The Life Sciences Research Symposium was held online on 7 January 2021

Professor Dame Margaret Brimble delivered the Cornforth Lecture

Professor Sir Adrian Bird delivered the Maynard Smith Lecture

From cuttlefish vision to cell division to drug delivery, a diverse array of research was presented at the online Life Sciences Research Symposium.

The annual Life Sciences Research Symposium, this year held on 7 January 2021, celebrates the research taking place in the School and commemorates the scientists who helped establish the University of Sussex.

As well as a series of talks from academic faculty and postdoctoral researchers in the School, two eminent external speakers delivered keynote lectures: Distinguished Professor Dame Margaret Brimble as the Cornforth Lecturer and Professor Sir Adrian Bird as the Maynard Smith Lecturer.

The event included the announcement of the winner of the second Kroto Award for Public Engagement, which included a presentation from Lady Margaret Kroto, widow of Nobel prizewinning Sussex chemist Sir Harry Kroto.

The first Latitude Prize for Sustainable Development was also announced at the symposium. This annual prize of £1,000 was generously established by Dr Andrew Morgan (BIOLS 1979) and was presented to Daniel Commandeur for his PhD titled ‘Hybrid Metal Oxide Nanostructures for Solar Water Splitting and Inorganic Perovskite Photovoltaics.’

Professor Sarah Guthrie, Head of the School of Life Sciences, said: “This year we sadly couldn’t meet in person, but the online symposium was still a great success. The programme showed off the extraordinary scope and achievement of the research in our School.

“I would like to thank our eminent guest lecturers, Prof Dame Margaret Brimble and Prof Sir Adrian Bird, who were invited in recognition of the outstanding contributions they have made to their respective fields in chemistry and biology. Warm congratulations to Dr Chris Sandom for winning the Kroto Award for Public Engagement for his work on rewilding, presided over by a great friend of the School, Lady Margaret Kroto, and congratulations also to Dan Commandeur for his PhD work relevant to sustainability, who won the ‘Latitude’ prize endowed by our alumnus Andrew Morgan.

“Thank you to all of our speakers and attendees for making it such a fantastic day.”

Professor Dame Margaret Brimble delivered the Cornforth Lecture which showcased her lab's research on the synthesis of peptides, lipopeptides and glycopeptides as a platform for the discovery and development of peptide therapeutics as agents to treat neurogenetic disorders, infectious disease, cancer and diabetes.

Sir John Cornforth was a celebrated chemist who joined the University of Sussex in 1975. His research attracted major prizes, culminating in the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the stereochemistry of enzyme-catalysed reactions.

Professor Sir Adrian Bird’s research focuses on how the genomic landscape of mammals influences gene expression. His laboratory identified CpG islands as gene markers and discovered proteins that read DNA methylation to influence chromatin structure. Mutations in one such protein, MeCP2, cause the neurological disorder Rett Syndrome, which he showed to be reversible.

John Maynard Smith was a renowned evolutionary biologist and geneticist and was one of the founding members of the University of Sussex. He established and served as Head of the School of Biological Sciences – now known as the School of Life Sciences. The building which now houses much of the School was named the JMS Building in his honour.

For more information about the Life Sciences Research Symposium, visit the website.

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