Friday 1st May saw the official opening of the new Clinical Skills Unit at West Suffolk Hospital (WSH). The Unit has been named the Siklos Centre for Clinical Skills and Simulation in recognition of the huge contribution made to our students’ medical education by Dr Paul Siklos. As the first Director of the Cambridge Graduate […]
Five brain challenges we can overcome in the next decade
Professor Barbara Sahakian was invited to write an article for Sir John Beddington, previous Government Chief Scientific Adviser, on the subject of achieving brain health for a flourishing society within the next decade. In addition, she was asked to write a piece based on this article for The Conversation. Disorders of the brain pose the […]
One in ten people over forty years old in Britain are vitamin D deficient
As many as one in ten people in Britain over forty years old may be vitamin D deficient, according to a study carried out by researchers at the University of Cambridge. Vitamin D is nicknamed the ‘sunshine vitamin’ as it is produced in the skin in response to sunlight. It is also found in some […]
Prof O’Rahilly wins Zulch prize
Professor Sir Stephen O’Rahilly, Co-Director of the Wellcome Trust-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science has, together with Dr Jeffrey Friedman from Rockefeller University, has been awarded the 2014 Zülch prize of the Gertrud Reemstma Foundation and the Max Planck Society. This year’s award recognises the recipients’ research in the area of the molecular basis of obesity […]
Lesbian, gay and bisexual men and women report poorer health and experiences of the NHS
A survey of over two million people has found that lesbian, gay and bisexual men and women in England are more likely to report poor health and unfavourable experiences of the National Health Service than their heterosexual counterparts. Researchers from the Cambridge Centre for Health Services Research, with Harvard Medical School, analysed data from over […]
Scientists identify immune system link to mental illness
Children with higher blood levels of a protein associated with inflammation and infection are at greater risk of developing depression and psychosis in adulthood according to new research, published in JAMA Psychiatry, which suggests a role for the immune system in mental illness. When we are exposed to an infection our immune system fights back; […]
New funding award for the artificial pancreas
Dr Roman Hovorka has recently received $2 million from Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International towards his research on the artificial pancreas. The funding will be used for a new multicentre study which will evaluate closed-loop insulin delivery (the artificial pancreas) in a larger group of 90 young subjects and adults with type 1 diabetes over […]
Cambridge awarded £25 million for leading edge research
Cambridge University is one of three new university and business partnerships receiving a total of £50 million of public investment in research projects to drive innovation and growth. The successful funding bid, led by Prof Ken Smith, will develop world-leading research into immunology and infectious diseases. This project, The Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious […]
Children who later develop autism are exposed to elevated levels of steroid hormones in the womb
A study led by Simon Baron-Cohen (Department of Psychiatry) has found that children, who later develop autism, have elevated levels of steroid hormones in the womb. The finding may help explain why autism is more common in males than females. However, the researchers caution it should not be used to screen for the condition. The […]
MS drug developed at Cambridge is approved by NICE
A new drug based on decades of research at the University of Cambridge has today been approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for use in people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Lemtrada, manufactured by pharmaceutical company Genzyme, began life as Campath-1H, a drug developed out of research by Professor Herman Waldmann […]
