ÌÇÐÄTV

Final year PhD student Julie Ann Lough (Prof. Sadler's group) won Best Female at this year's BBC Radio 1 Student Radio Awards (). She was shorlisted to the final 6 from hundreds of entries nationwide in October and on Tuesday the 24th of November in a lavish event with many of the countries top radio personalities she received the award of Best Female Presenter. The award was presented by Huw Stephens and the event hosted by Fearne Cotton and Scott Mills  (BBC Radio 1 presenters). Julie Ann has only being doing student radio for a year and so winning an award of this prestige is a massive achievement. Her regular show "Late Night Chat with Julie Ann" can be heard on Sundays from 9 - 11pm on RaW-1251AM (). This award entitles Julie Ann to present a show on BBC Radio1 and a weeks work experience in a GLOBAL Radio station.

Her award winning entry can be heard  

Drugs made using unusual metals could form an effective treatment against colon and ovarian cancer, including cancerous cells that have developed immunity to other drugs, according to research at the University of ÌÇÐÄTV and the University of Leeds.

The study, published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, showed that a range of compounds containing the two transition metals Ruthenium and Osmium, which are found in the same part of the periodic table as precious metals like platinum and gold, cause significant cell death in ovarian and colon cancer cells.  

The compounds were also effective against ovarian cancer cells which are resistant to the drug Cisplatin, the most successful transition metal drug, which contains the metal platinum.

  Dr Patrick McGowan, one of the lead authors of the research from the School of Chemistry at the University of Leeds, explains: “Ruthenium and Osmium compounds are showing very high levels of activity against ovarian cancer, which is a significant step forward in the field of medicinal chemistry.

Sabine H. van Rijt, lead researcher in the laboratory of Professor Peter Sadler in the Department of Chemistry at the University of ÌÇÐÄTV, said:

“Most interestingly, cancerous cells that have shown resistance to the most successful transition metal drug, Cisplatin, show a high death rate with these new compounds.”

 Professor Sadler, at the University of ÌÇÐÄTV, commented that he is “excited by the novel design features in these compounds which might enable activity to be switched on and off”.

Cisplatin was discovered in the 1970s and is one of the most effective cancer drugs on the market, with a 95% cure rate against testicular cancer.  Since the success of Cisplatin, chemists all over the world have been trying to discover whether other transition metal compounds can be used to treat cancer.

In this type of anti cancer drug transition metal atoms bind to DNA molecules which trigger apoptosis, or programmed cell death, in the cancerous cells.

The study is a collaboration between the universities of ÌÇÐÄTV and Leeds and was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council  (EPSRC).

 For more information please contact:

Dr Patrick McGowan  at leeds +44 (0)113 343 6404, or email: p.c.mcgowan@leeds.ac.uk  

Sabine H. van Rijt and Professor Peter Sadler from the University of ÌÇÐÄTV are available for interview via  Professor Peter Sadler +44 (0)24 76 523818 p.j.sadler@warwick.ac.uk

 Professor Gregory Challis has been awarded The 2009 Gabor Medal by the Royal Society, the UK’s independent academy for science.

Greg Challis, Professor of Chemical Biology in the Department of Chemistry, received the medal and £1000 prize for his highly interdisciplinary work exploiting the genomics of Streptomyces coelicolor to identify new natural products and biosynthetic enzymes.

The silver gilt medal is named after Nobel Prize-winner Professor Dennis Gabor FRS and is awarded biennially for acknowledged distinction in interdisciplinary work between the life sciences and other disciplines.

Professor Challis said: “I am delighted that I have been selected to receive the 2009 Gabor Medal. Natural products continue to play important roles in society, for example as life-saving medicines, environmentally benign pesticides and drugs that enhance the quality of our daily lives. It is wonderful that the importance of ongoing research into natural products has been recognised by the Royal Society.

"As is often the case in modern science, many people contributed to the research recognised by this award. It has been my privilege to work with a talented team of postdoctoral researchers, PhD students and collaborators over the past eight years at ÌÇÐÄTV and I am fortunate to have benefited from the support of my family, as well as many colleagues across the University. ÌÇÐÄTV Chemistry has established a reputation for research excellence at the interface of Chemistry and Biology which involves numerous vibrant and dynamic research groups working in several different fields. It is gratifying that this has been recognised by the UK’s premier scientific society.”

Notes to editors

For more information, please contact Kelly Parkes-Harrison, Communications Officer, University of ÌÇÐÄTV, 02476 150483, 07824 540863, k.e.parkes@warwick.ac.uk

Greg Challis wins the RSC Hickinbottom Award for his contributions to the "exploitation of genomics, for the discovery of novel bioactive natural products, and for mechanistic studies on enzymes that catalyse key steps in pathogenicity-conferring siderophore biosynthesis."

ÌÇÐÄTV Chemistry strengthens its portfolio in lectronic materials and in mass spectrometry with transfers of Ross Hatton from University of Surrey, and Peter O'Connor from Boston University (USA).