Celebrity Gail Porter joined Rector Fred MacAulay to launch the university's newest degree - Sports Biomedicine. The new degree, which gets off the starting blocks in October 2002, builds on the university's excellence in teaching anatomy and physiology - rated first in the UK this year - combined with its top quality sports expertise and facilities. It will provide graduates with a distinctive Dundee degree soundly founded on understanding the medical science behind sports and fitness.

The University opened its latest state-of-the-art computer suite with 166 PCs the refurbished Tower basement. The new facility allows students longer access hours to computing facilities and introduces a new CD writer enabling students to save four years of work on one CD.

Aktina is the latest start up company from the University which will commercialise a technology with vast potential across a range of applications including optical circuit boards, liquid crystal displays and gas sensors. The company is driven by Dr Alex Deas, Derek Douglas and Lynne Falconer who join Professor James Cairns on the Board of Directors as they set out to secure first round funding.

The University music society staged a 24 hour production of the Mikado to introduce first year musical talent to the University. Directed by music co-ordinator Graeme Stevenson, the students started rehearsals at 7pm on Friday to prepare for curtain call at 7pm on Saturday evening.

Cultured chicken cells and fertilised eggs could soon replace mice in a range of laboratory experiments, according to scientists, from Nottingham and Dundee Universities, UMIST and the Roslin Institute. The team are planning to put together a chicken 'gene catalogue' that will allow scientists to knock out individual genes in cultured chicken cells in order to help establish gene function.

Professor Geoffrey Barton was appointed to the Chair of Bioinformatics at the Scottish Informatics Mathematics Biology and Statistics Centre - a joint venture in mathematical and computational modelling between the Universities of Dundee and Abertay, Dundee.

Professor Seth and Dr Ana Schor are developing a new treatment with funding from the USA which will hold new hope for patients with diabetes who risk amputations of toes or feet. Diabetics are 16 times more likely to face amputations, but the husband and wife team have discovered a novel molecule, Migration Stimulating Factor (MSF) involved in wound healing and such is the optimism surrounding their discovery and the quality of their research that they have received a grant of £600,000 from the American National Institutes of Health to develop a treatment based on it.

Scotland's three traditional north east universities welcomed a joint £2.25 million boost to commercial spin out activity with the success of their triple consortium bid to the University Challenge Fund. The Universities of Dundee, Aberdeen and St Andrews together scooped almost half of the £4.6 million in awards to Scotland's universities and colleges, with their plans to establish a seed fund of venture capital to springboard technology transfer mainly in the biomedical and life sciences.

The Department of Applied Computing was awarded top marks by the Quality Assurance Agency in its academic review and was judged worthy of a rare and coveted extra award: "exemplary" recognition for its support of students with special needs.

Three scientists at the University of Dundee were named in the UK's top 20. The University of Dundee was the only Scottish base to figure in the table. The three - all biomedical scientists were Sir Philip Cohen (6th), Sir David Lane (7th) and Professor Peter Downes (14th).

HEARTS (Heart disease Evidence-based Audit and Research in Tayside, Scotland) Collaboration publicly announced plans to help doctors reduce the number of Scots dying prematurely from heart disease. "In Tayside alone, almost 10,000 people have suffered a heart attack, " said Frank Sullivan, Professor of Research and Development in Primary Care at the University and leader of the HEARTS Collaboration. "The development of an accurate database, together with clear evidence of which medical treatments and lifestyle advice best helps these patients, will mean that we can potentially save one life every day in Tayside."

Another young scientist at the University of Dundee was awarded the British Biochemical society's top award for research bringing the University of Dundee's Colworth medal winners to a total of eight. Dr Tom Owen-Hughes became the latest Dundee winner of the Colworth medal for his work on chromatin re-modelling. The medal is awarded annually to a British biochemist under the age of 36 for outstanding research achievement.

Over 50 guests gathered for the launch of the newly refurbished prayer rooms at the Dundee University Islamic Society (DUIS) after a six month £9,000 renovation project.

Cancer scientists from all over the world flocked to the University for a conference on a single protein which has the potential power to combat cancer. Professor Sir David Lane chaired the conference on Mdm2 which drew some of cancer research's biggest international names including keynote speaker Karen Vousden from Maryland, USA and Jan-Michael Peters from Vienna.

In recognition of the scientific excellence of the Medical Research Council Protein Phosphorylation Unit at the University, the Council increased the Unit's funding by £3 million bringing its budget for 5 years to almost £7.5 million.

Psychologists at the University showcased a range of their diverse research projects from infant studies and learning to read, to the effects of head injuries and ageing, when they formally celebrated the opening of the department's new £1 million research wing. Key members of the department, which was rated "excellent" in the most recent teaching assessment exercise, demonstrated to guests current projects from each of the four key areas on which its reputation has been built - language and literacy acquisition, social and cognitive development, perception and action and cognitive neuroscience and biopsychology.

The University of Dundee doubled the number of its top scoring departments in the Research Assessment Exercise and now has 95% of researchers working in areas of international and national excellence. One quarter of research staff are now working in departments rated 5 star - the highest rating for international excellence. Half are working in grade 5 and above.

Departments rated 5 star or 5 have increased from four to eight. They are:

• Biological sciences 5* (five star)
• Clinical laboratory sciences 5* (five star)
• Hospital based clinical subjects 5
• Clinical dentistry 5
• Applied Mathematics 5
• Civil engineering 5
• Law 5
• History 5

Senate made a landmark decision to change to a system of semesterisation and modularisation.The move will mean greater flexibility for students who will be able to mix and match courses more easily across disciplines; ease of articulation with schools and colleges and to maximise collaboration with other universities including our partners, St Andrews; as well as a more coherent and consistent internal academic structure.

The University of Dundee's unique contribution to medical education in Africa was recognised at a special ceremony in Nairobi when Principal Sir Alan Langlands conferred degrees on 14 students who have completed their studies through distance learning with the University of Dundee.

Dr. Peter Willatts, Senior Lecturer in Development Psychology told the Milupa Infant Nutrition global conference: "LCPs and infant nutrition - can we improve current practice?" of the long-term importance of Long Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (LCPs) in the diet during infancy. (LCPs are naturally present in breast milk and available from food sources such as oily fish). Dr. Willatts discussed a new and unique study, involving 150 children, which had been conducted following a scientific investigation known as the Munich Workshop1 on the role of LCPs during pregnancy, lactation and early life.

The Centre for High-resolution Imaging and Processing (CHIPs) was opened in the School of Life Sciences to house powerful electron microscopes allowing scientists to look so closely at cells that they will be able to see not only cell structures but details on the proteins and viruses that maybe inside them. This close examination will allow scientists to study healthy cells, compare them with defective cells and draw conclusions for diseases such as cancer. These new facilities will be used by scientists in Dundee and visiting scientists from all over the UK who require the specialised equipment.

The University's first spin out company in the creative arts held a symposium called Heaven and Earth to explore the role of artists, designers and architects in shaping perceptions of our environment. Matthew Dalziel and Louise Scullion asked participants how can we challenge urban and consumer perceptions of 'nature'and how can our creative communities help to form more sustainable models of society now, and in the future.

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