Aberystwyth University receives royal honour for parasite research
Aberystwyth University vice-chancellor Prof Jon Timmis receives the award from the Queen.
Scientists from Aberystwyth University have been recognised during a ceremony at Buckingham Palace for their work on One Health parasite research.
The Queen’s Anniversary Prize celebrated the work of scientists at the University’s Department of Life Sciences, which have been been investigating a group of parasitic flatworms which cause disease in livestock and humans.
The flatworms can cause livestock to develop the devastating disease known as fasciolosis, which affects more than 300 million cattle and 250 million sheep across the world. This costs the agriculture industry over £2.5 billion each year.
It can also cause the tropical disease schistosomiasis in humans. The disease, spread through contaminated fresh water, kills an estimated 12,000 people and infects more than 200 million individuals each year.
The Queen’s Anniversary Prizes are awarded every two years as part of the British Honours system, and recognise outstanding work that benefits the wider world. Run by the Royal Anniversary Trust, they are the highest honours that can be awarded to further and higher education institutions in the UK.
Queen Camilla presented the award to the university’s vice-chancellor Professor Jon Timmis at a ceremony held at Buckingham Palace on Thursday, 22 February.
Prof Jon Timmis said: “It was a great honour to receive the prize from Her Majesty The Queen on behalf of the University. I am so proud that the pioneering work by our scientists is being recognised in this way.”
He added: “Our academics have been studying these parasites for more than a century, analysing their complex lifecycles and host interactions to an unprecedented level of detail and identifying vulnerabilities which can be targeted by new vaccines or drugs. I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to all those involved in this research, both past and present.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak congratulated the winners, writing: “As your work shows, there is some extraordinary work taking place in British colleges and universities today – and it is being conducted in a spirit of inquiry, public good and a quest for knowledge.
“So let me thank all the Queen’s Anniversary Prize winners for everything you are doing.”
Image © Aberystwyth University
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