Gastrointestinal cancers, including oesophagus, stomach and colon, are among the top ten cancers worldwide. Minimally invasive surgery of early gastrointestinal cancer and other digestive diseases offer important advantages compared to traditional open surgery in terms of reduced trauma and faster patient recovery. However, there are several limitations to current endoscopes including distal force transmission, triangulation of instruments, lack of bimanual tissue manipulations and visual-spatial orientation. Thus interventional endoscopy requires considerable experience and involves complex and time-consuming workflows. As a result, a sizeable amount of endoscopic interventions fail to reach the end of the colon and the small intestine because of their tortuous nature. Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, endoscopy units nationwide have been struggling with capacity to perform gastrointestinal endoscopies resulting in a delay to diagnosis and treatment, impacting patient morbidity and mortality. Improving access to flexible endoscopy for diagnosis and treatment, and facilitating its deployment safely and affordably, should therefore be a priority and is a pressing clinical need. This research aims to transform early diagnosis and minimally invasive intervention of the gastrointestinal tract, including the small intestine. To this end we will develop the underlying technology necessary to achieve autonomous self-propelled locomotion for the next generation of soft robotic endoscopes. Departing from the conventional push-endoscopy paradigm will reduce the discomfort associated to early diagnosis and will allow endoscopists who are less skilled in therapeutic procedures, outside secondary or tertiary care, to perform endoluminal and potentially transluminal surgery. Our focus on affordability aims to address the growing demand for single-use medical devices driven by infectious diseases, and to reduce the financial barriers that are preventing the wider use of surgical robotics in low-income countries.

Rice is a mainstay of global food security. Drought stress is a primary limitation to rice yields and is projected to worsen in the future due to the effects of global climate change. The development of rice cultivars with better drought tolerance is therefore an important strategic goal for global food security. This project addresses this need by developing Rhizo-rice, new rice lines that have root traits that permit them to have both improved soil exploration and more efficient water capture under drought conditions. Rhizo-rice lines will have 1) steeper root growth angles, 2) fewer major roots, 3) greater root branching in deep soil, 4) increased formation of root air spaces (aerenchyma), which reduces the cost of root tissue, and 5) smaller water conductance vessels (xylem), which forces the plant to use soil water more sparingly. It is hypothesized that these traits will have much more value in combination than would be predicted from their isolated effects. This project will evaluate the benefits of Rhizo-rice lines in the field and computer simulation modelling and will discover genetic elements controlling Rhizo-rice root traits. Furthermore, we will evaluate these root traits in rice breeding lines in use in Thailand and will train Thai scientists in methods to incorporate root traits in rice breeding programs. This project integrates leading rice researchers and breeders in Thailand, leading crop physiologists in the UK and at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, and leading root modelers in the UK. We will investigate how different root architectures and drought conditions affect rice growth by measuring features of the root system in rice plants grown in different conditions. By recording the number, length and angle of different types of roots and taking microscopy images of the root structures, we will test how these features affect drought tolerance. These measurements will be complemented by computational modelling, which will enable us to test many different root structures and drought conditions. We have previously developed computational models to simulate root growth in maize, barley, common bean, lupin and squash. We will adapt these models to simulate rice root growth, which will enable us to predict the best type of root growth to maximise water uptake in drought conditions. Finally, we will determine which genes are responsible for creating the desirable root structures. We will use recently developed techniques to analyse the genes and root structures in many different varieties of rice, which will enable us to identify suitable varieties for maximising drought tolerance. This project will generate several tools to facilitate the breeding of more drought tolerant rice lines. It will validate specific root traits as selection targets in rice breeding; will discover genetic markers for these traits; will identify sources for desirable root traits in rice germplasm, and will enhance the ability of Thai scientists to create a team for breeding rice lines with superior root traits.

Animal experimental design to study the role of phage therapy in acute-non typhoidal Salmonellosis Co-investigator: Dr. Parameth Thiennimitr, M.D.,Ph.D. Address: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University Species of animal: 6-8 weeks old female mouse (Mus musculus) C57BL6 strain Protocol (in brief): C57BL/6 mice will be purchased from Nomura Siam International. Mice will be acclimatized for at least 1 week before the experiment day. 24 hour before Salmonella enterica Typhimurium (strain IR715) infection, mouse will be orally gavaged with 20 mg streptomycin sulphate to allow subsequent STM IR715 to establish a colitis. Streptomycin-treated mice will be orally infected with 100 microlitr of 109 cfu/ml STM IR715 solution. Then, 100 microlitr of Salmonella phage solution will be orally gavaged to the infected mice for consecutively 3 days. On day 4 post infection, mice will be euthanized by CO2 and cervical dislocation. Mouse colon content, colon, spleen will be collected for further analysis. Control group (no treatment) of mice will be orally fed with normal saline solution as used as a vehicle for the experimental (phage therapy) groups. Animal protocol approval committee: All animal experiments conduct at Chiang Mai University will be approved by the Chiang Mai University Animal Care and Use Committee (CMU-ACUC). All animal experiments will be performed in the AAALAC-certified biosafety level (BSL) 2 facility located in Chiang Mai University. Numbers of animal in each group is 7. [Calculated followed Bernard, R. (2000). Fundamentals of biostatistics (5th ed). Duxbery: Thomson learning, 308, level of significance = 0.05)]

The goal of the Thai-coast project is to improve scientific understanding of the vulnerability of Thailand's shoreline and coastal communities to hydro-meteorological hazards, including storms, floods and coastal erosion, under future climate change scenarios. In Thailand the problems of coastal erosion and flooding require immediate solutions because they affect more than 11 million people living in coastal zone communities (17% of the country's population). The Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR), in the Thai Government's Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, has calculated that each year erosion causes Thailand to lose 30 km2 of coastal land. The Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning predicts that sea level will rise by 1 metre in the next 40 -100 years, impacting at least 3,200 km2 of coastal land, through erosion and flooding, at a potential financial cost to Thailand of 3 billion baht [almost £70 million] over that time period. The Thai-coast project addresses the urgent need to enhance the resilience and adaptation potential of coastal communities, applying scientific research to inform more robust and cost-effective governance and institutional arrangements. The Thai-coast project aims to (i) establish causal links between climate change, coastal erosion and flooding; (ii) use this information to assess the interaction of natural and social processes in order to (iii) enhance coastal community resilience and future sustainability. The project focuses on two study areas, Nakhon Si Thammarat province and Krabi province, selected on the basis of DMCR coastal erosion data and with contrasting natural and socio-economic characteristics. The Thai-coast project uses a multidisciplinary approach, integrating climate science, geomorphology, socio-economics, health and wellbeing science and geo-information technology to improve understanding of hydro-meteorological hazard occurrence, their physical and socioeconomic, health and wellbeing impacts on Thailand's coastal zone and the ways in which governance and institutional arrangements mitigate their impact. We will examine future scenarios of climate change hydrometeorology, coastal landform and land use change scenarios and assess and model impacts (coastal erosion, river-marine flooding, impacts on health and well-being), as well as population and community's adaptation, and socio-economics scenarios for sustainable development goals (sustainable cities, health-related quality of life and well-being, good governance). Our collaborative team of natural and social scientists, from UK, US and Thai research institutions, have complementary, cutting-edge expertise and will work closely with Thai Government and UK and Thai industry partners to ensure that results are policy and practice-relevant. Thai-coast research will benefit government and policy makers, who need to plan for potential impacts caused by climate change and develop resilient strategies to deal with their impacts on natural-social systems. It will provide a link with government agencies for business/industry interests in the coastal zone of Thailand in tourism, aquaculture and associated industry and business, to assess their needs and help improve their understanding of coastal resilience in their strategic investments and management. The wider public, who inhabit Thailand's coastal communities either permanently or temporarily for work or leisure, will benefit through the advanced knowledge and awareness of identified problems and learning processes to address them. The results of the Thai-coast project will benefit coastal communities more broadly, in all Thai coastal provinces, through its contribution to more robust, cost effective, governance and institutional arrangements.

The World Health Organisation says that there are about 100 million people globally who need prosthetic or orthotic (P&O) services and as populations age, more than two billion people are expected to require health-related assistive devices by 2030. In the UK the Disabled Living Foundation estimates that 6.5 million people live with mobility disablement, with many reliant on P&O services, including an estimated two million orthotic users. In parts of the developing world the aftermath of conflict, such as land mines, and greater rates of traumatic injuries from accidents, means there is a growing need for prosthetics and orthotics for younger people living in poor social and economic circumstances. Often they need P&O devices to stay at work and sustain their families. Poor devices, services and access to these contravene their basic human rights. In the context of this need, we want to establish the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in P&O. This will address the national, and global, shortage of suitably skilled engineers and scientists to become future innovators in P&O technologies. Current academia, industry and care centres have limited researchers, and research activity has lagged behind rapid technology advancements. The Centre will support a minimum of 58 doctoral students whose studies will enable them to become leaders of the future. The Centre will bring together the only two P&O undergraduate education facilities in the UK (Salford and Strathclyde) with P&O research centres of excellence at Imperial College and the University of Southampton. Our vision is for the Centre to become the national and global leader in P&O research training, and the translation of research into innovation that impacts on the lives of people each day, in developed and developing countries. The Centre will work to support training for students from low and middle-income countries (LMIC). Our students will be immersed in industry and real-world experiences which will equip them to lead the P&O sector across technology, social or economic contexts. Our aims are to: 1. Develop a new model of P&O research training and translation of research into innovation. In addition to the doctoral training, this will result in Master's programmes operating across Institutions. 2. Produce ambitious PhD research projects that will be grounded in real-world challenges, but at the cutting-edge of new biomedical science and technologies. 3. Produce a significant impact on the UK P&O industry sector by leading innovation. 4. Have an international impact by attracting an increasing number of CDT students from overseas. 5. Establish a P&O student society which will have matured into a lasting doctoral community with international reach. 6. To have a significant impact on the training of doctoral candidates from LMIC. 7. Attract additional external funding for P&O research. Creating a new generation of P&O research leaders will, over time, have a significant economic, societal and health impact. For users, it will mean access to improved generations of assistive devices which will match the users' needs resulting in a better quality of life. Clinical services will benefit from improved service data, superior products and improved user outcomes. For industry, it will open up new market opportunities, nationally and globally. For the students themselves, they will have access to careers that have a real purpose, enabling them and their future teams to make a difference in the lives of people with disabilities.