̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)

Five hubs launched to ensure UK benefits from quantum future

sc604 — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 06:30:07 +0000

̽��ֱ��hub, called Q-BIOMED, is one of 5 quantum research hubs announced on 26 July by Peter Kyle MP, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, supported by £160 million in funding.

̽��ֱ��hub will exploit advances in quantum sensors capable of detecting cells and molecules, potentially orders of magnitude more sensitively than traditional diagnostic tests.

This includes developing quantum-enhanced blood tests to diagnose infectious diseases and cancer quickly and cheaply using portable instruments, and sensors measuring tiny changes to the magnetic fields in the brain that have the potential to detect early markers of Alzheimer’s disease before symptoms occur.

Other research will include quantum-enhanced MRI scans, heart scanners and surgical and treatment interventions for early-stage and hard-to-treat cancers.

“Quantum technologies harness quantum physics to achieve a functionality or a performance which is otherwise unattainable, deriving from science which cannot be explained by classical physics,” said Hub Co-Director Professor Mete Atatüre, Head of Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory. “Q-BIOMED will be delivered by an outstanding team of researchers from academia, the NHS, charities, government and industry to exploit quantum-enhanced advances for human health and societal good.”

“Our hub aims to grow a new quantum for health innovation ecosystem in the UK, and has already shaped the UK's new Quantum Mission for Health,” said Hub Co-Director Professor Rachel McKendry, from the London Centre for Nanotechnology and Division of Medicine at UCL. “Our long-term vision is to accelerate the entire innovation pipeline from discovery research, to translation, adoption and implementation within the NHS and global health systems, for the benefit of patients and societal good.”

“Quantum sensing allows us to gather information at cellular and molecular levels with unprecedented sensitivity to electric and magnetic fields," said Dr Ljiljana Fruk from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, a member of the Q-BIOMED team. "I look forward to learning from colleagues and engaging in challenging discussions to develop more sensitive, affordable tools for doctors and patients, advancing the future of healthcare.”

Cambridge researchers are also involved in three of the other newly-announced hubs:

̽��ֱ��UK Hub for Quantum Enabled Position, Navigation and Timing (QEPNT), led by the ̽��ֱ�� of Glasgow, will develop quantum technologies which will be key for national security and critical infrastructure and sectors such as aerospace, connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs), finance, maritime and agriculture. Luca Sapienza (Engineering), Louise Hirst (Materials Science and Metallurgy/Cavendish Laboratory) and Dave Ellis (Cavendish Laboratory) are part of the QEPNT team.
QCI3: Hub for Quantum Computing via Integrated and Interconnected Implementations, led by the ̽��ֱ�� of Oxford, aims to develop the technologies needed for the UK to play a key role in the development of quantum computers, a market estimated to be worth $1.3 trillion by 2030. Ulrich Schneider (Cavendish Laboratory), Helena Knowles (Cavendish Laboratory), and Chander Velu (Institute for Manufacturing) are part of the QCI3 team.
̽��ֱ��Integrated Quantum Networks (IQN) Quantum Technology Research Hub, led by Heriot-Watt ̽��ֱ��, will undertake research towards the ultimate goal of a ‘quantum internet’, globally interlinked quantum networks connecting multiple quantum computers to produce enormous computational power. Richard Penty, Adrian Wonfor and Qixiang Cheng (Engineering), Atatüre and Dorian Gangloff (Cavendish Laboratory) are part of the IQN team.

̽��ֱ��fifth hub, UK Quantum Technology Hub in Sensing, Imaging and Timing (QuSIT), is led by the ̽��ֱ�� of Birmingham.

̽��ֱ��five hubs are delivered by the UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), with a £106 million investment from EPSRC, the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Research Council, UKRI Medical Research Council, and the National Institute for Health and Care Research. Added to this are contributions from industry and other partners worth more than £54 million.

Peter Kyle, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, said: “We want to see a future where cutting-edge science improves everyday lives. That is the vision behind our investment in these new quantum technology hubs, by supporting the deployment of technology that will mean faster diagnoses for diseases, critical infrastructure safe from hostile threats and cleaner energy for us all.

“This isn’t just about research; it’s about putting that research to work. These hubs will bridge the gap between brilliant ideas and practical solutions. They will not only transform sectors like healthcare and security, but also create a culture of accelerated innovation that helps to grow our economy.”

EPSRC Executive Chair Professor Charlotte Deane said: “Technologies harnessing quantum properties will provide unparalleled power and capacity for analysis at a molecular level, with truly revolutionary possibilities across everything from healthcare to infrastructure and computing.

“ ̽��ֱ��5 Quantum Technology Hubs announced today will harness the UK’s expertise to foster innovation, support growth and ensure that we capitalise on the profound opportunities of this transformative technology.”

A major new research hub led by the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and UCL aims to harness quantum technology to improve early diagnosis and treatment of disease.

James Tye/UCL

L-R: Professor John Morton (UCL), Professor Rachel McKendry (UCL), Professor Mete Atatüre (Cambridge), Professor Eleni Nastouli (UCL)

̽��ֱ��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.

Yes

Imperceptible sensors made from ‘electronic spider silk’ can be printed directly on human skin

sc604 — Fri, 24 May 2024 09:23:44 +0000

̽��ֱ��method, developed by researchers from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, takes its inspiration from spider silk, which can conform and stick to a range of surfaces. These ‘spider silks’ also incorporate bioelectronics, so that different sensing capabilities can be added to the ‘web’.

̽��ֱ��fibres, at least 50 times smaller than a human hair, are so lightweight that the researchers printed them directly onto the fluffy seedhead of a dandelion without collapsing its structure. When printed on human skin, the fibre sensors conform to the skin and expose the sweat pores, so the wearer doesn’t detect their presence. Tests of the fibres printed onto a human finger suggest they could be used as continuous health monitors.

This low-waste and low-emission method for augmenting living structures could be used in a range of fields, from healthcare and virtual reality, to electronic textiles and environmental monitoring. ̽��ֱ��results are reported in the journal Nature Electronics.

Although human skin is remarkably sensitive, augmenting it with electronic sensors could fundamentally change how we interact with the world around us. For example, sensors printed directly onto the skin could be used for continuous health monitoring, for understanding skin sensations, or could improve the sensation of ‘reality’ in gaming or virtual reality application.

While wearable technologies with embedded sensors, such as smartwatches, are widely available, these devices can be uncomfortable, obtrusive and can inhibit the skin’s intrinsic sensations.

“If you want to accurately sense anything on a biological surface like skin or a leaf, the interface between the device and the surface is vital,” said Professor Yan Yan Shery Huang from Cambridge’s Department of Engineering, who led the research. “We also want bioelectronics that are completely imperceptible to the user, so they don’t in any way interfere with how the user interacts with the world, and we want them to be sustainable and low waste.”

There are multiple methods for making wearable sensors, but these all have drawbacks. Flexible electronics, for example, are normally printed on plastic films that don’t allow gas or moisture to pass through, so it would be like wrapping your skin in cling film. Other researchers have recently developed flexible electronics that are gas-permeable, like artificial skins, but these still interfere with normal sensation, and rely on energy- and waste-intensive manufacturing techniques.

3D printing is another potential route for bioelectronics since it is less wasteful than other production methods, but leads to thicker devices that can interfere with normal behaviour. Spinning electronic fibres results in devices that are imperceptible to the user, but don't have a high degree of sensitivity or sophistication, and they’re difficult to transfer onto the object in question.

Now, the Cambridge-led team has developed a new way of making high-performance bioelectronics that can be customised to a wide range of biological surfaces, from a fingertip to the fluffy seedhead of a dandelion, by printing them directly onto that surface. Their technique takes its inspiration in part from spiders, who create sophisticated and strong web structures adapted to their environment, using minimal material.

̽��ֱ��researchers spun their bioelectronic ‘spider silk’ from PEDOT:PSS (a biocompatible conducting polymer), hyaluronic acid and polyethylene oxide. ̽��ֱ��high-performance fibres were produced from water-based solution at room temperature, which enabled the researchers to control the ‘spinnability’ of the fibres. ̽��ֱ��researchers then designed an orbital spinning approach to allow the fibres to morph to living surfaces, even down to microstructures such as fingerprints.

Tests of the bioelectronic fibres, on surfaces including human fingers and dandelion seedheads, showed that they provided high-quality sensor performance while being imperceptible to the host.

“Our spinning approach allows the bioelectronic fibres to follow the anatomy of different shapes, at both the micro and macro scale, without the need for any image recognition,” said Andy Wang, the first author of the paper. “It opens up a whole different angle in terms of how sustainable electronics and sensors can be made. It’s a much easier way to produce large area sensors.”

Most high-resolution sensors are made in an industrial cleanroom and require the use of toxic chemicals in a multi-step and energy-intensive fabrication process. ̽��ֱ��Cambridge-developed sensors can be made anywhere and use a tiny fraction of the energy that regular sensors require.

̽��ֱ��bioelectronic fibres, which are repairable, can be simply washed away when they have reached the end of their useful lifetime, and generate less than a single milligram of waste: by comparison, a typical single load of laundry produces between 600 and 1500 milligrams of fibre waste.

“Using our simple fabrication technique, we can put sensors almost anywhere and repair them where and when they need it, without needing a big printing machine or a centralised manufacturing facility,” said Huang. “These sensors can be made on-demand, right where they’re needed, and produce minimal waste and emissions.”

̽��ֱ��researchers say their devices could be used in applications from health monitoring and virtual reality, to precision agriculture and environmental monitoring. In future, other functional materials could be incorporated into this fibre printing method, to build integrated fibre sensors for augmenting the living systems with display, computation, and energy conversion functions. ̽��ֱ��research is being commercialised with the support of Cambridge Enterprise, the ̽��ֱ��’s commercialisation arm.

̽��ֱ��research was supported in part by the European Research Council, Wellcome, the Royal Society, and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Reference:
Wenyu Wang et al. ‘Sustainable and imperceptible augmentation of living structures with organic bioelectronic fibres.’ Nature Electronics (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41928-024-01174-4

Researchers have developed a method to make adaptive and eco-friendly sensors that can be directly and imperceptibly printed onto a wide range of biological surfaces, whether that’s a finger or a flower petal.

Huang Lab, Cambridge

Sensors printed on human fingers

Yes

Strongest evidence to date of brain’s ability to compensate for age-related cognitive decline

cjb250 — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 14:00:20 +0000

As we age, our brain gradually atrophies, losing nerve cells and connections and this can lead to a decline in brain function. It’s not fully understood why some people appear to maintain better brain function than others, and how we can protect ourselves from cognitive decline.

A widely accepted notion is that some people’s brains are able to compensate for the deterioration in brain tissue by recruiting other areas of the brain to help perform tasks. While brain imaging studies have shown that the brain does recruit other areas, until now it has not been clear whether this makes any difference to performance on a task, or whether it provides any additional information about how to perform that task.

In a study published in the journal eLife, a team led by scientists at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge in collaboration with the ̽��ֱ�� of Sussex have shown that when the brain recruits other areas, it improves performance specifically in the brains of older people.

Study lead Dr Kamen Tsvetanov, an Alzheimer's Society Dementia Research Leader Fellow in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, said: “Our ability to solve abstract problems is a sign of so-called ‘fluid intelligence’, but as we get older, this ability begins to show significant decline. Some people manage to maintain this ability better than others. We wanted to ask why that was the case – are they able to recruit other areas of the brain to overcome changes in the brain that would otherwise be detrimental?”

Brain imaging studies have shown that fluid intelligence tasks engage the ‘multiple demand network’ (MDN), a brain network involving regions both at the front and rear of the brain, but its activity decreases with age. To see whether the brain compensated for this decrease in activity, the Cambridge team looked at imaging data from 223 adults between 19 and 87 years of age who had been recruited by the Cambridge Centre for Ageing & Neuroscience (Cam-CAN).

̽��ֱ��volunteers were asked to identify the odd one out in a series of puzzles of varying difficulty, while lying in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner, so that the researchers could look at patterns of brain activity by measuring changes in blood flow.

As anticipated, in general the ability to solve the problems decreased with age. ̽��ֱ��MDN was particularly active, as were regions of the brain involved in processing visual information.

When the team analysed the images further using machine-learning, they found two areas of the brain that showed greater activity in the brains of older people, and also correlated with better performance on the task. These areas were the cuneus, at the rear of the brain, and a region in the frontal cortex. But of the two, only activity in the cuneus region was related to performance of the task more strongly in the older than younger volunteers, and contained extra information about the task beyond the MDN.

Although it is not clear exactly why the cuneus should be recruited for this task, the researchers point out that this brain region is usually good at helping us stay focused on what we see. Older adults often have a harder time briefly remembering information that they have just seen, like the complex puzzle pieces used in the task. ̽��ֱ��increased activity in the cuneus might reflect a change in how often older adults look at these pieces, as a strategy to make up for their poorer visual memory.

Dr Ethan Knights from the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at Cambridge said: “Now that we’ve seen this compensation happening, we can start to ask questions about why it happens for some older people, but not others, and in some tasks, but not others. Is there something special about these people – their education or lifestyle, for example – and if so, is there a way we can intervene to help others see similar benefits?”

Dr Alexa Morcom from the ̽��ֱ�� of Sussex’s School of Psychology and Sussex Neuroscience research centre said: “This new finding also hints that compensation in later life does not rely on the multiple demand network as previously assumed, but recruits areas whose function is preserved in ageing.”

̽��ֱ��research was supported by the Medical Research Council, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, the Guarantors of Brain, and the Alzheimer’s Society.

Reference

Knights, E et al. Neural Evidence of Functional Compensation for Fluid Intelligence Decline in Healthy Ageing. eLife; 6 Feb 2024; DOI: 10.7554/eLife.93327

Scientists have found the strongest evidence yet that our brains can compensate for age-related deterioration by recruiting other areas to help with brain function and maintain cognitive performance.

Now that we’ve seen this compensation happening, we can start to ask questions about why it happens for some older people, but not others - is there something special about these people?

Ethan Knights

CDC

Woman in purple and white floral shirt washing a carrot

Yes

Licence type:

Public Domain

Could bird flu spark the next pandemic - and are we prepared if it does?

jg533 — Tue, 13 Jun 2023 08:01:07 +0000

Should we be worried about frequent news reports of flu being detected in birds and other animals?

Photosynthesis ‘hack’ could lead to new ways of generating renewable energy

sc604 — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 15:57:53 +0000

Researchers have ‘hacked’ the earliest stages of photosynthesis, the natural machine that powers the vast majority of life on Earth, and discovered new ways to extract energy from the process, a finding that could lead to new ways of generating clean fuel and renewable energy.

Combined steroid and statin treatment could reduce ‘accelerated ageing’ in preterm babies, study in rats suggests

cg605 — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 09:20:05 +0000

Cambridge scientists gave new-born rats, which are naturally born prematurely, combined glucocorticoid steroids and statin therapy. ̽��ֱ��results, published today in Hypertension, show that the combined treatment led to the elimination of negative effects of steroids on the cardiovascular system while retaining their positive effects on the developing respiratory system.

Preterm birth (before 37 weeks) is one of the greatest killers in perinatal medicine today. One in ten babies is born preterm in high-income countries; this can increase to almost 40% in low- and middle-income countries.

Preterm babies are extremely vulnerable because they miss out on a crucial final developmental stage in which the hormone cortisol is produced and released exponentially into the unborn baby’s blood. Cortisol is vital to the maturation of organs and systems that are needed to keep the baby alive once born.

For example, in the lungs, cortisol ensures that they become more elastic. This allows the lungs to expand so the baby can take its first breath. Without cortisol the new-born lungs would be too stiff, which leads to respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and could be fatal.

̽��ֱ��established clinical treatment for any pregnancy threatened with preterm birth is glucocorticoid therapy, given via the mother before the baby is born and/or directly to the baby after birth. These synthetic steroids mimic the natural cortisol by speeding up the development of organs – including the lungs – which means the preterm baby is much more likely to survive.

Lead author Professor Dino Giussani from the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge said: “Glucocorticoids are a clear lifesaver, but the problem with steroids is that they speed up the maturation of all organs. For the baby’s lungs this is beneficial, but for the heart and circulation system it can be damaging – it resembles accelerated ageing.”

A previous clinical study by Professor Paul Leeson’s laboratory at Oxford ̽��ֱ�� found that people who had been exposed to glucocorticoid therapy as unborn babies, via their mothers, showed measures of cardiovascular health typical of people a decade older.

Cambridge researcher Dr Andrew Kane, involved in the rat study, thought that this accelerated ageing could result from steroids causing oxidative stress Steroids lead to an imbalance of molecules known as free radicals, which result in a reduction in nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is very beneficial to the cardiovascular system – it increases blood flow and has anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

To test if a lack of nitric oxide could be the origin of the adverse negative cardiovascular side-effects associated with glucocorticoid therapy, the researchers combined the steroid treatment with statins, which are widely used to lower cholesterol and are known to increase nitric oxide.

Researchers gave the synthetic steroid, dexamethasone, combined with the statin, pravastatin, to rat pups. There were three other groups – one receiving dexamethasone alone, one receiving pravastatin alone and a control group that received saline. Measures of respiratory and cardiovascular function were then taken when the rats had grown to ‘childhood’.

̽��ֱ��Cambridge scientists found that steroids produced adverse effects on heart and blood vessels, and molecular indices associated with cardiovascular problems. But if statins were given at the same time, the rats were protected from these effects. Crucially, the statins did not affect any of the beneficial effects of steroids on the respiratory system.

“Our discovery suggests that combined glucocorticoid and statin therapy may be safer than glucocorticoids alone for the treatment of preterm babies,” said Professor Giussani.

“We’re not saying to stop using glucocorticoids, as they are clearly a life-saving treatment. We’re saying that to improve this therapy – to fine tune it – we could combine it with statins. This gives us the best of both worlds – we can maintain the benefits of steroids on the developing lungs, but ‘weed out’ their adverse side-effects on the developing heart and circulation, thereby making therapy much safer for the treatment of preterm birth.”

̽��ֱ��team plan to replicate the experiment in sheep, which have a similar physiology to humans, before conducting human clinical trials.

̽��ֱ��research was funded by the British Heart Foundation and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). Dr Andrew Kane was supported by the Frank Edward Elmore Fund and the James Baird Fund.

Giussani, DA et al. Combined statin and glucocorticoid therapy for the safer treatment of preterm birth. Hypertension; 1 Feb 2023; DOI: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.122.19647

Potentially life-saving steroids commonly given to preterm babies also increase the risk of long-term cardiovascular problems, but a new study in rats has found that if given in conjunction with statins, their positive effects remain while the potential negative side-effects are ‘weeded out’.

We’re not saying to stop using glucocorticoids, as they are clearly a life-saving treatment. We’re saying that to improve this therapy – to fine tune it – we could combine it with statins.

IvanJekic / E+ via Getty Images

Mother is holding a tiny hand of her preterm baby that is in the NICU.

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 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.

Yes

Cambridge researchers join new £2 million UK consortium to tackle monkeypox outbreak

cjb250 — Wed, 19 Oct 2022 23:01:27 +0000

̽��ֱ��consortium has received £2 million from the Biotechnology and Biosciences Research Council and the Medical Research Council, both part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). It is led by the Pirbright Institute and the MRC- ̽��ֱ�� of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research.

Researchers will work closely with experts at government agencies – the Animal and Plant Health Agency, UK Health Security Agency, and Defence Science and Technology Laboratory – to study the current outbreak and inform the public health response in the UK and internationally.

Cambridge scientists Professor Geoffrey Smith from the Department of Pathology and Professor Mike Weekes from the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research and Department of Medicine are among the key scientists involved in the consortium.

Professor Weekes said: "Monkeypox has become a really important global pathogen, reaching more than 50 countries worldwide in a matter of months. Although we have an effective vaccine and treatment, global roll-out has so far proved challenging, emphasising the importance of a comprehensive understanding of this virus. ̽��ֱ��UK consortium includes researchers from multiple different disciplines, and I anticipate the data we generate will rapidly help understand how the virus can be targeted in new ways to prevent disease."

Professor Smith said: “Few would have predicted that monkeypox virus would be causing a global epidemic in 2022. ̽��ֱ��ability to respond quickly to this new challenge has been helped greatly not just by the swift and welcome response of UKRI, but also by decades of support for the study of orthopoxviruses from UKRI and the Wellcome Trust. ̽��ֱ��information gained from those studies is valuable in the fight against monkeypox virus.”

̽��ֱ��monkeypox virus outbreak originated in West Africa. ̽��ֱ��current worldwide outbreak of cases spreading outside this area was first identified in May 2022. This is the first time that many monkeypox cases and clusters have been reported in non-endemic areas.

In the UK there have been more than 3,400 confirmed cases since May, although case numbers are currently falling. Internationally, WHO reports it has spread to 106 countries and territories with 25 confirmed deaths.

Professor Melanie Welham, Executive Chair of BBSRC, said: “One of the real strengths of the UK’s scientific response to disease outbreaks is the way that we can draw on leading researchers from all over the country, who can pool their expertise to deliver results, fast. Long-term support for animal and human virus research has ensured we have the capability to respond with agility.

“This new national consortium will study the unprecedented monkeypox outbreak to better understand how to tackle it. This will feed rapidly into global public health strategies, developing new diagnostic tests and identifying potential therapies.”

̽��ֱ��consortium will focus on building our understanding in a number of key areas, including:

Developing new tests and identifying potential control measures:

Developing sensitive point-of-care tests to speed up diagnosis, such as lateral flow tests or LAMP* tests. ̽��ֱ��lateral flow test development will be conducted with Global Access Diagnostics (GADx) to develop a product which could later be manufactured at scale and used clinically worldwide, including in low/middle income countries.
Screening potential drugs to treat monkeypox in human cells in the lab to determine which ones could be developed for further testing.
Studying the virus, how it infects humans and its susceptibility to the immune response to identify targets for future therapies.

Studying the virus:

Characterising the genome of the virus and studying how it is evolving, and how this is linked to changes in the transmission and pathology of the virus.
Understanding the human immune response to the virus and the vaccine, including studying samples from infected individuals.
Identifying animal reservoirs and potential spill-over routes of transmission between animals and humans.

Learning from the vaccine roll-out:

Studying the effectiveness of the smallpox vaccine by tracking the immune responses after primary and secondary vaccination of up to 200 individuals.

Professor Bryan Charleston, co-lead from ̽��ֱ��Pirbright Institute, said: “ ̽��ֱ��implications of the current monkeypox outbreak are huge. As well as tackling the current outbreak, we also need to be fully prepared for next outbreak, because worldwide there’s a huge reservoir of infection. One of the key ways we can do this is to develop rapid tests, which are very important to help clinicians on the front line to manage the disease.”

Professor Massimo Palmarini, co-lead from the MRC- ̽��ֱ�� of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, said: “Monkeypox is public health challenge, so taking decisive, collective action to better understand this virus is paramount. By bringing together research expertise in different areas, we will harness the UK’s world-leading knowledge to learn more about how the virus works and spreads and provide the foundations for the development of potential new treatments.”

Adapted from a press release from UKRI

Cambridge is among 12 institutions across the UK that will be working together to tackle the monkeypox outbreak, developing better diagnostic tests, identifying potential therapies and studying vaccine effectiveness and the virus’ spread.

Few would have predicted that monkeypox virus would be causing a global epidemic in 2022

Geoffrey Smith

BlackJack3D

Monkeypox virus - 3D render

Yes

Scientists crack egg forging evolutionary puzzle

ta385 — Tue, 12 Apr 2022 06:00:00 +0000

A genetic study of Zambian cuckoo finches has solved one of nature’s biggest criminal cases, an egg forgery scandal two million years in the making. Its findings suggest that the victims of this fraud may now be gaining the upper hand.