In Brief

Imperial nets £1.1m
Imperial College received a £1.1m boost under a new initiative to promote higher education and business links.

The jointly funded DfEE and DTI project, run by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) invited institutions to put forward ideas to strengthen partnerships between the business and academic worlds.

Imperial is one of 85 successful applicants to gain from the Higher Education Reach Out to Business and the Community (HEROBIC) Fund, launched in June 1999.

Innovative research pays dividends
Two Imperial College scientists have netted part of a £2m award for projects of outstanding ingenuity.

ICSTM's Dr K Long and Dr I Liubarsky, department of physics, will benefit from the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council's Opportunity Scheme for designing new neutrino factories. A total of 11 projects were selected out of 115 applications.

Professor Ian Halliday, chief executive of PPARC said: "The scientists who have won these research awards are those

whose proposals stand out for their originality and international scientific quality. We aim to encourage British scientists who we hope will be the Nobel prize winners of the future."

Honorary degrees
James Hunter Whitelaw, professor of convective heat transfer, received a DSc from Trinity College, Dublin.

One of six honorary graduates to sign the Roll before being admitted by Trinity's chancellor, Mrs Mary Robinson, Professor Whitelaw's oration said he had 'pioneered new methods of measurement.'

HIV 'calling card' discovered by ICSM researchers
Division of investigative science researchers based at the Hammersmith campus report details of an important new blood test which can identify 'hidden' HIV, in this month's Nature Medicine.

The test can detect a hidden virus that can remain in the body after standard treatment with three anti-Aids drugs, known as 'triple-therapy,' has stopped all viral replication in the blood.

The IC team, led by Dr Sunil Shaunak, reader in infectious diseases, discovered an HIV 'calling card' made of loops of waste viral DNA in white blood cells - discarded after the virus has replicated - which reveals that the virus has gone to ground in some hidden part of the body.