News

Prestigious £4million awards to shed light on galaxies and cells

(8 February 2011)

Simulation of dark matter

Scientists at Durham University aim to shed light on the big questions surrounding the evolution of the Universe and the internal workings of cells, thanks to two prestigious award grants.

Professor Carlos Frenk, Director of the University's Institute for Computational Cosmology (ICC), and Professor David Parker, Department of Chemistry, both secured European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Investigator Awards totalling £4million (€4.7million).

Professor Frenk was awarded £1.9m for research aimed at testing theories about the evolution of the universe, the nature of its main constituents - dark matter and dark energy - and the processes responsible for the formation of galaxies.

The research will provide a critical test of the "Cold dark matter" theory of the universe which Professor Frenk and collaborators have been developing over several years.

The work will target our Milky Way galaxy and the large-scale distribution of galaxies stretching back half the lifetime of the Universe (6.5 billion years) and will also investigate the processes that shaped galaxy formation and evolution.

Using the ICC's own "Cosmology Machine" supercomputer and observational data from the international Pan-STARRS1 project, which includes Durham University, Professor Frenk's team will examine core assumptions about the nature of dark energy and cold dark matter.

Professor Frenk said: "Cosmology is at a crossroads. We have a theory about how the Universe works that seems to fit, but at the price of two great mysteries: the early mechanism that seeded galaxies just after the Big Bang and the nature of the dark matter and dark energy responsible for cosmic evolution.

"This grant will support a concentrated effort to find out what makes our Universe tick."

The grant will provide funding for three postdoctoral research assistants, two PhD students, and other costs including administrative support, equipment and travel.

Professor Parker's work, which was awarded £2.1million by the ERC, will look at the development of tiny molecular probes which will allow scientists to monitor the bioactive chemical species that fulfil key functions inside living cells.

The probes, which would be engineered in the lab, are designed to localise to particular parts of the cell. Information will be obtained allowing scientists to see what is happening to these chemical species inside the cell, with the aid of microscopes.

Although the work is at the very early stages it could potentially have implications for diagnosing medical conditions or applications for understanding the chemical alterations brought about in certain marine species by climate change.

Professor Parker said: "By looking inside a cell we can learn a lot about the chemical changes that are taking place.

"We have the chemical expertise to create the light-emitting probes that are needed to meet these challenges.

"The probes will be engineered to reach particular compartments of plant and animal cells and relay an optical signal back to the observer, allowing local biochemical changes to be observed."

Professor Parker's grant will fund three postdoctoral research assistants and three PhD students, as well as funding equipment and travel.

The ERC has also awarded three separate Starting Independent Researcher grants totalling £2.4m (€2.9m) to Dr James Baldini (Earth Sciences), Dr Rebecca Sear (Anthropology), and Dr Jan Westerhoff (Philosophy).

Dr Baldini's research aims to develop high-resolution North Atlantic hurricane activity records for the past 500 years by studying the composition of stalagmites as an indicator of changes in climate.

Dr Sear will explore whether the presence of a supportive network of relatives influences the number of children women have, as a means of understanding why fertility varies between women and between populations.

And Dr Westerhoff's research aims to transform the way Indian philosophical texts are currently studied.

Professor Tom McLeish, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research), at Durham University, said: "The University is world-renowned for the quality of its research, which stems from the excellence, enthusiasm and energy of our staff.

"These prestigious awards highlight the strength and breadth of the University's expertise, which is at the forefront of research across a wide range of disciplines and academic departments.

"Research also leads the content and development of the teaching delivered at Durham where students have access to some of the very best academic researchers who lead the world in their particular fields."

In its latest competition for Advanced Grants, the ERC awarded some £504million (€590million) to 266 established research leaders across Europe.

 The grants, worth up to £2.9million (€3.5 million) each, will allow researchers to pursue their innovative, research throughout Europe.

 The ERC awarded some €580 million to 427 early-career top researchers in its 2010 competition for 'Starting Grants'. Grants are worth up to £1.6 million (€2 million) each.