Research by Colleen Rollins, from John Suckling’s group (Psychiatry), describes how distinct patterns of neuroanatomical alteration can characterise hallucination status experienced by people with psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases. It is well-known that some patients with schizophrenia have predominantly auditory hallucinations, whereas patients with Parkinson’s disease more frequently have visual disturbances. Anecdotally, the content and emotional response to hallucinations […]

A recent study by Alexander Frankell, from Rebecca Fitzgerald’s group (MRC Cancer Unit), used scans from Oesophageal Adenocarcinoma (EAC) samples alongside matched RNA sequencing data to provides an exhaustive catalogue of mutations and copy number alterations, that are selected for in EAC, which could have clinically relevant impact on the prognosis of the disease.   […]

Research by Catherine Aiken (Obstetrics and Gynaecology), led by Suzanne Ozanne’s group (Metabolic Research Laboratories) in collaboration with the Giussani lab (Physiology, Development and Neuroscience), found that exposing rat fetuses to hypoxia (low oxygen levels) during development led to advanced ageing of ovaries and fewer eggs available in female offspring. Published in FASEB Journal, the team […]

A study by Tom Castro-Dopico, a Wellcome Trust 3I PhD student and now a postdoc in Menna Clatworthy’s lab (Medicine), provides new insights into the mechanisms mediating inflammation in ulcerative colitis (UC). Inflammatory bowel disease is a chronic, relapsing condition with two subtypes, Crohn’s disease and UC. Genetic studies in UC implicate an IgG antibody […]

A study led by Brian Ference and investigators from the new Centre for Naturally Randomized Trials (Department of Public Health and Primary Care) identified that genetic variants that mimic the effect of ATP citrate lyase inhibitors and statins, appeared to lower plasma LDL cholesterol levels by the same mechanism of action. These results show that […]

In a study published in PLOS Genetics, Sadaf Farooqi (Institute of Metabolic Science) and colleagues look at why some people stay thin while others gain weight. The team recruited people who were thin (Body Mass Index (BMI) of less than 18 kg/m2) but otherwise well.   Working with Inês Barroso’s team (Wellcome Sanger Institute) they examined […]

In a paper published in Cell, Agatha van der Klaauw from Sadaf Farooqi’s team (Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science) describes the role of a group of neural guidance molecules, the Semaphorins in the development of hypothalamic brain circuits that regulate body weight. The team characterised rare genetic variants affecting the function of multiple genes encoding the […]

A new genetic study of over 600,000 people, led by Claudia Langenberg and Luca Lotta (MRC Epidemiology Unit) indicates that people who are less likely to put on excess fat around their hips are at higher risk of type 2 diabetes and heart attacks. The new research, published in JAMA, sheds light on the specific […]

Charlotte Coles (Oncology and Cambridge Cancer Centre) and researchers at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), London, have published the five-year follow up of patient reported outcomes from the IMPORT LOW trial in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The trial, which recruited over 2,000 women aged 50 or over, who had breast conserving surgery for invasive ductal adenocarcinoma, […]