ֱ̽ of Cambridge - Corpus Christi College /taxonomy/affiliations/corpus-christi-college News from Corpus Christi College. en Outreach effort focuses on North-East /news/outreach-effort-focuses-on-north-east <div class="field field-name-field-news-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="cam-scale-with-grid" src="/sites/default/files/styles/content-580x288/public/news/news/outreachbanner-1.jpeg?itok=zopQneOV" alt="Outreach officers on steps of museum" title="Outreach officers on steps of museum, Credit: None" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>More than 160 students from across the region met at the Hancock Museum in Newcastle-upon-Tyne to hear more about the application process and what it’s like to study for a degree at either Cambridge or Oxford.</p> <p>Presentations focused on the unique elements of a Cambridge and Oxford education, the importance of super-curricular study to university applications, advice on writing personal statements, admissions tests and interview guidance.</p> <p>Cambridge and Oxford Universities used to jointly host an annual regional conference for would-be applicants but these were disbanded during the Covid pandemic.</p> <p>This latest roadshow was the brainchild of Elaine Effard, who is Corpus Christi’s North East Access and Outreach Coordinator (based in South Shields) and Richard Petty, Senior Access Officer for North-East England at Oxford.</p> <p>“We are all passionate about working with students in the North-East of England to make sure that they’re best equipped to make competitive applications to Oxford, Cambridge and other higher education providers. We also strongly believe that increased North-East representation at Oxbridge is a fundamental good,” said Elaine. </p> <p></p><div class="media media-element-container media-default"><div id="file-227224" class="file file-image file-image-jpeg"> <h2 class="element-invisible"><a href="/file/outreach1920-jpg">outreach1920.jpg</a></h2> <div class="content"> <img class="cam-scale-with-grid" title="Students listening to one of the presentations" style="height: 321px; width: 590px;" data-delta="2" src="/sites/default/files/outreach1920.jpg" width="1920" height="1045" alt="" /> </div> </div> </div> <p>Students attending were full of appreciation for the event.</p> <p>One said: “I enjoyed hearing the experiences of the students as it gave me a good insight as to what different aspects of the university are like, such as workload, finance and community.”</p> <p>Another added: “It gave an in-depth view on super-curricular activities that I wouldn’t have accessed otherwise, and a range of options for super curricular activities.”</p> <p> ֱ̽other two Cambridge Colleges present were Jesus and King’s, both of which, like Corpus, have connections with the North-East. Oxford was represented by the Oxford for North East team of colleges, which are Christ Church, Trinity, and St Anne’s. </p> <p>Corpus Christi is one of three Cambridge Colleges with school liaison officers based in the north of England. Both Queens' and Selwyn Colleges have staff based in Bradford. St Catharine's College also has strong links with North Yorkshire. </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-summary field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>Three Cambridge Colleges have teamed up to co-host an outreach event in the North-East of England with the aim of encouraging more applications from students in the area. They were joined by colleagues from Oxford. </p> </p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-quote field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">We are all passionate about working with students in the North-East of England</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-quote-name field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Elaine Effard</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-desctiprion field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Outreach officers on steps of museum</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cc-attribute-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" rel="license"><img alt="Creative Commons License." src="/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/inner-images/cc-by-nc-sa-4-license.png" style="border-width: 0px; width: 88px; height: 31px;" /></a><br /> ֱ̽text in this work is licensed under a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License</a>. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ֱ̽ of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our <a href="/">main website</a> under its <a href="/about-this-site/terms-and-conditions">Terms and conditions</a>, and on a <a href="/about-this-site/connect-with-us">range of channels including social media</a> that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-show-cc-text field-type-list-boolean field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Yes</div></div></div> Mon, 03 Mar 2025 16:35:38 +0000 ps748 248746 at Tributes paid to first British-Pakistani Head of House /notices/news/tributes-paid-to-first-british-pakistani-head-of-house <div class="field field-name-field-news-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="cam-scale-with-grid" src="/sites/default/files/styles/content-580x288/public/news/notices/news/haroon-ahmed-landscape.jpg?itok=_MOsCv7i" alt="Professor Haroon Ahmed" title="Professor Haroon Ahmed, Credit: None" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Professor Ahmed, the first British-Pakistani Head of House, had a distinguished academic career centred on research interests in the physics and technology of nanoscale electronic devices, nanotechnology and electron beam lithography. Master of Corpus Christi College from 2000 to 2006, he remained actively involved as a Life Fellow and later an Honorary Fellow.</p> <p>Born in Calcutta in 1936, after the partition of India Professor Ahmed and his family were forced to flee to Karachi in the newly formed Pakistan. ֱ̽family later moved to London where Professor Ahmed read Electrical Engineering at Imperial College, graduating with a First Class degree. After a brief spell working for General Electric Company in Birmingham, he realised his passion was for research. Encouraged by a friend, he successfully applied for a PhD scholarship at King’s College Cambridge. After a formative sabbatical year in New York state where he worked at the Thomas J Watson Research Centre of IBM, he returned to Cambridge where his research activity grew rapidly. He moved to the Cavendish Laboratory where he joined the Department of Engineering and established the Microelectronics Research Centre, sponsored by Hitachi. In 1990, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, in 1992 he was promoted to Professor of Microelectronics, and in 1996 he was awarded a Doctor of Science degree from the ֱ̽ of Cambridge.</p> <p>Professor Ahmed died peacefully at home, surrounded by his wife and family on 23 October 2024. He is survived by his wife, Anne; his children, Ayesha, Rehana and Imran; his grandchildren, Max, Jem, Keir and Maya; and his sister, Zubaida.</p> <p><a href="https://www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/articles/professor-haroon-ahmed-phd-scd-freng-2-march-1936-23-october-2024">Read his full obituary on the Corpus Christi website</a> and on the <a href="https://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/news/emeritus-professor-haroon-ahmed-1936-2024">Department of Physics website</a>.</p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-summary field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>Tributes have been paid to former Master of Corpus Christi College Professor Haroon Ahmed, who has died aged 88.</p> </p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-desctiprion field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Professor Haroon Ahmed</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cc-attribute-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" rel="license"><img alt="Creative Commons License." src="/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/inner-images/cc-by-nc-sa-4-license.png" style="border-width: 0px; width: 88px; height: 31px;" /></a><br /> ֱ̽text in this work is licensed under a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License</a>. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ֱ̽ of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our <a href="/">main website</a> under its <a href="/about-this-site/terms-and-conditions">Terms and conditions</a>, and on a <a href="/about-this-site/connect-with-us">range of channels including social media</a> that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-show-cc-text field-type-list-boolean field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Yes</div></div></div> Fri, 24 Jan 2025 16:02:28 +0000 Anonymous 248662 at ‘Palaeo-robots’ to help scientists understand how fish started to walk on land /research/news/palaeo-robots-to-help-scientists-understand-how-fish-started-to-walk-on-land <div class="field field-name-field-news-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="cam-scale-with-grid" src="/sites/default/files/styles/content-580x288/public/news/research/news/paleo-robots-883x432.jpg?itok=rSGMB0cY" alt="Illustration of palaeo-robots." title="Credit: None" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.adn1125">Writing</a> in the journal <em>Science Robotics</em>, the research team, led by the ֱ̽ of Cambridge, outline how ‘palaeo-inspired robotics’ could provide a valuable experimental approach to studying how the pectoral and pelvic fins of ancient fish evolved to support weight on land.</p> <p>“Since fossil evidence is limited, we have an incomplete picture of how ancient life made the transition to land,” said lead author <a href="https://www.michaelishida.com/">Dr Michael Ishida</a> from Cambridge’s Department of Engineering. “Palaeontologists examine ancient fossils for clues about the structure of hip and pelvic joints, but there are limits to what we can learn from fossils alone. That’s where robots can come in, helping us fill gaps in the research, particularly when studying major shifts in how vertebrates moved.”</p> <p>Ishida is a member of Cambridge’s <a href="https://birlab.org/">Bio-Inspired Robotics Laboratory</a>, led by Professor Fumiya Iida. ֱ̽team is developing energy-efficient robots for a variety of applications, which take their inspiration from the efficient ways that animals and humans move.</p> <p>With funding from the Human Frontier Science Program, the team is developing palaeo-inspired robots, in part by taking their inspiration from modern-day ‘walking fish’ such as mudskippers, and from fossils of extinct fish. “In the lab, we can’t make a living fish walk differently, and we certainly can’t get a fossil to move, so we’re using robots to simulate their anatomy and behaviour,” said Ishida.</p> <p> ֱ̽team is creating robotic analogues of ancient fish skeletons, complete with mechanical joints that mimic muscles and ligaments. Once complete, the team will perform experiments on these robots to determine how these ancient creatures might have moved.</p> <p>“We want to know things like how much energy different walking patterns would have required, or which movements were most efficient,” said Ishida. “This data can help confirm or challenge existing theories about how these early animals evolved.”</p> <p>One of the biggest challenges in this field is the lack of comprehensive fossil records. Many of the ancient species from this period in Earth’s history are known only from partial skeletons, making it difficult to reconstruct their full range of movement.</p> <p>“In some cases, we’re just guessing how certain bones connected or functioned,” said Ishida. “That’s why robots are so useful—they help us confirm these guesses and provide new evidence to support or rebut them.”</p> <p>While robots are commonly used to study movement in living animals, very few research groups are using them to study extinct species. “There are only a few groups doing this kind of work,” said Ishida. “But we think it’s a natural fit – robots can provide insights into ancient animals that we simply can’t get from fossils or modern species alone.”</p> <p> ֱ̽team hopes that their work will encourage other researchers to explore the potential of robotics to study the biomechanics of long-extinct animals. “We’re trying to close the loop between fossil evidence and real-world mechanics,” said Ishida. “Computer models are obviously incredibly important in this area of research, but since robots are interacting with the real world, they can help us test theories about how these creatures moved, and maybe even why they moved the way they did.”</p> <p> ֱ̽team is currently in the early stages of building their palaeo-robots, but they hope to have some results within the next year. ֱ̽researchers say they hope their robot models will not only deepen understanding of evolutionary biology, but could also open up new avenues of collaboration between engineers and researchers in other fields.</p> <p> ֱ̽research was supported by the Human Frontier Science Program. Fumiya Iida is a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Michael Ishida a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.</p> <p><em><strong>Reference:</strong><br /> Michael Ishida et al. ‘<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.adn1125">Paleo-inspired robotics as an experimental approach to the history of life</a>.’ Science Robotics (2024). DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.adn1125</em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-summary field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p> ֱ̽transition from water to land is one of the most significant events in the history of life on Earth. Now, a team of roboticists, palaeontologists and biologists is using robots to study how the ancestors of modern land animals transitioned from swimming to walking, about 390 million years ago.</p> </p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cc-attribute-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" rel="license"><img alt="Creative Commons License." src="/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/inner-images/cc-by-nc-sa-4-license.png" style="border-width: 0px; width: 88px; height: 31px;" /></a><br /> ֱ̽text in this work is licensed under a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License</a>. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ֱ̽ of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our <a href="/">main website</a> under its <a href="/about-this-site/terms-and-conditions">Terms and conditions</a>, and on a <a href="/about-this-site/connect-with-us">range of channels including social media</a> that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-show-cc-text field-type-list-boolean field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Yes</div></div></div> Wed, 23 Oct 2024 18:00:00 +0000 sc604 248514 at Sight and sound /stories/light-for-cancer-detection <div class="field field-name-field-content-summary field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>How photoacoustics could transform cancer detection and monitoring</p> </p></div></div></div> Tue, 06 Aug 2024 14:13:35 +0000 sc604 247281 at Cutting-edge genomic test can improve care of children with cancer /research/news/cutting-edge-genomic-test-can-improve-care-of-children-with-cancer <div class="field field-name-field-news-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="cam-scale-with-grid" src="/sites/default/files/styles/content-580x288/public/news/research/news/gettyimages-696274738-web.jpg?itok=ydrnY1KQ" alt="A little boy with a shaved head is smiling as he is laying on a hospital bed." title="Boy Battling With Cancer, Credit: FatCamera (Getty Images)" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p> ֱ̽study, published on 2 July in <em>Nature Medicine</em>, is the first time that the impact of using whole genome sequencing in current NHS practice has been assessed. It was led by researchers at the ֱ̽ of Cambridge, Cambridge ֱ̽ Hospitals NHS Trust, Wellcome Sanger Institute and Great Ormond Street Hospital.</p> <p> ֱ̽team analysed the use of routine genome sequencing, through the NHS Genomic Medicine Service, at Cambridge ֱ̽ Hospitals, where such tests are given to all children with solid tumours, and at Great Ormond Street Hospital, which provides the test for childhood leukaemia.</p> <p> ֱ̽researchers found that cancer sequencing gave new insights that improved the immediate clinical care of seven per cent of children, while also providing all the benefits of current standard tests.</p> <p>Furthermore, in 29 per cent of cases, genome sequencing provided additional information that helped clinicians better understand the tumours of individual children and informed future management. For example, uncovering unexpected mutations that increase future cancer risk leading to preventative measures being taken, such as regular screening.</p> <p>Overall, whole genome sequencing provides additional, relevant data, about childhood cancer that is useful for informing practice. ֱ̽results also show that it can reduce the number of tests required, and therefore, researchers suggest it should be provided to all children impacted by cancer.</p> <p>Whole genome sequencing (WGS) is a single test that provides a complete readout of the entire genetic code of the tumour and identifies every single cancer-causing mutation. Comparatively, traditional standard-of-care tests only look at tiny regions of the cancer genome, and therefore many more tests are often required per child.</p> <p>Professor Sam Behjati, senior author from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge ֱ̽ Hospitals, and the ֱ̽ of Cambridge: “Whole genome sequencing provides the gold standard, most comprehensive and cutting edge view of cancer. What was once a research tool that the Sanger Institute started exploring over a decade ago, has now become a clinical test that I can offer to my patients. This is a powerful example of the genomic data revolution of healthcare that enables us to provide better, individualised care for children with cancer.”</p> <p>NHS England is one of the few health services in the world that has a national initiative, through the Genomic Medicine Service, offering universal genome sequencing to every child with suspected cancer. However, due to multiple barriers and a lack of evidence from real-time practice supporting its use, whole cancer genome sequencing is not yet widespread practice.  </p> <p> ֱ̽latest study looked at 281 children with suspected cancer across the two units. ֱ̽team analysed the clinical and diagnostic information across these units and assessed how genome sequencing affected the care of children with cancer.</p> <p>They found that WGS changed the clinical management in seven per cent of cases, improving care for 20 children, by providing information that is not possible to acquire from standard of care tests.</p> <p>Additionally, WGS faithfully reproduced every one of the 738 standard of care tests utilised in these 281 cases, suggesting that a single WGS test could replace the multiple tests that the NHS currently uses if this is shown to be economically viable.</p> <p>WGS provides a detailed insight into rare cancers, for example, by revealing novel variants of cancer. ֱ̽widespread use of genome sequencing will enable clinicians to access these insights for individual patients while simultaneously building a powerful shared genomic resource for research into new treatment targets, possible prevention strategies, and the origins of cancer.</p> <p>Dr Jack Bartram, senior author from Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and the North Thames Genomic Medicine Service, said: “Childhood cancer treatment is mostly guided by genetic features of the tumour, and therefore an in-depth genetic understanding of cancer is crucial in guiding our practice. Our research shows that whole genome sequencing delivers tangible benefits above existing tests, providing better care for our patients. We hope this research really highlights why whole genome sequencing should be delivered as part of routine clinical care to all children with suspected cancer.”</p> <p>Professor Behjati at the Department of Paediatrics, ֱ̽ of Cambridge, and is a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.</p> <p>This research was supported in part by Wellcome, the Pessoa de Araujo family and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.</p> <p><em><strong>Reference</strong><br /> A Hodder, S Leiter, J Kennedy, et al. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-03056-w">Benefits for children with suspected cancer from routine whole genome sequencing</a></em>.<em> Nature Medicine; 2 July 2024; DOI: 10.1038/s41591-024-03056-w</em></p> <p><em>Adapted from a press release from Wellcome Sanger Institute</em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-summary field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>Whole genome sequencing has improved clinical care of some children with cancer in England by informing individual patient care. Research published today supports the efforts to provide genome sequencing to all children with cancer and shows how it can improve the management of care in real-time, providing more benefits than all current tests combined.</p> </p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-quote field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">This is a powerful example of the genomic data revolution of healthcare that enables us to provide better, individualised care for children with cancer</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-quote-name field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Sam Behjati</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-credit field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/photo/happy-little-boy-battling-with-cancer-royalty-free-image/696274738?phrase=leukaemia" target="_blank">FatCamera (Getty Images)</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-desctiprion field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Boy Battling With Cancer</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-panel-title field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Eddie’s story</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-panel-body field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>When he was six-years old, Eddie began to have regular low-grade fevers that seemed to affect him a lot. Even though early tests came back normal, the fevers became more frequent and his Mum, Harri, noticed that on one or two occasions he seemed out of breath while doing small things like reading a book.  A chest x-ray revealed a huge mass on Eddie’s chest, and he was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). Eddie was immediately transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) to begin treatment.</p> <p>“I know it sounds like a cliché, but you really don’t think it will ever happen to your child. It felt like our world fell out from under us. During those first few weeks I remember wondering if this was it, I was taking so many photos of us together and wondering if it could be the last,” said Harri, Eddie's mum.</p> <p>Eddie was put onto a treatment plan that included eight months of intense chemotherapy, followed by two and a half years of maintenance treatment. As part of his treatment at GOSH Eddie’s family were also offered WGS to identify any cancer-causing changes.</p> <p>“When we were offered whole genome sequencing, we didn’t even hesitate. I wanted to have all the information, I wanted to have some peace of mind for the future and know that Eddie was having the right care throughout. I also wanted to make sure that Eddie’s brother, Leo, wasn’t any more likely to get T-ALL because Eddie had,” said Harri.</p> <p>On his seventh birthday, Eddie’s family received the call to say he was in remission. Now, at nine years-old Eddie is nearing the end of his maintenance treatment and is doing well.</p> <p>“We are trying to live each day, and this experience has really changed our outlook on life. We always try to take the positive from every situation. Words can’t explain what Eddie has been through this past three years but he has come out the other side as a sensitive, confident, and smart young man.  He is mature beyond his years and he has been involved in everything, including decisions about his treatment. To say we are proud, doesn’t even come close to how we truly feel about him,” said Harri.</p> <p>Their personal experience of WGS was so important on their journey that they provided support for this research.</p> <p>Harri added: “I always say that having a child with a cancer diagnosis feels like you’ve been standing on a trap door all these years without knowing. Then after the diagnosis, you are in freefall. And even when things are stable again, you are constantly aware that the trap door is still there and there is a possibility it could open again at any time. Having access to whole genome sequencing gave us some sense of reassurance, it could have informed us about targeted treatments and gave us some insight into future risk. We wanted to support something that had the potential to have a real impact on treatment and outcomes so when we heard about this research project and its potential, it was very exciting that we could be a small part of it. It helped us turn something so devastating into something positive and we just hope that this research helps.”</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cc-attribute-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" rel="license"><img alt="Creative Commons License." src="/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/inner-images/cc-by-nc-sa-4-license.png" style="border-width: 0px; width: 88px; height: 31px;" /></a><br /> ֱ̽text in this work is licensed under a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License</a>. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ֱ̽ of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our <a href="/">main website</a> under its <a href="/about-this-site/terms-and-conditions">Terms and conditions</a>, and on a <a href="/about-this-site/connect-with-us">range of channels including social media</a> that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-show-cc-text field-type-list-boolean field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Yes</div></div></div> Tue, 02 Jul 2024 09:00:37 +0000 Anonymous 246701 at Artificial intelligence beats doctors in accurately assessing eye problems /research/news/artificial-intelligence-beats-doctors-in-accurately-assessing-eye-problems <div class="field field-name-field-news-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="cam-scale-with-grid" src="/sites/default/files/styles/content-580x288/public/news/research/news/gettyimages-1464165310.jpg?itok=YENNENLe" alt="close up of an eye" title="Credit: Mavocado on Getty" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p> ֱ̽clinical knowledge and reasoning skills of GPT-4 are approaching the level of specialist eye doctors, a study led by the ֱ̽ of Cambridge has found.</p> <p>GPT-4 - a ‘large language model’ - was tested against doctors at different stages in their careers, including unspecialised junior doctors, and trainee and expert eye doctors. Each was presented with a series of 87 patient scenarios involving a specific eye problem, and asked to give a diagnosis or advise on treatment by selecting from four options.</p> <p>GPT-4 scored significantly better in the test than unspecialised junior doctors, who are comparable to general practitioners in their level of specialist eye knowledge.</p> <p>GPT-4 gained similar scores to trainee and expert eye doctors - although the top performing doctors scored higher.</p> <p> ֱ̽researchers say that large language models aren’t likely to replace healthcare professionals, but have the potential to improve healthcare as part of the clinical workflow.</p> <p>They say state-of-the-art large language models like GPT-4 could be useful for providing eye-related advice, diagnosis, and management suggestions in well-controlled contexts, like triaging patients, or where access to specialist healthcare professionals is limited.</p> <p>“We could realistically deploy AI in triaging patients with eye issues to decide which cases are emergencies that need to be seen by a specialist immediately, which can be seen by a GP, and which don’t need treatment,” said Dr Arun Thirunavukarasu, lead author of the study, which he carried out while a student at the ֱ̽ of Cambridge’s School of Clinical Medicine.</p> <p>He added: “ ֱ̽models could follow clear algorithms already in use, and we’ve found that GPT-4 is as good as expert clinicians at processing eye symptoms and signs to answer more complicated questions.</p> <p>“With further development, large language models could also advise GPs who are struggling to get prompt advice from eye doctors. People in the UK are waiting longer than ever for eye care.</p> <p>Large volumes of clinical text are needed to help fine-tune and develop these models, and work is ongoing around the world to facilitate this.</p> <p> ֱ̽researchers say that their study is superior to similar, previous studies because they compared the abilities of AI to practicing doctors, rather than to sets of examination results.</p> <p>“Doctors aren't revising for exams for their whole career. We wanted to see how AI fared when pitted against to the on-the-spot knowledge and abilities of practicing doctors, to provide a fair comparison,” said Thirunavukarasu, who is now an Academic Foundation Doctor at Oxford ֱ̽ Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.</p> <p>He added: “We also need to characterise the capabilities and limitations of commercially available models, as patients may already be using them - rather than the internet - for advice.”</p> <p> ֱ̽test included questions about a huge range of eye problems, including extreme light sensitivity, decreased vision, lesions, itchy and painful eyes, taken from a textbook used to test trainee eye doctors. This textbook is not freely available on the internet, making it unlikely that its content was included in GPT-4’s training datasets.</p> <p> ֱ̽results are <a href="https://journals.plos.org/digitalhealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pdig.0000341">published today in the journal <em>PLOS Digital Health</em></a>.</p> <p>“Even taking the future use of AI into account, I think doctors will continue to be in charge of patient care. ֱ̽most important thing is to empower patients to decide whether they want computer systems to be involved or not. That will be an individual decision for each patient to make,” said Thirunavukarasu.</p> <p>GPT-4 and GPT-3.5 – or ‘Generative Pre-trained Transformers’ - are trained on datasets containing hundreds of billions of words from articles, books, and other internet sources. These are two examples of large language models; others in wide use include Pathways Language Model 2 (PaLM 2) and Large Language Model Meta AI 2 (LLaMA 2).</p> <p> ֱ̽study also tested GPT-3.5, PaLM2, and LLaMA with the same set of questions. GPT-4 gave more accurate responses than all of them.</p> <p>GPT-4 powers the online chatbot ChatGPT to provide bespoke responses to human queries. In recent months, ChatGPT has attracted significant attention in medicine for attaining passing level performance in medical school examinations, and providing more accurate and empathetic messages than human doctors in response to patient queries.</p> <p> ֱ̽field of artificially intelligent large language models is moving very rapidly. Since the study was conducted, more advanced models have been released - which may be even closer to the level of expert eye doctors.</p> <p><strong><em>Reference: Thirunavukarasu, A J et al: ‘<a href="https://journals.plos.org/digitalhealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pdig.0000341">Large language models approach expert-level clinical knowledge and reasoning in ophthalmology: A head-to-head cross-sectional study</a>.’ PLOS Digital Health, April 2024. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pdig.0000341</em></strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-summary field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>A study has found that the AI model GPT-4 significantly exceeds the ability of non-specialist doctors to assess eye problems and provide advice.</p> </p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-quote field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">We could realistically deploy AI in triaging patients with eye issues to decide which cases are emergencies.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-quote-name field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Arun Thirunavukarasu</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-credit field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/" target="_blank">Mavocado on Getty</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cc-attribute-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" rel="license"><img alt="Creative Commons License." src="/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/inner-images/cc-by-nc-sa-4-license.png" style="border-width: 0px; width: 88px; height: 31px;" /></a><br /> ֱ̽text in this work is licensed under a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License</a>. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ֱ̽ of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our <a href="/">main website</a> under its <a href="/about-this-site/terms-and-conditions">Terms and conditions</a>, and on a <a href="/about-this-site/connect-with-us">range of channels including social media</a> that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-show-cc-text field-type-list-boolean field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Yes</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-license-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Licence type:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/imagecredit/attribution-noncommerical">Attribution-Noncommerical</a></div></div></div> Wed, 17 Apr 2024 18:00:45 +0000 jg533 245681 at An early medieval money mystery is solved /stories/medieval-money-mystery-solved <div class="field field-name-field-content-summary field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>Byzantine bullion fuelled Europe’s revolutionary adoption of silver coins in the mid-7th century, only to be overtaken by silver from a mine in Charlemagne’s Francia a century later, new tests reveal. ֱ̽findings could transform our understanding of Europe’s economic and political development.</p> </p></div></div></div> Tue, 09 Apr 2024 05:00:00 +0000 ta385 245591 at Four Cambridge researchers awarded consolidator grants from the European Research Council /research/news/four-cambridge-researchers-awarded-consolidator-grants-from-the-european-research-council <div class="field field-name-field-news-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="cam-scale-with-grid" src="/sites/default/files/styles/content-580x288/public/news/research/news/erc-cg-23.jpg?itok=N7QXn_fM" alt="Left to right: Professor Chiara Ciccarelli, Professor Jason Miller, Professor Rosana Collepardo-Guevara, and Dr Jenny Zhang" title="Left to right: Professor Chiara Ciccarelli, Professor Jason Miller, Professor Rosana Collepardo-Guevara, and Dr Jenny Zhang, Credit: Jenny Zhang - Nathan Pitt, ֱ̽ of Cambridge" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p> ֱ̽grants are part of the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme. They are given to excellent scientists and scholars at the career stage to support them to pursue their most promising scientific ideas.<br />&#13; <br />&#13; Cambridge scientists, Professor Chiara Ciccarelli, Professor Rosana Collepardo-Guevara, Professor Jason Miller, and Dr Jenny Zhang have been named as awardees of ERC consolidator grants. <br />&#13; <br />&#13; <strong>Professor Chiara Ciccarelli</strong><br />&#13; <br />&#13; Chiara Ciccarelli is Professor of Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory at the Department of Physics. She is a Royal Society ֱ̽ Research Fellow and a Fellow and Director of Studies at St Catharine's College. She said: “Our group studies magnets and seeks ways to write and read their magnetic state as fast and as energy-efficiently as possible. This is because magnets remain the best way, that we know of, to store digital data for a long time.<br />&#13; <br />&#13; “Our ERC project, PICaSSO, explores new ways to ‘write’ magnets at low temperature by interfacing them with superconductors. Although this research is still at an early stage, it would allow the development of ultra-energy-efficient cryogenic memories, a necessary requirement for the realistic scaling of quantum computers.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“I am absolutely delighted to have been awarded a consolidator grant. It is an incredible opportunity to do great science and an important recognition of the work of my amazing team.”<br />&#13; <br />&#13; <strong>Professor Rosana Collepardo-Guevara</strong><br />&#13; <br />&#13; Rosana Collepardo-Guevara is Professor of Computational and Molecular Biophysics at the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry and the Department of Genetics. She is a Winton Advanced Research Fellow in physics, a director of postgraduate education for chemistry and a Fellow of Clare College. She said: “My group investigates the connection between genome structure and function by developing computer models and algorithms that can bridge scales, from atoms to genes, while considering the extensive chemical diversity of the genome.<br />&#13; <br />&#13; “We will investigate the transformative hypothesis of phase transitions in genome organisation, which suggests that our genes are organised inside functionally diverse liquid drops. We will develop new computer models to probe how the physical properties of these droplets are regulated, and how this may contribute to the tight regulation of our genes.<br />&#13; <br />&#13; “I am truly delighted and proud of my team. This success is owed to the exceptional students and postdocs that I’ve had the privilege to supervise over the years, and also to the support of my mentors, collaborators, and family. This grant will give us the opportunity to keep exploring radical ideas.”<br />&#13; <br />&#13; <strong>Professor Jason Miller</strong><br />&#13; <br />&#13; Jason Miller is a professor in the Statistics Laboratory and a Fellow of Trinity College. He said: “My research is at the interface of probability theory with complex analysis, combinatorics, and geometry. ֱ̽questions I study arise from models in statistical physics which are exactly at a critical point between a phase transition.<br />&#13; <br />&#13; “My ERC project will be investigating critical random media in two dimensions, including models of how fluid flows through a porous medium and how the spins organise themselves in a magnet. ֱ̽focus will be the study of their fractal structure and diffusion properties.<br />&#13; <br />&#13; “I am very pleased to have received the grant. With the support that it provides, I will be able to form a research group to tackle longstanding questions in the area.”<br />&#13; <br />&#13; <strong>Dr Jenny Zhang</strong><br />&#13; <br />&#13; Dr Jenny Zhang is a BBSRC David Phillips Research Fellow at the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry. She is a Fellow of Corpus Christi College. She said: “My team focuses on creating toolsets for rewiring the electrochemical pathways associated with living systems, particularly photosynthetic organisms. We do this to better understand fundamental bioenergetics and to manipulate them for various applications, such as in renewable energy generation.<br />&#13; <br />&#13; “This ERC project develops an exciting new approach for accelerating the creation of synergistic interactions between biological and non-biological materials for highly efficient and robust energy exchange. ֱ̽ultimate aim is to generate high performing biohybrid materials for clean energy generation.<br />&#13; <br />&#13; “I am absolutely thrilled to be awarded this unique grant, which recognises all the key ingredients needed for innovation. This wonderful result was a cumulation of a lot of hard work, but also the generous support of my wonderful team and colleagues. I could not be more grateful for both the grant and the people I get to work with.”<br />&#13; <br />&#13; Scientists at UK institutions have won the second greatest number of grants in Europe. Across Europe, the number of women receiving grants has increased for the third year running. <br />&#13; <br />&#13; “I extend my heartfelt congratulations to all the brilliant researchers who have been selected for ERC Consolidator Grants,” said Iliana Ivanova, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth. “I'm especially thrilled to note the significant increase in the representation of women among the winners for the third consecutive year in this prestigious grant competition. This positive trend not only reflects the outstanding contributions of women researchers but also highlights the strides we are making towards a more inclusive and diverse scientific community.”<br />&#13; <br />&#13; ֱ̽ERC, set up by the European Union in 2007, is the premier European funding organisation for excellent frontier research. It funds creative researchers of any nationality and age, to run projects based across Europe.</p>&#13; </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-summary field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p> ֱ̽European Research Council (ERC) has awarded grants worth a total of €627 million to 308 researchers across Europe, of whom four are at the ֱ̽ of Cambridge.</p>&#13; </p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-quote field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">This grant will give us the opportunity to keep exploring radical ideas.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-quote-name field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Professor Rosana Collepardo-Guevara</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-credit field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/" target="_blank">Jenny Zhang - Nathan Pitt, ֱ̽ of Cambridge</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-desctiprion field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Left to right: Professor Chiara Ciccarelli, Professor Jason Miller, Professor Rosana Collepardo-Guevara, and Dr Jenny Zhang</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cc-attribute-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" rel="license"><img alt="Creative Commons License." src="/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/inner-images/cc-by-nc-sa-4-license.png" style="border-width: 0px; width: 88px; height: 31px;" /></a><br />&#13; ֱ̽text in this work is licensed under a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License</a>. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ֱ̽ of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified.  All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our <a href="/">main website</a> under its <a href="/about-this-site/terms-and-conditions">Terms and conditions</a>, and on a <a href="/about-this-site/connect-with-us">range of channels including social media</a> that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.</p>&#13; </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-show-cc-text field-type-list-boolean field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Yes</div></div></div> Wed, 22 Nov 2023 12:54:39 +0000 cg605 243371 at