Mercury mission and inspirational Londoner: News from the College

by Ryan O'Hare, Maxine Myers, Hayley Dunning, Joanna Wilson

19 October 2018

Here’s a batch of fresh news and announcements from across Imperial.

From a mission to Mercury with Imperial kit on board, to an Imperial academic named as one of the most influential Londoners, here is some quick-read news from across the College.

Mercury mission

The second-ever mission to orbit Mercury is due to launch tomorrow (20 October) with Imperial kit on board. BepiColombo consists of two orbiters, from both the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japanese Space Agency.

Imperial contributed parts of ESA’s magnetometer, which will investigate the tiny planet’s magnetic field. Mercury was thought to be too small to generate a magnetic field, but one was discovered by the Mariner spacecraft in 1974. One of the key objectives of ESA’s BepiColombo mission is to measure the magnetic field in great detail, since it will help to understand the interior structure of the planet.

The Imperial team also has funding from the Science and Technology Facilities Council to prepare science studies for when BepiColombo reaches Mercury in 2025.

Find out more about the BepiColombo mission on ESA’s website.

Invictus Games

Bioengineering PhD student Dave Henson MBE is embarking on a trip to Australia to attend the 2018 Invictus Games.

Dave captained the British Armed Forces Team to victory at the London Invictus Games in 2014 and won two Gold medals in Athletics and Sitting Volleyball. He now serves as a Trustee of the Invictus Games Foundation.

Alongside his sporting achievements, Dave is researching amputee biomechanics for his PhD and also completed an MSc at the College.

The Games, created by HRH The Duke of Sussex, is an international sporting event for wounded, injured and sick Servicemen and women, both serving and veterans. The fourth Invictus Games will take place in Sydney from 20 – 27 October.

Cameras at the ready

EPSRC-supported researchers and doctoral students are being invited to enter a photo competition with the chance of winning £500 worth of equipment and the opportunity to share their research through pictures.

The EPSRC’s sixth Science Photo competition will run until Wednesday 19 December. Previous winners have received national and international media coverage with their images.

In 2017, Imperial’s Dr Diego Alonso-Alvarez won second prize in the Innovation category for his image of a solar cell close up.

Those interested in entering can find more information on the EPSRC’s website: https://epsrc.ukri.org/newsevents/events/sciencephotocompetition2018/

Europeans helped TB to spread

European colonialists may have helped a common strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (pictured) to spread around the world. (Image: Shutterstock)

In a few centuries European colonialists expanded their influence around the world, but they may also have helped Tuberculosis to spread.

Research led by UCL, and involving researchers from Norway and Imperial College, found that the most common form of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (called L4) originated in Europe and spread to Asia, Africa and the Americas with European explorers and colonialists.

The findings, published in Science Advances, are based on genomic analysis of thousands of TB L4 samples. Interestingly, the analysis also found that drug-resistant strains of TB L4 have hardly spread beyond the country in which they emerged, with hope for national level TB initiatives. Lead author, Dr Vegard Eldholm, from UCL, said: “Countries that succeed in halting transmission of resistant strains within their territory should expect to see a massive decrease of drug resistant TB.”

Influential Londoner award for Imperial researcher

The Evening Standard has named an Imperial researcher as one of the most influential Londoners in health.

Dr Shivani Misra, Honorary Research Fellow and Consultant in Metabolic Medicine at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, was acknowledged in the Evening Standard’s list of the 1000 most influential Londoners for her work leading the MY DIABETES study.

The study aims to find out how type 1 and type 2 diabetes vary in different ethnics groups, and whether a rare type of diabetes known as maturity onset diabetes of the young (MODY) is found in all ethnic groups.

Dr Misra presented her research findings in May’s Imperial College Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC) seminar series event.

Read the article: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/186666/experts-explain-personalised-diabetes-treatments-help/

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