Gold-winning consultation
Four times Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy and the British cycling squad were ‘blown away’ by their first London 2012 Olympic Velodrome experience. The Velodrome stadium will fit 6000 roaring fans during the games, bringing them closer than ever to the riders. The riders themselves are looking forward to the intense atmosphere spurring them on to even better performances.

Hoy was involved in the design consultation. Hopkins Architects who are committed to sustainable architecture have an impeccable record for creating innovative, functional and beautiful structures. The London Olympic Velodrome has been nicknamed ‘the Pringle’ (a potato snack) because of its striking saddle shape mimicking the shape of the snack. Aiming to create a beautiful legacy building, designers had to fulfil the strict requirements set by the Olympic Development Authority of cost-efficiency and sustainability.

Collaboration with cancer specialists
Dr Charlotte Willans, who leads the research, describes how the project grew out of the study of the organic materials surrounding metal compounds, specifically silver. This led to the collaboration with Dr Roger Phillips at the Institute of Cancer Therapeutics in the University of Bradford. At Leeds they prepared the compounds for testing at Bradford, where the silver-based chemicals were exposed to breast and colon cancer cells.

They are working with the ligand (the molecule surrounding the central metal ion) known as N-heterocyclic carbene. So far they have found that if the ligand is attached to the metal centre of the molecule through two or more sites, it kills the cancer cell more effectively than when it is attached through just one site. More attachments make the molecules more stable, perhaps because of the slow release of the metal. Studying these molecular processes should tell us how silver compounds kill bacteria and cancer cells, and how silver is broken down in the body.  Unlike silver, the use of platinum in cancer treatment has been well studied and tested in drugs like cisplatin. In the next 12 months they will continue to study the silver compounds interaction with DNA and cell protein in both diseased and healthy cells..

Next generation therapy
To develop the next generation of chemotherapy drugs, Willans points out, ‘we need to know what type of compound can be used, how much can be used, and in what formula it can be used.’ If silver compounds prove to have fewer side effects, the goal is to improve on existing metal-based cancer fighting drugs and for patients to have a more tolerable experience.