News

Five Cambridge researchers join the community of more than 1,900 leading life scientists in Europe and beyond today as the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) announces its newly-elected Members. EMBO Members are recognised for their outstanding achievements in the life sciences. The newly elected members reside in 22 countries. The 58 n…

The University of Cambridge has formed a new agreement with AstraZeneca for the global biopharmaceuticals company to fund 55 additional PhD studentships over the next five years, starting in October 2022. Over the last 20 years, AstraZeneca has funded more than 100 PhD students from the University as part of a longstanding partnership between the t…

A major new institute opens today, bringing together the largest concentration of scientists and clinicians in heart and lung medicine in Europe.On 18 August 1979, Keith Castle – despite being described by surgeon Sir Terence English as "not an ideal patient from a medical point of view" – made history, becoming the first person in the UK to underg…

Long term use of implantable medical devices- such as pacemakers and cochlear implants- is hampered by the body's reaction to foreign bodies. now, in a study in mice, a team led by scientists at the University of Cambridge has shown that this reaction can be dramatically reduced by incorporating an anti-inflammatory drug into the silicone implant.C…

Spin-off company Cambridge Raman Imaging Ltd. and the Cambridge Graphene Centre will lead ‘CHARM’ project, recently awarded with €3.2 millionFunding from the European Union is an integral part of the Cambridge Graphene Centre’s successAndrea FerrariThe European Innovation Council (EIC) has awarded the first Transition Grant to Cambridge’s Departmen…

Defective mitochondria – the ‘batteries’ that power the cells of our bodies – could in future be repaired using gene-editing techniques. Scientists at the University of Cambridge have shown that it is possible to modify the mitochondrial genome in live mice, paving the way for new treatments for incurable mitochondrial disorders.[This] shows that, …

Cambridge spin-out Zetta Genomics has raised £2.5 million in new seed funding from Nina Capital, APEX Medical and Cambridge Enterprise to advance its genomic data management technology and power the discovery and delivery of precision medicine at scale.XetaBase is built on the open-source OpenCB platform, the first proven big data system optimised …

Safety trials are underway for a Cambridge-led vaccine that could be used as a booster targeting COVID-19 virus variants and relatives that threaten future coronavirus pandemics. The first volunteer is expected to receive the vaccine today at the NIHR Southampton Clinical Research Facility.Developed by Professor Jonathan Heeney at the University of…

An international study of more than 50,000 people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) has revealed that IBS symptoms may be caused by the same biological processes as conditions such as anxiety. The research highlights the close relationship between brain and gut health and paves the way for development of new treatments.Although IBS occurs more fr…

Whole genome sequencing from a single blood test picks up 31% more cases of rare genetic disorders than standard tests, shortening the ‘diagnostic odyssey’ that affected families experience, and providing huge opportunities for future research.A definitive genetic diagnosis can really help patients and their familiesPatrick ChinneryMitochondrial di…

Common medications can accumulate in gut bacteria, a new study has found, altering bacterial function and potentially reducing the medications’ effectiveness.If we can characterise how people respond depending on the composition of their microbiome, then drug treatments could be individualisedKiran Patil These interactions - seen for many drugs inc…

Markers in our blood – ‘fingerprints’ of infection – could help identify individuals who have been infected by SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, several months after infection even if the individual had only mild symptoms or showed no symptoms at all, say Cambridge researchers.Because we currently have no reliable way of diagnosing …

Pioneering collaboration initiated by the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London and University College LondonA pioneering collaboration to speed development of breakthrough medical discoveries—devised by the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, University College London and embraced by pharmaceutical giants AstraZeneca, Glax…

Switching off a heart muscle protein could provide a new way for drugs to combat heart failure in people who’ve had a heart attack, according to research led by the University of Cambridge and published in the journal Nature.After years of research we’ve revealed an entirely new and promising way that could help the recovery of failing heartsXuan L…

Scientists have made a promising step towards developing a new drug for treating acute myeloid leukaemia, a rare blood disorder. In a study published today in Nature, Cambridge researchers report a new approach to cancer treatment that targets enzymes which play a key role in translating DNA into proteins and which could lead to a new class of canc…