Branch Report Jan 2009 to Jan 2010 by Vivienne Heys

Jan 2009

The year opened with Dr Phil Grace from Quotient Research providing us with an insight into the role of nutritional biomarkers in understanding the links between diet and health. The potential for these biomarkers to be used as an alternative and potentially more accurate indicator to probe the link between diet and health was explored.

Feb 2009

Rabies Epidemiology and control in Europe was a fascinating talk delivered by Dr Nick Johnston of the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA), the role of vaccination and the case of rabies (EBL) in a bat in 2002 highlighted the need for vigilance to maintain the UK rabies free status.

March 2009

Dr Kevin Murphy from Imperial College, London spoke on the role of “Kisspeptin in controlling reproduction “ Kisspeptin is a recently discovered hypothalamic  neuropeptide vital to the control of reproductive function which act as the gatekeeper to puberty and reproductive function.

April 2009

Dr James Scarth from Quotient Research and a Branch committee member had an interesting title of
“From Toxic worms to sluggish sperm “  for his talk on endocrine disruption linked to human activity with examples as far back as the 1950s.

June 2009
The AGM and annual BBQ was a historical event as this would be the last as the Institute of Biology.  All the committee members remained  in their posts and we looked forward to the birth of the new society in October 2009.

December 2009

Dr Edmund Flach of ZSL told us about his varied role as a veterinary surgeon and zoo pathologist tasked with discovering the causes for an animal’s death. The value of the post mortem information gained was explained and the RVC undergraduates provided some interesting questions for Dr Flach

January 2010

Dr Ian Shield of Rothamsted Research braved the cold weather to tell us about
 “Bio-energy in the UK and the role of dedicated energy crops” related to the Rothamsted crops of Miscanthus, Switchgrass and Short Rotation Coppice Willow . Unfortunately the weather affected our attendance figures.

A very big thank you to all our speakers.  The 2010 rolling programme will be posted on the website, although some dates are still to be confirmed.