Professor Andreas Jüttner from the University of Southampton says that "exciting new physics may be just around the corner" in accepting a prestigious five-year placement at CERN.

The Professor of Theoretical Physics in the Southampton High Energy Physics Group will lead a team of international researchers in the Lattice Group of the CERN Theory Department.

Professor Jüttner will remain affiliated with the University of Southampton during his time at the European Council for Nuclear Research (CERN) and hopes the connection will help foster new collaborations between the organisations.

CERN is one of the world's largest and most respected centres for scientific research. Its renowned facilities included the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider.

Recent experimental results around the globe have created a growing list of anomalies that are at tension with the Standard Model of particle physics, hinting that new research could soon transform our understanding of the universe.

"I am delighted to be joining CERN during such an exciting time in my field," Professor Jüttner says. "Experiments are bringing to light a number of novel and unexpected puzzles that might point the way towards new discoveries. The coming years represent an incredible opportunity as we find out whether those findings are just statistical fluctuations or that new physics may indeed be around the corner.

"It is very prestigious for Southampton's School of Physics and Astronomy to have staff that are offered these unique opportunities. It will provide increased visibility and recognition in the coming years. Having a direct link to CERN will enable Southampton to benefit from the research and impact I am making and the novel collaborations that I will be able to establish."

The University has strong connections with CERN and its undergraduate physics students have the opportunity to spend their fourth year of study working on a research project at CERN.

Professor Jüttner is Director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Next Generation Computational Modelling. He is a founding member of the Flavour Lattice Averaging Group (FLAG) where he is currently on the Editorial Board.

His research focuses on understanding the fundamental constituents of matter. He is particularly interested in the theory of strong interactions that describes how quarks and gluons interact to form mesons and baryons, such as protons, which make up visible matter.

The research addresses many unresolved questions in high energy physics such as why there is more matter than anti-matter in the universe and how the universe began. The results help understanding experimental findings coming in from the experimental facilities like CERN’s Large Hadron Collider.

Professor Jüttner has previously spent time at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, as a CERN Fellow in the Theory Department. He returned to Southampton on an European Research Council Starting Grant in 2012. He will take up his new post at CERN in June.

Inspirational lectures delivered by physicists from the University of Southampton are setting Italian school pupils on a pathway to pioneering scientific careers.

Leading experts at Southampton’s School of Physics and Astronomy are supporting the international Academy of Distinction (AoD) programme, which invites secondary schools’ top performing students to expand their knowledge in a range of disciplines.

Dr Elena Accomando of the Southampton High Energy Physics theory group has partnered with the University of Pavia to deliver the AoD School of Physics. The institute, which was launched in 2020, is expected to be accessed by hundreds of 16 and 17-year-olds in the coming years.

The AoD consists of monthly online lectures and coordinated group activities that boost learning and engagement between sessions. A week-long summer school hosted by the University of Southampton is being planned to complete the programme.

Dr Accomando says: “At the AoD School of Physics, brilliant and highly motivated students work together to boost their talents by addressing advanced topics that are not part of the standard school curriculum. Our philosophy is to reach a diverse cohort of outstanding minds from state and international schools and give them the opportunity to feed their curiosity, letting it grow in a stimulating environment.”

The AoD School of Physics was opened with a series of lectures on quantum mechanics by Southampton’s Professor Nick Evans. Dr Accomando’s continuing series is taking pupils on an interactive journey through the mysteries of the sub-nuclear world.

Around 50 secondary schools have enrolled in the scheme, providing the opportunity to nominate their best students for selection in the different AoD disciplines. In this first pilot year, the AoD School of Physics has a cohort of 12 Italian school pupils selected from the 87 nominations.

The number of connected secondary schools is projected to reach 5,000 in the coming years, directing hundreds of talented pupils into the AoD physics programme.

Dr Accomando says: “We want to open our doors for talented international students to pursue a challenging, formative path to meet their highest expectations and hopes.”

Cutting-edge physics, astronomy and mathematics research will be developed into disruptive new technologies through support from an embedded innovation fellow at the University of Southampton.

Professor Mark Sullivan, Head of Physics and Astronomy, has been awarded around £300,000 from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) for a four-year fellowship position in the Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation Scheme (KEC).

The new fellow will increase researchers' engagement and collaborative working with industry, while strengthening the commercial potential of STFC-funded research.

Southampton has a strong track record of industrial, medical and third-sector impact from its activities in the School of Physics and Astronomy.

Spin-out company Symetrica is breaking new ground in the field of radiation detection, identification and homeland security, while astronomical image processing developed from research is being adapted to provide early detection of skin cancer in the MoleGazer project.

Professor Sullivan says: "The Southampton environment is exceptionally conducive to knowledge exchange and commercialisation work, with a vibrant spirit of entrepreneurship, and our KEC Fellow will introduce a co-ordinated approach making the most of the opportunities throughout our research.

"In the coming years there is planned increased support for the nuclear industry; energy, digital and satellite technologies; healthcare; manufacturing and robotics - all areas where Southampton STFC researchers can contribute to R&D activity and innovate disruptive new technologies."

The new KEC fellow will be based in Physics and Astronomy with Professor Sullivan and spend additional time located in the University's Research and Innovation Services department.

Since 2011, the University of Southampton has been awarded £10.7million in STFC funding, and currently hold four consolidated grants, three Ernest Rutherford Fellowships and various STFC 'Opportunities' grants.

The fellow will augment a portfolio of engagement and support available to Southampton researchers, including Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence, Dr Adam Hill; the SPace Research Innovation Network for Technology (SPRINT); corporate partnerships; membership of the Rosalind Franklin Institute and Alan Turing Institute; SEPNet (South East Physics Network) programmes; DISCnet (Data Intensive Science Centre in SEPnet); the SetSquared Partnership and the on-campus Future Worlds startup accelerator.

Scientists from the University of Southampton have demonstrated an innovative technique that uses fluorescent nanotechnology to identify and enrich skeletal stem cells.

The ground-breaking study, co-led by the School of Physics and Astronomy's Professor Antonios Kanaras, could lead to new treatments for major bone fractures and the repair of lost or damaged bone.

The interdisciplinary research builds upon over 15 years of investigations into bone stem cell based therapies by Professor Richard Oreffo.

The new technique, published this month in the international ACS Nano journal, uses specially designed gold nanoparticles to ‘seek out’ specific human bone stem cells. This creates a fluorescent glow to reveal their presence among other types of cells, allowing them to be isolated or 'enriched'.

The researchers concluded their new technique is simpler and quicker than other methods and up to 50-500 times more effective at enriching stem cells.

Professor Kanaras and colleagues in the Quantum, Light and Matter Research Group are experts in the design of novel nanomaterials and the study of applications in the fields of biomedical sciences and energy.

"The appropriate design of materials is essential for their application in complex systems," he says. "Customizing the chemistry of nanoparticles we are able to program specific functions in their design.

"In this research project, we designed nanoparticles coated with short sequences of DNA, which are able to sense HSPA8 mRNA and Runx2 mRNA in skeletal stem cells and together with advanced FACS gating strategies, to enable the assortment of the relevant cells from human bone marrow.

"An important aspect of the nanomaterial design involves strategies to regulate the density of oligonucleotides on the surface of the nanoparticles, which help to avoid DNA enzymatic degradation in cells. Fluorescent reporters on the oligonucleotides enable us to observe the status of the nanoparticles at different stages of the experiment, ensuring the quality of the endocellular sensor."

Stem cells are cells that are not yet specialised and can develop to perform different functions. Identifying skeletal stems cells allows scientists to grow these cells in defined conditions to enable the growth and formation of bone and cartilage tissue - for example, to help mend broken bones.

Among the challenges posed by our ageing population is the need for novel and cost-effective approaches to bone repair. With one in three women and one in five men at risk of osteoporotic fractures worldwide, the costs are significant, with bone fractures alone costing the European economy €17 billion and the US economy $20 billion annually.

Professor Oreffo says: "Skeletal stem cell based therapies offer some of the most exciting and promising areas for bone disease treatment and bone regenerative medicine for an aging population. The current studies have harnessed unique DNA sequences from targets we believe would enrich the skeletal stem cell and, using Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting (FACS) we have been able to enrich bone stem cells from patients.

"Identification of unique markers is the holy grail in bone stem cell biology and, while we still have some way to go; these studies offer a step change in our ability to target and identify human bone stem cells and the exciting therapeutic potential therein.

"Importantly, these studies show the advantages of interdisciplinary research to address a challenging problem with state of the art molecular/cell biology combined with nanomaterials’ chemistry platform technologies."

This latest research, which was advanced through a joint BBSRC project grant to Professor Oreffo and Professor Kanaras, was supported by experienced research fellows and PhD students as well as collaboration with Professor Tom Brown and Dr Afaf E-Sagheer of the University of Oxford.

The scientists are currently applying single cell RNA sequencing to the platform technology developed with partners in Oxford and the Institute for Life Sciences (IfLS) at Southampton to further refine and enrich bone stem cells and assess functionality. The team propose to then move to clinical application with preclinical bone formation studies to generate proof of concept studies.