̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Department of Clinical Biochemistry

Vice-Chancellor’s awards recognise the difference researchers make to society

cjb250 — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 10:44:35 +0000

̽��ֱ��announcement was made at a prize ceremony held at the Old Schools on 13 July. At the same event, one of Cambridge’s leading experts on EU law – and in particular, Brexit – received one of the Vice Chancellor’s Public Engagement with Research Awards for her work around the EU Referendum.

Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, Vice-Chancellor of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, says: “I would like to offer my warm congratulations to the recipients of our Impact and Public Engagement Awards. These are outstanding examples that reflect the tremendous efforts by our researchers to make a major contribution to society.”

Vice-Chancellor’s Impact Awards

̽��ֱ��Vice-Chancellor’s Impact Awards were established to recognise and reward those whose research has led to excellent impact beyond academia, whether on the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life. Each winner receives a prize of £1,000 and a trophy, with the overall winner - Dr Alexander Patto from the Department of Physics – receiving £2,000.

This year’s winners are:

Overall winner: Dr Alexander Patto (Department of Physics)

WaterScope

Using an open-source flexure microscope, spin-out company WaterScope is developing rapid, automated water testing kits and affordable diagnostics to empower developing communities. Its microscopes are being used for education, to inspire future scientists from India to Colombia. Its open-source microscope is supporting local initiatives, with companies such as STIClab in Tanzania making medical microscopes from recycled plastic bottles.

Elroy Dimson (Judge Business School)

‘Active Ownership’: Engaging with investee companies on environmental and social issues

‘Active Ownership’ refers to commitment by asset owners and their portfolio managers to engage with the businesses they own, focusing on issues that matter to all stakeholders and to the economy as a whole, including environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns. By providing evidence to guide ESG strategy, Professor Dimson’s research has had a substantial impact on investment policy and practice.

Professor Nick Morrell (Department of Medicine)

From genetics to new treatments in pulmonary arterial hypertension

Severe high blood pressure in the lungs, known as idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension, is a rare disease that affects approximately 1,000 people in the UK. ̽��ֱ��condition usually affects young women and average life expectancy is three to five years. Existing treatments improve symptoms but have little impact on survival. Professor Morrell has introduced routine genetic testing for this condition, and found that one in four patients carry a particular genetic mutation associated with more severe disease and worse survival. His research has identified new ways to treat the disease, the most promising of which is being commercialised through a university spin-out biotech company.

Professor Lawrence Sherman, Peter Neyroud, Dr Barak Ariel, Dr Cristobal Weinborn and Eleanor Neyroud (Institute of Criminology)

Cambridge Crime Harm Index

̽��ֱ��Cambridge Crime Harm Index is a tool for creating a single metric for the seriousness of crime associated with any one offender, victim, address, community, or prevention strategy, supplementing traditional measures giving all crimes equal weight. ̽��ֱ��UK Office of National Statistics credits the index as the stimulus to institute its own, modified version from 2017. Police use the Cambridge index to target highest-harm offenders, victims, places, times and days, differences in crime harm per capita differs across communities or within them over time, adding precision to decisions for allocating scarce resources in times of budget cuts.

Vice-Chancellor’s Public Engagement with Research Awards

̽��ֱ��Vice-Chancellor’s Public Engagement with Research Awards were set up to recognise and reward those who undertake quality engagement with research. Each winner receives a £1000 personal cash prize and a trophy. This year’s winners are:

Professor Catherine Barnard (Faculty of Law)

In the run up to the EU membership referendum Professor Barnard developed a range of outputs to explain key issues at stake including migration, which forms the basis of her research, in addition to the wider EU law remit. Harnessing the timeliness of the political climate, Barnard’s videos, online articles, radio and TV interviews have supported her engagement across 12 town hall events from Exeter to Newcastle, an open prison and round-table discussions with various public groups. She has also provided a number of briefing sessions to major political party MPs and peers. She has become a trusted public figure, and researcher, on EU law, Brexit and surrounding issues, ensuring that the voices of those key to the research process are heard and listened to.

Dr Elisa Laurenti (Wellcome/MRC Stem Cell Institute and Department of Haematology)

Dr Laurenti has engaged over 2,500 people, at six separate events, with her Stem Cell Robots activity. She collaborated with a researcher in educational robotics to produce this robot-based activity, which maps a stem cell’s differentiation to become a specific cell type. ̽��ֱ��activity has provided a platform for children, families and adults to discuss ethics and clinical applications of stem cell research.

Dr Nai-Chieh Liu (Department of Veterinary Medicine)

Dr Liu has developed a non-invasive respiratory function test for short-skulled dog breeds, including French bulldogs and pugs, which suffer from airway obstruction. She has engaged with dog owners by attending dog shows, dog club meetings and breeders’ premises to break down barriers between publics and veterinarians working to improve the health of these dogs. As a result of this engagement, the UK French bulldog club and the Bulldog Breed Council have adopted health testing schemes based on Dr Liu’s research.

Dr Neil Stott and Belinda Bell (Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation, Judge Business School)

Dr Stott and Miss Bell established Cambridge Social Ventures to embed research around social innovation into a practical workshop to support emerging social entrepreneurs. Since the first workshop in 2014, they have reached almost 500 people wanting to create social change by starting and growing a business. ̽��ֱ��team goes to considerable efforts to reach out to participants from non-traditional backgrounds and to ensure workshops are inclusive and accessible to a wide range of people by incorporating online engagement with work in the community.

Amalia Thomas (Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics)

Amalia Thomas researches photoelasticity, a property by which certain materials transmit light differently when subjected to a force. Amalia has developed an engaging exhibition for secondary school students comprising interactive elements, which uses photoelasticity to visualise force, work and power.

Dr Frank Waldron-Lynch, Jane Kennet and Katerina Anselmiova (Department of Medicine and Department of Clinical Biochemistry)

Since the commencement of their research programme to develop drugs for Type 1 Diabetes, Dr Waldron-Lynch, Ms Kennet and Ms Anselmiova have developed a public engagement programme to engage participants, patients, families, funders, colleagues, institutions, companies and the community, with the aim of ensuring that their research remains relevant to stakeholder needs. Amongst their outputs, the team has formed a patient support group in addition to developing an online engagement strategy through social media platforms. Most recently, they have collaborated with GlaxoSmithKline to offer patients the opportunity to participate in clinical studies at all stages of their disease.

An open source, 3D-printable microscope that forms the cornerstone of rapid, automated water testing kits for use in low and middle-income countries, has helped a Cambridge researcher and his not-for-profit spin-out company win the top prize in this year’s Vice-Chancellor’s Impact Awards at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

Nithi Anand

I drink because I'm thirsty

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̽��ֱ��Academy of Medical Sciences announces new Fellows for 2015

jeh98 — Mon, 11 May 2015 09:38:09 +0000

Forty-eight researchers from across the UK, including five Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� academics, have been recognised for their contribution to the advancement of medical science by election to the Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Academy Fellows are elected for excellence in medical research, for innovative application of scientific knowledge or for their conspicuous service to healthcare. ̽��ֱ��expertise of the new Fellows includes addictions, anaesthesia, age-related diseases and animal biology.

̽��ֱ��Fellows elected from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge are:

Professor Roger Barker – Professor of Clinical Neuroscience and Honorary Consultant Neurologist, Addenbrooke’s Hospital and Department of Clinical Neurosciences

Professor Sarah Bray – Professor of Developmental Biology, Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience

Professor John Danesh – BHF Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine and Head of the Department of Public Health and Primary Care

Professor Fiona Gribble – Professor of Endocrine Physiology, Department of Clinical Biochemistry

Professor David Klenerman – Professor of Biophysical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry

Professor Sir John Tooke PMedSci, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences said: “ ̽��ֱ��Academy of Medical Sciences champions the excellence and diversity of medical science in the UK, and this is clearly demonstrated in this year’s cohort of new Fellows. Their broad range of expertise and fantastic achievements to date shows just how strong the Fellowship is – from the NHS knowledge of Sir Andrew Dillon to the policy experience of Professor Christl Donnelly. Their election is a much deserved honour, and I know they will contribute greatly to the Academy. I am delighted to welcome them all to the Fellowship, and look forward to working with them in the future.”

̽��ֱ��independent Academy of Medical Sciences promotes advances in medical science and campaigns to ensure these are translated into benefits for patients. ̽��ֱ��Academy’s Fellows are the United Kingdom’s leading medical scientists from hospitals, academia, industry and the public service.

View the full list of new Fellows.

̽��ֱ��Academy of Medical Sciences has announced the election of its new Fellows, including five Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� academics.

̽��ֱ��Academy of Medical Sciences

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Artificial pancreas in pregnancy promises fewer diabetes deaths

ns480 — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 10:05:59 +0000

Pregnancy poses additional risks for women with diabetes as hormonal changes make it very difficult to keep blood glucose levels within a safe range, and especially at night. Babies of women with diabetes are five times as likely to be stillborn, three times as likely to die in their first months of life and twice as likely to have a major deformity. Two in three mothers with pre-existing diabetes have Type 1 diabetes. Hypoglycaemia (low blood glucose levels) in pregnancy is also a major cause of maternal mortality.

Published in the February issue of Diabetes Care and led by Dr Helen Murphy of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge's Department of Clinical Biochemistry in collaboration with Dr Roman Hovorka's group at the Institute of Metabolic Science, the study evaluated the performance of an artificial pancreas or 'closed-loop insulin delivery system' in ten pregnant women with Type 1 diabetes. ̽��ֱ��researchers found the device was able to automatically provide the right amount of insulin at the right time, maintain near normal blood glucose levels and, in turn, prevent nocturnal hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) in both early and late pregnancy.

̽��ֱ��artificial pancreas was created by combining a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) with an insulin pump, both of which are already used separately by many people with Type 1 diabetes. Previous studies have shown improved blood glucose control and reduced hypoglycaemia with overnight use of an artificial pancreas in children with Type 1 diabetes but this is the first time it has been successfully used in pregnant women with the condition.

"For women with Type 1 diabetes, self-management is particularly challenging during pregnancy due to physiologic and hormonal changes. Previous studies indicate that pregnant women with the condition spend an average of ten hours a day with glucose levels outside the recommended target," said Dr Murphy.

"These high blood glucose levels increase the risk of congenital malformation, stillbirth, neonatal death, preterm delivery, macrosomia [oversized babies] and neonatal admission. So to discover an artificial pancreas can help maintain near-normal glucose levels in these women is very promising," she added.

Diabetes UK Director or Research, Dr Iain Frame, said: "Although early days, this exciting area of research has huge potential to make pregnancy much safer for women with Type 1 diabetes, and their babies. It's a fantastic example of how existing technologies, in this case, insulin pumps and CGMs, can be adapted and developed to benefit as many people with diabetes as possible.

"We now need to see an extension of this study, one which tests larger numbers of women, and then take it out of the hospital and in to the home setting."

Cambridge research funded by the health charity Diabetes UK has for the first time successfully demonstrated the potential of an artificial pancreas in pregnant women with Type 1 diabetes. It is hoped the development could drastically reduce cases of stillbirth and mortality rates among pregnant women with the condition.

For women with Type 1 diabetes, self-management is particularly challenging during pregnancy due to physiologic and hormonal changes.

Dr Helen Murphy

Credit - Flickr: heather aitken

needles

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Why are we so fat?

bjb42 — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 15:56:04 +0000

One of the most important public health issues of today is obesity. Why do people gain weight? Is it simply about eating too much food and taking too little exercise? Why do some people gain a lot of weight while others stay thin yet share the same environment? Dr Sadaf Farooqi, working with Professor Stephen O’Rahilly in the ̽��ֱ�� Department of Clinical Biochemistry, is helping to answer some of these questions.

Obesity is defined as an excess of body fat that’s large enough to result in adverse consequences for health – the most common being high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and certain cancers. Although calculating exactly how much body fat a person has requires sophisticated techniques, we usually use body mass index or BMI (weight in kilograms/height in metres squared) as a measure of heaviness as it correlates reasonably well with body fat content. Obesity is defined as a BMI greater than 30 kg/m2.

In the UK, current estimates of obesity indicate that 23% of men and 24% of women are obese. ̽��ֱ��World Health Organization has warned that obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, with more than 1 billion adults overweight and is now ‘a major contributor to the global burden of chronic disease and disability.’

Why is obesity on the increase? We live in an age of increased availability of palatable, energy-dense foods and yet we have a reduced requirement for physical exertion during our working and domestic life. All this contributes to a state of positive energy balance, which over a period of time is enough to shift the mean BMI of a population. Obesity can run in families, which might point to the sharing of a common lifestyle but might also point to a genetic link. In fact, the heritability of body weight and fat mass is very high, at 40–70%, based on studies in twins and adopted children. How can we find the genes that control body weight?

Finding the ‘fat’ genes

Dr Sadaf Farooqi and her colleagues have made progress in uncovering the molecular basis of obesity by focusing on patients who have severe forms of the condition. Many of the patients they study are extremely obese from a young age, with excessive food consumption beyond what is needed for their basic energy requirements – a type of behaviour known as hyperphagia.

̽��ֱ��story began a decade ago, with the finding of two severely obese Pakistani cousins with uncontrollable appetites. Dr Farooqi’s studies revealed that the children had undetectable levels of a protein called leptin in their serum and further analysis showed that they carried homozygous mutations in the leptin gene. ̽��ֱ��story unfolded as other families were identified with mutations either in this gene or in the receptor that binds leptin. When the patients were given daily injections of synthetic leptin in a clinical trial, dramatic beneficial effects were seen: within two weeks, the uncontrollable food-seeking behaviour had normalised, and their body weight and fat mass slowly reduced to normal levels.

To date, the team have identified seven genes that, when defective, result in severe obesity in children. All are part of the leptin–melanocortin system and all are involved in the control of appetite. One of these, the gene encoding the melanocortin receptor MC4R, is turning out to be the commonest single gene disorder causing obesity, with mutations found in 0.1% of the general population, a prevalence higher than for cystic fibrosis. Dr Farooqi and colleagues have studied 2000 severely obese individuals as part of the Genetics of Obesity Study (GOOS), discovering that as many as 5–6% of participants have pathogenic mutations in this gene.

Unfortunately no therapy yet exists for patients with MC4R deficiency, although much has been learnt about how mutations change the structure and function of the receptor and also about the range of associated clinical problems. By studying over 150 patients with MC4R deficiency, Dr Farooqi and colleagues have shown that when MC4R doesn’t work at all, this leads to a more severe form of the disease. This is even reflected in the amount of food eaten. People with a defective MC4R eat much more when given free access to food at a test meal, compared with people in whom the MC4R gene is working at 50%. This shows that MC4R acts as a brake on food intake and suggests that targeting MC4R may be useful as a treatment for obesity.

It’s all in the mind

Eating behaviour results from the innate drive to eat. Although this is genetically determined, it’s also influenced by the hedonic or rewarding properties of food – which can override the biological cues that govern hunger and fullness and result in hyperphagia. Eating behaviour is unique in that some of the key molecular determinants of the drive to eat are being identified. ̽��ֱ��genetic disorders involving the leptin–melanocortin pathway studied by Dr Farooqi affect a signalling pathway that starts with leptin released from fat calls and leads back to the hypothalamus in the brain. Studies in patients with defects in the proteins involved in this pathway should provide the opportunity to find out how the biological pathways link with the reward pathways to influence eating behaviour.

̽��ֱ��drive to eat: what’s next?

Progress towards defining the molecular basis of obesity in some patients has helped not only to suggest treatment strategies but also to highlight that, for many people, theirs is a medical condition. ̽��ֱ��seven disorders found so far are likely to be joined by the identification of many other gene defects that lead to severe obesity. These findings provide insights into the pathways that regulate body weight, which in turn is a starting point for developing treatments that may well be applicable to more common forms of obesity.

Although several groups in the UK have recently identified the first gene, FTO, that increases the risk of common obesity in the population, uncovering the basis of common forms of obesity or more subtle genetic defects will undoubtedly prove harder, and new approaches to assessing obesity are an attractive option. One new avenue of research has been to look directly at what is happening in the brain in response to food. Considerable experience exists in Cambridge in the use of imaging techniques to study brain function and to assess human behaviour in conjunction with biological correlates. Recent advances in these technologies are helping scientists to understand the brain pathways involved in eating behaviour. Dr Farooqi is working with Dr Paul Fletcher in the Department of Psychiatry and Drs Andrew Lawrence and Andy Calder at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit on one such technique. They are using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure patterns of brain activity when people see images of food compared with everyday items such as toys, trees and trains. It is hoped that these studies will shed light on the areas of the brain involved in food reward and explain why some people have uncontrollable urges to eat.

For more information, please contact the author Dr Sadaf Farooqi (isf20@cam.ac.uk) at the Department of Clinical Biochemistry. This research is supported by the Wellcome Trust and the MRC, and the functional imaging studies are supported by an endowment from the WOCO Foundation.

For some people, the urge to eat is uncontrollable. Cambridge scientists have taken us a step closer to understanding the causes of obesity by studying a group of patients for whom overeating is an everyday event.

Dr Sadaf Farooqi

Functional MRI scan

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