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The Westminster Food and Nutrition Forum
July 20, 2020
On the 23 June, Hannah Norman, Policy Officer at the Microbiology Society, virtually attended the Westminster Food and Nutrition Forum. This event involved a discussion from policy makers and stakeholders on the future of UK agricultural policy. Here, Hannah discusses the experience.
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Microbe Talk: a sustainable future in soil health
May 22, 2020
As part of our 'A Sustainable Future' policy project, the Microbiology Society's policy team have produced three special episodes of Microbe Talk to explore the role of microbiology to address some of the world’s biggest challenges. This episode, Hannah speaks with Dr Ellie Harrison, Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield and Luke Hillary, PhD student at Bangor University to find out about how their research into soil health contribute to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).
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Food Science: a picture can save tonnes of food from being wasted
April 20, 2020
Dr Sholeem Griffin is a researcher in the Department of Food Sciences and Nutrition and the Centre for Biomedical Cybernetics at the University of Malta. Her postdoctoral studies focus on the development of a hyperspectral imaging system to detect low-level contamination of food products. Here, Dr Griffin discusses how her research could be applied to prevent food wastage.
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Highlights from the UK AMR Strategy
February 22, 2019
Last year the Microbiology Society submitted a joint response with the Society for Applied Microbiology (SfAM) to the Health and Social Care Select Committee’s inquiry into antimicrobial resistance. On the 24th January 2019, the UK government launched its strategy to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR). In this blog we highlight key points in the UK AMR Strategy and research priorities.
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Does the cattle gut microbiome affect methane output?
November 28, 2018
The need to feed an ever growing global population while also being required to limit the negative impacts on the environment associated with livestock production is a major challenge for global agriculture. Methane originating from ruminant livestock production is responsible for nearly 40% of global agriculture’s emissions, with cattle identified as the main contributor.
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Could the gut microbiome influence livestock growth?
October 24, 2018
Dr Stafford Vigors is a researcher at Teagasc, a Food Research Centre in Ashtown, Dublin. At the 2018 Microbes and Mucosal Surfaces Focused Meeting, Stafford presented his research ‘Analysis of the intestinal microbiome of pigs divergent in feed efficiency.’ Here, he explains how differences in the gut microbiome could improve - or hinder - pig growth on farms.
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Spotlight on Grants: A search for prions in yeast
October 13, 2016
Each year, the Microbiology Society awards a number of grants that enable undergraduates to work on microbiological research projects during the summer vacation. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be posting a series of articles from students who were awarded Harry Smith Vacation Studentships this summer. This week is Alister Brown, a third-year Biomedical Science student at the University of Kent.
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On the Horizon: Xylella fastidiosa
July 26, 2016
It’s not just humans and animals that are affected by emerging diseases. In this latest addition to the On the Horizon series, we learn about a poorly understood bacterium that causes significant hardships to farmers across the world.