The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion

Dr Denis Alexander is the Director of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, St. Edmund's College, Cambridge, where he is a Fellow. Dr Alexander was previously Chairman of the Molecular Immunology Programme and Head of the Laboratory of Lymphocyte Signalling and Development at the Babraham Institute, Cambridge. Prior to that Dr Alexander was at the Imperial Cancer Research Laboratories in London (now Cancer Research UK), and spent 15 years developing university departments and laboratories overseas, latterly as Associate Professor of Biochemistry in the Medical Faculty of the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, where he helped to establish the National Unit of Human Genetics. Dr Alexander was initially an Open Scholar at Oxford reading Biochemistry, before obtaining a PhD in Neurochemistry at the Institute of Psychiatry in London.

Dr Alexander writes, lectures and broadcasts widely in the field of science and religion. Since 1992 he has been Editor of the journal Science & Christian Belief, and currently serves on the National Committee of Christians in Science and as a member of the International Society for Science and Religion.

Recent selected publications in science and religion

• Alexander, D. R. (2001) 'Rebuilding the Matrix - Science and Faith in the 21st Century', Oxford: Lion Publishing, hb 512 pp. pb edn 2002. US hb edn 2003; French edn 2004.
• Alexander, D.R. and White R.S. (2004) 'Beyond Belief - Science, Faith and Ethical Challenges' Oxford: Lion Publishing.
• Alexander D.R. (2004) 'Science, Faith and Human Values' in D. Lorimer (ed) 'Science, Consciousness and Ultimate Reality', Exeter: Imprint Academic.
• Alexander, D.R. (Ed + Chapter). (2005) 'Can We Know Anything? Science, Faith and Postmodernity', Leicester: Apollos.
• Alexander, D.R. (2008) 'Evolutionary biology and the purposes of God' in B. Nicolescu and M. Stavinschi (eds) Transdisciplinary Approaches in the Dialogue Between Science, Art, and Religion, Bucharest: Curtea Veche.
• Alexander, D.R. (2008) 'Science and religion – negotiating the 21st century rapids', in A. Bentley (ed) The Edge of Reason, London: Continuum.
• Alexander, D.R. (2008) 'Art, Science and Flatland', chapter in Cryptosphere, accompanying sculpture exhibition by Simeon Nelson at the Royal Geographical Society, London: Parabola.
• Alexander, D.R. (2008) 'Creation or Evolution - Do We Have to Choose?', Oxford: Monarch.
• Alexander, D.R.and Numbers, R.L. (eds) (2010) 'Biology and Ideology from Descartes to Dawkins' University of Chicago Press.

Recent selected science publications

• Ogilvy, S., Louis-Dit-Sully, C., Cassady, R.L., Alexander, D.R. and Holmes, N. (2003) J.Immunol. 171:1792-1800. 'Either of the CD45RB and CD45R0 isoforms are effective in restoring T cell, but not B cell, development and function in CD45-null mice'.
• Turner S.D., Tooze R., Maclennan K, and Alexander D.R. (2003) Oncogene 22: 7750-61 'Vav-promoter regulated oncogenic fusion protein NPM-ALK in transgenic mice causes B-cell lymphomas with hyperactive Jun Kinase'.
• Zhao, R., Yang, F.-T., and Alexander, D.R. (2004). Cancer Cell, 5: 37-49. 'An oncogenic tyrosine kinase inhibits DNA repair and DNA damage-induced Bcl-xL deamidation in T cell transformation'.
• Alexander, D.R. (2004) Cell Cycle 3: 584-7 'Oncogenic tyrosine kinases, DNA repair and survival'.
• Alexander, D.R. (2005) 'Biological validation of the CD45 tyrosine phosphatase as a pharmaceutical target” in L.A.Pinna and P.W.Cohen (eds) ‘Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology', Springer.
• Turner, S.D. and Alexander, D.R. (2005) Leukaemia 7: 1128-1134. 'What have we learnt from mouse models of NPM-ALK induced lymphomagenesis?'
• Elliott, J.I., Surprenant, A., Marelli-Berg, F.M., Cooper, J.C., Cassady-Cain, R.L., Wooding, C., Linton, K., Alexander, D.R. and Higgins, C.F. (2005). Nat. Cell. Biol. 7: 808-816. 'Membrane phosphatidylserine distribution as a non-apoptotic signaling mechanism in lymphocytes'.
• Salmond, R.J., Huyer, G., Kotsoni, A., Clements, L. and Alexander, D.R. (2005) J. Immunol. 2005, 175: 6498-6508. 'The src Homology 2 Domain-Containing Tyrosine Phosphatase 2 Regulates Primary T-Dependent Immune Responses and Th Cell Differentiation'.
• Turner S.D. and Alexander, D.R. (2006). Leukemia 20: 572-82. 'Fusion Tyrosine Kinase Mediated Signalling Pathways in the Transformation of Haematopoietic Cells'.
• Zhao,, R., Oxley, D., Smith, T.S., Follows, G.A., Green, A.R. and Alexander, D.R. (2007) Plos Biology, doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050001. 'DNA Damage-induced Bcl-xL Deamidation is Mediated by NHE-1 Antiport Regulated Intracellular pH'.
• McNeill, L. Salmond, R.J. Cooper, J.C., Carret, C.K., Cassady-Cain, R.L., Roche-Molina, M., Tandon, P., Holmes, N. and Alexander, D.R. (2007) Immunity 27: 425-437. 'The differential regulation by CD45 of Lck kinase phosphorylation sites is critical for TCR signalling thresholds'.
• Rider, D.A., Havenith, C.E.G., de Ridder, R., Schuurman, J., Favre, C., Cooper, J.C., Walker, S., Baadsgaard, O., Marschner, S., van de Winkel, J.G.J., Cambier, J., Parren, P.W.H.I. and Alexander, D.R. (2007) Cancer Res. 67: 9945-9953. 'A human CD4 monoclonal antibody for the treatment of T cell lymphoma combines inhibition of T cell signaling by a dual mechanism with potent Fc-dependent effector activity'.
• Zhao, R., Follows, G.A., Beer, P.A., Scott, L.M., Huntly, B.J.P, Green, A.R. and Alexander, D.R. (2008). New England J. Medicine, 359: 2778-2789. 'Inhibition of the Bcl-xL deamidation pathway in myeloproliferative disorders'.

Professor Robert (Bob) White is Professor of Geophysics in the Department of Earth Sciences at Cambridge (since 1989) and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1994. He is also a Fellow of the Geological Society, and a member of the American Geophysical Union and several other professional bodies; he serves on manyof their committees. He leads a research group investigating the Earth’s dynamic crust: in particular the way in which enormous volumes of volcanic rock are produced when continents and oceans rift apart. He has organised fieldwork and supervised 41 PhD students at Cambridge, many of whom are now prominent in academia, industry, government and education. His work at sea has taken him to the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans and his research group is currently investigating the internal structure of volcanoes in Iceland, the Faroes and the Atlantic margin. His scientific work is published in over 300 papers and articles.

Bob is acting chair of the John Ray Initiative, an educational charity that works to develop and communicate a Christian understanding of the environment. Since 1988 he has been a Fellow of St Edmund’s College, Cambridge, prior to which he was a student and Research Fellow at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He is Associate Director of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion.

Selected Science-Religion Publications

• White, Robert (2001). Science: Friend or Foe? The Church of England Newspaper, Friday August 24, 2001, p. 11 (also published on Christians in Science web site www.cis.org.uk)
• White, R. S. (2002). The age of the earth. Evangelicals Now, December 2002, 18.
• Alexander, D. & White, R. S. (2004). Beyond Belief: Science, Faith and Ethical Challenges, Lion, Oxford, 219pp.
• White, R. S. (2005). Truth in the geological sciences, in Can We Be Sure About Anything? Science, Faith and Postmodernism (ed. Denis Alexander), Apollos (an imprint of Inter-Varsity Press), Leicester, pp. 187-213.
• White, R. S. (2005). Genesis and Creation, Truth Matters, Reform article (see www.reform.org.uk).

• White, R. S. (2007). The Age of the Earth, Faraday Paper 8 [see also Evangelicals Now, December 2002, 18]

• Spencer, Nick & White, Robert (2007). Christianity, Climate Change and Sustainable Living, SPCK, 245pp. [published in USA as Spencer, Nick, White, Robert and Vroblesky, Virginia, by Hendrickson

• White, Robert S. (editor) (2009) Creation in Crisis: Christian Perspectives on Sustainability, SPCK, 298pp.

Selected Scientific Publications

• White, R. & McKenzie, D. (1989). Magmatism at rift zones: The generation of volcanic continental margins and flood basalts. Journal of Geophysical Research, 94, 7685–7729.
• White, R. S., McKenzie, D. & O'Nions, R. K. (1992). Oceanic crustal thickness from seismic measurements and rare earth element inversions. Journal of Geophysical Research, 97, 19,683–19,715.
• Bown, J. W. & White, R. S. (1994). Variation with spreading rate of oceanic crustal thickness and geochemistry. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 121, 435–449.
• White, R. S., Minshull, T. A., Bickle, M. J. & Robinson, C. J. (2001). Melt generation at very slow-spreading oceanic ridges: constraints from geochemical and geophysical data. Journal of Petrology, 42, 1171–1196.
• White, R. S., Christie, P. A. F., Kusznir, N. J., Roberts, A., Davies, A., Hurst, N., Lunnon, Z., Parkin, C. J., Roberts, A. W., Smith, L. K., Spitzer, R., Surendra, A. & Tymms, V. (2002). iSIMM pushes frontiers of marine seismic acquisition. First Break, 20, 782786.
• White, R. S., Smallwood, J. R., Fliedner, M. M., Boslaugh, B., Maresh, J. & Fruehn, J. (2003). Imaging and regional distribution of basalt flows in the Faroe-Shetland Basin. Geophysical Prospecting, 51, 215–231.
• Harrison, A. J. & White, R. S. (2004). Crustal structure of the Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand: stretching and igneous intrusion, Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 31, L13615, doi: 10.129/2004GL019885.2004.
• Spitzer, R., White, R. S. & iSIMM Team (2005). Advances in seismic imaging beneath basalts: a case study from the Faroe-Shetland Basin, Petroleum Geoscience, 11, 147−156.

• White, R. S., et al. (2008). Lower-crustal intrusion on the North Atlantic continental margin, Nature, 452, 460–464 plus supplementary information at www.nature.com,  doi:10.1038/nature06687

• White, R. S. & Smith, L. K. (2009). Crustal structure of the Hatton and the conjugate east Greenland rifted volcanic continental margins, NE Atlantic, Journal of Geophysical Research, 114,  B02305, doi:10.1029/2008JB005856

The Revd Dr Rodney Holder is Course Director of the Faraday Institute and was formerly Priest in Charge of the Parish of the Claydons, Diocese of Oxford. Dr Holder read mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge, and researched for a D.Phil. in astrophysics at Christ Church, Oxford. He remained at Oxford for a further two years as a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Astrophysics researching accretion of intergalactic gas by the galaxy. After 14 years working for UK Ministry of Defence clients as an operational research consultant with EDS (formerly Scicon), he returned to Oxford, and took a first class degree in theology in 1996. Completing his ministerial training the following year, Dr. Holder then worked for four years as a curate in South Warwickshire , followed by a seven month sabbatical period as chaplain of the English Church in Heidelberg, before appointment to the Claydons in 2002.

Dr Holder explored ways in which science and faith may complement each other in 'Nothing But Atoms and Molecules?' (1993, reprinted 2008). In his latest book, 'God, the Multiverse, and Everything', Dr Holder examines the fine-tunings of natural law that were necessary for life to evolve in our universe and uses Bayes' theorem, a classic tool for determining probability, to assess their metaphysical significance. His 1998 paper on miracles won a Templeton Foundation Prize as an exemplary paper in humility theology. Dr Holder is Reviews Editor of Science and Christian Belief and is on the national committee of Christians in Science. He is a member of the International Society for Science and Religion, the Society of Ordained Scientists, and the Science and Religion Forum, and is a Bye Fellow of St Edmund's College.

Recent selected publications in science and religion

• Holder, R. D. (2011), ‘God and the Multiverse: A Response to Stephen Hawking’, Faith and Thought 51, 3-17.
• Holder, R. D. (2009), 'Beyond Science: Answering the Boundary Questions', in A. M. Herzberg (ed.), Statistics, Science and Public Policy XIII: Responsibility, Prosperity and Culture. Proceedings of the Conference on Statistics, Science and Public Policy held at Herstmonceux Castle, Hailsham, UK, April 16-19, 2008, 79-84. 
• Holder, R. D. (2009), 'Thomas Torrance: "Retreat to Commitment" or a New Place for Natural Theology?', Theology and Science 7(3), 275-296, www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a912448732 
• Holder, R. D. (2009), 'Science and Religion in the Theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer', Zygon 44(1), 115-132.
• Holder, R. D. (2008), Nothing But Atoms and Molecules? Probing the limits of science, Third Edition (Cambridge: The Faraday Institute) (First Edition, Crowborough: Monarch Publications, 1993).
• Holder, R. D. (2008), 'Modern Science and the Interpretation of Genesis: Can We Learn from Dietrich Bonhoeffer?', Theology and Science 6(2), 213-231, www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&issn=1474-6700&volume=6&issue=2&spage=213 
• Holder, R. D. (2007), 'Creation and the Sciences in the Theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg', Communio Viatorum XLIX, 210-253.
• Holder, R. D. (2006), 'Fine-tuning and the Multiverse', Think 12, 49-60.
• Holder, R. D. (2005), ‘God and Differing Interpretations of Quantum Theory—Response to Paul’, Science and Christian Belief 17(2), 177-185.
• Holder, R. D. (2004), God, the Multiverse, and Everything: Modern Cosmology and the Argument from Design (Aldershot, and Burlington, VT: Ashgate).
• Holder, R. D. (2002), ‘Fine-tuning, Multiple Universes and Theism’, Noûs 36, 295-312.
• Holder, R. D. (2001), ‘The realization of infinitely many universes in cosmology’, Religious Studies 37, 343-350.
• Holder, R. D. (2001), ‘Karl Barth and the Legitimacy of Natural Theology’, Themelios 26, 22-37.
• Holder, R. D. (2001), ‘Fine-Tuning, Many Universes and Design’, Science and Christian Belief 13, 5-24.
• Holder, R. D. (1999), ‘Multiple Universes as an Explanation for Fine-Tuning’, Science and Christian Belief 11, 65-66.
• Holder, R. D. (1998), ‘Hume on Miracles: Bayesian Interpretation, Multiple Testimony, and the Existence of God’, Brit. J. Phil. Sci. 49, 49-65.

Photo: Nigel Bovey/The War Cry
 

Polly Stanton is the Administrator and Office Manager of the Faraday Institute. She read Maths and Physics, receiving a BEd from Sheffield University and went on to teach Mathematics. She took a long career break from formal Maths teaching to bring up a family but maintained an interest and involvement in education as a parent, school governor and private tutor. She serves on the Diocesan Board of Education and Cambridgeshire's Local Authority Admissions Forum and is a member of the governing bodies of two schools. In 2005 she completed a Masters degree at the Faculty of Education in Cambridge. Her thesis explored the role of school governors, with particular reference to the way they function relationally within the school structure.

Zoë Binns is the Marketing and Events Manager at the Faraday Institute. She read Physics at Cambridge followed by a PhD with Prof. Bob White at the Dept of Earth Sciences. She then spent two years in Tanzania working with Wycliffe Bible Translators before returning to Cambridge to marry and begin work with the Faraday Institute.

Ben White graduated from Cambridge in 2005 with an English Literature degree, and since then has worked in journalism, education, and the charitable sector. This has included numerous visits to Israel/Palestine, as well as two years in Brazil. Ben is the author of a book and dozens of articles on the Middle East, and prior to joining Faraday was with UK-based NGO Amos Trust working in advocacy and communications.

Clare Redfern trained as a doctor and practised first as an inner city GP in Manchester. As an antidote, she moved to Cambridge and studied environmental science and history of science, whilst her children were small, before starting work at the Faraday Institute.

Nicole Maturen is a Research Associate at The Faraday Institute. She completed her Ph.D. in evolutionary biology at the Natural History Museum and the University of Michigan Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. She has been the recipient of a number of awards and fellowships in support of her studies and academic visits.

Nicole Maturen has a particular interest in the relationship between evolutionary biology and religion.

Ruth is a research associate at the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, working on the positive interaction of science and faith, and 'Test of Faith' resources project. After reading Genetics at Aberdeen University, she completed a PhD at Edinburgh University, based at the MRC Human Genetics Unit, working on gene-environment interactions during verterbrate development. After two years of postdoctoral research at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology , Edinburgh University, she worked as the Development Officer for Christians in Science for three years, before moving full-time to the Faraday Institute.

Ruth's Blog: scienceandbelief.wordpress.com/

Recent Publications in science and religion

• Bancewicz, R. (Ed). (2009) 'Test of Faith: Spiritual Journeys with Scientists', Milton Keynes: Paternoster, pb 144 pp.

Science Publications

• Yeyati PL, Bancewicz RM, Maule J, van Heyningen V. PLoS Genetics 2007 Mar 30;3(3):e43. Epub 2007 Feb 8. “Hsp90 selectively modulates phenotype in vertebrate development”.
• D Kleinjan*, RM Bancewicz.*, et al. Subfunctionalisation of duplicated zebrafish pax6 genes by cis-regulatory divergence. PLoS Genetics 2008 Feb;4(2):e29.(*These authors contributed equally to this work).

 

Amy is a Research Associate at The Faraday Institute, developing the Science and Belief strand of the British Council's 'Belief in Dialogue' programme. After reading Molecular Biology at the University of Edinburgh, Amy completed a PhD at Cancer Research UK's London Research Institute. Wishing to inform and enthuse others about science, Amy embarked on a career in science communication - working for the medical charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer and gaining a postgraduate diploma in Science Communication at Birkbeck College. She then spent a year developing exhibitions for the Science Museum in London, before joining The Faraday Institute in December 2010.

Colin Bell is working on a project sponsored jointly by the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion and the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics on ‘Hope for creation: a biblical vision for contemporary environmental policy’.

Colin Bell has an MSc in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge, following which he worked in computing and science research, and more recently an MA in Theology from London School of Theology, specialising in the question of applying the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, to contemporary societies, ethics and environmental issues.

Nell Whiteway graduated from Cambridge in 2009 with a degree in Natural Sciences, specialising in Genetics. Nell has spent the last two years working with a women's charity, YWCA, in Oxford and Melbourne, Australia. She acted as a researcher and policy advocate on a range of social and political issues including housing, domestic violence and increasing political participation for women.