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Fuelling the Fire: On How Obesity Promotes Disease - 2008 Prize Lectures

Professor Steve Shoelson, a renowned expert in the field of diabetes, will deliver the Foundation's 2008 Prize Lecture at the Royal Society of Edinburgh at 5.30pm on Monday, 26 May and again in the University of Dundee at 4.00pm on Wednesday, 28 May. He describes his lecture, which will consider links between obesity and diabetes, as follows:

Throughout human history, food availability has fluctuated and survival during periods of famine has been possible due to nutrients stored in adipose tissue. More recently, there has been a major change in this pattern, with sustained increases in food availability and concurrent decreases in physical activity. The conseequent eipdemic in obesity has been accompanied by dramatic upswings in the prevalence of serious illnesses including diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and even cancer. Recent biomedical research advances provide potential explanations as to why weight gain is so unhealthy. Surprising new findings suggest the body's own immunological defence mechanisms are responsible, thus providing potential pharamacological interventions to supplement the more obvious avenues of diet and exercise.

The Lectures are open to all and free of charge, but by ticket only. Follow this link to order tickets.

European Visiting Fellowships in the Humanities 2008 Awarded

The Foundation has just awarded eight Visiting Fellowships which will enable Humanities scholars to spend short periods of time carrying out research in countries throughout Europe. They have been awarded as follows:

Visits from European countries to Scotland

Professor Samantha Besson, University of Freibourg, to visit the School of Law, University of Glasgow
Dr Jan Jozef Dumolyn Vlaanderen, Foundation for Scientific Research, Flanders, to visit the Department of History, University of Glasgow
Dr Jean-Francois Dunyach, University Paris-Sorbonne Paris IV, to visit the Department of History, University of Strathclyde
Dr Susan Foran, Trinity College Dublin, to visit the School of History & Classics, University of Edinburgh

Visits from Scotland to other European countries

Mr Roland Dannreuther, Department of Politics, University of Edinburgh, to visit the Centre etudes Asie, Paris
Dr Tarcisio Gazzini, School of Law, University of Glasgow, to visit the Graduate Institure of International Studies, Geneva
Professor Dina Iordanova, Department of Film Studies, University of St Andrerws, to visit the Department of Film Studies, Sorbonne Nouvell (Paris 3)
Professor C. A Jeffery, School of Social & Political Studies, University of Edinburgh, to visit the Department of Political & Social Sciences, European University Institute, Florence

Biomedical Research Fellowships 2007-2010 Awarded

In the summer of 2007, the Foundation awarded two, three-year Biomedical Research Fellowships for work in the biomedical field. The recipients are as follows:

Dr Alan L. Parker (BHF Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre, University of Glasgow), for his project entitled "Developing optimised adenoviral vectors for in vivo gene delivery and therapy".
Dr Pleasantine C. Mill (MRC Human Genetics Unit, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh), for her project entitled "Phenotypic and molecular characterisation of novel ENU mouse mutants affecting hedgehog signalling during development and disease".