Researchers at WMG at the University of Warwick have devised a high tech watermark that can be added to plastic products as they are created to prevent counterfeiting.

As the watermark is created as an intrinsic part of the plastic as it is moulded, it would require very detailed technical knowledge and equipment to replicate it.

Professor Gordon Smith from WMG said the new technology could be of significant interest to a range of manufacturers to prevent piracy in products like DVD s and plastic containers used by a range of consumer industries.

For more details see the University of Warwick.

A vaccine against a fatal strain of salmonella could be developed thanks to research led by Dr Calman MacLennan from the University of Birmingham.

His research team has discovered a protective salmonella-specific antibody that develops in African children that may help them to fight nontyphoidal salmonella, which can kill up to a quarter of infants under two-years-old in parts of the developing world.

Dr Calman MacLennan, who carried out the work while working for the Universities of Liverpool and Malawi, hopes the study will help to develop a vaccine or a treatment for the disease.

 For more details see the University of Birmingham.  

Businesses are being challenged to improve their innovation strategy with the help of design experts at Coventry University.

The university’s design hub wants businesses to get in touch with them so staff can help in developing innovation strategies for firms.

The Design Hub is leading the way in responding to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills’ new white paper Innovation Nation, which has called for sharing of knowledge between the public and private sectors.

Innovation challenge project manager Julia Stew said: “We’re inviting businesses across the West Midlands to get in touch to find out how we can help them to develop their innovation strategy.  We can help with concept development, industrial design, graphic design and initial prototyping.”

For more details see Coventry University. 

Ever wanted to understand more about the human body and the latest treatments for illnesses without the need to spend five years at med school?

Birmingham University has come up with a solution with the first mini-medical school to be run in the UK.

A series of two-hour sessions over the 10-week course will tackle some of the major topics in medicine in a fun and accessible way, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, psychiatric disorders and communication between doctors and patients.

For more information see Birmingham University. 

A group of experts tackling obesity have called for more widespread action across society to tackle a growing crisis.

The group of experts from Birmingham University have called for more to be done in areas like transport policy, town planning, education and access to sport to encourage a healthier lifestyles.

The group is focusing on developing research that looks to tackle obesity across our entire lifespan.

For more see Birmingham University.

A panel of top car experts decides who has designed the best car to win the ideasforlife.tv Fast Forward competition.

Groups of students from three schools have spent the last two months designing their own car from scratch, with the help of advice from experts from across the West Midlands, as part of the challenge.

It’s the last lap of the contest where the students pitch their designs to the panel of judges in their bid to win the title.

The benefits of using virtual world technology for learning are to be studied in a research project at Birmingham City University.

The Learning in Virtual Environments, LiVE, project will see students undertake film production exercises, using the internet-based virtual world Second Life.

The study is led by Birmingham City University’s Technology Innovation Centre (TIC), together with the University’s Learning Technology Development Unit and technology partner, Daden Ltd, a leading specialist in virtual environments. The project is funded by the regional development agency, Advantage West Midlands, through its interactive digital media initiative, which promotes the use of new digital technology.

For more see Birmingham City University. 

Aston University’s Professor Yvonne Perrie has been announced as the 2007 winner of the prestigious British Pharmaceutical Conference science medal, primarily for her work in improving the delivery of drugs using minute particles called liposomes.

The science medal is awarded annually to a scientist working in a pharmaceutical or related discipline who has produced work of outstanding promise and has demonstrated a proven track record of independent research.

Her research has been applied to improve the potency of drugs while reducing their side-effects and in particular to enhancing the effect of vaccines to protect against a range of infectious diseases.

For more details see Aston University. 

A three-year project to find an effective treatment for tennis elbow is set to start at Keele University.

The study will test the effectiveness of a form of electrical nerve stimulation treatment.

For more details see Keele University.