Discovery Days 2008

The University's newest and brightest academic stars will be providing a sparkling start to the New Year as they line up for the fifth annual Discovery Days in January.

Around 30 new professors from across all four university colleges will share their passion and expert knowledge in a series of mini-lectures designed to showcase the leading-edge research currently being carried out in Dundee.

Lasting only 15 minutes each, the presentations give a fascinating glimpse into the minds and work of some of the university's top thinkers and pose the experts themselves with the considerable challenge of explaining their work in a quick, accessible and entertaining format.

This year's dynamic two day programme features subjects as varied as genetics, family health, contemporary art, child welfare, product design, drug discoveries, coastal erosion, biomechanics, World War Two history and the links between malaria and the humble potato.

Mike Gilson, Editor of the Scotsman newspaper, will join the discussions this year when he chairs the afternoon sessions on Thursday while Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini will be in the chair for on Friday afternoon.

"After five years Discovery Days continue to excite and inspire," said University Principal Sir Alan Langlands. "This year's programme offers a first class opportunity to meet the university's newest talents and discover new ideas, synergies and opportunities for collaboration."

The 2008 Discovery Days will take place at the New Teaching Block at Old Hawkhill on Thursday January 10 and Friday January 11.

Admission is free and all are welcome to attend. A full programme and tickets are available at www.dundee.ac.uk/principalsoffice/discoverydays2008.html

Session 01 Thursday 10 January 10.00 - 12.00
Featuring presentations by:

• Christopher Barratt- When a sperm meets an egg the excitement starts ...
• Claire Halpin - Thinking outside the box
• Aidan Day - English interpreting the world
• Andrew Hopkins - Engineering serendipity
• Nigel Johnson - Interactive art: a practioner's perspective

Session 02 Thursday 10 January 1.00 - 3.00pm
Chaired by Mike Gilson, Editor of The Scotsman
Featuring presentations by:

• Susan Schweiger- From clinical genetics into neuroscience: novel strategies to cure neurogenerative disorders
• Paul Birch - Looking at malaria through the eyes of the humble potato
• Kate Storey - Making the nervous system
• Peter Gregor - From clean teeth to nuclear meltdown: interaction design in the bathroom and elsewhere
• Tracy Mackenna - Out of the comfort zone

Session 03 Thursday 10 January 3.00 - 5.15pm
Chaired by Mike Gilson, Editor of The Scotsman
Featuring presentations by:

• Timothy Broyd - Innovation in construction - the role of the Scottish Construction Centre
• Bruce Guthrie - Making primary medical care better
• Julie Taylor - Safeguarding children: kingdom to kingdom
• David Bearn - Straight teeth - straight talking
• Jason Swedlow - Making two from one - life as a voyeur of cell division
• John Brown - RNA and the complexity of gene expression

Session 04 Friday 11 January 10.00am to 12.00
Featuring presentations by:

• Tom Owen-Hughes - Unravelling the nucleosome
• David Collison - Anglo-American accounting and finance: good for business, bad for society?
• Inke Nathke - From molecules to tissue architecture
• David Ricketts - To drill or not to drill
• Neil Perkins - When good proteins turn bad: the different faces of NF-kappaB

Session 05 Friday 11 January 1.00 - 3.00
Guest Chair: Elish Angiolini QC, Lord Advocate

• Chak Sing Lau - Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?
• Vikki Entwhistle - Health care responsibilities and relationships
• Ping Dong - Where has all the sediment gone?
• Emanuele Trucco - Machina Videns: wonders and challenges of computer vision
• Tracy Palmer - Guided missiles: how bacteria secrete proteins

Session 06 Friday 11 January 3.30 to 5.15
Guest Chair: Elish Angiolini QC, Lord Advocate
Featuring presentations by:

• Perry Wilson - Fractured memories: Italian women in the Second World War
• Tomo Tanaka - Chromosome acrobatics
• Frank Sargent - Can't live without oxygen? Bacteria can do it but it's a complex business
• Rami Abboud - Biomechanics: art, science or both?
• Helen Colhoun - Unravelling the genetic causes of diabetic kidney disease