First Genome Sequenced
University of Exeter press release
A team of scientists based in Penryn has conducted the first genome sequencing in Cornwall. Scientists from the University of Exeter's Tremough Campus worked with colleagues from the University of Bath and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute to sequence the genome of a disease-carrying bacterium.
Photorhabdus asymbiotica is a bacterium, which has been found in North America and Australia, and causes infections in wounds. The team compared Photorhabdus asymbiotica with its close relative Photorhabdus luminescens, which can also cause infections in insects, but is not known to infect humans. The purpose of the study was to try to understand more about how these pathogens infect humans and insects.
To sequence the genome, the research team used the laboratory on the University of Exeter's Tremough Campus, which has the only genetics research laboratory in Cornwall. The study is now published in the academic journal BMC Genomics.
Led by Paul Wilkinson, the team also included Professor Richard ffrench-Constant. Both scientists have historic links to Cornwall. Mr Wilkinson's grandmother was originally from a tin mining family in St Austell. Born and brought up in Cornwall, Professor ffrench-Constant has lived and worked all over the world. He now lives in Feock, where his house overlooks the home of his grandfather, Dr Charles Frederick ffrench-Constant, who was the first Radiographer at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro. Both academics moved to Cornwall to work with the University of Exeter on the Tremough Campus.
Paul Wilkinson, who works in the University of Exeter's School of Biosciences on the Tremough Campus said: "I feel very privileged to be involved in the cutting-edge scientific research that is conducted at the Tremough campus. I think the local community is entitled to feel very proud of the achievements that are being made right here in Cornwall and I hope it inspires the next generation of Cornish scientists to realise that Cornwall is a great place to do science."
The £100 million Tremough Campus is a Combined Universities in Cornwall initiative Ĵof which the University of Exeter and University College Falmouth are two of the founding partners. It is funded mainly by the European Union (Objective One), the South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall County Council. Set in 70 acres of countryside, but close to the waterside towns of Penryn and Falmouth, the campus offers a lively student community. The University of Exeter now offers degrees in Biology, Modern Celtic and Cornish Studies, English, Geology, Geography, History, Law, Mining Engineering, Politics and Renewable Energy on its Tremough Campus, which has expanded rapidly as part of the Combined Universities in Cornwall initiative.