Although scientists knew one atom thick, two-dimensional crystal graphene existed, no-one had figured out how to extract it from graphite, until Professor Geim and Professor Novoselov’s groundbreaking work in 91ֱ�� in 2004.

Geim and Novoselov frequently held ‘Friday night experiments’, where they would play around with ideas and experiments that weren’t necessarily linked to their usual research. It was through these experiments that the two first isolated graphene, by using sticky tape to peel off thin flakes of graphite, ushering in a new era of material science.

Their seminal paper ‘, has since been cited over 40,000 times, making it one of the most highly referenced scientific papers of all time.

What Andre and Kostya had achieved was a profound breakthrough, which would not only earn the pair a Nobel Prize in 2010 but would revolutionise the scientific world.

The vast number of products, processes and industries for which graphene could significantly impact all stem from its extraordinary properties. No other material has the breadth of superlatives that graphene boasts:

• It is many times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible
• It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent
• It is the world’s first two-dimensional material and is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.

It’s areas for application are endless: transport, medicine, electronics, energy, defence, desalination, are all being transformed by graphene research.

In biomedical technology, graphene’s unique properties allow for groundbreaking biomedical applications, such as targeted drug delivery and DIY health-testing kits. In sport, graphene-enhanced running shoes deliver more grip, durability and 25% greater energy return than standard running trainers – as well as the world’s first .

Speaking at the , hosted by The University of Manchester, Professor Sir Andre Geim said: “If you have an electric car, graphene is there. If you are talking about flexible, transparent and wearable electronics, graphene-like materials have a good chance of being there. Graphene is also in lithium ion batteries as it improves these batteries by 1 or 2 per cent.”

The excitement, interest and ambition surrounding the material has created a ‘graphene economy’, which is increasingly driven by the challenge to tackle climate change, and for global economies to achieve zero carbon.

At the heart of this economy is The University of Manchester, which has built a model research and innovation community, with graphene at its core. The enables academics and their industrial partners to work together on new applications of graphene and other 2D materials, while the accelerates lab-market development, supporting more than 50 spin-outs and numerous new technologies.

Professor James Baker,  CEO of Graphene@91ֱ�� said: “As we enter the 20^th anniversary since the first discovery of graphene, we are now seeing a real ‘tipping point’ in the commercialisation of products and applications, with many products now in the market or close to entering. We are also witnessing a whole new eco-system of businesses starting to scale up their products and applications, many of which are based in 91ֱ��."

What about the next 20 years?

The next 20 years promise even greater discoveries and The University of Manchester remains at the forefront of exploring the limitless graphene yields.

Currently, researchers working with INBRAIN Neuroelectronics, with funding from the European Commission’s Graphene Flagship, are developing brain implants from graphene which could enable precision surgery for diseases such as cancer.

Researchers have also developed wearable sensors, based on a 2D material called hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), which have the potential to change the way respiratory health is monitored.

As for sustainability, Dr Qian Yang is using nanocapillaries made from graphene that could lead to the development of a brand-new form of , while others are looking into Graphene’s potential in grid applications and storing wind or solar power. Graphene is also being used to reinforce , to reduce cement use – one of the leading causes of global carbon dioxide.

Newly-appointed Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair, Professor Rahul Nair, is investigating graphene-based membranes that can be used as water filters and could transform access to clean drinking water.

Speaking at the World Academic Summit, Professor Sir Andre Geim said: “Thousands of people are trying to understand how it works. I would not be surprised if graphene gets another Nobel prize or two given there are so many people who believe in this area of research.”

Discover more

To hear Andre’s story, including how he and Kostya discovered the wonder material in a Friday night lab session, visit: 

To find out more about The University of Manchester’s work on graphene, visit: 

To discover our world-leading research centre, or commercial accelerator, visit

To find out how we’re training the next generation of 2D material scientists and engineers, visit:

• .

The new Hub for Advanced Long-acting Therapeutics (HALo) will focus on driving research, public and patient engagement, and the translational infrastructure required for the development and manufacture of new Long-acting therapeutics (LATs).

LATs are predicted to revolutionise treatment of health conditions by replacing extensive periods of daily pill taking with a single administered dose.

The approach addresses the issue of missed daily drug doses, which can cause a range of complications, from a lack of efficacy to pathogen resistance. They will also help patients stay on treatment, make it easier to achieve optimal dosing targets and reduce the burden on health systems.

The project is supported with an £11 million grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). As a key partner, The University of Manchester has been awarded £1.5m from the grant to lead efforts to advance multiple strands of LAT research.

The 91ֱ�� activity is an interdisciplinary team, led by , Reader in Sustainable Materials. Dr McDonald is Head of Environmental Sustainability and Engagement for the and is also Research Area lead for Chemical Materials Design within the .  

Alongside Dr McDonald is , , and .

The 91ֱ�� team will focus on:

• Developing innovative in situ forming implant technologies, which allow for a controlled release of medication directly at the site of need.
• Creating predictive models to evaluate drug release kinetics, helping to optimise LAT formulations for better patient outcomes.
• Quantifying the sustainability benefits of LAT medicines, including reductions in packaging waste and resource use, as part of a broader effort to make healthcare more environmentally friendly.

Dr Tom McDonald said: “Long-acting therapeutics have the potential to address significant challenges in drug administration by offering more convenient, effective, and sustained treatment options.”

LATs are emerging as the next landmark for healthcare management; pharmaceutical companies are realising the benefits for clinical outcomes and patient well-being. Such technologies are already in use in fields such as contraception, HIV therapy, and the management of mental health conditions.

By focusing on understanding the physical science that underpins existing successful LAT medicines, HALo will create new proof-of-concept LAT medicine candidates for diseases and conditions where no LAT option exists yet, such as high blood pressure and asthma.

HALo is led by Professor Steve Rannard at the and the Hub will primarily be hosted within its Centre of Excellence for Long-acting Therapeutics (CELT) - the world’s first academic centre of excellence focussed on LATs.

Professor Rannard said: “Long-acting therapeutics have the potential to simplify the administration of medicines, improve clinical outcomes and reduce the costs of healthcare provision.

“They are widely predicted to revolutionise disease treatment and healthcare management. HALo provides a much-needed focal point for new LAT developments in the UK and by working with partners it will ensure the UK is on the path to global leadership in this exciting new field.

“The outcomes from HALo will have far-reaching benefits globally and also enable CELT focus on low and middle-income country healthcare needs where LATs are expected to be transformational.”

HALo brings together academics, industry, clinicians and other stakeholders including patient groups and policy makers. Key partners of the project, include The University of Manchester, Queens University Belfast, the University of Nottingham, alongside the Liverpool University Hospitals Foundation Trust, Alder Hey Children’s Foundation Trust and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

HALo is one of  that aim to transform healthcare through the development and application of revolutionary new technologies.

The announcement has been made as part of a collaboration agreed between Lilly and UK Government today, unveiled at the Government’s International Investment Summit. 

The study will evaluate the real-world effectiveness of tirzepatide in weight loss, diabetes prevention, and prevention of obesity-related complications for adults with obesity. 

The evidence generated will seek to increase the global evidence base on the long-term impacts of weight loss medicines and potentially inform the UK's care pathway approach to the treatment of obesity. Significantly, the five-year study will also aim to collect data on healthcare resource utilisation, health-related quality of life and changes in participants’ employment status and sick days from work. 

Health Innovation 91ֱ�� has worked with the University of Manchester and local digital trials company NorthWest EHealth to develop the study approach.

Mayor of Greater 91ֱ��, Andy Burnham, said: “Greater 91ֱ�� is worldrenowned as a hub for innovation in health and life sciences. The results of the trial announced today could have a far-reaching impact on how we treat obesity globally, and our city-region is ready to make a significant contribution through our outstanding health data assets, R&D expertise, and the strong partnerships between industry, universities and public sector organisations.

“The International Investment Summit will provide an opportunity to showcase our local strengths in health innovation to an audience of global business leaders and investors. This partnership could be the first of many and give Greater 91ֱ�� residents access to other innovative treatments.”

Professor Rachel Batterham, Senior Vice President for International Medical Affairs at Lilly, said: “At Lilly, we are deeply committed to improving lives by partnering across the health system to address complex health challenges like obesity. We’re delighted to partner with Health Innovation 91ֱ�� on our plans for the SURMOUNT-REAL UK study. This collaboration will add to the evidence base on the real world impact of obesity treatments on the health of people with obesity, and will explore a broad range of outcomes including health-related quality of life and impact on individuals’ employment status.”

Martin Rutter, Professor of Cardiometabolic Medicine, University of Manchester, and principal investigator for the Greater 91ֱ�� study, said: “This five-year real-world study aims to demonstrate the long-term efficacy and safety profile of tirzepatide in a primary care setting compared to usual care. It will specifically quantify the medicine’s long-term effects on obesity, diabetes incidence, and obesity-related complications, as well as its impacts on employment and health economic outcomes.” 

Ben Bridgewater, CEO at Health Innovation 91ֱ��, commented: “Greater 91ֱ�� (GM) is well placed to deliver novel trials and real-world evidence studies to develop a deeper understanding of the impact that industry-led innovation can have on population health. Through this landmark partnership with Lilly we will show how a medicine impacts people’s long-term health outcomes. This will help us understand its effects people with obesity in GM as well as inform national strategies and pave the way for further research and development in this critical area.”

Mark Britnell, Chair of Health Innovation 91ֱ��, said: “Owing to our strengths in life sciences, academia and digital, Greater 91ֱ�� has all the ingredients to be truly world-leading in health innovation. This is demonstrated through our partnership with Lilly, which will help to propel our sector strengths even further forward for the benefit of local patients.”

Mark Fisher, CEO of the NHS Greater 91ֱ�� Integrated Care Board, said: “Around 600,000 adults in Greater 91ֱ�� live with obesity, many of whom also suffer with other obesity-related illnesses which reduces their quality of life and puts additional pressure on the health and care system. Working collaboratively with industry to solve these problems is paramount, and I am delighted to support the study coming to the Greater 91ֱ�� integrated care system.” 

Jonathan Wogel, Chief Executive Officer, NorthWest EHealth, said: “We are excited to be partnering with our colleagues at Health Innovation 91ֱ�� to deliver this new study which is aimed at generating data to support patients with obesity. It is not only a milestone for NWEH and Greater 91ֱ�� (GM), but a significant moment for the UK clinical trials industry. By combining GM’s well established health system with our innovative technology, we are demonstrating the future of clinical trials, where technology and health data integrate to make research more efficient, helping develop and deliver better care for patients.”

The analysis shows that regionally, Yorkshire and the Humber and the North East had the lowest resilience scores, while London and the South East had the highest.

In addition, rural and coastal areas showed significantly lower resilience compared to urban and inland areas of the country.

Led by academics from Health Equity North (HEN), the University of Manchester and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration Greater 91ֱ�� (ARC-GM), the study examined local authority data to identify geographical patterns in different communities’ ability to navigate and thrive in the face of prolonged challenges.

The research, which has been published in the , provides the first detailed assessment of community resilience in England at a local authority level.

The timely findings come off the back of a number of “chronic shocks” in the UK including the global financial crisis, the social and economic impacts of leaving the European Union, the COVID-19 pandemic and an ongoing cost of living crisis.

Researchers developed a Community Resilience Index (CRI) which measures multiple elements, such as employment, education, social and community context and housing, to measure resilience in local authorities, enabling them to be ranked from most to least resilient.

It is hoped the framework will serve as a tool for policymakers to identify priority areas and to guide the equitable allocation of funding to address geographical inequalities.

The study found that:

• The average community resilience index score for local authorities in England was 83.1, ranging from 53.3 in Tendring to 108.9 in Elmbridge.**
• Yorkshire and the Humber and the North East were the least resilient regions, with CRI scores of 75.2 and 77.5, respectively. Comparatively, London and the South East were the most resilient regions, with scores of 95.2 and 87.3 respectively.
• A North-South disparity was evident with the North of England having lower resilience scores (80.6) than the South (including the Midlands) at 83.9.
• Coastal areas featured heavily in the lowest ranking local authority areas with significantly lower resilience scores (76.0) compared to inland areas (84.9).
• Similarly, rural areas were less resilient scoring 79.1 compared to 85.1 in predominantly urban areas.
• When examining the specific social and environmental measures assessed as part of the overall index, there were further geographical disparities found:
• Access and infrastructure: London achieved the highest score followed by the North West and North East. The North of England scored higher in this domain than the rest of the country conversely, coastal and rural areas scored lower.
• Economic wellbeing and opportunity: The South East and London scored highest, indicating robust economic activity and employment opportunities. The North overall and coastal areas had lower scores, suggesting lower economic resilience.
• Social capital and connectivity: London again scored highest. There was no significant North-South divide or difference between coastal and inland areas. However, rural areas scored lower.
• Diversity and inclusion: There were higher scores for the North of England and rural areas, while coastal areas had significantly lower scores.
• Equity and stability: London was the most resilient and the North East was the lowest. Northern and coastal areas scored lower in this domain, but urbanicity did not significantly affect the scores.
• Academics behind the research are now calling on government to prioritise targeted interventions to build resilience where this is most needed.

Christine Camacho, lead author and PhD Fellow at NIHR ARC-GM, said: “Understanding a community’s capacity to cope, adapt and transform in the face of adversity is critically important to create a more resilient country.

“The Community Resilience Index we developed offers an invaluable insight into the social, economic and environmental factors that can hold communities back making them less able to overcome unexpected challenges. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the findings of our research highlight yet further regional inequalities with the North, rural and coastal areas among the least resilient in the country.

“Addressing these challenges requires both bottom-up approaches, such as community empowerment, and top-down strategies from central government to provide the necessary infrastructure and economic opportunities to enable these communities to thrive.”

Dr Luke Munford, Co-Academic Director at Health Equity North, and Senior Lecturer in Health Economics at the University of Manchester, said: “The CRI provides a framework that could be used to explore associations between community resilience and health outcomes. This makes it a potentially valuable tool for examining inequalities in broad aspects of people’s everyday lives, therefore offering a more nuanced understanding of the factors that contribute to health inequalities.

“We hope that policymakers take advantage of this opportunity to enhance understanding of how resilient communities foster better health and well-being, providing insights for targeted public health interventions and policies that are data-driven and effectively targeted.”

A breakdown of Local Authority data can be accessed in an online CRI tool available at:  

The report, led by researchers from the Universities of Bristol, New South Wales, Glasgow, and 91ֱ�� and involving an international team of experts, is published today9/10/24).

Self-harm remains neglected worldwide.  There are at least 14 million episodes every year, with the greatest number in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

It is defined as instances of people hurting or injuring themselves intentionally, regardless of the reasons.

However, shame and stigma can often stop people from seeking help. Self-harm can occur at any age but is most common in young people and is increasing in this group.  Self-harming behaviour leads to an elevated risk of death by suicide. People attending health services only represent the ‘tip of the iceberg’ for self-harm. 

The Commission makes a number of recommendations that could change the experience of people who have self-harmed for the better.

They include suggestions for more compassionate and effective delivery of health and social care services as well as whole of government approaches to address the causes of self-harm and reduce stigma.

The commission also highlights the necessity of seeing self-harm through a global lens, responsible handling of the topic of self-harm in all types of media, and the involvement of people with lived experience in designing and delivering care.

Prof Nav Kapur, Professor of Psychiatry and Population Health at the University of Manchester has helped lead a number of NICE guidelines on self-harm and suicide prevention.  He co-led the Commission with Professors Paul Moran, Helen Christensen and Rory O Connor.  The report includes over 40 authors from around the world. 

Prof Kapur said: “It was great to be part of the team which produced this Commission.  I’ve been working in services for self-harm for 30 years but what was striking for me with this piece of work was the integration of mental health and public health with global, indigenous, and lived experience perspectives”.

The study published today (2/10/24) in the open-access journal PLOS ONE was led by researchers from The University of Manchester and University  Alberta, in collaboration with colleagues world-wide.

The study also looked at women’s quality of life in different age groups and found:

• Younger women under 45, reported the poorest health-related quality of life of any age group, and on every domain, although their quality of life was adequate.
• Women over 45, reported that  quality of life in every domain except physical, had improved and was reported as good or very good.
• By 60, older women generally had the best quality of life level in their life. These high levels were sustained up to 75 years of age and beyond, peaking for environmental quality of life. 

Commonly cited measures of quality of life for use in health (such as EQ-5D) have often focussed their assessments on the physical and psychological dimensions.

But that means the environmental, social, and spiritual dimensions of quality of life, internationally agreed to be important, are overlooked, with consequences for how we understand women’s health and wellbeing.

Data from four World Health Organisation (WHO) surveys was collected in 43 countries world-wide and included responses from 17,608 adults, aged15 to 101 years.

A cross-culturally developed measure known as the WHOQOL-100 assessed respondents’ quality of life and health on six key dimensions: physical, psychological, independence, social, environmental, and spiritual.

The researchers found that environmental quality of life explained a substantial 46% of women’s overall quality of life and health, and home environment  was the biggest contributor.

Other important factors included having enough financial resources to meet their needs, perceptions of opportunities for recreation and leisure, access to health and social care, and their physical environment.

Evidence of better spiritual quality of life in some women was derived from spiritual connections and faith. Studies of gender inequalities have tended to report that physical and psychological quality of life is better for men, which the study confirmed.

Co-author Professor Suzanne Skevington from The University 91ֱ�� said: “From our study it is possible to speculate about the  environmental actions by younger women around the issue of climate change and its effects on the environment.

“We speculate these actions may be initiated by their self-awareness that their environmental quality of life is only acceptable rather than good, during the early adult years; hence a desire to improve it.

“Very good environmental quality of life in older women could provide sufficient reason for them to work towards retaining this nourishing feature of their life for their family, and future generations”.

The study data was collected before it was widely appreciated that reducing climate change and biodiversity loss would depend upon changing human behaviour, which, say the authors, could be the topic of future research.

She added: “ These findings underscore the importance of choosing a quality of life measure  in healthcare clinical or research that includes assessments of environmental, social, and spiritual quality of life

“That, will more fully capture knowledge about women’s quality of life and health.

“Many existing surveys have ignored factors more relevant to women, which has meant that our understanding of quality of life has been skewed toward the experiences of men and not women.

“This profile of information could be useful in enhancing the quality of life of women from all age groups.”

DOI of the study is: 

The Nature Genetics communication , published today (02/10/24), has shown that around a year with rare genetic diseases never receive a diagnosis, many dying without the underlying cause being determined.

The researchers also emphasise existing research that calculates the of pursuing lengthy diagnostic journeys rare genetic diseases to the NHS is over £3 billion per decade. 

Hospital geneticists rely on published evidence to make diagnoses, but because of inconsistent variant naming, say the authors, they are often unable to locate relevant information, even if it exists. 

Many geneticists, they say, are using simpler but less accurate nomenclature, preventing databases like ClinVar and the Leiden Open Variation Database (LOVD) from properly identifying and adding literature to their records. 

However, a system called devised by researchers at the University of Leicester and now based at The University of Manchester is being used by leading medical journals to give each variant a standardized name.  That allows diagnostic evidence to be shared and found. 

In the communication paper the authors urge doctors to use the system to name genetic variants.

Though rare diseases, caused by variations in DNA sequences, affect fewer than 1 in 2,000 people the sheer number of rare genetic disorders at around 8,000 impact about 8%-10% of births worldwide.

Lead author Dr Peter Freeman from The University of Manchester, whose son has an undiagnosed genetic disorder, is lead scientist in the team that devised and develop VariantValidator.

He said: “It’s widely recognized that doctors often describe DNA variants using various outdated or non-standard naming systems.

“But the accurate naming of variants is crucial so that doctors can reference them and provide a diagnosis for patients with a genetic disorder.

“Sadly, many people, including my son, have not received the diagnosis they need which has difficult implications for them.

“For example without a diagnosis it can be very difficult to get a place at an appropriate school, or access desperately needed services.

“It’s galling to know that someone out there might have identified the variant which caused his illness, but may not have named it correctly so there’s no way of finding it.”

He added: “VariantValidator has been around for 7 years and is considered the gold standard in terms of naming genetic variants accurately so other clinicians will be able to find the definition and use them.

“But in a vast number of cases that is just not happening because it’s easier and quicker to cut corners or rely on outdated systems only recognisable in specific clinical disciplines.

“The problem is so widespread I’ve even come across experts responsible for setting clinical standards making these errors when naming variants in genetics focussed policy guidelines”.

“Our work is with the Human genome, but the nomenclature of genetic variants in viruses and other pathogens are also similarly non-standardised - and that’s also a problem which needs to be addressed.

“Nomenclature should accurately describe the changes in DNA sequencing observed when there is a variant when compared to a standard sequence. But in many cases, this is simply not happening and is part of a complex set of problems that is causing miss or missed diagnoses.”

The paper Standardising variant naming in literature with VariantValidator to increase diagnostic rates is available

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is one of the UK's most common life-limiting inherited diseases, affecting over 11,000 people and nearly 200,000 people worldwide.

The condition causes mucus to build up in the internal organs, especially the lungs and digestive system. This can lead to chronic chest infections, lung inflammation and other complications such as digestive problems. For many people, managing their health involves a rigorous daily treatment regime including physiotherapy and antibiotics which can be given orally, through a nebuliser (a device where liquid medicine is turned into a mist that can be inhaled) and occasionally intravenously (through a vein).

Despite recent advances in treatment, there is still no known cure for CF, and the average age of death is just 33.

The multi-million-pound Innovation Hub in 91ֱ�� will be part of a new £15 million Translational Innovation Hub Network, funded by medical research charity LifeArc and leading charity Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

Research in 91ֱ�� will take place at Wythenshawe Hospital, part of MFT, focusing on understanding why people develop lung exacerbations (flare-ups) and how to personalise treatments for them. By sharing samples, recording results at home, and measuring their home air pollution levels, people with CF will play an important part in studying what triggers these flare-ups and who is most affected.

The responses of people with CF to intravenous (IV) treatments for exacerbations will also be studied using similar monitoring systems. The results of these studies will be essential in helping researchers to find different ways of preventing and treating exacerbations.

Research space, laboratories and specialist lung function support will be provided by the at Wythenshawe Hospital. Samples will be processed by the NIHR Centre for Precision Approaches to Combatting Antimicrobial Resistance, also at the hospital site.

The 91ֱ�� CF Innovation Hub Director is Professor Alex Horsley, a Consultant at the 91ֱ�� Adult Cystic Fibrosis Centre at MFT and Professor of Respiratory Medicine at The University of Manchester.

Professor Horsley, who is also Clinical Director of the NIHR 91ֱ�� CRF at Wythenshawe Hospital and leading researcher in the Respiratory Medicine theme at the NIHR 91ֱ�� Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), said: “This is an amazing opportunity to improve the lung health of people with CF in a way that we’ve never had the opportunity to do before. Together with scientists at The University of Manchester and clinicians at Wythenshawe Hospital, part of MFT, we’re building on existing partnerships with doctors and scientists in teams around the country. We hope our research will help us understand why people with CF get flare-ups (exacerbations) and how to better prevent and treat these. This will lead to more effective, shorter and tailored or personalised treatment plans that will reduce exacerbations and the disruptions they cause to people’s lives.”

Researchers from the Respiratory Medicine theme, which aims to identify better ways to diagnose lung disease and which factors decide how well people respond to treatments, will act as Principal Investigators for the studies delivered by the 91ֱ�� Hub.

Laura, 35, has Cystic Fibrosis and is Patient Lead for the Innovation Hub in 91ֱ��. She said: "CF has a huge impact on my daily life, it's 24/7. Even if I want to go out for the day, I have to think about getting all my treatment done, have I got enough tablets and how long am I going to be out for. The symptoms change frequently and can change from one day to the next. As soon as I wake up and until I go to bed, it does occupy a lot of my thoughts and impacts how I live my life.

Laura, who receives care at the 91ֱ�� Cystic Fibrosis Centre at MFT, added: "I had an exacerbation when I was 9 or 10, and that really changed the trajectory of my health. Research looking into exacerbations, what the triggers are, and the treatments, is massively needed. I think these Innovation Hubs are a fantastic opportunity to be able to change the way CF is managed."

The Network will be made up of four Innovation Hubs, led by the universities of Manchester, Liverpool, Cambridge and Imperial College London, as well as partners across the UK and overseas. Guided by insights and experiences of people with cystic fibrosis, the Hubs will address areas of unmet medical need and help to overcome some of the barriers that can prevent scientists from turning their discoveries into real outcomes for patients.

Dr Catherine Kettleborough, Head of Chronic Respiratory Infection at LifeArc said: “Even with the development of new treatments like Kaftrio, people with cystic fibrosis still face many challenges which impact their quality of life and life expectancy. The Innovation Hub Network is a unique approach to addressing these problems, using shared knowledge, partnerships and investment to accelerate new tests and treatments for people living with CF.”

Through innovative research, including using AI, sniffer dogs and new home monitoring tests to detect and even predict infections, the Innovation Hubs will aim to transform the way lung infections are managed.

Dr Lucy Allen, Director of Research and Healthcare Data at Cystic Fibrosis Trust, said: “We’re thrilled to be partnering with LifeArc and expanding our Innovation Hub programme, combining our expertise and exploring exciting areas of research to maximise the impact for people with CF.

"Those with the condition are particularly susceptible to lung infections, meaning they often have to spend time in hospital having IV antibiotic treatments and this has a huge impact on all areas of their life. These new Innovation Hubs will help transform our understanding and lead the way to new ways to test and treat lung infections.”

Based at Wythenshawe Hospital, the specialist 91ֱ�� Adult Cystic Fibrosis Centre at MFT is one of the largest and longest established adult CF centres in the UK, with an international reputation for excellence and innovation.

Images: Laura and Alex Horsley

R2I is a bespoke entrepreneurship training programme for final-year PhD students, PDRAs and early-career researchers from across all faculties with ambitions to develop commercial ventures or to create impact from their academic studies.

The programme includes a series of interactive personal and professional development sessions, which introduce the concept of commercialisation, equipping researchers with strategies to take ideas forward and discover new pathways to funding.

Read more about the researchers recently supported to further their ideas.

and register now to attend one of our short  to hear more about the programme and how to apply.

Key Dates

Cohort 1:

• Introductory Sessions: In person and online across 16^th and 17^th October 
• Applications Open: 17th October
• Application Deadline: 28th October
• Programme: 14^th November - 19^th February 2025

Cohort 2:

• Information Sessions: March 2025
• Programme: April – June 2025

The MEC Researcher to Innovator (R2I) programme is supported by the University’s Innovation Academy. The Innovation Academy is a pan University initiative and joint venture between the , the  and the Business Engagement and Knowledge Exchange team, bringing together knowledge, expertise and routes to facilitate the commercialisation of research.

The rankings are determined by scholars’ H-index, a metric evaluating productivity and citation impact, following examination of over 166,000 profiles across all key scientific disciplines.

, Emeritus Professor of Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Epidemiology at the University, placed 29^th in this year’s list with a H-index score of 122 and 82,294 citations.

Deborah said of the recognition: “I retired and published my last paper in 2016. It is pleasing to find that the cumulative citation of my research leads to this high ranking and I hope that gives encouragement to those who are currently working in the field of musculoskeletal epidemiology.”

, Emeritus Professor of Physiology and former President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester, placed 37^th on the list with 49,760 citations and a H-index of 119.

In 79^th position in this year’s ranking is , Emeritus Professor of Evidence Based Care, with a H-index of 105 and 46,311 citations.

Helen said of the achievement: “I have spent my career collaborating with, and supporting, many extremely talented female researchers, and I feel that my success has only been enhanced through these positive working relationships. I jointly led Cochrane Oral Health until 2020, developing a team that continues to undertake methodologically rigorous systematic reviews that inform policy in areas of international policy.

“I have also been responsible for the design of several NIHR funded randomised controlled trials in dental primary care. The reviews and trials I have collaborated on frequently challenged orthodox care and impacted on the global understanding of effective oral health interventions and practices.”

This year’s ranking, the third instalment of the list to date, is based on data from a variety of sources including OpenAlex and CrossRef.

This milestone represents a significant advancement in demonstrating the ability of graphene-based BCI technology beyond decoding and translating brain signals, to become a reliable tool for use in precision surgery in diseases such as cancer, and in neurotechnology more broadly. The study was sponsored by the University of Manchester, and primarily funded by the European Commission’s project.

The clinical investigation study was conducted at Salford Royal Hospital, part of the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust in 91ֱ��, UK. The study was led by Chief Clinical Investigator Dr. David Coope, a neurosurgeon at the 91ֱ�� Centre for Clinical Neuroscience and Brain Tumours Theme Lead at the Geoffrey Jefferson Brain Research Centre, and Chief Scientific Investigator Kostas Kostarelos, Ph.D., Professor of Nanomedicine at The University of Manchester, the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience & Nanotechnology, and Co-Founder of INBRAIN.

“The world’s first human application of a graphene-based BCI highlights the transformative impact of graphene-based neural technologies in medicine. This clinical milestone opens a new era for BCI technology, paving the way for advancements in both neural decoding and its application as a therapeutic intervention,” said Carolina Aguilar, CEO and Co-Founder of INBRAIN Neuroelectronics.

INBRAIN’s BCI platform leverages the exceptional properties of graphene, a material made of a single layer of carbon atoms. Despite being the thinnest known material to science, graphene is stronger than steel and possesses a unique combination of electronic and mechanical properties that make it ideal for neurotechnology innovation.

“We are capturing brain activity in areas where traditional metals and materials struggle with signal fidelity. Graphene provides ultra-high density for sensing and stimulating, which is critical to conduct high precision resections while preserving the patient’s functional capacities, such as movement, language or cognition,” said Dr. David Coope, the neurosurgeon who performed the procedure.

“After extensive engineering development and pre-clinical trials, INBRAIN’s first-in-human study will involve 8-10 patients, primarily to demonstrate the safety of graphene in direct contact with the human brain,” said Kostas Kostarelos, Ph.D., Co-Founder, INBRAIN Neuroelectronics. “The study will also aim to demonstrate graphene’s superiority over other materials in decoding brain functionality in both awake and asleep states.”

“The integration of graphene and AI with advanced semiconductor technology has allowed INBRAIN to pioneer a new generation of minimally-invasive BCI therapeutics designed for the personalized treatment of neurological disorders,” said Jose A. Garrido, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of INBRAIN and ICREA Professor at the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology.

Professor Sir Kostya Novoselov, Ph.D., Nobel Laureate and Vision Board member of INBRAIN, who first isolated stable graphene at The University of Manchester in 2004, and now at the National University of Singapore, said: “Witnessing graphene's exceptional properties unlock new frontiers in medical technology is truly rewarding. This breakthrough, a result of a decade-long development under the Graphene Flagship program, can now start to unravel its transformative societal impact.”

The study is powered by INBRAIN’s graphene-based Intelligent Network Decoding & Modulation (BCI-Tx) Platform, which has received Breakthrough Device Designation for Parkinson’s disease from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. INBRAIN’s BCI-Tx platform leverages graphene’s unique properties to deliver ultra-high signal resolution and adaptive neuroelectronic therapy, enabling real-time decoding of biomarkers and precise modulation of cortical and subcortical structures at the micrometer scale for neural network rebalancing.

According to Carolina Aguilar, “INBRAIN is at the forefront of precision neurology, integrating BCI decoding with high-precision neuromodulation to restore function and alleviate symptoms, delivering continuous, personalized treatment to maximize benefits while minimizing side effects.”

The ChUSE[1] trial, led by Dr Sarah Parry, strategic research lead at Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust’s young people's mental health research centre, Professor Filippo Varese of the University of Manchester and in collaboration with Greater 91ֱ�� Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, follows six-years of research with children and parents.

Dr Sarah Parry explains: “Distressing sensory experiences are a common development phenomenon, although these experiences can be frightening and confusing, especially for children already struggling with their mental health.

“Very few children who have distressing sensory experiences will ever receive a diagnosis of early-onset psychosis; but the associations between voice hearing and psychosis in our culture can cause great anxiety for families of children who hear voices.”

The new talking therapy, the ChUSE intervention, has received over £260,000 in funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and will provide much-needed support for parents and children.

Anxiety and stress about distressing sensory experiences can adversely impact the ability of young people and families to cope, which is why it is so important children and families can access timely and tailored support.

Many mental health practitioners feel ill-equipped to offer psychological therapies for distressing sensory experiences for younger children due to a lack of child-centred research to inform national clinical guidelines.

Delayed access to support often increases anxiety further, exacerbates family stress, and often worsens the original symptoms.

Professor Filippo Varese from The University of Manchester, adds: “In the UK, we have made great progress in offering psychological support to people who begin to struggle with hearing voices and other unusual and distressing perceptions for the first time.

“These treatments, however, are only available to young people that are at serious risk of future severe mental health problems. The ChUSE trial represents an important step forward in extending psychological support to a much wider group of children and young people and their families.”

The trial will work with 60 children aged 8 to 15 years old and their parents in Greater 91ֱ�� over the next 12 months. They will take part in the ChUSE talking-therapy intervention and parent support sessions, to develop new skills for coping and space to talk about.

The results will then be used to develop future therapeutic approaches for young people in in children and young people’s mental health services with distressing sensory experiences across England.

You can find out more about the trial at .

[1] ChUSE - Children and young people with unusual sensory experiences

The recognition follows on from the publication of the in November 2023, which highlighted the pivotal role UK universities play in driving economic growth and societal impact through the commercialisation of intellectual property developed from university-based research.

The 2023 review outlined recommendations for building a world-leading innovation ecosystem in the UK. In response, The University of Manchester has committed to aligning its spinout practices with these recommendations, reinforcing its dedication to supporting innovation.

Luke Georghiou, Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at The University of Manchester, and the institution’s lead for innovation, said: "The University of Manchester has been and remains committed to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship within our faculties and among our students. By adopting the recommendations from the Independent Review, we are aligning our practices with national goals to create a world-class innovation ecosystem.”

The is the commercialisation arm of The University of Manchester, dedicated to transforming world-class research into commercial ventures that have a positive impact on society.

The Innovation Factory collaborates with academics, industry partners, and investors to develop and support spinout companies, license cutting-edge technologies and drive innovation across various sectors.

The UKRI announcement is available .

Since joining the University in 2003 as a clinical academic, Paul built an impressive career and, in addition to his substantive role as Chair of Clinical Medicine within the Faculty, Paul is also an honorary Consultant in Critical Care Medicine with the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust and an honorary NHS Research Consultant at the 91ֱ�� University NHS Foundation Trust.  

Alongside these roles, Paul has also held national and international positions. This included being seconded to the UK Chief Medical Officers’ Urgent Public Health pandemic research advisory committee during Covid and, most recently, holding the position of National Deputy Medical Director for the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). 

Professor Allan Pacey, Interim Dean for the Faculty said "Paul’s knowledge of the healthcare sector and experience in engaging with a broad and complex range of stakeholders will be instrumental in continuing to foster those critical partnerships integral to achieving our institutional and common goals across the region" 

Professor Dark said: "I am thrilled to be taking on this new role and look forward to working closely with Faculty colleagues and our health and care partners as we develop and align our strategic responses to key challenges and opportunities presented by changes in legislation, technology or government policy"

The KEF provides information about the broad ranging knowledge exchange activities of English HE Providers, such as the way universities work with external partners, from businesses to community groups, for the benefit of the economy and society. 

The University of Manchester supports the full range of knowledge exchange activities through public engagement, supporting businesses and commercialising research towards next generation technologies. Students, staff, partners and local communities all play a key role in ensuring that the University makes a positive societal and economic impact. 

The KEF allows universities to better understand their own performance and fosters a culture of continuous improvement. HE Providers are placed into a cluster of peers, grouping together universities of similar types, with The University of Manchester placed in a group of 18 large, research-intensive universities including Oxford and Imperial. 

91ֱ��’s performance in continuous professional development and Graduate Startups, which is supported by the work of the and , received an enhanced rating of high engagement in KEF4, and 91ֱ�� now sits above the cluster group average.  

91ֱ�� also continues to receive the highest rating for Research Partnerships, where the University is placed above the cluster group average. This recognises the work of the University’s Business Engagement and Knowledge Exchange team.  

The excellent performance of the in licensing, IP income, investment and turnover of spinouts continues to be recognised with the highest rating in IP and Commercialisation. 

The University also received the highest rating for Public Engagement, and includes our achievements in volunteering, festivals, citizen science, and engagement with communities through our cultural institutions, , , , and the . 

Professor Luke Georghiou, Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, said: “Knowledge exchange is a core priority for The University of Manchester. We shall continue to ensure that our research, teaching and social responsibility activities benefit the economy and society at local, national and global levels.”  

• You can view each university’s performances on the . 

The University of Manchester is proud to share that Dr Bovinille Anye Cho has been announced as a recipient of the prestigious (CDF), a programme aimed at developing underrepresentation in UK STEM academia.

Dr Anye Cho is one of eight outstanding researchers selected in the first cohort of CDFs, who are undertaking groundbreaking research that can benefit society and further human understanding.

His research centres on revolutionising bioenergy processes to become more environmentally sustainable, in particular, anaerobic digestion (AD), which is a process that transforms agricultural and food waste into a clean energy source known as biomethane.

Although an effective way to manage waste, this process also creates a significant amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and impurities, which contributes to global warming.

Dr Anye Cho is exploring the use of microalgae, which can be used to convert CO₂ into valuable food supplements and healthcare products through photosynthesis. In the UK, where tons of agricultural and food waste are generated, incorporating algae technology into the exiting AD facilities could increase the production of clean energy, while yielding high-value bio renewables that are currently heavily dependent on imports.

Dr Anye Cho’s project aims to employ advanced mathematical modelling and Artificial Intelligence methods to ensure that facilities of various sizes can operate effectively for long durations, enabling stability and boosting the production of clean energy and valuable products. His fellowship will be based in the Department of Chemical Engineering, where he has served as a Research Associate since March 2023. He earned his PhD from the same department in January 2023, completing it in an impressive three years while publishing over 11 original scientific papers.

The Career Development Fellowships are currently running as a pilot programme with researchers from Black and Mixed Black heritage. The CDFs offer four years of funding (up to £690,000), mentoring and support to kickstart the careers of researchers from underrepresented groups.

The scheme was launched in response to 11 years of higher education data which showed Black heritage researchers leave academia at higher rates than those from other groups. The impact of this higher attrition rate is pronounced at senior levels of academic careers.

Sir Adrian Smith, President of the Royal Society, said: “We need an academic system where talented researchers can build a career, whatever their background. But we know that is not the case in the UK today – particularly for researchers of Black heritage.

“The variety and quality of research being undertaken by this first cohort of Royal Society Career Development Fellows suggests a bright future ahead if we can ensure more outstanding researchers develop their talents and follow their research passions.

“I hope this pilot and the support it offers can be a launchpad to achieve that.”

In addition to their fellowship funding and support from the Royal Society, the award holders will have access to networking and mentoring opportunities supported by the (BBSTEM) network.

If the pilot is shown to be effective, the CDF programme could be expanded to include researchers from other groups, where the data shows there is persistent underrepresentation.

Dr Mark Richards, Senior Teaching Fellow at Imperial College London and a member of the Royal Society’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Subcommittee who participated in the shortlisting and assessment panels for the CDFs, said:

“There are many reasons scientists from marginalised groups may leave academia, often it’s because they’re looking ahead and not seeing themselves reflected in those spaces.

“This scheme, which offers funding, mentoring and recognition from a body like the Royal Society can be the endorsement to propel these eight excellent academics to go on and grow their own research groups.

Overtime I hope it can become self-sustaining, creating a network of scientists in universities, and beyond, who can help raise aspirations and open doors.”

• Applications for the second year of Career Development Fellowships are due to open on 24 September 2024.
• Find out more about the Royal Society Career Development Fellowships .
• Read the Royal Society’s CDFs press release .

The increase – identified from data between 2015 and 2022 - occurred alongside an overall drop in GP supply of 2.7% over the same period, due to falling contractual hours.

The Health Foundation funded study found the median contracted full-time equivalent (FTE) for each fully qualified GP fell from 0.80 to 0.69 between 2015 and 2022.

This reduction was driven primarily by male GPs, who have significantly reduced the hours they are contracted to work from 0.99 to 0.85 FTE.

However the figure for male GPs remains above the levels of their female counterparts, whose hours fell slightly from 0.67 to 0.65 FTE.

Practices in the most deprived areas had 17% more patients and 19% more chronic conditions per GP FTE, compared with the least deprived areas.

All regions reported more chronic conditions per GP FTE than London, which had less demand for GPs.

Lead author of the study published in the British Journal of General Practice today (17/09/24), is Dr Rosa Parisi.

Dr Parisi said: “The NHS in England is facing a year-on-year reduction of the total working hours by general practitioners.”

“This decrease is down to early retirement, high levels of GP turnover and low retention, insufficient number of newly trained GPs joining the workforce, and lack of overseas recruitment.”

“But reduction in working hours is also a major factor. We show that while GP supply decreased by 2.7% from 2015 to 2022 practice population increased by 9%, while the demand, as measured by the total presence of chronic conditions, increased by 32%.”

“The largest contributor to the overall decrease in supply was a fall of 8.7% in GP’s contractual hours of GPs, especially male GPs.”

“We’re not entirely sure why male GPs are reducing their hours, but policies are desperately needed to incentivise them to work longer.”

She added: “We fear GPs are likely to be unwilling or unable to face more of the intense day to day pressures in UK primary care.

“However, policies to reduce administrative workload, increasing support by allied healthcare professionals could incentivise GPs to increase their work hours.

Senior author Professor Evan Kontopantelis said: “In 2015 and 2019, the Government promised 5,000 more GPs by 2020 and an additional 6,000 GPs by 2024, respectively.

“Though there was a rise in GP headcount of 5.9%, specifically 2,154 GPs between 2015 and 2022, the promised increase has not happened. That is why the change in working patterns of GPs makes the challenges facing primary care even more acute.”

He added: “Our results also highlight an existing disparity in GP supply between practices located in the least and most deprived areas.

“Practices in the most deprived areas had 17% more patients and 19% more chronic conditions per GP FTE, compared with the least deprived areas.

“So, in addition to policies aimed to recruit and retain more GPs, it is also necessary to incentivise GPs to work and remain in deprived areas to achieve more equitable levels of care – something easier said than done, we acknowledge.”

The paperGP working time and supply, and patient demand in England in 2015–2022: a retrospective study"., published in the British Journal of General Practice is available here.

The comment piece -  published in The - was coordinated by scientists at The University of Manchester, the Westerdijk Institute and the University of Amsterdam.

According to the scientists most fungal pathogens identified by the World Health Organisation - accounting for around 3.8 million deaths a year - are either already resistant or rapidly acquiring resistance to antifungal drugs.

The authors argue that the currently narrow focus on bacteria will not fully combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

September’s United Nations meeting on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) must, they demand, include resistance developed in many fungal pathogens.

Resistance is nowadays the rule rather than the exception for the four currently available antifungal classes, making it difficult - if not impossible – to treat many invasive fungal infections.

Fungicide resistant infections include Aspergillus, Candida, Nakaseomyces glabratus, and Trichophyton indotineae, all of which can have devastating health impacts on older or immunocompromised people.

Dr Norman van Rhijn from The University of Manchester coordinated the comment piece with Professor Ferry Hagen from the Westerdijk Institute in the Netherlands.

Dr van Rhijn said: “Most people agree that resistant bacterial infections constitute a significant part of the AMR problem.

“However many drug resistance problems over the past decades have also been the result of invasive fungal diseases largely underrecognized by scientists, governments, clinicians and pharmaceutical companies.

“The threat of fungal pathogens and antifungal resistance, even though it is a growing global issue, is being left out of the debate.”

Unlike bacteria, the close similarities between fungal and human cells which, say the experts, means it is hard to find treatments that selectively inhibit fungi with minimal toxicity to patients.

Professor Ferry Hagen from the University of Amsterdam added: “Despite the huge difficulties in developing them, several promising new agents including entirely new classes of molecules, have entered clinical trials in recent years.

“But even before they reach the market after years of development, fungicides with similar modes of action are developed by the agrochemical industry resulting in cross-resistance.

“That sets us back to square one again. It is true many essential crops are affected by fungi, so antifungal protection is required for food security. But the question is, at what price?”

The scientists recommend:

• Worldwide agreement on restricting the use of certain classes of antifungal molecules for specific applications.
• Collaboration on solutions and regulations that ensure food security and universal health for animals, plants, and humans.
• Adding priority to AMR to fungal infections at the UN’s meeting in September.

Comment pieces are written by experts in the field, and represent their own views, rather than necessarily the views of The Lancet or any Lancet specialty journal. Unlike Articles containing original research, not all Comments are externally peer reviewed. 

The paper Beyond Bacteria: The Growing Threat of Antimicrobial Resistance in Fungi is available

These findings have the potential to accelerate the discovery of novel, more efficient cryoprotectants - and may also allow for the repurposing of molecules already known to slow or stop ice growth.

Professor Matthew Gibson, from 91ֱ�� Institute of Biotechnology at The University of Manchester, added: “My team has spent more than a decade studying how ice-binding proteins, found in polar fish, can interact with ice crystals, and we’ve been developing new molecules and materials that mimic their activity. This has been a slow process, but collaborating with Professor Sosso has revolutionized our approach. The results of the computer model were astonishing, identifying active molecules I never would have chosen, even with my years of expertise. This truly demonstrates the power of machine learning.”

The full paper can be read .

This list coincides with the publication of the Home Office’s report on the statistics of scientific procedures on living animals in Great Britain in 2023.

These ten organisations carried out 1,435,009 procedures, 54% of the 2,681,686 procedures carried out on animals for scientific research in Great Britain in 2023*. Of these 1,435,009 procedures, more than 99% were carried out on mice, fish and rats and 82% were classified as causing pain equivalent to, or less than, an injection.

The ten organisations are listed below alongside the total number of procedures they carried out in 2023. Each organisation’s name links to its animal research webpage, which includes more detailed statistics. This is the eighth consecutive year that organisations have come together to publicise their collective statistics and examples of their research.

69 organisations have published their 2023 animal research statistics

UAR has also produced a list of 69 organisations in the UK that have publicly shared their 2023 animal research statistics. This includes organisations that carry out and/or fund animal research.

All organisations are committed to the ethical framework called the ‘3Rs’ of replacement, reduction and refinement. This means avoiding or replacing the use of animals where possible, minimising the number of animals used per experiment and optimising the experience of the animals to improve animal welfare. However, as institutions expand and conduct more research, the total number of animals used can rise even if fewer animals are used per study. 

All organisations listed are signatories to the , which commits them to being more open about the use of animals in scientific, medical and veterinary research in the UK. More than 125 organisations have signed the Concordat including UK universities, medical research charities, research funders, learned societies and commercial research organisations.

Wendy Jarrett, Chief Executive of Understanding Animal Research, which developed the Concordat on Openness, said:

“Animal research remains a small but vital part of the quest for new medicines, vaccines and treatments for humans and animals. Alternative methods are gradually being phased in, but, until we have sufficient reliable alternatives available, it is important that organisations that use animals in research maintain the public’s trust in them. 

"By providing this level of information about the numbers of animals used, and the experience of those animals, as well as details of the medical breakthroughs that derive from this research, these Concordat signatories are helping the public to make up their own minds about how they feel about the use of animals in scientific research in Great Britain.”

Dr Maria Kamper, Director of the Biological Services Facility at the University of Manchester said:

“At The University of Manchester we are deeply committed to the highest standards of animal welfare and quality in research as well as transparency and openness as signatories of the Concordat on Openness, as one of the organisations to achieve Leaders in Openness status. 

"As a result of this commitment, we have recently achieved accreditation from  AAALAC International. A prestigious global benchmark, AAALAC accreditation signifies an institution’s dedication to achieving and maintaining high standards in animal care. It demonstrates that we are at the forefront of responsible and cutting-edge research and underscores our commitment to advancing science responsibly and humanely.

“We have a proud culture of care among our staff working with animals at the University, based on collaboration and the highest standard of animal husbandry. That is why we pledge to be committed to pro-actively building and maintaining a sustainable environment where animal welfare, human wellbeing, scientific quality and transparency with stakeholders and the public are paramount. This commitment reflects our desire to contribute to The University of Manchester’s vision of advancing education, knowledge, and wisdom, for the good of society.”

Examples of severity
Severity assessments measure the harm experienced by an animal during a procedure. A procedure can be as mild as an injection, or as severe as an organ transplant. Severity assessments reflect the peak severity of the entire procedure and are classified into five different categories:

Sub-threshold: When a procedure did not cause suffering above the threshold for regulation, i.e. it was less than the level of pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm that is caused by inserting a hypodermic needle according to good veterinary practice.

Non-recovery: When the entire procedure takes place under general anaesthetic and the animal is humanely killed before waking up.

Mild: Any pain or suffering experienced was only slight or transitory and minor so that the animal returns to its normal state within a short period of time. For example, the equivalent of an injection or having a blood sample taken.

Moderate: The procedure caused a significant and easily detectable disturbance to an animal’s normal state, but this was not life threatening. For example, surgery carried out under general anaesthesia followed by painkillers during recovery.

Severe: The procedure caused a major departure from the animal’s usual state of health and well-being. This would usually include long-term disease processes where assistance with normal activities such as feeding and drinking were required, or where significant deficits in behaviours/activities persist. Animals found dead are commonly classified as severe as pre-mortality suffering often cannot be assessed.

*The Home Office recorded 2,681,686 completed procedures for Great Britain in 2023, 1,435,009 (54%) of which were carried out at these ten organisations.

Find out more:

Animal Research at The University of Manchester website.

 (UAR) is a not-for-profit organisation that explains how and why animals are used in scientific research in the UK. Supporters include government agencies, scientific societies, universities, veterinary schools, research funding bodies, industry and charity. Supporters both use animals and lead the development of non-animal methods.

Further information on the Concordat on Openness on Animal Research in the UK can be found here:

The £5.5 million project, funded by Horizon Europe and the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI), will involve a four-year collaboration between 91ֱ�� and academic and industry experts from ETH Zurich, the University of Vienna, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, NKT Cable Group, Shell Research Ltd, S&B Insurance Advisors, and Arttic Innovation. This initiative aims to develop the enabling technology that supports a sustainable European electricity grid. 

Named DCDYNAMIC (Accelerating DC Dynamic Export Cable Technology for a Sustainable European Electricity Grid), the project will consist of three distinct parts. Firstly, understanding how electrical, mechanical, and thermal stresses impact these cables; secondly how to create real-world conditions for reliable testing; and thirdly, construction of a 320 kV high-voltage DC cable prototype, tested at scale using the simulated conditions created through the project. 

DCDYNAMIC will be led by , Reader in High Voltage Engineering in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, which houses the UK’s largest academic electrical test and research facility, the . He will be joined by , Professor of Materials Science and Chief Scientist at the , the UK’s national institute for material innovation; and , Reader in Nanomaterials based at the  

DCDYNAMIC is one of the earliest Horizon Europe projects since the UK re-joined, with a UK university serving as the lead coordinator. 

Project lead, Dr Tony Chen, said: “Being granted European Commission funding as the project coordinator on this scale demonstrates the competitiveness of UK institutions.”  

Home to over 2000 wind farms, and with the largest offshore wind capacity in the world, wind power already plays a leading part in the UK’s energy landscape. This offshore resource provides a range of advantages over its onshore equivalent; farms can be built at a greater scale (the UK currently has the biggest offshore wind farm in the world, Hornsea 1 near the Yorkshire coast), winds are higher and more consistent, and any visual impact concerns are significantly reduced.   

Lithium-ion batteries, which power everything from smartphones and laptops to electric vehicles, store energy through a process known as ion intercalation. This involves lithium ions slipping between layers of graphite - a material traditionally used in battery anodes, when a battery is charged. The more lithium ions that can be inserted and later extracted, the more energy the battery can store and release. While this process is well-known, the microscopic details have remained unclear. The 91ֱ�� team’s discovery sheds new light on these details by focusing on bilayer graphene, the smallest possible battery anode material, consisting of just two atomic layers of carbon.

In their experiments, the researchers replaced the typical graphite anode with bilayer graphene and observed the behaviour of lithium ions during the intercalation process. Surprisingly, they found that lithium ions do not intercalate between the two layers all at once or in a random fashion. Instead, the process unfolds in four distinct stages, with lithium ions arranging themselves in an orderly manner at each stage. Each stage involves the formation of increasingly dense hexagonal lattices of lithium ions.

, who led the research team, commented, "the discovery of 'in-plane staging' was completely unexpected. It revealed a much greater level of cooperation between the lattice of lithium ions and the crystal lattice of graphene than previously thought. This understanding of the intercalation process at the atomic level opens up new avenues for optimising lithium-ion batteries and possibly exploring new materials for enhanced energy storage."

The study also revealed that bilayer graphene, while offering new insights, has a lower lithium storage capacity compared to traditional graphite. This is due to a less effective screening of interactions between positively charged lithium ions, leading to stronger repulsion and causing the ions to remain further apart. While this suggests that bilayer graphene may not offer higher storage capacity than bulk graphite, the discovery of its unique intercalation process is a key step forward. It also hints at the potential use of atomically thin metals to enhance the screening effect and possibly improve storage capacity in the future.

This pioneering research not only deepens our understanding of lithium-ion intercalation but also lays the groundwork for the development of more efficient and sustainable energy storage solutions. As the demand for better batteries continues to grow, the findings in this research could play a key role in shaping the next generation of energy storage technologies.

The (NGI) is a world-leading graphene and 2D material centre, focussed on fundamental research. Based at The University of Manchester, where graphene was first isolated in 2004 by Professors Sir Andre Geim and Sir Kostya Novoselov, it is home to leaders in their field – a community of research specialists delivering transformative discovery. This expertise is matched by £13m leading-edge facilities, such as the largest class 5 and 6 cleanrooms in global academia, which gives the NGI the capabilities to advance underpinning industrial applications in key areas including: composites, functional membranes, energy, membranes for green hydrogen, ultra-high vacuum 2D materials, nanomedicine, 2D based printed electronics, and characterisation.

Nine fathers were given legal access by private family court law proceedings (PLP) to the children they were accused of sexually abusing, according to a qualitative study.

The groundbreaking UKRI funded , published  in the Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, was carried out by University of Manchester researchers in partnership with members of and The Survivor Family Network.

It is based on the experience of 45 women from across England in PLP who along with some of their children accused the men of abuse, including child sexual abuse (CSA) in nine cases.

A tenth father, a convicted paedophile, had groomed the mother as a child and been convicted of child sex offences but hadn’t yet harmed the child sexually. Other fathers convicted of child sex offences were also given direct access to their children.

Of the 45 studied, fathers were given access in 43 cases.

PLP cases occur when two or more private individuals try to resolve a dispute, usually around child arrangements or financial disputes.

All ten cases involving CSA resulted in some form of direct child contact with the alleged perpetrator father, sometimes giving unsupervised overnight stays or 50% shared residency.

Some of the 10 fathers were either convicted child sex offenders or had admitted to CSA. In some of the cases digital evidence was submitted to the court.

Only fathers who had criminal convictions for CSA were considered to meet the threshold for concern for risk or harm, though they were still given overnight contact with the children, supervised by paternal family members.

Four of the mothers, accused of coaching their child to falsify abuse claims – so called parental alienation - lost residency of their children to the alleged perpetrator father.

The researchers applied a feminist-informed framework to understand the experience of 10 women  from within the larger sample of 45, who were also interviewed.

The analysis identified 5 themes:

• Minimisation by the courts of the harm to the child and mother from CSA by the father, overemphasising the rights of fathers.
• The courts rely on whether a father was ‘gratified’ by the abuse to determine whether harm has occurred and a ‘sorry’ from the father was enough to reassure the court that their children will now be safe from future harm.
• The family courts at times intervened to close down active CSA criminal investigations into the fathers.
• Mothers who persisted in their attempts to resist the court and advocate for their children were those who lost their children.
• The court actors were frequently reported as bound by a pro-father narrative in their regard to each other.

Lead author Dr Elizabeth Dalgarno said: “We found disturbing evidence that private family courts are letting down some mothers and their children who accuse the fathers of child sex abuse and or rape.

“Many of the fathers had a history of abusing others. All had allegedly abused the mothers and children, yet this was deemed ‘alienation’, ‘historic’ or ‘irrelevant’ by the court, with one child repeatedly raped for several years after her mother was erroneously dubbed an ‘alienator’.

“Fathers’ actions and behaviours were repeatedly minimised and made invisible if harmful. For mothers, there was no such grace shown in the court, who sometimes had their children removed.”

The researchers argue CSA findings should not be determined within existing PLP, where prevailing bias against mothers and children leaves room for abuse to continue.

Use of ‘parental alienation’ or ‘alienating behaviours’ as a defence, they say, should be prohibited and that the Sexual Offences Act 2003 must re-consider the notion of perpetrator gratification to define harm and also review the use of a child’s personal and private space in defining criminality.

She added: “False allegations of CSA are extremely rare at around 0.01%- 2% and there is little evidence that children can be coerced into making false CSA claims.

“So we contend that this treatment of vulnerable women and their children is effectively an act of state sanctioned abuse, and state gaslighting.”

Support resources available:

The paper has been double blind peer reviewed and has been  published in the journal of social welfare and family law.  

The DOI of the paper, called ‘Let’s excuse abusive men from abusing and enable sexual abuse’: Child Sexual Abuse Investigations in England’s Private Family Courts’   is: 10.1080/09649069.2024.2382501. and it  is published in the Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law

Anonymous quotes from some of the mothers:

“‘…there’d been sexual videos made of my son. My son had come home with bruises. My son had specifically said he didn't want to go to his dad's. [son] disclosed a lot of things… but because [father] said, “I'm sorry…we were only messing around and there wasn't actually any penetration”, he got away with it… And I've got to live with those videos in my head and they even upset the police officers… There was no empathy [from the family court]. There was nothing… Just “fathers have rights”, very, very, pro, pro, pro father’”

‘[police] didn't really do anything, they kind of left it up to social care…the social worker came and said, “we'll come and make sure you've got food in the fridge and a roof over your head”, saw [son]…then they went and saw him…with his father and wrote a report and said there was nothing wrong… she completely and utterly blamed me, said I “was emotionally abusing [son]”…by this time, we'd had one [family] court case [with] a district judge [who] said “social care couldn't find any issues”, and awarded my ex overnight contact every other weekend and holidays’

‘But this same social worker went out again, and again, and just had a word, all the time, while pushing it as parental alienation.  Because I was “making [child] over-anxious”.  And because [father] said “it was accidental”, and social services actually said that “they would not consider it as sexual abuse because they didn’t believe it was sexually gratifying for him’

‘So, my ex-husband had the biggest collection of pornography that I had ever seen, and a lot of the titles were ‘Teen’, and he had used sex as a controlling mechanism within the relationship… This was mentioned…in court, and it was as if I was just being vindictive and trying to find something else wrong with him, to pin something else on him [and] there clearly “wasn’t a problem”’.

My children had accused their father of sexual abuse and he came back with parental alienation after a number of years of not mentioning it…they're not allowed to use any form of disclosing tool or not allowed to buy them any diaries…I’ve been told if I report further allegations then basically my ex has got a fast-track back to court for immediate change of residence…so they threatened me and gagged the girls effectively.’

‘Even the psychologist said, “there is no parental alienation”. He wrote it specifically and he contradicted Cafcass, he overruled Cafcass, and guess who the judge went with? Cafcass’

The damning research – published by Health Equity North  – has laid bare the unequal challenges faced by women living in the North of England.

It exposes the growing regional inequalities over the last decade and the impact this has on women’s quality of life, health, work, their families and communities.

‘Woman of the North: Inequality, health and �ɴǰ���’ finds that women living in the North have lower healthy life expectancy, fewer qualifications, worse mental health, and are more likely to suffer domestic violence or to end up in the criminal justice system than their counterparts in the rest of England. In addition, infant mortality is higher and abortions are more common.

The economic cost of these inequalities is also explored in the report which estimates women in the North lose out on a staggering £132m every week, compared to what they would get paid if wages were the same as women in the rest of the country.

Women in the North also contribute £10bn of unpaid care to the UK economy each year.

The report, which has been backed by the North’s two female Mayors Tracy Brabin and Kim McGuinness, puts into sharp focus the devastating effects that austerity, the cost-of-living crisis, economic uncertainty, the pandemic and unequal funding formulas have had on women in northern regions.

The research found:

• Girls born in the North East, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber between 2018 and 2020 can only expect to live in good health until 59.7, 62.4 and 62.1 years, respectively. This is up to four years less than the national average and up to six years less than girls born in the South East.
• Women in the North are paid less for their work. They lose out on £132m every week, around £6.86bn a year, compared to what they’d get if they were paid the same wages as women in the rest of the country.
• The average weekly wage for a full-time working woman in the North East is £569, £598 in the North West and £567 in Yorkshire and the Humber - much lower than the national average (£625) and considerably lower than for women in London (£757).
• Women in the North contribute £10bn of unpaid care to the UK economy each year. This is £2bn a year more than if they provided the national average of unpaid care.
• One in five women aged 55-59 in the North of England provides care to a family member because of illness, disability, mental illness or substance use.
• The North showed the biggest increases in abortion rates between 2012 and 2021. There has been a demonstrable relationship between austerity, the implementation of the two-child limit, and increased rate of abortions.
• Over 25% of pregnant women in the northern regions of England are living in the most deprived 10% of areas with 40% living in the top 20% most deprived areas. In contrast, fewer than 5% of pregnant women in the South East live in the most deprived 10% of areas.
• There is higher prevalence of severe mental conditions, such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia the North West and North East compared to the South and Yorkshire and Humber. The proportion of women with a diagnosis of a mental health condition who were receiving a treatment was lower in the North West and North East than in the South and Yorkshire and the Humber, indicating a treatment gap between regions.
• Women in the North of England suffer the highest rates of domestic violence abuse in the country. The highest rates are in the North East at 19 per 1,000 population followed by 17 in Yorkshire and the Humber then 15 in the North West. The average for the rest of England is 11.
• Of the recorded deaths per 100,000 from alcohol-specific causes in 2021, women in the North East (13.9), North West (13.8) and Yorkshire and the Humber (11.7) had the highest rates of deaths in women in England.
• In 2022, nine of the 10 police areas with the highest rates of female imprisonment were in the North of England.

A team of more than 70 academic, health, social care and policy professionals from across the North contributed to the report to explore some of the social determinants of health for women, and how they play out in the overall health of women in the region.

The extensive research covers employment and education, Universal Credit, poverty, caring, health and life expectancy, pregnancy and reproductive health, sexual health, mental health, domestic violence, criminal justice involvement, stigma, and marginalised women.

The report recommends a wide range of evidence-informed policy solutions for central government, regional government and the health service which, if implemented, could improve the current situation for women’s health.

Hannah Davies, Executive Director at Health Equity North, said: “Our report provides damning evidence of how women in the North are being failed across the whole span of their lives. Over the last 10 years, women in the North have been falling behind their counterparts in the rest of country, both in terms of the wider determinants of health and, consequently, inequalities in their health.

“There is a lot of work that needs to be done to turn the tide on the years of damage detailed in this report. But the situation for women’s health in the North can be changed for the better through evidence-based policy interventions.

“We need to see policymakers build on the ambitions outlined in the Women’s Health Strategy for England with focused effort to understand and address the regional inequalities in the many different facets of women’s health.”

Professor Kate Pickett OBE, Academic Co-Director at Health Equity North, and Director of the Public Health & Society Research Group and the York Cost of Living Research Group at the University of York, said: “This report unpacks some of the wide-ranging challenges women face across many aspects of their lives, and the impact of these on their health. For women in the North, these challenges are often felt more deeply.

“We know that much of the inequality we see affecting women in the North is a direct consequence of poverty, which is completely unacceptable in the 6^th largest economy in the world. Cuts to welfare and public health funding, the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis have hit the most deprived communities and the North hardest.

“We hope that the findings and recommendations act as a wake up call for government to make health and addressing health inequalities central to policies going forward.”

Dr Luke Munford, Academic Co-Director at Health Equity North, and Health Economist from the University of Manchester, said: “The significant economic impact of regional health inequalities relating to women in the North is made staggeringly clear in the findings of our report.

“Women across northern regions have heavy burdens placed on them – they work longer hours and are paid less, and they provide some of the highest levels of unpaid care for their loved ones. But all too often, this can come at a price as we can see in the health outcomes detailed in this research.

“To ensure a more economically prosperous region, we need policies that target the widening health inequalities faced by women in the North.”

Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, said: “While the findings of this report will resonate with every woman and girl in West Yorkshire, they must now act as a vital wake up call to everyone in a position of power.

“As political leaders, we all have a responsibility to listen to and act on the lived experience of women and girls, and devolution is helping us to turn the tide in West Yorkshire, with the first ever women’s safety unit in the country and bold action to deliver a Sure Start renaissance.

“I welcome this timely and significant report, and pledge to do all I can to continue building a brighter region that works for all, by always working in partnership with the women and girls of West Yorkshire.”

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness said: "From leaving school to the boardroom, at home and at work, women and girls across the North bear the brunt of failings in our economy, society and public services. The lack of equality and opportunity that remains ingrained in modern Britain is unacceptable.

"As Mayor I'm determined to make the North East the home of real opportunity - and that means breaking down barriers which hold women and girls back. I will drive wholesale reform of the support we provide in schools, in our skills system, in childcare and in industries where too often women are shut out or overlooked. I welcome this report as a roadmap to a fairer, more equal North of England."

Woman of the North: Inequality, health and work will be launched at an event in parliament on Wednesday, September 11, with the Women’s Health Ambassador for England, Professor Dame Lesley Regan, speaking.

The report recommendations include:

Regional government

• Targeted support delivered to 11–18-year-olds through Careers Hubs at areas of greatest deprivation.
• Negotiate for higher levels of the Adult Education Budget in the North of England than counterparts in the South of England.
• Support benefits uptake for women and help claimants navigate the benefits system. Financial support beyond the current social security system should be extended to groups most in need.
• Support needed for women to transition back to their families and integrate into the community after involvement in the criminal justice system.

Central Government

• Deliver a national health inequalities strategy, convening government departments across Whitehall to put health at the heart of all policies.
• Make a long-term commitment to update benefits in line with inflation. Additionally, policies that punish families, such as the two-child limit, sanctions and the benefit cap must be abolished.
• The Treasury should improve targeted support for pregnant women including reversing restrictions to the Sure Start Maternity Grant and reintroducing the Health in Pregnancy Grant.
• Deliver a sustainable childcare model – linking in with family hubs and next generation Sure Start centres - that enables more women to access education and work opportunities. Also, abolish zero hours contracts to ensure jobs provide stability and security.

Health System

• NHS England should provide additional financial support and investment for Women’s Health Hubs that are established across the North.
• Health services need to be supported to collect routine data on ethnicity and other key demographic data as standard to help deliver better information for service development and improve our understanding of different health needs.
• Explore ways in which their work can be adapted to address health inequalities across different population groups (cultural sensitivity training, adopting a trauma-informed approach to care, and promoting person-centred approaches, including for transgender people and sex workers).

Health Equity North is a virtual institute focused on place-based solutions to public health problems and health inequalities across the North of England. It brings together world-leading academic expertise from the Northern Health Science Alliance’s members of leading universities and hospitals.

The report is  available  

Navigating the Long Haul: Understanding Long Covid in Northern England, published by Health Equity North, reveals the striking inequalities in Long Covid rates and a clear North-South divide.

Analysis of General Practice Patient Survey data from 2022 found the North West had the highest number of people reporting Long Covid symptoms (5.5%) followed by the North East and Yorkshire (5.1%).

In some northern GP practices as many as one in five patients (20%) reported having Long Covid.

The regions with the lowest rates were the South West (3.4%) and the South East (3.6%), and the average for England as a whole was 4.4%.

The research suggests that people in the North of England are among the worst affected by Long Covid, which follows patterns evidenced in previous highlighting the devastating impact of Covid-19 across northern regions.

The link between deprivation and higher rates of Long Covid is also explored in the report. Nationally, the prevalence rate in the most deprived areas (6.3%) is almost double that in the least deprived (3.3%).

Within region inequalities are also evident in the North East and Yorkshire, where rates in the most deprived areas (8.3%) were 5.2% percentage points higher than in the least deprived areas (3.1%).

The report, a collaboration between Health Equity North, Newcastle University, University of Manchester, Insights North East, Public Health South Tees and Healthworks, explores the impact of Long Covid on the health, wellbeing and employment prospects of adults living in northern England.

The findings have prompted calls for more research into Long Covid and for Government to undertake a consultation with Long Covid patients to better understand the condition and to implement care plans to facilitate rehabilitation and management of the condition.

Further findings from the report include:

• In England, 1.9 million people were experiencing a myriad of self-reported Long Covid symptoms as of March 2023, with 79% saying it has had a negative impact on their day-to-day activities.
• Fatigue was named as the most experienced symptom, and over half reported reduced functionality in their everyday activities, which resulted in their inability to return to work.
• The 10 GP practices with the highest prevalence of Long Covid were all in the North.
• While many employers in the North provide support for Covid-19, this is specified on an acute basis, rather than in response to later Long Covid/post Covid illnesses.
• Only three out of 10 northern employers contacted offered a specific rehabilitation package to employees living with Long Covid despite the high prevalence in the region.
• There is considerable evidence of socioeconomic inequalities in Long Covid in the North East and Yorkshire, where rates in the most deprived groups (8.3%) were 5.2 percentage points higher than in the least deprived areas (3.1%).
• The most deprived areas in the North had higher Covid-19 mortality rates than equally deprived areas in the rest of England, indicative of ‘deprivation amplification’ where the negative health effects of local deprivation is worsened for those living in deprived regions.

Long Covid encompasses physical, cognitive and mental impairments, with brain fog, fatigue, breathlessness, low mood, and depression among the most common symptoms.

As part of the research, academics conducted interviews with people who have experienced or continue to experience Long Covid.

The findings lay bare the significant impact it has on the personal and professional lives of those with the condition. Many of the people involved in the research had been demoted, fired, forced to resign or switch to part-time work because of Long Covid.

During the research, one participant said: “At one point, more than once, I was surprised to wake up the next morning. I felt like I was having stroke-like symptoms, the pressure in my head. I couldn’t move enough to either call for my children or to reach for my phone to get help. I think I lost consciousness. The next morning, I was like, I can’t believe I’m waking up. I wrote my end of life wishes and told my kids what to do if I didn’t make it.”

The report recommendations centre on the need for more research into Long Covid – covering both biomedical and social research – and also the importance of drawing on learnings from other post-viral conditions to ensure better diagnosis and treatment for patients in future.

Dr Stephanie Scott, lead author of the report and Senior Lecturer in Public Health at Newcastle University, said: “Long Covid is a complex condition that goes beyond physical and mental symptoms, affecting other parts of people’s lives including their sense of self and professional identity. This can then lead to experiences of social isolation.

“Currently, there is little evidence-based treatment for Long Covid and the health system focuses on symptom management. This needs to change. Our research has offered a glimpse into the reality of what it is like to live with this often-debilitating condition and the knock-on effects it has on people’s personal and professional lives.

“I hope that the evidence presented in this report cuts through to policymakers and gets the attention it deserves so more research into Long Covid is funded, and so measures can be put into place which enables employers to better support their workforce with Long Covid.”

Hannah Davies, Executive Director at Health Equity North and Deputy Chief Executive at the Northern Health Science Alliance, said: “Covid-19 hit the country unevenly with a disproportionate effect on northern regions – more people died, we spent more time in lockdown, had higher unemployment, and experienced a larger drop in mental wellbeing. Yet again, we are seeing the lasting impact of the pandemic being felt the hardest in the North of England.

“This pattern is reflected in our latest report which shows the North as having the highest rates of people experiencing Long Covid. And it’s likely that these figures could be much higher as many people may not report their symptoms.

“The report provides a timely analysis of the health and economic repercussions of Long Covid, which we hope will prompt action from Government. The regional differences in rates of the illness and the relationship between deprivation is clear. It is also clear that more research needs to be done to understand this devastating condition so people can be diagnosed, treated and supported.”

The report recommendations are:

• Research funders should prioritise biomedical research into Long Covid to establish accurate diagnostic tests, understand the illnesses’ pathophysiological mechanisms and develop treatments.
• Research into the impact of known social determinants of health and their relationship with Long Covid should be undertaken.
• Learning from overlap with other post-viral conditions such as myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome (MF/CFS) should harnessed during Long Covid research and further funding into these conditions should be allocated to assist with treatment and future pandemic preparedness.
• The relationship between disability figures, sex and Long Covid should be the basis of further research.
• Priorities for government: Government should develop programmes for employers to support members of their workforce with Long Covid;  A government consultation with Long Covid patients should be undertaken to better understand their condition and to implement care plans to facilitate rehabilitation and management of the condition.

View the full report here:

Health Equity North is a virtual institute focused on place-based solutions to public health problems and health inequalities across the North of England. It brings together world-leading academic expertise from the Northern Health Science Alliance’s members of leading universities and hospitals.

Carried out by scientists at the Universities of Manchester and Oxford working in collaboration with the KEMRI/Wellcome Trust Unity in Kenya, the study is published in the journal Nature Communications and funded by the Wellcome Trust. 

The findings come amid recent reports showing Gonorrhoea - a sexually transmitted disease - is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics and could become untreatable in the future. 

People infected with gonorrhoea may experience pain or burning though, if untreated, they may go on to develop more serious problems including infertility, systemic infection and increased risk of HIV/AIDS. 

There are now multidrug resistant strains of the Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Ng) bacterium -  which causes gonorrhoea - making many antibiotics ineffective as first-line treatments.

The bacterium has a range of mechanisms to dampen immune responses, meaning there is insufficient immunological ‘memory’ to combat subsequent infections.

Attempts to develop a vaccine against gonorrhoea have been largely unsuccessful; however, in 2017 a study showed that vaccination against a related bacterium Neisseria meningitidis (Nm) led to a reduction in the incidence of gonorrhoea.

Although the efficacy of the Nm vaccine against Ng was limited, it provided an important clue to making an effective Ng vaccine.

Working with a marginalised community of sex workers in coastal Kenya who have high exposure to gonorrhoea, Prof Ed Sanders and his team in Kenya conducted a trial of an Nm vaccine to examine their immune responses.

Prof Jeremy Derrick and the team in 91ֱ�� then identified the pattern of antibody responses in the vaccine recipients and compared them to individuals infected with gonorrhoea.

To unpick the complicated antibody responses, the 91ֱ�� team fabricated a ‘microarray’- a library of the different components, or antigens, which could react with the antibodies induced by the Nm vaccine.

Using this powerful technology, the complex profiles of antibodies against the different components were determined for each vaccinee, or each infected individual.

Comparison of the profiles revealed a detailed picture of the antibody responses to the vaccine, and showing how they differ to those following infection.

The project lead Professor Chris Tang from The University of Oxford said: “This work takes an important step along the road to developing Ng vaccines, as we have a better idea of which responses are generated by partially protective vaccination compared with infection.”

Professor Derrick added: “This study has wide implications about revisiting vaccine design for other bacterial pathogens using these new methods, including those where antimicrobial resistance is a problem.

“We hope that the application of these technologies will enable progress towards vaccines against other pathogens.”

Image : raw microarray scan. Each spot is an antibody reacting with a specific antigen or protein from the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Stejskal et al 2024 ‘Profiling IgG and IgA antibody responses during vaccination and infection in a high-risk gonorrhoea population’ is published in nature Communications and is available

With most volcanic activity taking place underground unobserved, for the first time scientists have been able to capture vesiculation kinetics in basaltic magmas in real time. Published today in , the study sheds new light on one of nature’s most astonishing phenomena.

Volcanic eruptions differ drastically, ranging from gentle effusive lava flows to highly explosive events - or sometimes switching between the two at a moment’s notice.

At the worst end of the scale, volcanic eruptions eject massive volumes of magma and volcanic gases into the air. This causes catastrophic local damage and often prompts wide-reaching global effects too, like air traffic space closure and changes in weather patterns.

Scientists highlighted that eruptive style is influenced by how gas dissolved in magma is released. Contrasts can be drawn between how a waiter opens a bottle of champagne in a restaurant, and how champagne pops when shaken by Grand Prix winners. Despite both bottles having the same amount of gas, the champagne leaves the bottles at vastly different speeds.

Volcanic eruption styles depend on how easily magma decouples from gas during ascent, with stronger gas-melt coupling leading to more explosive reactions. This study allowed scientists to observe and quantify real-time bubble growth and coalescence in magma as it reaches the surface.

The pressure vessel used in the laboratory experiments was thick enough to contain vast amounts of stored energy, and X-rays (the I12-JEEP synchrotron beamline from Diamond Light Source) were used to see through the magma sample and make the observations.

, Research Associate in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at The University of Manchester and lead author of the study, commented: “The experimental results obtained in this study through the combination of our novel vessel apparatus and X-ray synchrotron radiography, offer an improved understanding of coupling and decoupling between magma and volatiles during ascent in the conduit. This study provides insights into processes leading to eruptive style transitions and, ultimately, has fundamental implications for hazard assessment and risk mitigation in area of active basaltic volcanism.”

Pressure in the chambers could be increased or decreased in a controlled way, allowing scientists to see how expanding bubble walls are broken during coalescence at different pressures and temperatures, from 10km in the magmatic plumbing system right up to the conduit beneath a volcano.

The study is a result of a NERC-NFS large grant awarded to The University of Manchester, in addition to the universities of Bristol, Durham, Cambridge and Arizona State in the USA. A UKRI FLF project grant was also awarded to 91ֱ��, and the study was completed in collaboration with colleagues at ESRF in Grenoble, France who developed the novel experimental pressure vessel with windows used in the study.

The growth rates sourced from this new technique confirm previous estimations that used numerical and theoretical modelling. This study contributes to a better understanding of magma behaviour and will greatly improve knowledge of volcanic processes, in addition to helping with future hazard assessment and risk mitigation in areas of active volcanic activity.

Clostridioides difficile (C. diff), a type of bacteria which often affects people who have taken antibiotics, is responsible for approximately 2,000 deaths annually in the UK.

Researchers from the University of Sheffield and the University of Manchester have found C. diff is able to evolve high levels of vancomycin resistance very quickly - in less than two months the bacteria could tolerate 32 times the normally effective antibiotic concentration.

Currently, the antibiotics used to treat C. diff damage beneficial gut bacteria, leading to a high reinfection rate—up to 30 per cent of patients treated with vancomycin experience a second infection within weeks, with the likelihood of further relapses increasing thereafter.

Despite vancomycin's critical role within UK healthcare, routine monitoring for resistance in clinical settings is lacking, so resistance may be emerging under the radar in hospitals. If widespread resistance were to arise it would remove this critical treatment option from UK healthcare.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been identified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as one of the top global public health and development threats. It is estimated that bacterial AMR was directly responsible for 1.27 million global deaths in 2019 and contributed to 4.95 million deaths.

Jessica Buddle, PhD student at the University of Sheffield and lead author of the study, said: “Our findings highlight the need for vigilant monitoring of vancomycin resistance in UK hospitals. Unchecked resistance could contribute to the large number of patients who have a relapsing infection after successful treatment with vancomycin. More research is essential to inform healthcare policy and determine if vancomycin remains the best treatment option.

“Our ongoing work aims to understand the extent and mechanisms of resistance development, simulate these conditions within the complex human gut ecosystem, and collaborate with UK epidemiologists to identify potential resistance signatures in hospitals.

“These efforts are crucial to prevent a future where antibiotics are no longer a viable option for treating bacterial infections and infections that are readily treatable today, become life-threatening once again.”

Although this rapid evolution is concerning, resistant strains exhibited reduced overall fitness, potentially limiting their clinical threat. The resistant strains also commonly had defects in sporulation. Sporulation is essential for C. diff to transmit from one person to the next and to survive on surfaces in hospitals.

Future work will seek to understand this interplay between resistance and the ability of the bacteria to cause severe disease. Researchers will be able to leverage this knowledge to improve surveillance of emerging resistance in hospitals.

Professor Michael Brockhurst from The University of Manchester said: “Our study highlights the value of using lab-based pathogen evolution to understand clinical drug resistance. This can reveal not only which genetic mutations cause resistance, but also the associated fitness costs that might limit the success of resistant strains in the clinic. Such fitness costs are a pathogen’s Achille’s Heel and could potentially be exploited to devise new treatments that reduce the burden of drug resistant infections in the future.” 

Read the full paper in the journal PLOS Biology

The study led by scientists at The University of Manchester and The Institute of Cancer Research, London, could potentially benefit patients by using a technique called Oxygen-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (OE-MRI).

Using the non-invasive technique, the scientists were able to map parts of tumours that had oxygen deficiency - known as hypoxia - in patients with head and neck cancer. Patients with hypoxia in their tumours respond less well to treatment.

This will enable future work to use the MRI technique to target and fine tune treatment more precisely, reducing damage to healthy tissue in some patients.

Funded by Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK, The National Institute for Health and Care Research, the study is published in a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, today (15/08/24).

The study was supported by the NIHR 91ֱ�� Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) and the NIHR BRC at The Royal Marsden and The Institute of Cancer Research.

Though the study was performed on patients with head and neck cancer, it raises the prospect that OE-MRI could be useful in patients with other cancers.

The oxygen enhanced imaging provides detail similar to an expensive PET scan, but can be performed on standard - and much cheaper - MRI systems.

The researchers enrolled 27 patients who were given OE-MRI scans of their primary and nodal tumours before they began their standard chemotherapy or radiotherapy treatments.

Additional scans were then performed during their treatment.

Using sophisticated mathematical modelling, the method was found to have the potential to help patients whose tumours had reduced levels of hypoxia by the second week.

Michael Dubec, principal clinical scientist at The University of Manchester and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust said: “Cancers can be destroyed by radiation and chemotherapy, but the problem is healthy tissues and organs can be destroyed as well. So our aim is to destroy the tumour while preserving healthy tissue thus reducing toxicity.

“So our aim is to destroy the tumour while preserving healthy tissue thus reducing toxicity.

“Using Oxygen-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging to map hypoxia in patients’ tumours, may improve the accuracy of their treatment.

“Now we have proved the principle, we hope to move on to clinical trials so it can be validated on greater numbers of patients.”

Professor James O’Connor of The Institute of Cancer Research, London and The University of Manchester led the study. He added: “Few studies have compared the hypoxia modification observed in both primary tumour and nodal metastases following treatment, or the timing of these changes.

“So our findings amount to a potentially important way to determine optimum radiotherapy planning for patients with locally advanced disease.”

The study “Oxygen-enhanced MRI detects incidence, onset and heterogeneity of radiation-induced hypoxia modification in HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer” is published in

Forty-one year old Ben Moorhouse from Halifax will take on the dangerous challenge in gruelling temperatures on August 17 in memory of his daughter Kallipateira who was stillborn at 37 weeks in October 2018.

Ben has already made history on the Greek island when in August 2021 he became the only person to walk around the full perimeter of the island nonstop – a total of 150 miles in 42 hours.

He has set himself a target of £10,000 for two summer extreme challenges with all funds going to Professor Alexander Heazell and his team at the Tommy’s 91ֱ�� Maternal and Fetal Health research to support research and to help save babies’ lives.

In July he completed a 110-mile nonstop walk from Wainhouse Tower in Halifax to Blackpool then onto Saint Mary’s Hospital in 91ֱ��, where Professor Heazell and his team are based.

Ben and his partner Gaynor Thompson launched the Kallipateira Moorhouse Foundation charity to help save babies lives through research and support other parents who have experienced the death of a baby.

Ben said “On Saturday I am proud to be able to take on my next extreme challenge on the beautiful and magical island of Rhodes for my daughter Kallipateira.

“I am ready and prepared to put myself through the mill again on Saturday in the current extreme heat and humidity in Rhodes.

“Thankfully most people who see my extreme challenges will not have had to experience the devastation of holding their dead baby or child.

“I ask for the public’s kindness in please supporting me with a donation no matter how big or small. I am just a normal dad trying my best to make sure my baby girl did not die for nothing.”

Every day in the UK eight babies stillborn on average, many which are preventable. These are beautiful fully developed babies who should be alive.

“As a grieving dad who each day feels the pain of Kallipateira’s devastating death I must now raise more vital funds for Professor Heazell and his team to support research so that other families nationally don’t have to experience the pain that we do every day.”

Professor Alexander Heazell, Director of the Tommy's Stillbirth Research Centre said: “It was great to be able to walk the last 33 miles of Ben’s Walk from Preston to 91ֱ�� with him in July.

“I am always amazed at the depth and strength of his commitment to raise funds in memory of Kallipateira.

“The money Ben has raised previously has funded projects to understand partners needs in pregnancy after loss and to improve understanding of stillbirth risks in women who don’t speak English.

This important work comes from donations, so please support Ben in this second extreme challenge of the summer to support work that saves babies lives and improves care.”

 Dignity Funerals are the headline sponsor of the extreme challenge walk.

Stuart Cox, Head of Public Affairs at Dignity Funerals, who are sponsoring the challenge said: “As a socially responsible business Dignity is delighted to continue our support for the Kallipateira Moorhouse Foundation.

“After Ben initially approached us, we could immediately see the value of the work the Foundation does and his inspiring enthusiasm for fundraising. We all wish him the best of luck with his latest challenges.”

• You can donate to Ben via his just giving
• For more information about the Kallipateira Moorhouse Foundation, visit their

Cancers develop partly through genetic abnormalities within cells of the body. Colorectal cancer is a major cause of death worldwide, but we don’t yet have a full understanding of the genetic changes that cause it to grow. New research – published today in Nature – delivers an unprecedented view of the genetic landscape of CRC and its responses to treatment.

Utilising data from 2,023 bowel cancers from the 100,000 Genomes Project led by Genomics England and NHS England**, the research team has identified new gene faults that lead to CRC. They’ve also uncovered new CRC cancer sub-groups (categories of cancer with specific genetic characteristics that affect how cancer behaves and responds to treatment). These findings offer profound insights into the disease's development and potential treatment strategies.

Key Findings of the 91ֱ��:

• Identification of Over 250 Key Genes: The study has pinpointed more than 250 genes that play a crucial role in CRC, the great majority of which have not been previously linked to CRC or other cancers, expanding our understanding of how CRC develops.
• New Sub-Groups of CRC: Four novel, common sub-groups of CRC have been discovered based on genetic features. In addition, several rare CRC sub-groups have been identified and characterised. These groups have different patient outcomes and may respond differently to therapy.
• Genetic Mutation Causes: The research reveals a variety of genetic changes across different regions of the colorectum, highlighting differences in CRC causes between individuals. For example, a process has been found that is more active in younger CRC patients’ cancers; the cause is unknown, but might be linked to diet and smoking.
• New Treatment Pathways: Many identified mutations could potentially be targeted with existing treatments currently used across other cancers.

Commenting on the findings, co-lead researcher, Ian Tomlinson, Professor of Cancer Genetics at the University of Oxford, said:

"Our findings represent a significant advancement in understanding colorectal cancer. By better understanding the genetic changes in CRC, we can better predict patient outcomes and identify new treatment strategies, quite possibly including the use of anti-cancer drugs that are not currently used for CRC."

The research provides a vital resource for the scientific community and a promising foundation for future studies. The results from the study are available to other researchers, who are invited to build on the data by undertaking more focussed projects based on the CRC genome.

Co-lead researcher, Professor Richard Houlston, Professor of Cancer Genomics at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said:

“This research is a great insight into the biology of colorectal cancer, uncovering the clues as to how it develops, grows, and responds to treatments. I look forward to seeing future studies use these findings to develop tailored treatments for people with colorectal cancer, based on their genetics.”

Co-lead researcher, Professor David Wedge, Professor of Cancer Genomics and Data Science at the University of Manchester, said:

“This is the first really large study to come out of the 100,000 Genomes Project led by Genomics England and NHS England. In the coming months and years, I expect it to be followed by many more studies of different types of cancer as well as combined studies across all types of cancer, fuelled by the fantastic data resource provided by Genomics England.”

Dr Henry Wood, Lecturer in Translational Bioinformatics from Pathology in the University of Leeds’ School of Medicine, said:

“This study is the first to provide in-depth, whole-genome sequencing and characterisation of the microbiome - the community of bacteria and viruses that live in the gut - in a large number of cases of bowel cancer. This means that we are now in a position to investigate the importance of the microbiome in the development of these cancers, and whether we can change it to influence the tumour and improve patient outcomes.”

*The research team spanned the Universities of Oxford, 91ֱ��, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Leeds, as well as The Institute of Cancer Research, London and the Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Cáncer, Barcelona. 

** The 100,000 Genomes Project is an ambitious initiative that sequenced 100,000 genomes from NHS patients affected by rare conditions or cancer, providing both diagnoses and access to treatment for thousands of patients with research and analysis still ongoing. The Project laid the foundations for the NHS to become the first national health system to offer whole genome sequencing as part of routine care via the NHS Genomic Medicine Service. 

Professor Jason Wong, who is part of the Dermatology Theme at the NIHR 91ֱ�� BRC, has been awarded the funding through a 3-year UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Medical Research Council (MRC) Development Pathway Funding Scheme.

Wounds are breeding grounds for microbes such as bacteria, fungi and viruses. Wound infection can cause delayed healing, loss of skin grafts (where healthy skin is removed from an unaffected area of the body and used to cover lost or damaged skin) and sepsis (a life-threatening reaction to an infection).

Delayed wound healing has a significant functional and psychological impact on patients. It can result in loss of limbs (particularly in diabetic foot disease) or even loss of life (particularly in burn injuries).

Jason Wong, who is an Honorary Consultant at 91ֱ�� University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) and Professor of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Regenerative Medicine at The University of Manchester, said: “Wound dressings are important for wound care and management, but there is little evidence to support the routine use of current antimicrobial dressings for complex wounds, which aim to prevent or stop the growth of microbes. Most antimicrobial dressings do not show clear advantages, and this could be due to the active agents preventing wound healing or not working against certain microbes.

“The repeated or prolonged use of traditional antibiotics in wound care, especially chronic wound treatments, can cause the emergence of bacteria, fungi and viruses resistant to these commonly used antimicrobials. This highlights the urgent need for new, more powerful, yet safe dressings.”

Using this funding, Professor Wong and the research team will aim to develop new dressings that contain antimicrobial peptide (AMP) releasing hydrofibres (microbe killing proteins).

Unlike traditional antibiotics, AMPs are effective against a broad range of  microbes, can act quickly and penetrate through microbes’ resistant barriers.

The team have already developed an AMP which has been tested against a range of microbes, is easy to produce and is non-toxic. This study will aim to show it has low side effects and develop it towards a clinical product.

The project will be in collaboration with Convatec, a global medical products and technologies company focused on solutions for the management of chronic conditions, who are providing in-kind support throughout the study.

Professor Wong said: “I am delighted to have been awarded this grant with such an accomplished multidisciplinary team of scientists from The University of Manchester, MFT and industry. The development of this wound dressing could be invaluable for patients and clinicians in helping to prevent infection and improve healing. Through our work we will recognise their healthcare needs, which will include controlling local infection, making sure the dressings are easy to apply and remove, and exudate management (help prevent excess fluid leakages).”

The networks will share £4.8 million from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), awarded as part of its tackling infections strategic theme. This programme will continue next year with a new opportunity for ambitious new transdisciplinary research programmes, drawing on a dedicated budget of at least £7 million.

The People AMR Network, led by  Sarah Tonkin-Crine at  The University of Oxford  will consider how communities might use antibiotics in the best possible ways to minimise AMR through changing behaviour.

The network will explore ways to help people make decisions about antibiotic use, develop new strategies and tools, and to study these to ensure they target the right people, the right behaviours, and the right settings to have maximum and timely impact at the lowest possible cost. The community will include representatives from the public as well as GPs, dentists, pharmacists, vets and business leaders.

Co-lead Dr Wendy Thompson from The University of Manchester said: “'From antibiotics for a dental abscess through to antifungals for mildew in the bathroom, we just take antimicrobials for granted. Yet the more often we use them for things where they are not strictly necessary, like toothache, the less often they will work when they are vital, like sepsis.

“It's my pleasure, therefore, to lead the dentistry part of this people-centred approach to helping ensure future generations continue to benefit from antimicrobials that work.”

The Fungal One Health and Antimicrobial Resistance Network, led by Darius Armstrong-James at Imperial College London  will focus on the emergence of anti-fungal resistance and the development of countermeasures to it, with collaboration from the University of Manchester.

The network will cover healthcare, agricultural and pharmaceutical industries, as well as key government departments and end users in these settings. It will tackle the underlying causes of resistance, surveillance, agricultural waste and water-based hotspots, the development of countermeasures and interventions to mitigate resistance.

Co-lead Dr Michael Bromley from The University of Manchester said: “Fungal pathogens cause devastating losses to all of our staple foods such as wheat, rice, corn, soybean and sugar cane. To combat these losses, which alone are sufficient to feed around half of the world’s population, millions of tonnes of fungicides are sprayed. This widespread and sometimes illegal use has caused drug resistance to emerge in many fungal pathogens of plants, placing pressure on our food security.

“Worse still, these fungicides have caused drug resistance to emerge in human fungal pathogens too. I will be leading a group to understand how we may balance the critical need for fungicide use in crops with the negative impacts they have on driving resistance and how we can work better with Governments to prevent resistance emerging to new the next-generation of antifungals.”

The Accurate, Rapid, Robust and Economical One Health DiagnoSTics for antimicrobial resistance Network will focus on diagnostic tools. It will coordinate and develop practical solutions for diagnostics in both animals and plants, across various settings and is led by Led by Mark Bradley from Queen Mary University of London, with collaborators from the University of Manchester.

This will be addressed by identifying needs across sectors, developing research and innovation, standardising evaluation, supporting implementation, and cross-pollinating findings.

The new networks will support diverse teams of AMR researchers, ranging from specialists in agriculture, food and the environment to human and animal medicine, policy and behavioral studies, engineering and social science. Together they’ll develop new partnerships and approaches to tackling AMR across sectors and disciplines, including culture, economics, behaviour, biomedical and physical sciences, design and engineering, environmental sciences and more.

Dr Colin Miles, Head of Strategy, Advanced Manufacturing and Clean Growth at UKRI, said:

“Tackling the creeping pandemic of anti-microbial resistance – increasing resistance to antibiotics – is a large, complex problem. Ten million people each year are expected to lose their lives to it by 2050.

“Rather than taking single-discipline approaches, we need researchers from across disciplines to come together and look at all aspects of the problem – from human behaviour and how we grow crops and rear animals for consumption to how we manage the environment or use technology, clinical management strategies or challenge established cultural norms.”

Professor Alejandro Frangi, Bicentennial Turing Chair in Computational Medicine says new approaches for product development, including computational modelling and simulation, could realise the huge potential of new technologies in regulatory and product innovation.

The report authored by KPMG UK Life Sciences Regulatory Solutions, commissioned by The University of Manchester, is based on the findings of a detailed literature review, surveys and structured interviews with life science sector stakeholders.

Professor Frangi said returns on investment is an important barrier, arguing that although relevant skills are in short supply, they can be sourced from other traditional sectors transformed by the digital revolution, such as the aerospace, automotive industries, or manufacturing.

Another challenge is to build trust among stakeholders for these new technologies and do so in co-creation with the broader sector and society.

In the report’s foreword, he said: “Computational Modelling and Simulation (CM&S) technology and In Silico Evidence (ISE) stand poised to revolutionize the future of healthcare.

“These cutting-edge methods offer a thrilling opportunity to expedite research and development (R&D), spark unprecedented innovation, and usher life-changing pharmaceutical and medical device products to market with remarkable speed and enhanced safety. The healthcare industry can easily recoup its investment in in silico methods during the R&D phase of a product’s life cycle.

“But progress is being hindered by misconceptions, which largely stems from regulatory uncertainty and a lack of incentives for adopting these technologies. This report, however, provides much needed evidence that we already have the skills and financial incentives to push forwards with this agenda, added Michael Kipping,  Honorary Research Fellow on Regulatory Science and Innovation at The University of Manchester.

The technologies have the potential to reduce research sample sizes and the reliance on animal testing in pre-clinical trials.

Access to novel medicines and medical devices could be democratised by employing virtual patient cohorts mirroring diverse populations, including those previously marginalized by traditional evidence approaches.

The costs of bringing a new pharmaceutical to market are currently estimated at around £2 billion. 

If new technologies are employed, they have the potential to accelerate market entry for innovative products by up to two years and reduce the number of patients required for clinical studies potentially saving up to £7.8 million.

Professor Frangi said: “To fully harness the transformative potential of these new technologies, manufacturers must navigate the complex landscape of global regulatory acceptance criteria. There is a pressing need for a cross-sector effort to develop clearer regulatory guidelines, international standards, and best practices. Such initiatives will pave the way for the global harmonization of in silico technologies, if not their regulation by worldwide regulatory agencies.”

“Those who dare to embrace innovation are poised to set new standards and lead the industry forward.”

Anusha Foy, Partner at KPMG said: “The potential benefits for patients and global healthcare systems with the utilisation of CM&S, MIE and ISE technology is enormous and transformative and is an area we will be following closely in the next few years”.

The report In Silico Regulatory Evidence Utilisation within the Life Science Sector is available for download here

Developed by researchers from 91ֱ�� University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) and The University of Manchester, in collaboration with 91ֱ�� based company genedrive, the test can tell healthcare professionals in approximately one hour if stroke patients will be more likely to benefit from clopidogrel, the current first-line treatment to prevent recurrence.

Approximately 100,000 people in the UK each year will have a stroke – a serious life-threatening condition that happens when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off by a blood clot.

Clopidogrel prevents platelets (a type of blood cell) from sticking together and forming a dangerous blood clot. However, around 29 per cent of all patients in the UK (and up to 60 per cent in different ethnic groups) have a change in the CYP2C19 gene which reduces clopidogrel’s effectiveness.

Individuals carrying changes in the CYP2C19 gene are also twice as likely to have further strokes when treated with clopidogrel. If these genetic changes can be detected before treatment, then doctors can use an alternative, more effective medicine. 

Professor Bill Newman, Consultant in Genomic Medicine at MFT and Professor of Translational Genomic Medicine at The University of Manchester who led the project said: “Strokes affect more than 6,000 people in Greater 91ֱ�� each year and those affected are at increased risk of further severe strokes in the following hours, days and weeks.

“This is clearly a particularly worrying time for patients and their families; therefore, it is vital we use new approaches to ensure that patients get onto the right treatment as quickly as possible.”

Professor Newman, who is also Rare Conditions Co-Theme Lead at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) 91ֱ�� Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), added: “This could reduce time spent in hospital, prevent further strokes, save lives, and avoid future hospital admissions.

“If adopted into routine practice, this rapid test, which has been recommended for use in the NHS by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), represents a major transformation in the way we manage stroke in this country.

“Our early model-based cost-effectiveness analysis published last year shows that using a rapid genetic test could lead to significant cost savings for the NHS. Using a rapid genetic test was £512 less expensive compared with no testing per patient, due to the prevention of secondary strokes and reduced hospital admissions. When you factor in the potential improvements in patient’s quality of life, the model estimates that the potential value of the test to the NHS is over £160 million each year.”
 

Using a simple cheek swab, the non-invasive test can be performed at the bedside. From the swab, the genedrive system interprets the genetic information on the patient and informs the clinician with options on the course of treatment.

Previously, genetic testing for CYP2C19 could only be carried out using specialist laboratories, a process which can take several days.

The innovative test was used successfully at 91ֱ�� Royal Infirmary and the 91ֱ�� Centre for Genomic Medicine, Saint Mary’s Hospital, both part of MFT, over six months, to evaluate performance in the clinical setting.

Further testing will be carried out at Greater 91ֱ��’s Hyper Acute Stroke Unit (HASU) at Salford Royal Hospital, part of Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, to establish the benefit for patients across Greater 91ֱ��. HASU is the largest dedicated unit in the region and provides care for people across Greater 91ֱ��. This work is part supported by the Geoffrey Jefferson Brain Research Centre through the Edward and Victoria Bonham Carter fund and NHS England Network of Excellence in Pharmacogenetics and Medicines Optimisation.

This pilot is an important step in understanding the set-up costs, workforce and other requirements to roll out this innovation wider.

Dr John McDermott, Clinical Geneticist at MFT and NIHR Fellow from The University of Manchester said: “Genomic medicine is changing the future of healthcare and we are delighted NICE has recommended the use of the test in the NHS.

“As part of the NHS Genomic Networks of Excellence work that we are leading, we are now working with colleagues across the country to work out the best ways to introduce genetic testing for CYP2C19 for patients who have just experienced a mini-stroke (TIA) or acute stroke.”

This research is part of the DEVOTE programme, an Innovate UK funded project coordinated by Health Innovation 91ֱ��, led by The University of Manchester and supported by MFT.

The programme builds on research supported by the NIHR 91ֱ�� BRC, hosted by MFT, which focuses on making pharmacogenetic testing more accessible to patients to improve clinical outcomes.

Dr Gino Miele, Chief Scientific Officer, genedrive plc, said: “The collaboration of our company with the research and clinical team at MFT is a shining example of the NHS collaborating with a commercial company, from early product development through to clinical validation in real-world settings, to deliver real improvements in patient outcomes in a cost-effective way.  We are delighted with the positive recommendation from NICE and the success of the multi-disciplinary team collaboration under DEVOTE. We look forward to our CYP2C19 ID kit, the second point of care pharmacogenetic test developed in collaboration with this team for NHS use, being made available for the benefit of patients who have suffered a stroke or TIA.”

Professor Ben Bridgewater, Chief Executive at Health Innovation 91ֱ��, said: "The recommendation by NICE for the point-of-care test is a demonstration of how the DEVOTE programme is supporting the development, validation and implementation of innovative genomic tests in healthcare. The planned implementation testing at Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust is an important milestone for validating the use in a real-world setting of a personalised approach to provide healthcare to patients that have suffered a stroke. Providing better care for cardiovascular diseases is a high priority for Health Innovation 91ֱ�� and we are committed to continue our support to the DEVOTE programme."

Juliet Bouverie OBE, Chief Executive of the Stroke Association said: "Stroke devastates lives and leaves people with life-long disability. We know that many stroke survivors spend the rest of their lives fearing another stroke, so it's great to see that more people could be given appropriate help to significantly cut their risk of recurrent stroke. Anything we can do to prevent the misery that stroke can cause is ultimately good news. Getting on the right medication and taking it as advised is the best way for stroke survivors to reduce their risk of further strokes.

"If you are a stroke survivor and have questions about the medication that you have been prescribed, you should keep taking your medication and contact your GP surgery.”

Two children died following a stabbing in Southport at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event in Stockport yesterday.

Nine more children were injured, with six in critical condition. Two adults were also injured according to Merseyside Police.

The free leaflet, from the University’s Parenting and Families Research Group available here was developed for the 91ֱ�� Arena bombing and then for the Grenfell fire, with trauma experts from around the country.

It is designed to  help those affected through the critical first few days after the  trauma, but also in the months that follow.

The leaflet is  designed to help parents and caregivers cope with their own emotions and stress and  will help them to understand common reactions in children and how best to care for them.

Professor Rachel Calam, who helped develop the leaflet said: “ This is a tragic incident; parents, children and teachers will need good psychological support to help the navigate through the coming days and months.

“What they are going through might include difficulties sleeping, thoughts and memories of what has happened popping into mind, bad dreams, irritability, feeling low, behavioural problems and avoiding activities they used to enjoy.

“This leaflet is advises them how keep going in such difficult times, and that experiencing some distress like that is entirely normal. There is no one way of feeling after a trauma.

“We developed this information to help anyone wondering how best to help their child through such a frightening and upsetting experience. We hope you find it helpful.”

For more For more family advice, visit the NHS  MindEd website .

Download the advice

Antibiotics are given to kill bad bacteria, however with just one mutation a bacteria can evolve to become resistant to that antibiotic, making common infections potentially fatal.

The new research, published today in the journal , used high-performance computing to simulate more than 8,000 years of bacterial evolution, allowing scientists to predict mechanisms that control mutation rates. They then made more than 15,000 cultures of E. coli in lab conditions to test their predictions - that’s so many that if you lined up all of the bacteria in this study, they would stretch 860,000km, or wrap around the Earth more than 20 times!

The tests revealed that bacteria living in a lowly populated community are more prone to developing antibiotic resistance due to a naturally occurring DNA-damaging chemical, peroxide. In crowded environments, where cells are more densely packed, bacteria work collectively to detoxify peroxide, reducing the likelihood of mutations that lead to antibiotic resistance.

The finding could help develop "anti-evolution drugs" to preserve antibiotic effectiveness by limiting the mutation rates in bacteria.

Lead researcher from The University of Manchester, said: "Antibiotic resistance presents an existential challenge to human health. Bacteria rapidly evolve resistance to the antibiotic drugs we use to treat infections, while new drugs aren’t being developed fast enough to keep up.

“If we can’t keep antibiotics working, routine surgery could be a life-or-death encounter, with common infections becoming untreatable.

“By understanding the environmental conditions that influence mutation rates, we can develop strategies to safeguard antibiotic effectiveness. Our study shows that bacterial mutation rates are not fixed and can be manipulated by altering their surroundings, which is vital on our journey to combat antibiotic resistance."

Peroxide, a chemical found in many environments, is key to this process. When E. coli populations become denser, they work together to lower peroxide levels, protecting their DNA from damage and reducing mutation rates. The study showed that genetically modified E. coli that is unable to break down peroxide had the same mutation rates, no matter the population size. However, when helper cells that could break down peroxide were added, the mutation rate in these genetically modified E. coli decreased.

The research builds on previous findings by group, which indicated that denser bacterial populations experience lower mutation rates. The current study uncovers the specific mechanism behind this phenomenon, highlighting the role of collective detoxification in controlling mutation rates.

The research team, part of the Microbial Evolution Research in 91ֱ�� (MERMan) collective, conducted this extensive study with contributions from researchers at all career stages. The lab work was primarily carried out by a PhD student, alongside six undergraduate and master's students, under the guidance of four lab group leaders.

MFT researchers say it is likely this is because of the platinum-based chemotherapy that is widely used to treat ovarian cancer.

This is the largest study of breast cancer after ovarian cancer diagnosis to date and was supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) 91ֱ�� Biomedical Research Centre (BRC).

BRCA1 and BRCA2 are genes that greatly raise the risk of developing cancer if they become altered (or mutate).

estimates there is a 72% risk of developing breast cancer by age 80 for people with BRCA1 and a 69% risk for people with BRCA2 gene mutations. However, this did not specifically assess the risk of breast cancer following ovarian cancer diagnosis.

Two studies* that have addressed this had follow up largely limited to 10 years and had no breakdown by gene. These studies estimated risk of breast cancer after ovarian cancer diagnosis to be 11% in 79 women and 7.8% in 509 women.

In this latest study, MFT researchers reviewed the history of breast cancer in 701 women with ovarian cancer who had the faulty BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene.

Women included in the study had attended specialist genetics clinics at MFT, East Cheshire NHS Trust, Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Incidence of breast cancer was assessed annually by age group and for up to 15 years following ovarian cancer diagnosis.

Their analysis has shown for those with the faulty gene, the likelihood of developing breast cancer in the first five years after an ovarian cancer diagnosis is significantly lower than for those without ovarian cancer.

The study was led by Professor Gareth Evans, Consultant in Medical Genetics and Cancer Epidemiology at MFT and The University of Manchester and NIHR 91ֱ�� BRC Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Co-Theme Lead. He said: “Many women we speak to who have a new diagnosis of ovarian cancer immediately ask about bilateral mastectomy (removal of both breasts) as an option to manage their cancer risk. Many are upset to hear they need to delay this to the required two-year point of disease-free survival from ovarian cancer.

“Our findings mean we can reassure women that their risk of breast cancer in the first two years (short term) after diagnosis is relatively low at around 2% to 2.5%. This is likely because of the effects of platinum-based chemotherapy, which is widely used to treat ovarian cancer, resulting in control and potentially complete eradication of breast cancers that otherwise could have occurred in the first five years.”

The results, published in , show that for those with ovarian cancer and the BRCA2 gene, the low rate of breast cancer continues until 10 years of follow up. Their breast cancer risk after ovarian cancer diagnosis was 3.3% at 2 years, 6.2% at 5 years, 10.4% at 10 years, and 20.3% at 15 years.

For those with the faulty BRCA1 gene, incidence of breast cancer was lower between 0 and 5 years after ovarian cancer diagnosis, but risk increased between 5 and 10 and after 10 years of follow up. Their breast cancer risk after ovarian cancer diagnosis was 2.1% at 2 years, 5.0% at 5 years, 15.0% at 10 years and 29.1% at 15 years.

The researchers say women need to be aware of these increases, especially after 10 years.

Professor Evans said: “For those with BRCA2, lower rates of breast cancer continue until 10 years of follow up as this gene is more sensitive to chemotherapy than BRCA1.

“In women with good long-term life expectancy the higher risks of breast cancer after 10 years, particularly in BRCA1, should be discussed with their clinicians. This includes presenting all the available options such as MRI screening and risk reducing mastectomy.”

The Screen and Treat with Aspirin to Reduce Pre-eclampsia (STARshiP) study is led by researchers from Saint Mary’s Managed Clinical Service, part of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), in collaboration with The University of Manchester and the Nottingham Clinical Trials Unit at the University of Nottingham.

With the study of 200,000 women and their babies, STARshiP represents one of the largest endeavours in pregnancy screening research.

Funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and sponsored by The University of Manchester, the trial aims to transform antenatal care of the condition.

Pre-eclampsia is a condition that affects some pregnant women, usually during the second half of pregnancy (from 20 weeks) or soon after their baby is delivered.

Early signs of pre-eclampsia include having high blood pressure and protein in the urine.

Though the condition occurs in up to 8% of pregnancies, there are currently few ways to predict which patients may be at risk.

With the aim of improving the detection of women at higher risk of developing the condition and offering aspirin as a preventative treatment, the STARshiP study will quantify the benefit of the screening, offered by the researchers at the same time as the early pregnancy scan.

Key features of the STARshiP study include:

• Combined Screening Technique using the Fetal Medicine Foundation Test: The STARshiP study will implement a new screening method for pre-eclampsia which includes additional measurements taken during the first trimester ultrasound scan and a blood test to measure placental hormones.
• Aspirin Treatment to reduce the risk of pre-eclampsia: Pregnant people identified as high-risk through the new screening process will receive aspirin treatment as per the current NHS standard care. Aspirin is a safe, cost-effective treatment which has been shown to reduce the incidence and severity of pre-eclampsia.
• Efficient Trial Design: The STARshiP study is designed in a way that the screening test will be rolled-out across participating maternity hospitals, with all participating hospitals having implemented the screening test by the end of the study. This type of research study is called a ‘stepped wedge clinical trial’ and is an efficient way of conducting a clinical trial, resulting in everyone having the opportunity to try implementing the test during the study.

The STARshiP study will span across 18 maternity hospitals in the North of England and East Midlands regions. At MFT it will be rolled out by Saint Mary’s Managed Clinical Service (MCS), across its three sites: Saint Mary’s Hospital, North 91ֱ�� General Hospital and Wythenshawe Hospital.

Professor Jenny Myers and Dr Lucy Higgins are joint chief investigator of the STARshiP trial.

Professor Myers, Clinical Professor at The University of Manchester and Consultant Obstetrician, Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre, Saint Mary’s Hospital, said: "The immense promise this trial has in demonstrating the impact of a more effective screening test for pre-eclampsia and reducing the burden of this devastating pregnancy complication is more relevant than ever.”

Dr Higgins, Senior Clinical Lecturer at The University of Manchester and Honorary Consultant Obstetrician, Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre, Saint Mary’s Hospital, said: "By integrating improved early screening, we aspire to mitigate the risks associated with this condition and improve maternal and fetal outcomes."

Marcus Green, CEO of Action for Pre-eclampsia (APEC) said: “Women need to know if they are at risk of pre-eclampsia both so they can be prepared and to ensure clinicians target the right care to them. This study will hopefully help find one more piece in the pre-eclampsia jigsaw and we will be fully supporting the trial.”

Dr Jane Harvey, a representative from the Patient and Public Involvement Group (PPI) said: "I never thought I was at risk of pre-eclampsia, when it happened it was terrifying. It is absolutely fantastic that this new test could potentially prevent this life-changing disease from affecting the lives of so many families."

Jane Daniels, Professor of Clinical Trials at the Nottingham Clinical Trials Unit at the University of Nottingham, said: “NCTU are excited to be coordinating another large screening study in pregnancy. Although these studies take time, we hope that the results will ensure the best method of identifying at-risk pregnancies, is available for everyone.”

The experts from Prostate Cancer UK, The University of Manchester and other institutions argue changing the NHS guidelines will allow GPs to proactively speak to men who are most at risk of getting the disease.

They today publish a paper in the supporting changes that would see healthcare professionals telling at men about their risk and giving them the choice of a free PSA blood test, a potentially life-saving conversation.

Prostate cancer often has no symptoms in its earlier, more treatable stages, so it’s crucial men know about their risk of getting the disease and think about the option of getting a PSA blood test, even if they feel healthy.

However, in the current system the men who are the most likely to get prostate cancer — including Black men and men with a family history of the disease — aren’t told about their higher risk by GPs.

Current data shows only half (53%) of men with prostate cancer get an earlier diagnosis, which falls significantly short of the NHS’s target of 75%.

Black men have double the risk of both getting prostate cancer and dying from the disease, while men living in deprived areas of the UK are 29% more likely to be diagnosed with incurable disease.

Black men and men with a family history of prostate cancer also tend to develop the disease at a younger age – from 45 – potentially losing decades of healthy life and leaving them and their families to deal with economic hardship and emotional trauma.

Prostate Cancer UK estimates that updating the NHS guidance, and implementing plans for raising awareness about the changes, could be delivered in just twelve months.

Amy Rylance, Assistant Director of Health Improvement at Prostate Cancer UK, said: “Leaving men in the dark about their risk means too many men are getting diagnosed with incurable prostate cancer, and this disproportionately affects Black men and men living in deprived areas.

“Prostate Cancer UK welcomes the new Government’s promises to increase earlier cancer diagnoses and to address gross health inequalities. Our message to the Government and MPs in the Commons is that we’re here to help you deliver those promises. Updating NHS prostate cancer guidelines could drive forward significant progress in just a year and, crucially, would give men a fairer chance of living longer.”

In the PSA Consensus paper the panel of clinicians and experts have agreed for the first time that the PSA blood test is a cheap, safe, and effective way of identifying which men would benefit from having further tests – in the first instance an MRI scan.

Dr Sam Merriel, one of the authors of the paper, is a GP and Academic Clinical lecturer at The University of Manchester.

He said: "As a GP, it's frustrating that current Department of Health and Social Care guidelines on PSA testing in men without symptoms provide very limited detail for us and our patients. It is unclear what should be done for men at higher risk of prostate cancer, how often men who choose to have the PSA blood test should have one, and when it would be in a man’s best interest to stop testing.

"There has long been disagreement about the benefits and harms of the PSA blood test. However, with the publication of this new paper, we've shown there's broad agreement among the top minds in urology and prostate cancer care that the PSA blood test is simple and safe – and that GPs should consider proactively discussing the test with Black men and men with a family history from the age of 45. 

“Increases in PSA testing are likely to pose a substantial challenge to primary care resources which are already overstretched. The Government should provide NHS primary care with the necessary resources for men to be able to access PSA blood tests if they choose to do so, according to the current PSA testing guidelines for men without symptoms."

In total 68  of the most promising research leaders will be funded £104 million to lead research into global issues and to commercialise their innovations in the UK.

UKRI’s flagship Future Leaders Fellowships allow universities and businesses to develop their most talented early career researchers and innovators and to attract new people to their organisations, including from overseas.

Dr Fiona Whelan is a Senior Lecturer in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics at The University of Manchester whose research focusses on combining classical microbiology techniques with cutting-edge bioinformatic methodologies.

Fiona was previously a University of Nottingham Anne McLaren Fellow (2020-3) and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Independent Fellow (2018-20). She moved to the UK from McMaster University, Canada where she conducted her PhD research on the human microbiome.

She said: “I am so excited to join this cohort of UKRI Future Leaders Fellows. My research programme – focussed on understanding how bacterial interactions within mixed microbial communities contribute to pathogenicity and disease progression in cystic fibrosis – is interdisciplinary in nature.

“This Fellowship gives me the unique opportunity to assemble a world-leading, interdisciplinary team who will have the experience and expertise to answer these important questions and – ultimately – hopefully improve the lives of individuals with cystic fibrosis.”

Dr Laura Richards, a Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Fellow based at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, has been awarded a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship to launch a project called AQUAROAD.

AQUAROAD aims to create a roadmap towards improved groundwater quality management in the context of the Global South by bringing together interdisciplinary approaches to understand (bio)geochemical controls and to support evidence-based decision making for effective remediation strategies for water supplies used for drinking.

The approach, aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, will be developed and demonstrated in contrasting areas in India and East Africa, with flexibility for future adaptation.

Dr Richards said: “I’m thrilled and deeply grateful to have been awarded a Future Leaders Fellowship. This fellowship is an exciting springboard for ambitious research with an excellent network of collaborators and potential for positive impact on society.”

UKRI Chief Executive, Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser, said: “UKRI’s Future Leaders Fellowships provide researchers and innovators with long-term support and training to develop ambitious, transformative ideas.

“The programme supports the research and innovation leaders of the future to transcend disciplinary and sector boundaries, bridging the gap between academia and business.  

The fellows announced today demonstrate how these awards continue to drive excellence, and to shorten the distance from discovery to prosperity and public good.”

The researchers from The University of Manchester, along with Loughborough and Birmingham City Universities, revealed a freshly eaten fish still attached to its hook in the beast’s stomach, which probably killed it.

Using specialist software in combination with X-ray and CT scanning, the scientists were able to virtually extract the hook from the mummy, and then construct a replica first in plastic and then cast in its original material, bronze.

The age of the animal mummy - kept at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and known by its accession number, 2005.335  –  could be anything from between 2,000 and 3,000 years old, when the practice of mummifying animals was at its peak.

The study funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Leverhulme Trust is published in the journal Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage.

The croc had swallowed considerable numbers of small stones known as gastroliths while alive to break down of chunks of meat and regulate buoyancy.

The presence of more gastroliths higher up in the digestive tract, say the authors, indicate an attempt to break down the animal’s last meal, and showed it died before they reached its stomach.

The skeletal integrity of the fish also suggests that it was swallowed whole and had not yet been affected by the harsh digestive enzymes present in the first chamber of the crocodile’s stomach or the abrasive action of the gastroliths.

The apparent short time span between the ingestion of the fish and the death of the crocodile also suggest, say the researchers, it was deliberately caught in the wild and processed for mummification as an offering to the crocodile god Sobek shortly afterwards.

Healthy crocodiles were associated with fertility and plentiful agriculture. The Egyptians also believed you could protect yourself from danger by wearing clothing made from the skin of the animal.

Lead author Dr Lidija Mcknight Research Fellow from The University of Manchester, said: “Crocodile mummy 2005.335 was a unique opportunity to apply scientific analysis to a large animal mummy.

“Our work revealed a great amount of information, both about the life of the crocodile and the post-mortem treatment of it remains.

“Mummies have long been a source of fascination for museum visitors of all ages. Our work provides a unique opportunity to connect visitors to the story of this animal.”

She added: “Whereas earlier studies favoured invasive techniques such as unwrapping and autopsy, 3D radiography provides the ability to see inside without damaging these important and fascinating artefacts.

“We took take the process a step further by replicating the hook in its original material, bronze.

“The Egyptians probably used a hardened clay mould into which the molten metal, melted over a charcoal-based heat source, would have been poured.

“Despite the passing of several millennia between the production of the ancient fish hook and the modern replica, the casting process remains remarkably similar.”

Images :

• Crocodile in the CT scanner
• The reconstructed hook
• The skeleton with gastroliths in stomach, obscuring the hook
• Xray showing hook in the animal

The Consultant in Genomic Medicine, 91ֱ�� Centre for Genomic Medicine, Saint Mary’s is one of 58 exceptional biomedical and health scientists elected to the Academy’s Fellowship for 2024 – an endorsement of an individual's significant impact in their field.

Professor Newman, who is also Rare Conditions Co-Theme Lead at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) 91ֱ�� Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), said: “I am honoured and delighted to receive this acknowledgment from the Academy of Medical Science.

“This award reflects the work and commitment of all the patients, researchers and clinicians that I have worked with, who have supported the many initiatives in which I have been privileged to lead.

“I look forward to joining the Fellowship of researchers, at the heart of the Academy's work, including nurturing the next generation of researchers and shaping research and health policy in the UK and worldwide.”

Through his work in pharmacogenetics which involves understanding why patients respond differently to their medication, he has also led innovative point of care genetic studies to prevent critically ill newborn babies, usually treated with a common antibiotic, from going deaf. This has resulted in a ground-breaking bedside test that is now being used in routine clinical practice in maternity settings at 91ֱ�� University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) and will be rolled out at NHS trusts across Greater 91ֱ�� in the summer. This work has been supported by the NIHR 91ֱ�� BRC, hosted by MFT.

In addition to this, Bill’s national leadership roles include Chair of the British Society for Genetic Medicine and President Elect of the European Society of Human Genetics, having led the education committee for the past five years.

The new Fellows will be formally admitted to the Academy at a ceremony on Wednesday 18 September 2024.

The Academy of Medical Sciences is the independent, expert body representing the diversity of medical science in the UK. Its mission is to advance biomedical and health research and its translation into benefits for society. The Academy's elected Fellows are the most influential scientists in the UK and worldwide, drawn from the NHS, academia, industry and the public service.

The  findings of the University of Oxford led study, published in , are an exciting first step towards the development of future  treatments for the disorders which have devastating impacts on learning, behaviour, speech, and movement.

While most NDDs are thought to be genetic and caused by changes to DNA, to date around 60% of individuals with the conditions do not know the specific DNA change that causes their disorder.

Nearly all genes known to be involved in NDD are responsible for making proteins. However the team discovered that the gene RNU4-2 instead makes an RNA molecule that plays an important role in how other genes are processed in cells.

The study estimates that these specific changes in the RNU4-2 gene can explain 0.4% of all NDD cases globally, potentially impacting hundreds of thousands of families across the world.

While previous studies have only looked at genes that make proteins, data from the , used by the team meant they could sequence entire genomes enabling changes in genes that don’t make proteins, like RNU4-2, to be analysed as well.

The study was led by Nicola Whiffin, Associate Professor at the Big Data Institute and Centre for Human Genetics at the University of Oxford.

The team found mutations in RNU4-2 in 115 people with NDDs, many of whom had the exact same variant which adds a single extra base at an important position in the RNA.

The second haJamie Ellingford is  Senior Research Fellow at The University of Manchester and Lead Genomics Data Scientist at Genomics England

He said: “This is a really powerful discovery which shows just how far we have developed as a global scientific and clinical community.

“It provides evidence of how we now have the capability to pinpoint all types of differences in people's DNA which can be drivers of disease, and can rapidly connect families and researchers from across the world.

“The University of Manchester has an excellent track record at the cutting edge of human genomics research and the discovery of new types of diseases.

This finding builds upon jointly led work at the University of Manchester and the University of Oxford to understand the impact of DNA differences in the part of the human genome that doesn't directly encode for protein, once called "junk DNA" because of its unknown role.

“The close alliances between computational science, genomics and clinical discovery at The University of Manchester will hopefully enable future discoveries like this that help families and other researchers better understand genomic diseases."

Nicole Cedor, mother to 10-year-old Mia Joy, said: “When Undiagnosed Network told us about three years ago that there was nothing else they could do, we resigned ourselves to the fact that we may never find out.

“So, you can imagine our shock to get this news. With the information we have gained, we are getting blood work to check iron levels, getting a DEXA bone scan next week, and we have a referral in for endocrinology.”

“We are so grateful to each person on the research teams that worked tirelessly to find this diagnosis.  It is one thing to write papers and crunch all that data, then another to see a family with a precious unique child who is living it day by day.  This where the data meets real life. We like to refer to RNU4-2 as "renew", as our family is being renewed by this new information and hope for the future.”lf goes here.

Professor Whiffin said: “What is most remarkable about this discovery is how often changes in this gene result in NDD. Most protein-coding genes involved in NDD are thousands of DNA bases long. RNU4-2 is around 50 times smaller but changes in this gene are almost as frequent a cause of NDD as these protein-coding genes. Including RNU4-2 in standard clinical genetic testing will end diagnostic odysseys for thousands of NDD patients worldwide and provide long-awaited hope to families.”

The study, published in, challenges current scientific models which argue that by 2050, coral reef fish could shrink by 14-39 percent in size due to increasing temperatures under climate change.

The researchers from NYU Abu Dhabi, the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology and The University of Manchester, identified how coral reef fish living in the Arabian Gulf - the warmest waters on earth - have adapted to survive extreme temperatures.

It was led by John Burt, co-principal Investigator at at NYU Abu Dhabi and Jacob Johansen, Associate Research  Professor at the  Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology.

Though they studied two kinds of fish the findings are likely to be relevant to other species.

Professor Holly Shiels was also on the team, along with her PhD students Dan Ripley and Grace Vaughan.

She said: “The Arabian/Persian Gulf is a window to future ocean conditions and working together with colleagues in the region we have used this natural laboratory to provide new insight into impact of rising water temperatures on fish.

“Our study offers hope for some marine species in a continuously warming world.”

According to the researchers, adaptations in both metabolism and swimming abilities helped the fish to survive extreme conditions in the Arabian Gulf.

The warming of our oceans is anticipated to drastically affect marine life and the fishing industry, potentially upsetting entire ecosystems and economic structures reliant on these habitats.

However, the study’s findings challenge the prevailing view that oxygen supply limitations in larger fishes are the main reason for smaller fish in warmer waters – known as the “shrinking fish phenomenon.”

The researchers instead argue the decrease in fish size and their survival in increasingly warm oceans might be more closely related to an imbalance between how much energy fish species can obtain and how much they need to sustain themselves.

The researchers compared two species of fish, the Blackspot snapper and the Arabian monocle bream, surviving under the elevated temperatures within the Arabian Gulf to those of similar age living in the cooler, more benign conditions in the nearby Gulf of Oman.

They determined the qualities reef fish in the Arabian Gulf have that enable them to survive there, where typical summer water temperatures are comparable to worst-case ocean warming projections for many tropical coral reefs globally by 2100.

John Burt said: “The hottest coral reefs in the world are an ideal natural laboratory to explore the future impact of rising water temperatures on fishes.

“Our findings indicate that some fish species are more resilient to climate change than previously understood and help explain why smaller individuals are evolutionarily favored at high temperatures.

This has significant implications for our understanding of the future of marine biodiversity in a continuously warming world.”

• “Causes and consequences of ocean warming on fish size reductions on the world’s hottest coral reefs” is published in the journal

The 91ֱ�� Hair Research Group team unexpectedly discovered the link in a lab experiment where they were testing a drug to see if it cultivates human scalp hair follicles in a dish.

The study inadvertently led to a link to the cellular stress response - an ancient biological mechanism which occurs across life from yeast and roundworms through to humans.

The team hope that by targeting the pathway, treatments for hair loss might one day be found.

Known in full as the Integrated Stress Response-  or ISR-  it is triggered in stressful cellular conditions such as poor nutrient availability, viral infection, or when there is a build-up of misshaped proteins in cells.

The ISR allows cells to put a brake on regular activities by making less new proteins, entering a partial stasis to adapt and deal with the stress. However, if it doesn’t work, it can cause cells to die.

ISR is already the subject of great interest to scientists studying cancer, neurodegenerative disorders and ageing.

The study is published in the peer-review open access journal PLOS ONE today (insert date).

Dr Talveen Purba, Research Fellow at The University of Manchester and senior author of the study said “We were testing a drug that targets metabolism in human hair follicles to influence how cells generate energy, which based on the work of others, we expected to stimulate stem cells.”

“However we found the opposite was true: hair growth was instead blocked, as cells, including stem cells, quickly stopped dividing.”

They also found signs that mitochondria, the power plants inside cells,  were dysfunctional, and there were disruptions in how cells communicate with each other.

Using a combination of experimental approaches to look more closely, they found signs that ISR activation was to blame.

Derek Pye, chief technician of the research group and co-author of the study said “When we look at hair follicles under the microscope, it’s striking how consistent the response is between hair follicles from different people.”

Following on from this early-stage research, the team are now looking to better understand the broader implications of the ISR in hair follicles, and look at its activity in people with hair loss conditions.

Dr Purba added: "We're incredibly hopeful as we believe the activation of this pathway could play an important biological role in restricting hair growth in people with hair loss conditions, meaning that targeting it could lead to new treatments”.

The research paper entitled “Activation of the integrated stress response in human hair follicles” is  available online in the journal PLOS ONE :

Image:    Side by side comparison of untreated (left) and stressed (right) hair follicles highlighting changes to mitochondrial distribution (red)