The School of Clinical Medicine, which covers 12 University departments, received a silver award from Athena SWAN, the charter that recognises commitment to advancing women’s careers – See more at: http://www.cam.ac.uk/news/athena-swan-success-0
How do we eliminate Human Cytomegalovirus?
Many of us are infected with a virus we’ll never clear. While we’re healthy, it’s nothing to worry about, but when our immune system is suppressed it could kill us. John Sinclair and Mark Wills, recently received a fifth consecutive five-year grant from the Medical Research Council (MRC), which focuses on understanding how Human Cytomegalovirus […]
Three dimensional structure of the HIV RNA packaging signal
HIV, the causative agent of AIDS, is a virus that packages two copies of its RNA genetic material into each virus particle. To select this RNA from the many RNAs that are present in the infected cell, part of the viral RNA genome has to fold up into a complex ‘knot’ whose three dimensional structure […]
Elected Fellows to the Royal Society and Academy of Medical Sciences
Four members of the Department have received significant honors recently. Professor Gillian Griffiths (Division of Immunology and Director of CIMR) was elected to Fellowship of the Royal Society. Dr David Jayne (Consultant in Nephrology and Vasculitis), Professor Sharon Peacock (Professor of Clinical Microbiology) and Professor KJ Patel (Group leader and member of scientific staff at […]
Hide and seek: Can latent herpesviruses be targeted therapeutically?
Reactivation of latent human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection following transplantation is associated with high morbidity and mortality; yet current therapies for HCMV, which target virus replicating productively, will not target latent viral genomes. There is also increasing evidence that HCMV persistence is associated with long-term diseases such as atherosclerosis, chronic graft rejection and neoplasias and, in […]
British Heart Foundation Senior Research Fellowship awarded
Dr Murray Clarke has been awarded a British Heart Foundation Senior Research Fellowship to investigate how cell type-specific necrosis drives inflammation in atherosclerosis and other chronic inflammatory diseases. Murray Clarke has previously shown that death of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) leads to unstable atherosclerotic plaques – the primary cause of heart attacks and stroke. […]
New MS drug proves effective where others have failed
A drug which ‘reboots’ a person’s immune system has been shown to be an effective treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients who have already failed to respond to the first drug with which they were treated (a ‘first-line’ therapy), as well as affected individuals who were previously untreated. The results of these two phase III […]
Expanding the heart and lungs of medicine
Fundraising is under way for a joint Cambridge University and Papworth Hospital Heart and Lung Research Institute – to sit alongside the anticipated new Papworth Hospital on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus – enabling a major expansion of cardiorespiratory research in Cambridge. Plans (subject to final design selection) of the Heart and Lung Research Institute […]
Autophagy when self-eating is good for you
New discoveries by Cambridge scientists about a molecular waste-disposal process that ‘eats’ bacteria are influencing the clinical management of cystic fibrosis, and could be the basis of innovative new treatments to fight off bacteria. Broken pieces of internal structures, damaged organelles and harmful clumps of proteins are all examples of the molecular detritus that […]
A novel therapy with potential for treating Parkinson’s disease
A collaboration between Professor John Sinclair (Dept of Medicine) and neuroscientists at Cambridge University has demonstrated how viruses that cross the blood/brain barrier could be exploited to slow down, or even halt, the progress of Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. Image Pensive parent Credit: Jez atkinson from Flickr Creative Commons
