{ "items": [ "\n\n
\n \n 11 May 2015\n \n
\n\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \nProfessor Ian Pavord is one of the 48 scientists who have been recognised for excellence in medical science with their election to the Academy of Medical Sciences Fellowship. The elected fellows of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences represent some of the best science in the country. Founded in.
\n \n\n\n \n 11 May 2015\n \n
\n\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \nA vaccine against Malaria, developed at the Jenner Institute, has shown promising results in its first field trial. The trial in Kenya found that the vaccine was 67% effective against Plasmodium falciparum infections - see BBC report.
\n \n\n\n \n 5 May 2015\n \n
\n\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \nScientists at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics have produced a method of analysing human genomes that takes into account variability between individuals. Their Nature Genetics paper demonstrated that this method can substantially improve the accuracy of genome reconstruction.
\n \n\n\n \n 1 May 2015\n \n
\n\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \nMajor depression comes with an unexpected metabolic signature, according to new evidence reported by Na Cai and Jonathan Flint of WTCHG, together with an international team of colleagues. Their findings in humans and mice offer new insight into the nature of depression. They may also yield new ways to measure and monitor mental health at the molecular level.
\n \n\n\n \n 24 April 2015\n \n
\n\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \nNDM are pleased to be able to announce that we have successfully achieved the Silver Athena SWAN award. The Athena SWAN Charter recognises and celebrates good practice on recruiting, retaining and promoting women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM) in higher education. The award will be formally presented to the Department at a ceremony in June. Many thanks to all of you who took part in the process, and for all your hard work.
\n \n\n\n \n 24 April 2015\n \n
\n\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \nTo celebrate World Malaria Day 2015 NDM is officially launching an educational malaria app for Android users - the first game of its kind which tries to visualise the life cycle of the disease in 3D. NDM also spoke to Dr Sumi Biswas about her research on transmission blocking malaria vaccines - vaccines that will prevent malaria transmission on a wider scale, focusing on the community rather than the individual.
\n \n\n\n \n 22 April 2015\n \n
\n\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \nA study involving researchers at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics has uncovered why some tumours become resistant to an important class of anti-cancer drugs. Women with breast cancer caused by BRCA1 gene mutations can be treated with PARP inhibitors. but some tumours appear to become resistant to this treatment. Dr Ross Chapman collaborated with a research team at the Netherlands Cancer Institute on a recent Nature paper which uncovered the crucial role a protein called Rev7 played in resistance to PARP inhibitors.
\n \n\n\n \n 7 April 2015\n \n
\n\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \nMany researchers within NDM are working on life-saving vaccines for a variety of serious illnesses, ranging from HIV to malaria, or improving existing vaccines to make them more effective. To mark WHO Immunization Week NDM spoke to two scientists about their research.
\n \n\n\n \n 7 April 2015\n \n
\n\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \nInitial results from the Phase 1 trial for the rVSV ZEBOC candidate Ebola vaccine have now been published. The trial found that the candidate vaccine had no serious side effects although some volunteers experienced fever for the first few days after vaccination, and some developed transient pain and/or swelling of their joints. The candidate vaccine was able to raise antibody responses that neutralized Ebola-like virus particles in the laboratory. The trial team in Kilifi was led by Dr.
\n \n\n\n \n 7 April 2015\n \n
\n\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n7th April is World Health Day and marks the anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organization. This year\u2019s theme is food safety. NDM spoke to Dr Daniel Wilson, a Group Head in Experimental Medicine, about his research on tracking micro-organisms and how this can be applied to pathogens such as Campylobacter \u2013 a common cause of food poisoning.
\n \n\n\n \n 7 April 2015\n \n
\n\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \nPublished in the journal Nature, the findings are based on fossil protein sequences, which allow researchers to peek back in time up to 10 times farther than they can with DNA. The scientists used proteomic analysis to screen 48 fossils of Toxodon platensis and Macrauchenia patachonica, the very species whose remains Darwin discovered 180 years ago in Uruguay and Argentina. Dr. Roman Fischer and Prof. Benedikt Kessler from the TDI participated in this study.
\n \n\n\n \n 26 March 2015\n \n
\n\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \nScientists have traced the history of European and African migration to the Americas by running genetic information from 4,000 individuals from more than 64 different populations around the world through a high-resolution analysis. The scientists used a technique called haplotype-based analysis to compare the pattern of genes in these 'recipient populations' to 'donor populations' in areas where migrants to America came from. Professor Simon Myers,University Lecturer in Bioinformatics,at the WTCHG was a co-author on the study published in Nature Communications.
\n \n\n\n \n 24 March 2015\n \n
\n\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \nLast year to mark World Tuberculosis Day NDM spoke to Professor Helen McShane to find out more about her research developing an improved TB vaccine. NDM spoke to her again to find out if there have been any developments in the last year.
\n \n\n\n \n 24 March 2015\n \n
\n\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \nOn March 24th 1882, Dr Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the cause of tuberculosis (TB). 24th March is \u2018World Tuberculosis Day\u2019 - an opportunity to raise awareness about the burden of TB worldwide.\r\n\r\nAlthough not that common in the UK (there were 7,892 recorded cases in the UK in 2013), TB is still a big problem in other parts of the world. NDM spoke to Professor Guy Thwaites, Director of the Oxford Clinical Research Unit in Vietnam, about the situation in South-east Asia and the ongoing research at OUCRU in to eradicating the disease and improving patient outcomes.
\n \n\n\n \n 23 March 2015\n \n
\n\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \nKinda Al-Hourani, an NDM Prize student and a final year DPhil student with Prof Hal Drakesmith (Associate Professor Immunology) in the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine and the Investigative Medicine Division, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, was awarded a Silver Medal in the Biological Sciences Category for her poster \"Activins and antiviral immunity\" at the SET for Britain 2015 competition. \r\n\r\nDr Dilrini De Silva, a computational bioscientist in NDM was also a finalist in this prestigious national competition.
\n \n\n\n \n 12 March 2015\n \n
\n\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \nNDM had a stall in Bonn Square at the Science in Your World science fair, part of the Oxfordshire Science Festival launch weekend. The sunny Saturday saw hundreds of people visit the stall to find out more about research happening in the Department and to try out some fun science activities.
\n \n\n\n \n 3 March 2015\n \n
\n\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \nA variety of signalling molecules ensure that the process of development from an undifferentiated ball of cells to an adult of the right size and shape proceeds according to plan. Matthias Zebisch from STRUBI, working with STRUBI co-head Yvonne Jones and other colleagues in Oxford and Jean-Paul Vincent\u2019s group at the National Institute of Medical Resarch in Mill Hill, has discovered a unique feedback mechanism that controls one of the most important of these molecules. The result could have implications for the treatment of diseases including cancer and Alzheimer\u2019s disease.
\n \n\n\n \n 26 February 2015\n \n
\n\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \nRecent reports suggest that artemisinin drug resistance is emerging and spreading in many parts of the Asian Mekong region.\r\n\r\nA study published today by NDM researchers in Lancet Infectious Diseases reports that the spread of artemisinin drug resistance is following the same historical route as resistance to other antimalarial drugs, chloroquine and sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine.
\n \n\n\n \n 23 February 2015\n \n
\n\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \nThe first fine-scale analysis of the population of the UK shows that subtle variations in the genetic make-up of modern Britons reflect the history of their islands\u2019 colonisation by peoples from mainland Europe since the last Ice Age.\r\n\r\n\u2018It has long been known that human populations differ genetically, but never before have we been able to observe such exquisite and fascinating detail\u2019, says Peter Donnelly, Director of WTCHG, who co-directed the work and led the statistical analysis together with Simon Myers, who also works in the WTCHG, Garrett Hellenthal from University College London and Stephen Leslie of Murdoch Childrens Research Institute in Australia.
\n \n\n\n \n 17 February 2015\n \n
\n\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \nMany thanks to everyone who entered the NDM photography competition. The images that were submitted were of a high standard and will be added to the NDM image bank so that they can be used on the websites and merchandise in the future. The winners of each of the 'Oxford Life' 'Student Life' and 'Lab Life' categories will receive an iPod shuffle.
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