Murray, J. and McGorum, B.C. (2014) Constitutive apoptosis in equine peripheral blood neutrophils in vitro. Veterinary Journal E-pub 29 August, DOI: 10.1016/j.tvjl.2014.08.029. Cytokine expression in the placenta of pregnant cattle after inoculation with Neospora caninum. Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology 161(1-2), 77-89, DOI: 10.1016/j. vetimm.2014.07.004 Brown, K.L. and Mabbott, N.A. (2014) Evidence of subclinical prion disease in aged mice following exposure to bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Journal of General Virology 95(1), 231-243, DOI: 10.1099/vir.0.058958-0 Carriero, A., Bruse, J.L., Oldknow, K.J., Millan, J.L., Farquharson, C. and Shefelbine, S.J. (2014) Reference point indentation is not indicative of whole mouse bone measures of stress intensity fracture toughness. Bone 69C, 174-179, DOI: 10.1016/j. bone.2014.09.020. Brown, T.I., Collie, D.S., Shaw, D.J., Rzechorzek, N.M. and Sallenave, J.M. (2014) Sheep lung segmental delivery strategy demonstrates adenovirus priming of local lung responses to bacterial LPS and the role of elafin as a response modulator. PLoS One 9(9), e107590, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0107590. Bryson, K.J., Nash, A.A. and Norval, M. (2014) Does vitamin D protect against respiratory viral infections? Epidemiology and Infection 142(9), 1789-1801, DOI: 10.1017/ S0950268814000193. Burkard, C., Bloyet, L.M., Wicht, O., Van Kuppeveld, F.J., Rottier, P.J.M., De Haan, C.A.M. and Bosch, B.J. (2014) Dissecting virus entry: Replication-independent analysis of virus binding, internalization, and penetration using minimal complementation of β-galactosidase. PLoS One 9(7), e101762, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0101762 . Callaby, R., Hanotte, O., Conradie van Wyk, I., Kiara, H., Toye, P., Mbole-Kariuki, M.N., Jennings, A., Thumbi, S.M., Coetzer, J.A.W., Bronsvoort, M., Knott, S.A., Woolhouse, M. and Kruuk, L. (2014) Variation and covariation in strongyle infection in East African shorthorn zebu calves. Parasitology FirstView, DOI: 10.1017/s0031182014001498. Calus, M.P.L., Bouwman, A.C., Hickey, J.M., Veerkamp, R.F. and Mulder, H.A. (2014) Evaluation of measures of correctness of genotype imputation in the context of genomic prediction: a review of livestock applications. Animal, Article in Press . Cantón, G.J., Katzer, F., Maley, S.W., Bartley, P.M., Benavides-Silván, J., Palarea-Albaladejo, J., Pang, Y., Smith, S.H., Rocchi, M., Buxton, D., Innes, E.A. and Chianini, F. (2014) Christoforou, A., Espeseth, T., Davies, G., Fernandes, C.P., Giddaluru, S., Mattheisen, M., Tenesa, A., Harris, S.E., Liewald, D.C., Payton, A., Ollier, W., Horan, M., Pendleton, N., Haggarty, P., Djurovic, S., Herms, S., Hoffman, P., Cichon, S., Starr, J.M., Lundervold, A., Reinvang, I., Steen, V.M., Deary, I.J. and Le Hellard, S. (2014) GWAS-based pathway analysis differentiates between fluid and crystallized intelligence. Genes, Brain, and Behavior 13(7), 663-674, DOI: 10.1111/gbb.12152. Corbishley, A., Ahmad, N.I., Hughes, K., Hutchings, M.R., McAteer, S.P., Connelley, T.K., Brown, H., Gally, D.L. and McNeilly, T.N. (2014) Strain dependent cellular immune responses in cattle following Escherichia coli O157:H7 colonisation. Infection and Immunity E-pub 29 September, DOI: 10.1128/iai.02462-14. Corpas, M., Jimenez, R.C., BongcamRudloff, E., Budd, A., Brazas, M.D., Fernandes, P.L., Gaeta, B., van Gelder, C., Korpelainen, E., Lewitter, F., McGrath, A., MacLean, D., Palagi, P.M., Rother, K., Taylor, J., Via, A., Watson, M., Schneider, M.V. and Attwood, T.K. (2014) The GOBLET Training Portal: A Global Repository of Bioinformatics Training Materials, Courses and Trainers. Bioinformatics E-pub 4 September, DOI: 10.1093/ bioinformatics/btu601. Dastjerdi, A., Robert, C. and Watson, M. (2014) Low coverage sequencing of two Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) genomes. GigaScience 3(1), 12, DOI: 10.1186/2047-217x-3-12. Davies, J.A., Hohenstein, P., Chang, C.H. and Berry, R. (2014) A selfavoidance mechanism in patterning of the urinary collecting duct tree. BMC 36 Dev Biol 14(1), 35, DOI: 10.1186/ preaccept-2799974611240642. Davis, M.R., Andersson, R., Severin, J., de Hoon, M., Bertin, N., Baillie, J.K., Kawaji, H., Sandelin, A., Forrest, A.R.R., Summers, K.M. and Fantom Consortium (2014) Transcriptional profiling of the human fibrillin/ LTBP gene family, key regulators of mesenchymal cell functions. Molecular Genetics and Metabolism 112(2), 73-83, DOI: 10.1016/j. ymgme.2013.12.006. de Koning, D.J. and McIntyre, L. (2014) GENETICS and G3: CommunityDriven Science, Community-Driven Journals. Genetics 198(1), 1-2, DOI: 10.1534/genetics.114.169151. de Koning, D.J. and McIntyre, L.M. (2014) GENETICS and G3: Community-Driven Science, Community-Driven Journals. G3 (Bethesda) 4(9), 1567-1568, DOI: 10.1534/g3.114.013680. D’Eath, R.B., Arnott, G., Turner, S.P., Jensen, T., Lahrmann, H.P., Busch, M.E., Niemi, J.K., Lawrence, A.B. and Sandoe, P. (2014) Injurious tail biting in pigs: how can it be controlled in existing systems without tail docking? Animal 8(9), 1479-1497, DOI: 10.1017/s1751731114001359. Diggle, C.P., Moore, D.J., Mali, G., Zur Lage, P., Ait-Lounis, A., Schmidts, M., Shoemark, A., Garcia Munoz, A., Halachev, M.R., Gautier, P., Yeyati, P.L., Bonthron, D.T., Carr, I.M., Hayward, B., Markham, A.F., Hope, J.E., von Kriegsheim, A., Mitchison, H.M., Jackson, I.J., Durand, B., Reith, W., Sheridan, E., Jarman, A.P. and Mill, P. (2014) HEATR2 Plays a Conserved Role in Assembly of the Ciliary Motile Apparatus. PLoS Genetics 10(9), e1004577, DOI: 10.1371/journal. pgen.1004577. Dixon, P.M. (2014) A review of swellings of the frontal region of the equine head. Equine Veterinary Education 26(7), 365-371, DOI: 10.1111/eve.12187. Dixon, P.M., Froydenlund, T., Luiti, T., Kane-Smyth, J., Horbal, A. and Reardon, R.J. (2014) Empyema of the nasal conchal bulla as a cause of chronic unilateral nasal discharge in the horse: 10 cases (2013-2014). Equine Vet J, DOI: 10.1111/evj.12322. Dobie, R., MacRae, V.E., Huesa, C., Van’t Hof, R., Ahmed, S.F. and Farquharson, C. (2014) Direct stimulation of bone mass by increased GH signalling in osteoblasts of Socs2-/- mice. Journal of Endocrinology 223(1), 93-106, DOI: 10.1530/joe-14-0292. Ham, H.-J. and Koopmans, M.P.G. (2014) Getting More Out of Less - A Quantitative Serological Screening Tool for Simultaneous Detection of Multiple Influenza A HemagglutininTypes in Chickens. PLoS One 9(9), e108043, DOI: 10.1371/journal. pone.0108043. Donadeu, F.X. (2014) Equine induced pluripotent stem cells or how to turn skin cells into neurons: Horse tissues a la carte? Equine Vet J 46(5), 534-537, DOI: 10.1111/ evj.12300. Frowde, P.E., Gow, A.G., Burton, C.A., Powell, R., Lipscomb, V.J., House, A.K., Mellanby, R.J. and Tivers, M.S. (2014) Hepatic Hepcidin Gene Expression in Dogs with a Congenital Portosystemic Shunt. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine 28(4), 1203-1205, DOI: 10.1111/jvim.12387 . Donadeu, F.X., Fahiminiya, S., Esteves, C.L., Nadaf, J., Miedzinska, K., McNeilly, A.S., Waddington, D. and Gérard, N. (2014) Transcriptome Profiling of Granulosa and Theca Cells During Dominant Follicle Development in the Horse. Biology of Reproduction E-pub 24 September, DOI: 10.1095/ biolreprod.114.118943. Donaldson, D.S., Bradford, B.M., Artis, D. and Mabbott, N.A. (2014) Reciprocal regulation of lymphoid tissue development in the large intestine by IL-25 and IL-23. Mucosal Immunology E-pub 24 September, DOI: 10.1038/mi.2014.90. Ellis, S., Matthews, J.B., Shaw, D.J., Paterson, S., McWilliam, H.E., Inglis, N.F. and Nisbet, A.J. (2014) Ovine IgA-reactive proteins from Teladorsagia circumcincta infective larvae. International Journal for Parasitology 44(10), 743-750, DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2014.05.007. Esteves, C.L., Sharma, R., Dawson, L., Taylor, S.E., Pearson, G., Keen, J.A., McDonald, K., Aurich, C. and Donadeu, F.X. (2014) Expression of putative markers of pluripotency in equine embryonic and adult tissues. Veterinary Journal E-pub 29 August, DOI: 10.1016/j.tvjl.2014.08.026. Fevre, C., Bestebroer, J., Mebius, M.M., de Haas, C.J.C., van Strijp, J.A.G., Fitzgerald, J.R. and Haas, P.J.A. (2014) Staphylococcus aureus proteins SSL6 and SElX interact with neutrophil receptors as identified using secretome phage display. Cell Microbiology 16(11) 1646-1665, DOI: 10.1111/cmi.12313. Freidl, G.S., de Bruin, E., van Beek, J., Reimerink, J., de Wit, S., Koch, G., Vervelde, L., van den Funnell, A.P., Vernimmen, D., Lim, W.F., Mak, K.S., Wienert, B., Martyn, G.E., Artuz, C.M., Burdach, J., Quinlan, K.G., Higgs, D.R., Whitelaw, E., Pearson, R.C. and Crossley, M. (2014) Differential regulation of the alpha-globin locus by Kruppel-like factor 3 in erythroid and non-erythroid cells. BMC Molecular Biology 15(1), 8, DOI: 10.1186/1471-2199-15-8. Gerber, P.F., Gong, Q., Huang, Y.W., Wang, C., Holtkamp, D. and Opriessnig, T. (2014) Detection of antibodies against porcine epidemic diarrhea virus in serum and colostrum by indirect ELISA. Veterinary Journal E-pub 24 July, DOI: 10.1016/j. tvjl.2014.07.018. Gerber, P.F., Trampel, D.W. and Opriessnig, T. (2014) Identification and characterization of avian hepatitis E virus in 2013 outbreaks of hepatitis-splenomegaly syndrome in two United States layer operations. Avian Pathology 43(4), 357-363, DOI: 10.1080/03079457.2014.935755. Gerber, P.F., Xiao, C.T., Chen, Q., Zhang, J., Halbur, P.G. and Opriessnig, T. (2014) The spraydrying process is sufficient to inactivate infectious porcine epidemic diarrhea virus in plasma. Veterinary Microbiology E-pub 23 September, DOI: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2014.09.008. Gerondopoulos, A., Bastos, R.N., Yoshimura, S.-i., Anderson, R., Carpanini, S., Aligianis, I., Handley, M.T. and Barr, F.A. (2014) Rab18 and a Rab18 GEF complex are required for normal ER structure. Journal of Cell Biology 205(5), 707720, DOI: 10.1083/jcb.201403026. 37 Gholizadeh, M., Rahimi-Mianji, G., Nejati-Javaremi, A., De Koning, D.J. and Jonas, E. (2014) Genomewide association study to detect QTL for twinning rate in Baluchi sheep. Journal of Genetics 93(2), 489-493. Gibson, M.S., Kaiser, P. and Fife, M. (2014) The chicken IL-1 family: evolution in the context of the studied vertebrate lineage. Immunogenetics 66(7-8), 427-438, DOI: 10.1007/ s00251-014-0780-7. Glendinning, L. and Free, A. (2014) Supra-organismal interactions in the human intestine. Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology 4, DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2014.00047. Glendinning, L., Nausch, N., Free, A., Taylor, D.W. and Mutapi, F. (2014) The microbiota and helminths: sharing the same niche in the human host. Parasitology 141(10), 1255-1271, DOI: 10.1017/ s0031182014000699. Gossner, A.G. and Hopkins, J. (2014) Transcriptome analysis of CNS immediately before and after the detection of PrPSc in SSBP/1 sheep scrapie. Veterinary Microbiology 173(3-4), 201-207, DOI: 10.1016/j. vetmic.2014.07.026 . Gow, D.J., Sauter, K.A., Pridans, C., Moffat, L., Sehgal, A., Stutchfield, B.M., Raza, S., Beard, P.M., Tsai, Y.T., Bainbridge, G., Boner, P.L., Fici, G., Garcia-Tapia, D., Martin, R.A., Oliphant, T., Shelly, J.A., Tiwari, R., Wilson, T.L., Smith, L.B., Mabbott, N.A. and Hume, D.A. (2014) Characterisation of a novel Fc conjugate of Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor (CSF1). Molecular Therapy 22(9), 15801592, DOI: 10.1038/mt.2014.112. Guzman, E., Hope, J., Taylor, G., Smith, A.L., Cubillos-Zapata, C. and Charleston, B. (2014) Bovine gammadelta T Cells Are a Major Regulatory T Cell Subset. Journal of Immunology 193(1), 208-222, DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.1303398. Hajjawi, M.O., MacRae, V.E., Huesa, C., Boyde, A., Millan, J.L., Arnett, T.R. and Orriss, I.R. (2014) Mineralisation of collagen rich soft tissues and osteocyte lacunae in Enpp1 mice. Bone 69C, 139-147, DOI: 10.1016/j.bone.2014.09.016. Handley, M.T., Megarbane, A., Meynert, A.M., Brown, S., Freyer, E., Taylor, M.S., Jackson, I.J. and Aligianis, I.A. (2014) Loss of ALDH18A1 function is associated with a cellular lipid droplet phenotype suggesting a link between autosomal recessive cutis laxa type 3A and Warburg Micro syndrome. Mol Genet Genomic Med 2(4), 319-325, DOI: 10.1002/mgg3.70. Harvala, H., Smith, D., Salvatierra, K., Gunson, R., von Wissmann, B., Reynolds, A., Frew, C., MacLean, A., Hunt, A., Yirrell, D., Simmonds, P., McMenamin, J. and Templeton, K. (2014) Burden of influenza B virus infections in Scotland in 2012/13 and epidemiological investigations between 2000 and 2012. Euro Surveillance 19(37). Hasegawa, Y., Tang, D., Takahashi, N., Hayashizaki, Y., Forrest, A.R.R., The Fantom Consortium and Suzuki, H. (2014) CCL2 enhances pluripotency of human induced pluripotent stem cells by activating hypoxia related genes. Scientific Reports 4, DOI: 10.1038/srep05228. Hickey, J.M., Dreisigacker, S., Crossa, J., Hearne, S., Babu, R., Prasanna, B.M., Grondona, M., Zambelli, A., Windhausen, V.S., Mathews, K. and Gorjanc, G. (2014) Evaluation of genomic selection training population designs and genotyping strategies in plant breeding programs using simulation. Crop Science 54(4), 1476-1488, DOI: 10.2135/cropsci2013.03.0195. Hickey, J.M., Gorjanc, G., Hearne, S. and Huang, B.E. (2014) AlphaMPSim: Flexible simulation of multi-parent crosses. Bioinformatics 30(18), 2686-2688, DOI: 10.1093/ bioinformatics/btu206. Hidalgo, A.M., Bastiaansen, J.W., Harlizius, B., Knol, E.F., Lopes, M.S., de Koning, D.J. and Groenen, M.A. (2014) Asian low-androstenone haplotype on pig chromosome 6 does not unfavorably affect production and reproduction traits. Animal Genetics E-pub 29 September, DOI: 10.1111/ age.12226. Hodgkiss-Geere, H.M., Palermo, V., Liuti, T., Philbey, A.W. and Marques, A. (2014) Pericardial cyst in a 2-year-old Maine Coon cat following peritoneopericardial diaphragmatic hernia repair. Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery E-pub 25 June, DOI: 10.1177/1098612x14540164. Houbraken, M., Demeyer, S., Michoel, T., Audenaert, P., Colle, D. and Pickavet, M. (2014) The IndexBased Subgraph Matching Algorithm with General Symmetries (ISMAGS). Exploiting Symmetry for Faster Subgraph Enumeration 9(5), e97896, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0097896. Hué, S., Brown, A.E., RagonnetCronin, M., Lycett, S.J., Dunn, D.T., Fearnhill, E., Dolling, D.I., Pozniak, A., Pillay, D., Delpech, V.C. and Leigh Brown, A.J. (2014) Phylogenetic analyses reveal HIV-1 infections between men misclassified as heterosexual transmissions. AIDS 28(13), 1967-1975, DOI: 10.1097/ qad.0000000000000383. Iles, J.C., Raghwani, J., Harrison, G.L., Pepin, J., Djoko, C.F., Tamoufe, U., LeBreton, M., Schneider, B.S., Fair, J.N., Tshala, F.M., Kayembe, P.K., Muyembe, J.J., Edidi-Basepeo, S., Wolfe, N.D., Simmonds, P., Klenerman, P. and Pybus, O.G. (2014) Phylogeography and epidemic history of hepatitis C virus genotype 4 in Africa. Virology 464-465C, 233-243, DOI: 10.1016/j. virol.2014.07.006. Ison, S.H., Donald, R.D., Jarvis, S., Robson, S.K., Lawrence, A.B. and Rutherford, K.M.D. (2014) Behavioral and physiological responses of primiparous sows to mixing with older, unfamiliar sows. Journal of Animal Science 92, 1647-1655, DOI: 10.2527/jas.2013-6447. Jeffrey, M., McGovern, G., Barron, R. and Baumann, F. (2014) Membrane pathology and microglial activation of mice expressing membrane anchored or membrane released forms of Abeta and mutated human APP. Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology E-pub 18 August, DOI: 10.1111/nan.12173. Jenkins, S.J. and Hume, D.A. (2014) Homeostasis in the mononuclear phagocyte system. Trends in Immunology 35(8), 358-367, DOI: 10.1016/j.it.2014.06.006. Jiang, C., Yang, Y., Huang, C. and Whitelaw, B. (2014) Promoter characterization and functional association with placenta of porcine 38 MAGEL2. Gene 547(1), 63-69, DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2014.06.022 Jiang, Y., Xie, M., Chen, W., Talbot, R., Maddox, J.F., Faraut, T., Wu, C., Muzny, D.M., Li, Y., Zhang, W., Stanton, J.A., Brauning, R., Barris, W.C., Hourlier, T., Aken, B.L., Searle, S.M., Adelson, D.L., Bian, C., Cam, G.R., Chen, Y., Cheng, S., DeSilva, U., Dixen, K., Dong, Y., Fan, G., Franklin, I.R., Fu, S., Fuentes-Utrilla, P., Guan, R., Highland, M.A., Holder, M.E., Huang, G., Ingham, A.B., Jhangiani, S.N., Kalra, D., Kovar, C.L., Lee, S.L., Liu, W., Liu, X., Lu, C., Lv, T., Mathew, T., McWilliam, S., Menzies, M., Pan, S., Robelin, D., Servin, B., Townley, D., Wang, W., Wei, B., White, S.N., Yang, X., Ye, C., Yue, Y., Zeng, P., Zhou, Q., Hansen, J.B., Kristiansen, K., Gibbs, R.A., Flicek, P., Warkup, C.C., Jones, H.E., Oddy, V.H., Nicholas, F.W., McEwan, J.C., Kijas, J.W., Wang, J., Worley, K.C., Archibald, A.L., Cockett, N., Xu, X. and Dalrymple, B.P. (2014) The sheep genome illuminates biology of the rumen and lipid metabolism. Science 344(6188), 1168-1173, DOI: 10.1126/science.1252806. Johnson, E.J., Neely, D.M., Dunn, I.C. and Davey, M.G. (2014) Direct functional consequences of ZRS enhancer mutation combine with secondary long range SHH signalling effects to cause preaxial polydactyly. Developmental Biology 392(2), 209-220, DOI: 10.1016/j. ydbio.2014.05.025. Joshi, A. and Gottgens, B. (2014) Concerted bioinformatic analysis of the genome-scale blood transcription factor compendium reveals new control mechanisms. Molecular Biosystems 10(11), 2935-2941, DOI: 10.1039/c4mb00354c. Kao, R.R., Haydon, D.T., Lycett, S.J. and Murcia, P.R. (2014) Supersize me: how whole-genome sequencing and big data are transforming epidemiology. Trends in Microbiology 22(5), 282-291, DOI: 10.1016/j. tim.2014.02.011. Kernohan, K.D., Vernimmen, D., Gloor, G.B. and Bérubé, N.G. (2014) Analysis of neonatal brain lacking ATRX or MeCP2 reveals changes in nucleosome density, CTCF binding and chromatin looping. Nucleic Acids Research E-pub 02/07/2014, DOI: 10.1093/nar/gku564. Klampfl, S.M., Brunton, P.J., Bayerl, D.S. and Bosch, O.J. (2014) Hypoactivation of CRF receptors, predominantly type 2, in the medialposterior BNST is vital for adequate maternal behavior in lactating rats. Journal of Neuroscience 34(29), 9665-9676, DOI:10.1523/ JNEUROSCI.4220-13.2014. Kowalczyk-Quintas,C., Schuepbach-Mallepell, S., Willen, L., Smith, T.K., Huttner, K., Kirby, N., Headon, D.J. and Schneider, P. (2014) Pharmacological Stimulation of Edar Signaling in the Adult Enhances Sebaceous Gland Size and Function. Journal of Investigative Dermatology E-pub 10 September, DOI: 10.1038/jid.2014.382. Laflamme, D. and Gunn-Moore, D. (2014) Nutrition of Aging Cats. Veterinary Clinics of North America - Small Animal Practice 44(4), 761-774, DOI: 10.1016/j. cvsm.2014.03.001. Lawrence, A.B. and Wall, E. (2014) Selection for ‘environmentaI fit’ from existing domesticated species. Revue scientifique et technique (International Office of Epizootics) 33(1), 171-179 Lefebvre, D., Pirie, R.S., Handel, I.G., Tremaine, W.H. and Hudson, N.P. (2014) Clinical features and management of equine postoperative ileus (POI): Survey of Diplomates of the European Colleges of Equine Internal Medicine (ECEIM) and Veterinary Surgeons (ECVS). Equine Vet J E-pub 25 September, DOI: 10.1111/evj.12355. Lindstrom, N.O., Chang, C.H., Valerius, M.T., Hohenstein, P. and Davies, J.A. (2014) Node retraction during patterning of the urinary collecting duct system. Journal of Anatomy E-pub 8 October, DOI: 10.1111/joa.12239. Lofgren, S.E., Wiener, P., Blott, S.C., Sanchez-Molano, E., Woolliams, J.A., Clements, D.N. and Haskell, M.J. (2014) Management and personality in Labrador Retriever dogs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 156, 44-53, DOI: 10.1016/j. applanim.2014.04.006. Lu, Z.H., Archibald, A.L. and Ait-Ali, T. (2014) Beyond the whole genome consensus: Unravelling of PRRSV phylogenomics using next generation sequencing technologies. Virus Res E-pub 12 October, DOI: 10.1016/j. virusres.2014.10.004. Mabbott, N.A. (2014) Prospects for safe and effective vaccines against prion diseases. Expert Review of Vaccines E-pub 30 September, 1-4, DOI: 10.1586/14760584.2015.965691. Maccari, S., Krugers, H.J., Morley-Fletcher, S., Szyf, M. and Brunton, P. (2014) The consequences of early life adversity: neurobiological, behavioural and epigenetic adaptations. Journal of Neuroendocrinology E-pub 17 July, DOI: 10.1111/jne.12175. McAdam, P.R., Richardson, E.J. and Fitzgerald, R.R. (2014) Highthroughput sequencing for the study of bacterial pathogen biology. Current Opinion in Microbiology 19(1), 106-113, DOI: 10.1016/j. mib.2014.06.002. McAdam, P.R., Vander Broek, C.W., Lindsay, D.S.J., Ward, M.J., Hanson, M.F., Gillies, M., Watson, M., Stevens, J.M., Edwards, G.F. and Fitzgerald, R. (2014) Gene flow in environmental Legionella pneumophila leads to genetic and pathogenic heterogeneity within a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak. Genome Biology 15(11), 504, DOI: 10.1186/ preaccept-1675723368141690. Meredith, A. (2014) Editorial: The value of clinical pathology in pet rabbit medicine. Veterinary Record 174(22), 552-553, DOI: 10.1136/ vr.g3531. Meredith, A., Del-Pozo, J., Smith, S., Milne, E., Stevenson, K., McLuckie, J. and Marques, A. (2014) Leprosy in red squirrels in Scotland. Veterinary Record 175(11), 285-286, DOI: 10.1136/vr.g5680. Miele, A., Dhaliwal, K., Du Toit, N., Murchison, J.T., Dhaliwal, C., Brooks, H., Smith, S.H., Hirani, N., Schwarz, T., Haslett, C., Wallace, W.A. and McGorum, B.C. (2014) Chronic pleuropulmonary fibrosis and elastosis of aged donkeys: similarities to human pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis. Chest 145(6), 1325-1332, DOI: 10.1378/chest.13-1306. 39 Mlyniec, K., Davies, C.L., Sanchez, I.G.D., Pytka, K., Budziszewska, B. and Nowak, G. (2014) Essential elements in depression and anxiety. Part I. Pharmacological Reports 66(4), 534-544, DOI: 10.1016/j. pharep.2014.03.001. Moffat, L., Rothwell, L., GarciaMorales, C., Sauter, K.A., Kapetanovic, R., Gow, D.J. and Hume, D.A. (2014) Development and characterisation of monoclonal antibodies reactive with porcine CSF1R (CD115). Developmental and Comparative Immunology 47(1), 123-128, DOI: 10.1016/j. dci.2014.07.001. Moniuszko, A., Rückert, C., Alberdi, M.P., Barry, G., Stevenson, B., Fazakerley, J.K., Kohl, A. and BellSakyi, L. (2014) Coinfection of tick cell lines has variable effects on replication of intracellular bacterial and viral pathogens. Ticks and Tickborne Diseases 5(4), 415-422, DOI: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2014.01.010 . Mort, R.L., Ford, M.J., SakaueSawano, A., Lindstrom, N.O., Casadio, A., Douglas, A.T., Keighren, M.A., Hohenstein, P., Miyawaki, A. and Jackson, I.J. (2014) Fucci2a: A bicistronic cell cycle reporter that allows Cre mediated tissue specific expression in mice. Cell Cycle 13(17), 2681-2696, DOI: 10.4161/15384101.2015.945381. Mort, R.L., Keighren, M., Hay, L. and Jackson, I.J. (2014) Ex vivo Culture of Mouse Embryonic Skin and Liveimaging of Melanoblast Migration. Journal of Visualized Experiments (87), DOI: 10.3791/51352. Muwonge, A., Malama, S., Bronsvoort, M., Biffa, D., Ssengooba, W. and Skjerve, E. (2014) A Comparison of Tools Used for Tuberculosis Diagnosis in Resource-Limited Settings: A Case Study at Mubende Referral Hospital, Uganda. PLoS One 9(6), e100720, DOI: 10.1371/journal. pone.0100720. Nicol, M.Q. and Dutia, B.M. (2014) The role of macrophages in influenza A virus infection. Future Virology 9(9), 847-862, DOI: 10.2217/fvl.14.65. Nightingale, K., Levy, C.S., Hopkins, J., Grey, F., Esper, S. and Dalziel, R.G. (2014) Expression of Ovine Herpesvirus -2 Encoded MicroRNAs in an Immortalised Bovine - Cell Line. PLoS One 9(5), e97765, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0097765. Nuttall, T. and Bensignor, E. (2014) A pilot study to develop an objective clinical score for canine otitis externa. Veterinary Dermatology 25(6), 530-537 DOI: 10.1111/ vde.12163. Nyman, S., Johansson, K., de Koning, D.J., Berry, D.P., Veerkamp, R.F., Wall, E. and Berglund, B. (2014) Genetic analysis of atypical progesterone profiles in HolsteinFriesian cows from experimental research herds. Journal of Dairy Science E-pub 21 August, DOI: 10.3168/jds.2014-7984. O’Hare, A., Orton, R.J., Bessell, P.R. and Kao, R.R. (2014) Estimating epidemiological parameters for bovine tuberculosis in British cattle using a Bayesian partiallikelihood approach. Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences 281(1783), DOI: 10.1098/ rspb.2014.0248. Olivera-Martinez, I., Schurch, N., Li, R.A., Song, J., Halley, P.A., Das, R.M., Burt, D.W., Barton, G.J. and Storey, K.G. (2014) Major transcriptome re-organisation and abrupt changes in signalling, cell cycle and chromatin regulation at neural differentiation in vivo. Development 141(16), 3266-3276, DOI: 10.1242/dev.112623. Opriessnig, T., Gerber, P.F., Xiao, C.T., Halbur, P.G., Matzinger, S.R. and Meng, X.J. (2014) Commercial PCV2a-based vaccines are effective in protecting naturally PCV2b-infected finisher pigs against experimental challenge with a 2012 mutant PCV2. Vaccine 32(34), 4342-4348, DOI: 10.1016/j. vaccine.2014.06.004. Opriessnig, T., Xiao, C.T., Gerber, P.F. and Halbur, P.G. (2014) Identification of recently described porcine parvoviruses in archived North American samples from 1996 and association with porcine circovirus associated disease. Vet Microbiol 173(1-2), 9-16, DOI: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2014.06.024. Opriessnig, T., Xiao, C.T., Gerber, P.F., Halbur, P.G., Matzinger, S.R. and Meng, X.J. (2014) The mutant U.S. strain of porcine circovirus type 2 (mPCV2) exhibits similar virulence to the classical PCV2a and PCV2b strains in caesarian-derived colostrum-deprived pigs. Journal of General Virology 95(11), 24952503, DOI: 10.1099/vir.0.066423-0 Opriessnig, T., Xiao, C.-t., Freitas Gerber, P., Zhang, J. and Halbur, P.G. (2014) Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus RNA Present in Commercial Spray-Dried Porcine Plasma Is Not Infectious to Naïve Pigs. PLoS One 9(8), e104766, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0104766. Orriss, I.R., Hajjawi, M.O., Huesa, C., MacRae, V.E. and Arnett, T.R. (2014) Optimisation of the differing conditions required for bone formation in vitro by primary osteoblasts from mice and rats. International Journal of Molecular Medicine 34(5), 1201-1208, DOI: 10.3892/ijmm.2014.1926. Owolodun, O.A., Gerber, P.F., Gimenez-Lirola, L.G., Kwaga, J.K. and Opriessnig, T. (2014) First Report of Hepatitis E Virus Circulation in Domestic Pigs in Nigeria. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 91(4), 699704, DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.14-0144. Pang, L.Y., Argyle, S.A., Kamida, A., Morrison, K. and Argyle, D.J. (2014) The long-acting COX-2 inhibitor mavacoxib (Trocoxil (TM)) has antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic effects on canine cancer cell lines and cancer stem cells. BMC Veterinary Research 10(1), 184, DOI: 10.1186/ preaccept-9511370941246208. Pooley, C., Ruau, D., Lombard, P., Gottgens, B. and Joshi, A. (2014) TRES predicts transcription control in embryonic stem cells. Bioinformatics 30(20), 2983-2985, DOI: 10.1093/ bioinformatics/btu399. Powis, R.A., Mutsaers, C.A., Wishart, T.M., Hunter, G., Wirth, B. and Gillingwater, T.H. (2014) Increased levels of UCHL1 are a compensatory response to disrupted ubiquitin homeostasis in spinal muscular atrophy and do not represent a viable therapeutic target. Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology E-pub 8 July, DOI: 10.1111/nan.12168. Prendergast, J.G.D., Chambers, 40 E.V. and Semple, C.A.M. (2014) Sequence level mechanisms of human epigenome evolution. Genome Biology and Evolution 6(7), 1758-1771, DOI: 10.1093/gbe/ evu142. Proudfoot, C., Carlson, D.F., Huddart, R., Long, C.R., Pryor, J.H., King, T.J., Lillico, S.G., Mileham, A.J., McLaren, D.G., Whitelaw, C.B. and Fahrenkrug, S.C. (2014) Genome edited sheep and cattle. Transgenic Research E-pub 10 September, DOI: 10.1007/s11248014-9832-x. Rao, P., Wu, H., Jiang, Y., Opriessnig, T., Zheng, X., Mo, Y. and Yang, Z. (2014) Development of an EvaGreen-based multiplex realtime PCR assay with melting curve analysis for simultaneous detection and differentiation of six viral pathogens of porcine reproductive and respiratory disorder. Journal of Virological Methods 208, 56-62, DOI: 10.1016/j.jviromet.2014.06.027. Rebourcet, D., O’Shaughnessy, P.J., Monteiro, A., Milne, L., Cruickshanks, L., Jeffrey, N., Guillou, F., Freeman, T.C., Mitchell, R.T. and Smith, L.B. (2014) Sertoli cells maintain leydig cell number and peritubular myoid cell activity in the adult mouse testis. PLoS One 9(8), e105687, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0105687 . Regan, R.C., Gogal Jr, R.M., Jr., Barber, J.P., Tuckfield, R.C., Howerth, E.W. and Lawrence, J.A. (2014) Cytotoxic Effects of Loperamide Hydrochloride on Canine Cancer Cells. Journal of Veterinary Medical Science E-pub 15 Sept, DOI: 10.1292/jvms.13-0537. Richardson, R.J., Hammond, N.L., Coulombe, P.A., Saloranta, C., Nousiainen, H.O., Salonen, R., Berry, A., Hanley, N., Headon, D., Karikoski, R. and Dixon, M.J. (2014) Periderm prevents pathological epithelial adhesions during embryogenesis. Journal of Clinical Investigation 124(9), 3891-3900, DOI: 10.1172/jci71946. Robert, C., Fuentes-Utrilla, P., Troup, K., Loecherbach, J., Turner, F., Talbot, R., Archibald, A.L., Mileham, A., Deeb, N., Hume, D.A. and Watson, M. (2014) Design and development of exome capture sequencing for the domestic pig (Sus scrofa). BMC Genomics 15(1), 550, DOI: 10.1186/1471-2164-15-550. Roche, S.L., Sherman, D.L., Dissanayake, K., Soucy, G., Desmazieres, A., Lamont, D.J., Peles, E., Julien, J.P., Wishart, T.M., Ribchester, R.R., Brophy, P.J. and Gillingwater, T.H. (2014) Loss of glial Neurofascin155 delays developmental synapse elimination at the neuromuscular junction. Journal of Neuroscience 34(38), 12904-12918, DOI: 10.1523/ JNEUROSCI.1725-14.2014. Rowe, S.J., Karacaoren, B., De Koning, D.J., Lukic, B., HastingsClark, N., Velander, I., Haley, C.S. and Archibald, A.L. (2014) Analysis of the genetics of boar taint reveals both single SNPs and regional effects. BMC Genomics 15(1), 424, DOI: 10.1186/1471-2164-15-424. Russell, C.D., Griffiths, S.J., Baillie, J.K. and Haas, J. (2014) Stratified infection medicine: a call to arms. Lancet Infectious Diseases 14(6), 451-451, DOI: 10.1016/s14733099(14)70774-1. Salomonsen, J., Chattaway, J.A., Chan, A.C.Y., Parker, A., Huguet, S., Marston, D.A., Rogers, S.L., Wu, Z., Smith, A.L., Staines, K., Butter, C., Riegert, P., Vainio, O., Nielsen, L., Kaspers, B., Griffin, D.K., Yang, F., Zoorob, R., Guillemot, F., Auffray, C., Beck, S., Skjødt, K. and Kaufman, J. (2014) Sequence of a Complete Chicken BG Haplotype Shows Dynamic Expansion and Contraction of Two Gene Lineages with Particular Expression Patterns. PLoS Genetics 10(6), e1004417, DOI: 10.1371/ journal.pgen.1004417. Sauter, K.A., Pridans, C., Sehgal, A., Bain, C.C., Scott, C., Moffat, L., Rojo, R., Stutchfield, B.M., Davies, C.L., Donaldson, D.S., Renault, K., McColl, B.W., Mowat, A.M., Serrels, A., Frame, M.C., Mabbott, N.A. and Hume, D.A. (2014) The MacBlue Binary Transgene (csf1r-gal4VP16/ UAS-ECFP) Provides a Novel Marker for Visualisation of Subsets of Monocytes, Macrophages and Dendritic Cells and Responsiveness to CSF1 Administration. PLoS One 9(8), e105429, DOI: 10.1371/journal. pone.0105429 Schnettler, E., Tykalov, H., Watson, M., Sharma, M., Sterken, M.G., Obbard, D.J., Lewis, S.H., McFarlane, M., Bell-Sakyi, L., Barry, G., Weisheit, S., Best, S.M., Kuhn, R.J., Pijlman, G.P., Chase-Topping, M.E., Gould, E.A., Grubhoffer, L., Fazakerley, J.K. and Kohl, A. (2014) Induction and suppression of tick cell antiviral RNAi responses by tick-borne flaviviruses. Nucleic Acids Research 42(14), 9436-9446, DOI: 10.1093/nar/gku657. Schoenebeck, J.J. and Ostrander, E.A. (2014) Insights into Morphology and Disease from the Dog Genome Project. Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology E-pub 9 July, DOI: 10.1146/annurevcellbio-100913-012927. Seguino, A., Seguino, F., Eleuteri, A. and Rhind, S. (2014) Development and Evaluation of a Virtual Slaughterhouse Simulator for Training and Educating Veterinary Students. Journal of Veterinary Medical Education E-pub 7 July, 1-11, DOI: 10.3138/jvme.1113150R. Sanchez Molano, E., Woolliams, J.A., Pong-Wong, R., Clements, D.N., Blott, S.C. and Wiener, P. (2014) Quantitative trait loci mapping for canine hip dysplasia and its related traits in UK Labrador Retrievers. BMC Genomics 15(1), 833, DOI: 10.1186/1471-2164-15833. Serão, N.V.L., Matika, O., Kemp, R.A., Harding, J.C.S., Bishop, S., Plastow, G.S. and Dekkers, J.C.M. (2014) Genetic analysis of reproductive traits and antibody response in a PRRS outbreak herd. Journal of Animal Science 92(7), 2905-2921, DOI: 10.2527/jas.20147821. Sandøe, P., Hocking, P.M., Förkman, B., Haldane, K., Kristensen, H.H. and Palmer, C. (2014) The blind hens’ challenge: Does it undermine the view that only welfare matters in our dealings with animals? Environmental Values 23(6), 727-742, DOI: 10.3197 /096327114X13947900181950 Shang, M.M., Talukdar, H.A., Hofmann, J.J., Niaudet, C., Asl, H.F., Jain, R.K., Rossignoli, A., Cedergren, C., Silveira, A., Gigante, B., Leander, K., Faire, U.D., Hamsten, A., Ruusalepp, A., Melander, O., Ivert, T., Michoel, T., Schadt, E.E., Betsholtz, C., 41 Skogsberg, J. and Bjorkegren, J.L. (2014) Lim Domain Binding 2: A Key Driver of Transendothelial Migration of Leukocytes and Atherosclerosis. Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology 34(9), 2068-2077, DOI: 10.1161/atvbaha.113.302709. Shirali, M., Doeschl-Wilson, A., Duthie, C., Knap, P.W., Kanis, E., van Arendonk, J.A.M. and Roehe, R. (2014) Estimation of residual energy intake and its genetic background during the growing period in pigs. Livestock Science 168, 17-25, DOI: 10.1016/j.livsci.2014.07.018 Siebrasse, E.A., Nguyen, N.L., Smith, C., Simmonds, P. and Wang, D. (2014) Immunohistochemical detection of KI polyomavirus in lung and spleen. Virology 468470, 178-184, DOI: 10.1016/j. virol.2014.08.005 Smith, D.B. and Simmonds, P. (2014) Hepatitis E virus and fulminant hepatitis - a virus or host-specific pathology? Liver International E-pub 27 June, DOI: 10.1111/liv.12629. Smith, D.B., Simmonds, P., Jameel, S., Emerson, S.U., Harrison, T.J., Meng, X.J., Okamoto, H., Van der Poel, W.H. and Purdy, M.A. (2014) Consensus proposals for classification of the family hepeviridae. Journal of General Virology E-pub 2 July, DOI: 10.1099/ vir.0.068429-0. Snelling, T.J., Genç, B., McKain, N., Watson, M., Waters, S.M., Creevey, C.J. and Wallace, R.J. (2014) Diversity and Community Composition of Methanogenic Archaea in the Rumen of Scottish Upland Sheep Assessed by Different Methods. PLoS One 9(9), e106491, DOI: 10.1371/journal. pone.0106491. Sontakke, S., Mohammed, B., McNeilly, A. and Donadeu, F.X. (2014) Characterization of miRNAs Differentially Expressed during Bovine Follicle Development. Reproduction 148(3), 271-283, DOI: 10.1530/rep-14-0140. Staines, K.A., Zhu, D., Farquharson, C. and MacRae, V.E. (2014) Identification of novel regulators of osteoblast matrix mineralization by time series transcriptional profiling. Journal of Bone and Mineral Metabolism 32(3), 240-251, DOI: 10.1007/s00774-013-0493-2. Stanton, D.W.G., Hobbs, G.I., McCafferty, D.J., Chadwick, E.A., Philbey, A.W., Saccheri, I.J., Slater, F.M. and Bruford, M.W. (2014) Contrasting genetic structure of the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) across a latitudinal divide. Journal of Mammalogy 94(4), 814-823, DOI: 10.1644/13-mamm-a-201. 10(10), e1004668,DOI:10.1371/ journal.pgen.1004668. Votruba, M. and Jackson, I.J. (2014) Models of eye disease. Drug Discovery Today: Disease Models, 10(4) e159-e161DOI: 10.1016/j. ddmod.2014.07.001. Walker, D., Beard, P., Sharp, C. and Philbey, A.W. (2014) Canine distemper imported into the UK. Veterinary Record 175(17), 422, DOI: 10.1136/vr.g6493. Tozzoli, R., Grande, L., Michelacci, V., Fioravanti, R., Gally, D., Xu, X., Ragione, R.L., Anjum, M., Wu, G., Caprioli, A. and Morabito, S. (2014) Identification and characterization of a peculiar vtx2-converting phage frequently present in verocytotoxinproducing Escherichia coli O157 isolated from human infections. Infection and Immunity 82(7), 30233032, DOI: 10.1128/IAI.01836-14. Ward, M.J., Gibbons, C.L., McAdam, P.R., van Bunnik, B.A., Girvan, E.K., Edwards, G.F., Fitzgerald, J.R. and Woolhouse, M.E. (2014) Timescaled evolutionary analysis of the transmission and antibiotic resistance dynamics of Staphylococcus aureus CC398. Applied and Environmental Microbiology E-pub 19 September, DOI: 10.1128/aem.01777-14. Trangadia, B.J., Bronsvoort, B.M.d., Handel, I.G., Nagmani, K., Rana, S.K., Chandran, D. and Srinivasan, V.A. (2014) Evaluation of single intradermal test and commercial ELISA for diagnosis of paratuberculosis in Indian cattle population. Indian Journal of Animal Sciences 84(6), 624-628. Watson, M. (2014) Illuminating the future of DNA sequencing. Genome Biology 15(2), Article 108, DOI: 10.1186/gb4165. Tree, J.J., Granneman, S., McAteer, S.P., Tollervey, D. and Gally, D.L. (2014) Identification of Bacteriophage-Encoded AntisRNAs in Pathogenic Escherichia coli. Molecular Cell 55(2), 199-213, DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2014.05.006. Tsai, H.Y., Hamilton, A., Guy, D.R. and Houston, R.D. (2014) Single nucleotide polymorphisms in the insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) gene are associated with growthrelated traits in farmed Atlantic salmon. Animal Genetics 45(5), 709715, DOI: 10.1111/age.12202. Vernimmen, D. (2014) Uncovering Enhancer Functions Using the α-Globin Locus. PLoS Genetics Watson, M. (2014) Quality assessment and control of highthroughput sequencing data. Frontiers in genetics 5, DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2014.00235. Watson, M., Thomson, M., Risse, J., Talbot, R., Santoyo-Lopez, J., Gharbi, K. and Blaxter, M. (2014) poRe: an R package for the visualization and analysis of nanopore sequencing data. Bioinformatics E-pub 29 August, DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/ btu590. Wei, W.H., Hemani, G. and Haley, C.S. (2014) Detecting epistasis in human complex traits. Nature reviews. Genetics 15(11), 722-733, DOI: 10.1038/nrg3747. Wei, W.-H., Guo, Y., Kindt, A.S.D. Merriman, T.R., Semple, C.A., Wang, K. and Haley, C.S. (2014) Abundant local interactions in the 4p16.1 region suggest functional mechanisms underlying SLC2A9 associations with human serum uric acid. Human Molecular Genetics E-pub 12 May DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ ddu227. Wright, D.W., Angus, T., Enright, A.J. and Freeman, T.C. (2014) Visualisation of BioPAX Networks using BioLayout Express3D. F1000 research 3(246), DOI: 10.12688/ f1000research.5499.1 Wu, H., Rao, P., Jiang, Y., Opriessnig, T. and Yang, Z. (2014) A sensitive multiplex real-time PCR panel for rapid diagnosis of viruses associated with porcine respiratory and reproductive disorders. Molecular and Cellular Probes E-pub 18 July, DOI: 10.1016/j.mcp.2014.07.001. Yu, X., Woolliams, J.A. and Meuwissen, T.H. (2014) Prioritizing animals for dense genotyping in order to impute missing genotypes of sparsely genotyped animals. Genet Sel Evol 46(1), 46, DOI: 10.1186/1297-9686-46-46. Zgaga, L., Theodoratou, E., Farrington, S.M., Din, F.V., Ooi, L.Y., Glodzik, D., Johnston, S., Tenesa, A., Campbell, H. and Dunlop, M.G. (2014) Plasma Vitamin D Concentration Influences Survival Outcome After a Diagnosis of Colorectal Cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology, DOI: 10.1200/ jco.2013.54.5947. Zhu, D., Mackenzie, N.C., Shanahan, C.M., Shroff, R.C., Farquharson, C. and MacRae, V.E. (2014) BMP-9 regulates the osteoblastic differentiation and calcification of vascular smooth muscle cells through an ALK1 mediated pathway. Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine E-pub 9 October, DOI: 10.1111/jcmm.12373. If you have any articles you would like to submit for the next Roslin Reporter, please contact: Patricia Hart, Head of Communications and Science Administration (email:patricia.hart@roslin.ed.ac.uk or phone: 0131 651 9192) or require imagery to accompany articles, please contact: Norrie Russell, Photographer (email:norrie.russell@roslin.ed.ac.uk or phone: 0131 651 9197) 42