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Joint initiative good news for Sussex

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Sussex has been successful in two bids under a new joint research equipment initiative: a partnership between the UK higher education funding bodies and Research Councils. The initiative, which requires institutions to obtain matching funding from industry and other sponsors, provides state-of-the-art research equipment in Foresight priority areas.

One of the Sussex awards is for a mass spectrometer for the Sussex Centre for Neuroscience. Its partner in the bid was Micromass Ltd with whom the Centre has developed close links. Collaborative projects have included direct analysis of biomolecules in nerves in the pond snail which are involved in the control of feeding behaviour. According to Paul Benjamin, who together with Michael O'Shea prepared the bid, "Exciting new projects are planned in the Centre to confirm the neurotransmitters in heart motorneurons, and in defined neural networks. Elsewhere in the University, the Mass Spectrometer will be used to investigate the chemistry of fullerenes, pituitary growth hormones, protein folding and receptors in memory processes."

The other award went to Chris Chatwin in ENGG for the establishment of a high power laser facility. The bid was submitted jointly with the University of Essex and generated such interest within industry that eleven companies supported the application. The matching funding was provided by James Howden & Co.

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Friday January 10th 1997