Female science first

An academic at Imperial College London is the first woman to win the British Pharmaceutical Conference Science Medal of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in the award's 40-year history.

Molly Stevens of Imperial's department of materials was recognised for her work in regenerative medicine, nanotechnology and tissue transplantation. She and her team of chemists, cell biologists, surgeons, engineers, materials scientists and computer modellers are devising a portable kit that could be used to detect instantly the early presence of cancer- related enzymes or HIV.