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The Body in Miniature The past few years has seen an explosion in the number of studies using organoids – so-called ‘mini organs’. While they can help scientists understand human biology and disease, some in the field have questioned their usefulness. But as the field matures, we could see their increasing use in personalised and regenerative medic…

Scientists have shown in mice that skin cells re-programmed into brain stem cells, transplanted into the central nervous system, help reduce inflammation and may be able to help repair damage caused by multiple sclerosis (MS).Our mouse study suggests that using a patient’s reprogrammed cells could provide a route to personalised treatment of chroni…

Cancer Research UK (CRUK) has recently announced funding for a new Children’s Brain Tumour Centre of Excellence, based at the University of Cambridge and The Institute of Cancer Research, London.By creating a hub of expertise for childhood brain tumour research in the UK, we aim to make real inroads to tackling these diseasesRichard GilbertsonThe a…

The University of Cambridge is among the first three institutions to join Pfizer's Innovative Target Exploration Network (ITEN) programme.Announced by Pfizer on 8th January, ITEN is a new, early-stage partnering model that enables collaborative relationships with select academic institutions and principal investigators around the world, to identify…

The Cambridge Academy of Therapeutic Sciences (CATS) has been awarded £1million over two years by Wellcome as a part of a new scheme to find new ways to translate scientific discoveries into real world impact.Cambridge is one six institutions to receive funding to create partnerships with Wellcome. The others are the Universities of Bristol, Edinbu…

Gifts totalling more than £32 million, together with government funds of over £17 million, have enabled the launch of a highly innovative Centre in Cambridge that is pioneering new approaches to understand and treat neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, motor neurone disease and frontotemporal dementia.The Centre…

Nanobots that patrol our bodies, killer immune cells hunting and destroying cancer cells, biological scissors that cut out defective genes: these are just some of technologies that Cambridge researchers are developing which are set to revolutionise medicine in the future.In a new film to coincide with the recent launch of the Cambridge Academy of T…

Interested in commercialising new medical inventions and matching them to user needs? Looking for some hands-on experience? Then read on!The Cambridge Academy of Therapeutic Sciences is collaborating with Cambridge i-Teams to offer an exciting opportunity to early career researchers across the University. By joining a Medical i-Team, you will work …

An international team of researchers has demonstrated a way of overcoming one of the major stumbling blocks that has prevented the development of a vaccine against HIV: the ability to generate immune cells that stay in circulation long enough to respond to and stop virus infection.In a study published in 2009, results from a clinical trial carried …

A new diagnostic test developed from research carried out at the University of Cambridge and the University of Dundee has been launched with the aim of helping eliminate the disease known as African sleeping sickness.Sleeping sickness, or Human African Trypanosomiasis, is caused by parasites transmitted by tsetse flies in sub-Saharan Africa and has…

With the official launch of the next stage in the Government’s Life Sciences Industrial Strategy, Cambridge can have a key role to deliver jobs, growth and investment for the East of England.With its pre-eminent strengths in life sciences, the Cambridge Biomedical Campus (CBC) will be looking to work with the Government and partners in a number of …

Much of the world-changing research at the University of Cambridge is underpinned by postdocs - qualified researchers with fixed term contracts.With more postdoctoral researchers than most other institutions, Cambridge sees postdocs as key to its future research strength. Now, a gift from the members of the Collegiate Campaign Board will annually s…

The latest issue of Research Horizons focuses on future therapeutics and provides a snapshot of cutting-edge research from across the University of Cambridge. Nanobots small enough to move around our bloodstream, damaged hearts repaired with ‘off-the-shelf’ pieces of beating tissue, genetic diseases cured by ‘molecular scissors’ that snip out and r…

Gene editing using ‘molecular scissors’ that snip out and replace faulty DNA could provide an almost unimaginable future for some patients: a complete cure. Cambridge researchers are working towards making the technology cheap and safe, as well as examining the ethical and legal issues surrounding one of the most exciting medical advances of recent…

Our immune systems are meant to keep us healthy, but sometimes they turn their fire on us, with devastating results. Immunotherapies can help defend against this ‘friendly fire’ – and even weaponise it in our defence.An army of cells constantly patrols within us, attacking anything it recognises as foreign, keeping us safe from invading pathogens. …