Members AreaBBKA News Archive Magazines BBKA Forum BBKA EC and Office Who we are Executive > Link Trustees Compliance ADM BBKA Constitution Charitable Incorporated Organisation Risk Assessments Meetings and Reports Office Staff Insurance Public Liability Insurance All Risks Insurance Officer Insurance Bee Diseases Insurance Exams and Assessments Exams and Assessments of the BBKA Correspondence courses General Help Membership Classes and benefits Renew Schools Research Members' Resources Asian Hornet FAQs Branch and association resources BBKA Hive keeping record BeeBase Beekeeping Legislation Honey Show Rules & Judges Important Organisations for Beekeepers BeeConnected spray alert Leaflets Lecturers & Speakers RSS Feeds for members Winter Colony Survival Survey '18/19 Members' Events Members' News Research Research funded in 2017 In 2017 the BBKA gave a grant of £25,000 to help set up a new laboratory at the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth. The aim of the laboratory was to produce cultures of cells from bees that are stable and can be reproduced over and over again for researchers to test drugs on. Dr Declan Schroeder, who is Director of the Marine Biological Association Cell Culture Collection, noted similarities in viruses that attack honeybees and the ones found in marine biological systems. He is looking at deformed wing virus and working with Professor Stephen Martin who holds the chair of Animal Ecology at Salford University. They want to know why some deformed wing viruses are benign for bees and others cause great damage. David Aston, past president of the BBKA, who was on the committee that approved the grant to the Marine Biological Association said: “If they can produce standardised cells it will allow much faster and safer comparative studies of new medicines for bees. “The Hive laboratory is the only place in the UK doing work like this and the BBKA is proud that we have been able to support its creation.”