̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Lucy Cavendish College

Free tech eliminates the fear of public speaking

lw355 — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 08:00:18 +0000

Cambridge scientist launches free AI-enabled virtual reality platform that transforms users into skilled and confident public speakers.

Cambridge confers honorary degrees

ps748 — Wed, 19 Jun 2024 12:57:37 +0000

̽��ֱ��Chancellor, Lord Sainsbury of Turville, presided over a special congregation at the Senate House which was attended by around 400 staff, students, alumni and invited guests. ̽��ֱ��honorary graduands this year were:

Professor Dame Carol Black (Doctor of Medical Science) – From 2012-2019 Dame Carol was Principal of Newnham College and is now an Honorary Fellow of both Newnham and Lucy Cavendish Colleges. A clinician and medical scientist, Carol is a rheumatologist and renowned authority on the condition scleroderma. She was President of the Royal College of Physicians and has advised the UK Government on areas of public health policy.

Professor Stephen Stahl (Doctor of Medical Science) – A psychiatrist and psychopharmacologist, Stephen is Clinical Professor of Health Sciences at the ̽��ֱ�� of California Riverside, US. He is a former Visiting Fellow of Clare Hall and Honorary Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry.

Professor Adele Diamond (Doctor of Science) – A world leading neuroscientist, Adele is Professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at the ̽��ֱ�� of British Colombia, Canada. Her work has led to improvements in treatments for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Professor Dame Carol Robinson (Doctor of Science)– Carol is Dr Lee's Professor of Chemistry at the ̽��ֱ�� of Oxford and founding director of the Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Discovery. Formerly President of the Royal Society of Chemistry she is an alumna and an Honorary Fellow of Churchill College.

Professor Kip Thorne (Doctor of Science) – Kip is Richard P Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics Emeritus at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), US. In 2017 he was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. He is also a winner of the Kavli Prize in Astrophysics and a celebrated author.

Professor ̽��ֱ��Hon Michael Ignatieff (Doctor of Letters) – A historian, writer and broadcaster, Michael is also a former politician having led the Liberal Party in his native Canada from 2008 to 2011. A member of the Canadian Privy Council and the Order of Canada he has won the Heinemann, Orwell and Dan David Prizes.

Murray Perahia (Doctor of Music) – Murray is a world-renowned pianist whose interpretations of Brahms, Beethoven, Chopin and Schubert have gained great acclaim. He is Principal Guest Conductor of the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields and the winner of three Grammy Awards. He was appointed an Honorary KBE in 2004 and is an Honorary Fellow of Jesus College.

Kip Thorne summed up the day:

"Early in my career the 3 places which were the most important to me in terms of the colleagues I had were Cambridge, Moscow and the place I came from, Princeton. Cambridge, being home to good friends like Stephen Hawking and Martin Rees, was a special place...for me this is just tremendous to receive this honour from the place that has had such a big impact on my career."

And Dame Carol Black said:

"It almost feels unreal...I'm just so pleased and humbled by it. Nothing better could have happened to me. I'm not a Cambridge or Oxford graduate so I never thought this would happen. This is such a wonderful day and it's been lovely to see some of the people I knew when I was here as Head of House."

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� has conferred honorary degrees to seven distinguished individuals in recognition of the achievements they have made in their respective fields. An honorary doctorate is the highest accolade the ̽��ֱ�� can bestow.

This is just tremendous to receive this honour from the place that has had such a big impact on my career

Kip Thorne

Paul Seagrove

Honorary graduands

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 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 main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Study unpicks why childhood maltreatment continues to impact on mental and physical health into adulthood

cjb250 — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 14:31:51 +0000

Individuals who experienced maltreatment in childhood – such as emotional, physical and sexual abuse, or emotional and physical neglect – are more likely to develop mental illness throughout their entire life, but it is not yet well understood why this risk persists many decades after maltreatment first took place.

In a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and Leiden ̽��ֱ�� found that adult brains continue to be affected by childhood maltreatment in adulthood because these experiences make individuals more likely to experience obesity, inflammation and traumatic events, all of which are risk factors for poor health and wellbeing, which in turn also affect brain structure and therefore brain health.

̽��ֱ��researchers examined MRI brain scans from approximately 21,000 adult participants aged 40 to 70 years in UK Biobank, as well as information on body mass index (an indicator of metabolic health), CRP (a blood marker of inflammation) and experiences of childhood maltreatment and adult trauma.

Sofia Orellana, a PhD student at the Department of Psychiatry and Darwin College, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, said: “We’ve known for some time that people who experience abuse or neglect as a child can continue to experience mental health problems long into adulthood and that their experiences can also cause long term problems for the brain, the immune system and the metabolic system, which ultimately controls the health of your heart or your propensity to diabetes for instance. What hasn’t been clear is how all these effects interact or reinforce each other.”

Using a type of statistical modelling that allowed them to determine how these interactions work, the researchers confirmed that experiencing childhood maltreatment made individuals more likely to have an increased body mass index (or obesity) and experience greater rates of trauma in adulthood. Individuals with a history of maltreatment tended to show signs of dysfunction in their immune systems, and the researchers showed that this dysfunction is the product of obesity and repeated exposure to traumatic events.

Next, the researchers expanded their models to include MRI measures of the adult’s brains and were able to show that widespread increases and decreases in brain thickness and volume associated with greater body mass index, inflammation and trauma were attributable to childhood maltreatment having made these factors more likely in the first place. These changes in brain structure likely mean that some form of physical damage is occurring to brain cells, affecting how they work and function.

Although there is more to do to understand how these effects operate at a cellular level in the brain, the researchers believe that their findings advance our understanding of how adverse events in childhood can contribute to life-long increased risk of brain and mind health disorders.

Professor Ed Bullmore from the Department of Psychiatry, Cambridge, said: “Now that we have a better understanding of why childhood maltreatment has long term effects, we can potentially look for biomarkers – biological red flags – that indicate whether an individual is at increased risk of continuing problems. This could help us target early on those who most need help, and hopefully aid them in breaking this chain of ill health.”

Professor Bullmore is a Fellow at Lucy Cavendish College and and an Honorary Fellow at Downing College.

̽��ֱ��research was supported by MQ: Transforming Mental Health, the Royal Society, Medical Research Council, National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East of England, Girton College and Darwin College.

Reference
Orellana, SC et al. Childhood maltreatment influences adult brain structure through its effects on immune, metabolic and psychosocial factors. PNAS; 9 Apr 2024 ; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.230470412

Childhood maltreatment can continue to have an impact long into adulthood because of how it effects an individual’s risk of poor physical health and traumatic experiences many years later, a new study has found.

We’ve known for some time that people who experience abuse or neglect as a child can continue to experience mental health problems long into adulthood

Sofia Orellana

mali desha (Unsplash)

Black and white image of boy curled up on the floor

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AI at Cambridge Festival 2024

sb726 — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 10:38:08 +0000

Election disruption, deepfakes, the metaverse and more will be explored and debated by Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� researchers.

Simple blood test can help diagnose bipolar disorder

sc604 — Wed, 25 Oct 2023 15:00:00 +0000

̽��ֱ��researchers, from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, used a combination of an online psychiatric assessment and a blood test to diagnose patients with bipolar disorder, many of whom had been misdiagnosed with major depressive disorder.

̽��ֱ��researchers say the blood test on its own could diagnose up to 30% of patients with bipolar disorder, but that it is even more effective when combined with a digital mental health assessment.

Incorporating biomarker testing could help physicians differentiate between major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder, which have overlapping symptoms but require different pharmacological treatments.

Although the blood test is still a proof of concept, the researchers say it could be an effective complement to existing psychiatric diagnosis and could help researchers understand the biological origins of mental health conditions. ̽��ֱ��results are reported in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.

Bipolar disorder affects approximately one percent of the population – as many as 80 million people worldwide – but for nearly 40% of patients, it is misdiagnosed as major depressive disorder.

“People with bipolar disorder will experience periods of low mood and periods of very high mood or mania,” said first author Dr Jakub Tomasik, from Cambridge’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology. “But patients will often only see a doctor when they’re experiencing low mood, which is why bipolar disorder frequently gets misdiagnosed as major depressive disorder.”

“When someone with bipolar disorder is experiencing a period of low mood, to a physician, it can look very similar to someone with major depressive disorder,” said Professor Sabine Bahn, who led the research. “However, the two conditions need to be treated differently: if someone with bipolar disorder is prescribed antidepressants without the addition of a mood stabiliser, it can trigger a manic episode.”

̽��ֱ��most effective way to get an accurate diagnosis of bipolar disorder is a full psychiatric assessment. However, patients often face long waits to get these assessments, and they take time to carry out.

“Psychiatric assessments are highly effective, but the ability to diagnose bipolar disorder with a simple blood test could ensure that patients get the right treatment the first time and alleviate some of the pressures on medical professionals,” said Tomasik.

̽��ֱ��researchers used samples and data from the Delta study, conducted in the UK between 2018 and 2020, to identify bipolar disorder in patients who had received a diagnosis of major depressive disorder within the previous five years and had current depressive symptoms. Participants were recruited online through voluntary response sampling.

More than 3000 participants were recruited, and they each completed an online mental health assessment of more than 600 questions. ̽��ֱ��assessment covered a range of topics that may be relevant to mental health disorders, including past or current depressive episodes, generalised anxiety, symptoms of mania, family history or substance abuse.

Of the participants who completed the online assessment, around 1000 were selected to send in a dried blood sample from a simple finger prick, which the researchers analysed for more than 600 different metabolites using mass spectrometry. After completing the Composite International Diagnostic Interview, a fully structured and validated diagnostic tool to establish mood disorder diagnoses, 241 participants were included in the study.

Analysis of the data showed a significant biomarker signal for bipolar disorder, even after accounting for confounding factors such as medication. ̽��ֱ��identified biomarkers were correlated primarily with lifetime manic symptoms and were validated in a separate group of patients who received a new clinical diagnosis of major depressive disorder or bipolar disorder during the study’s one-year follow-up period.

̽��ֱ��researchers found that the combination of patient-reported information and the biomarker test significantly improved diagnostic outcomes for people with bipolar disorder, especially in those where the diagnosis was not obvious.

“ ̽��ֱ��online assessment was more effective overall, but the biomarker test performs well and is much faster,” said Bahn. “A combination of both approaches would be ideal, as they’re complementary.”

“We found that some patients preferred the biomarker test, because it was an objective result that they could see,” said Tomasik. “Mental illness has a biological basis, and it’s important for patients to know it’s not in their mind. It’s an illness that affects the body like any other.”

“In addition to the diagnostic capabilities of biomarkers, they could also be used to identify potential drug targets for mood disorders, which could lead to better treatments,” said Bahn. “It’s an exciting time to be in this area of research.”

A patent has been filed on the research by Cambridge Enterprise, the ̽��ֱ��’s commercialisation arm. ̽��ֱ��research was supported by the Stanley Medical Research Institute and Psyomics, a ̽��ֱ�� spin-out company co-founded by Sabine Bahn.

Sabine Bahn is Professor of Neurotechnology at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology and is a Fellow of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge.

Reference:
Jakub Tomasik et al. ‘Metabolomic Biomarker Signatures for Bipolar and Unipolar Depression.’ JAMA Psychiatry (2023). DOI: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2023.4096

Researchers have developed a new way of improving diagnosis of bipolar disorder that uses a simple blood test to identify biomarkers associated with the condition.

̽��ֱ��ability to diagnose bipolar disorder with a simple blood test could ensure that patients get the right treatment the first time

Jakub Tomasik

Cambridge Centre for Neuropsychiatric Research

Providing a drop of blood for a test

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 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 main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Medieval Murder Maps: homicidal Oxford students in the 14th century

fpjl2 — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 05:59:43 +0000

A project mapping medieval England’s known murder cases has now added Oxford and York to its street plan of London’s 14th century slayings.

Brain’s ‘appetite control centre’ different in people who are overweight or living with obesity

cjb250 — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 23:01:09 +0000

̽��ֱ��researchers say their findings add further evidence to the relevance of brain structure to weight and food consumption.

Current estimations suggest that over 1.9 billion people worldwide are either overweight or obese. In the UK, according to the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities, almost two-thirds of adults are overweight or living with obesity. This increases an individual’s risk of developing a number of health problems, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke, cancer and poorer mental health.

A large number of factors influence how much we eat and the types of food we eat, including our genetics, hormone regulation, and the environment in which we live. What happens in our brains to tell us that we are hungry or full is not entirely clear, though studies have shown that the hypothalamus, a small region of the brain about the size of an almond, plays an important role.

Dr Stephanie Brown from the Department of Psychiatry and Lucy Cavendish College, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, said: “Although we know the hypothalamus is important for determining how much we eat, we actually have very little direct information about this brain region in living humans. That’s because it is very small and hard to make out on traditional MRI brain scans.”

̽��ֱ��majority of evidence for the role of the hypothalamus in appetite regulation comes from animal studies. These show that there are complex interacting pathways within the hypothalamus, with different cell populations acting together to tell us when we are hungry or full.

To get around this, Dr Brown and colleagues used an algorithm developed using machine learning to analyse MRI brain scans taken from 1,351 young adults across a range of BMI scores, looking for differences in the hypothalamus when comparing individuals who are underweight, healthy weight, overweight and living with obesity.

In a study published today in Neuroimage: Clinical, the team found that the overall volume of the hypothalamus was significantly larger in the overweight and obese groups of young adults. In fact, the team found a significant relationship between volume of the hypothalamus and body-mass index (BMI).

These volume differences were most apparent in those sub-regions of the hypothalamus that control appetite through the release of hormones to balance hunger and fullness.

While the precise significance of the finding is unclear – including whether the structural changes are a cause or a consequence of the changes in body weight – one possibility is that the change relates to inflammation. Previous animal studies have shown that a high fat diet can cause inflammation of the hypothalamus, which in turn prompts insulin resistance and obesity. In mice, just three days of a fat-rich diet is enough to cause this inflammation. Other studies have shown that this inflammation can raise the threshold at which animals are full – in other words, they have to eat more food than usual to feel full.

Dr Brown, the study’s first author, added: “If what we see in mice is the case in people, then eating a high-fat diet could trigger inflammation of our appetite control centre. Over time, this would change our ability to tell when we’ve eaten enough and to how our body processes blood sugar, leading us to put on weight.”

Inflammation may explain why the hypothalamus is larger in these individuals, the team say. One suggestion is that the body reacts to inflammation by increasing the size of the brain’s specialist immune cells, known as glia.

Professor Paul Fletcher, the study’s senior author, from the Department of Psychiatry and Clare College, Cambridge, said: “ ̽��ֱ��last two decades have given us important insights about appetite control and how it may be altered in obesity. Metabolic researchers at Cambridge have played a leading role in this.

“Our hope is that by taking this new approach to analysing brain scans in large datasets, we can further extend this work into humans, ultimately relating these subtle structural brain findings to changes in appetite and eating and generating a more comprehensive understanding of obesity.”

̽��ֱ��team say more research is needed to confirm whether increased volume in the hypothalamus is a result of being overweight or whether people with larger hypothalami are predisposed to eat more in the first place. It is also possible that these two factors interact with each other causing a feedback loop.

̽��ֱ��research was supported by the Bernard Wolfe Health Neuroscience Fund, Wellcome and the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, with additional funding from Alzheimer’s Research UK.

Reference
Brown, SSG, et al. Hypothalamic volume is associated with body mass index. Neuroimage: Clinical; 8 Aug 2023; DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2023.103478

Cambridge scientists have shown that the hypothalamus, a key region of the brain involved in controlling appetite, is different in the brains of people who are overweight and people with obesity when compared to people who are a healthy weight.

Although we know the hypothalamus is important for determining how much we eat, we actually have very little direct information about this brain region in living humans

Stephanie Brown

World Obesity Federation

Man playing basketball

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 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 main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Inaugural Sustainability Showcase celebrates environmental achievements across Cambridge

jek67 — Thu, 29 Jun 2023 12:59:52 +0000

Departing from the traditional format of separate award ceremonies, the showcase brought together numerous sustainability engagement programs administered by the Environmental Sustainability Team (EST), along with initiatives from other departments within the university.

Dr Sally Pidgeon, Head of Environmental Sustainability at the EST, opened the showcase which celebrated the exceptional efforts of volunteers, staff, and students, with a particular focus on the Green Impact program.

A total of 43 awards were bestowed for outstanding contributions to sustainability, including an impressive 12 teams that achieved Platinum status. To earn Platinum recognition, teams had to successfully complete 80% of the Green Impact workbook, demonstrating their dedication to sustainable practices.

̽��ֱ��esteemed institutions and teams that attained Platinum status this year included Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Press and Assessment Cape Town, Cancer Research UK, IMS-MRL, ̽��ֱ��Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, ̽��ֱ��Green Genies - DPHPC, Christ's College, Churchill College, Clare College, Gonville & Caius College, Robinson College, St John's College, and Wolfson College.

Additionally, nine teams achieved Excellence status, which involved undertaking a seven-month project centred around a specific sustainability theme of their choosing. These projects encompassed a wide range of sustainability aspects and addressed various challenges.

Some notable projects included:

̽��ֱ��Botanic Gardens: Exploring methods to reduce energy demands in the uninsulated, Grade II listed building at 1 Brookside.
Jesus and Churchill Colleges' Seed Library: Establishing a seed library to promote sustainable agriculture.
Lucy Cavendish College: Creating a Living Lab for Green Nudges to encourage sustainable behaviours.
Murray Edwards College: Implementing the Student Sustainability Leaders Programme.
Robinson College: Enhancing sustainability in guest supplies at the college.

Within the Green Impact program, teams also had the opportunity to nominate colleagues, students, and projects for 'Special Awards' to recognize exceptional contributions. Many of these individuals voluntarily dedicated significant amounts of time and effort to promote sustainability within their respective colleges, institutions, departments, or workplaces.

̽��ֱ��winners of these special awards were announced as follows:

Sustainability Hero:
- Winner: Ivan Higney, Darwin College
- Highly Commended: Oscar Holgate, Wolfson College
Innovation for Engagement:
- Winner: Animal agriculture, Lucy Cavendish College
- Highly Commended: Sustainability Thinking Space, Wolfson College
Environmental Improvement:
- Winner: Clare College Braeside
- Highly Commended: Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Press and Assessment, South Africa Biodiversity Hikes
Community Action:
- Winner: Darwin College, Project Second Life
Student Leadership Award:
- Winner: Deidre Boodoosingh, Wolfson College
- Highly Commended: Lauren Court, Girton College

Furthermore, seven LEAF awards were presented to lab-based teams as part of the newly established program. ̽��ֱ��LEAF awards recognize outstanding sustainability efforts in laboratories that reduce the carbon footprint of their work.

You can read more about the Sustainability Showcase from the EST team here.

̽��ֱ��Environmental Sustainability Team at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge hosted its first-ever Sustainability Showcase on 21st June at Wolfson College.

Gemma Dunsmure and Emily Jones from the Green Genies – ̽��ֱ��Department of Public Health and Primary Care, winners of a Platinum Green Impact Award

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 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 main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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