Published: 27 November 2024
Three laboratories have been awarded a LEAF (Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework) silver award, recognising their outstanding commitment to sustainability and environmental stewardship.
The silver awards were given to Dr Deborah Chong’s lab that explores how the immune system can influence the formation of scar tissue during respiratory infection, Professor Kirsty Le Doare’s lab which seeks to develop maternal vaccines for infections impacting global health, and the zebrafish unit which opened in May 2024.
The LEAF framework is a national initiative designed to enhance sustainability within laboratories across the UK. It offers an online framework for labs to work through, online calculators to measure impact, a toolkit of resources and training for participating laboratory staff. Labs are assessed internally and awarded either a bronze, silver, or gold level.
“We’re thrilled to see that our efforts to improve the sustainability and efficiency of our lab over the last year has bumped us up from a bronze to silver award. It’s been a really simple process to action, and I encourage all research groups to engage with the LEAF scheme so that as a university we have continuous positive contributions to the environment.”
- Dr Deborah Chong, Lecturer in Infection and Immunity -
Over the past year, another two labs from the Institute for Infection and Immunity and the Cardiovascular and Genomics Research Institute were awarded a bronze award upon signing up to the scheme.
Dr Priya Madhou, Head of Laboratory Services and Associate Director of Research Operations, who is leading LEAF at St George’s along with her dedicated team, said: “LEAF is a brilliant framework that enables our research staff and students to reflect on sustainability within their working environment and gives them ideas for developing this further."
"Our laboratories are showing great dedication to ensuring we have a greener footprint, which has resulted in initiatives including the new recycling program for VWR empty glass and plastic bottles. We’re looking forward to seeing more lab groups take part and the impact they will have.”
- Dr Priya Madhou, Head of Laboratory Services and Associate Director of Research Operations -
The Research Operations team have also supported a student-led initiative by second-year Clinical Pharmacology students that explored introducing a glove recycling programme to St George’s labs.
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