Around four out of five people in the UK are thought to be infected with HCMV, and in developing countries this can be as high as 95%. For the majority of people, the virus remains dormant, hidden away inside white blood cells, where it can remain undisturbed and undetected for decades. If the virus reactivates […]

The team has received funding from the National Institute for Health Research to develop a test that could complement existing antibody tests. They also aim to use similar biological signatures to develop a test and monitor for long COVID. While most people recover from COVID-19 in a matter of days or weeks, around one in […]

The findings are reported by a team at the University of Cambridge and Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) NHS Foundation Trust. The research has not yet been peer-reviewed, but is being released early because of the urgent need to share information relating to the pandemic. Until recently UK Infection Protection Control guidance recommended that healthcare workers […]

SARS-CoV-2 is a coronavirus, so named because spike proteins on its surface give it the appearance of a crown (‘corona’). The spike proteins bind to ACE2, a protein receptor found on the surface of cells in our body. Both the spike protein and ACE2 are then cleaved, allowing genetic material from the virus to enter […]

A combination of testing programmes for staff and students, infection control measures and genomic surveillance helped reduce the number of cases of COVID-19 at the University and keep the wider community safe.

There is an unmet need to find drugs that can successfully improve the heart’s ability to pump blood efficiently after it’s been damaged following a heart attack. However, many drugs that make failing heart muscle contract more strongly have been deemed unsafe, leaving a huge gap in heart attack and heart failure treatment. Scientists now […]

Professor Ziad Mallat and his team have been shortlisted for a £30 million grant from the British Heart Foundation. If successful, atherosclerosis – hardening of the arteries – could become a thing of the past.

Around one in 2,500 children in the UK is born with cystic fibrosis, a hereditary condition that causes the lungs to become clogged up with thick, sticky mucus. The condition tends to decrease life expectancy among patients. In recent years, M. abscessus, a species of multi-drug resistant bacteria, has emerged as a significant global threat to […]

The clinical trial – named HEAL-COVID – also aims to cut the number of patients being readmitted to hospital with complications as a result of having COVID. Data from the Office for National Statistics suggests that 29% of patients who are hospitalised due to COVID-19 are readmitted within six months, and more than 12% die […]

Professor Sharon Peacock explains the story behind the UK’s world-leading SARS-CoV-2 genomics capability.