The model, developed by scientists at the Universities of Cambridge and Liverpool, is published today in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. It uses mathematical equations to provide general insights about how COVID-19 will spread under different potential control scenarios.

Control measures involving facemasks, handwashing and short-scale (1-2 metre) social distancing can all limit the number of virus particles being spread between people. These are termed ‘non spatial’ measures to distinguish them from a second category of ‘spatial’ control measures that include lockdown and travel restrictions, which reduce how far virus particles can spread. The new model compares the efficacy of different combinations of measures in controlling the spread of COVID-19, and shows how non-spatial control needs to be ramped up as lockdown is lifted.

“More effective use of control measures like facemasks and handwashing would help us to stop the pandemic faster, or to get better results in halting transmission through the vaccination programme. This also means we could avoid another potential lockdown,” said Dr Yevhen Suprunenko, a Research Associate in the University of Cambridge’s Department of Plant Sciences and first author of the paper. The authors stress that their predictions rely on such non-spatial control measures being implemented effectively.

The model also considered the socio-economic impact of both types of measure, and how this changes during the pandemic. The socio-economic consequences of spatial measures such as lockdown have increased over time, while the cost of non-spatial control measures has decreased -for example, facemasks have become more widely available and people have become used to wearing them. 

“Measures such as lockdowns that limit how far potentially infected people move can have a stronger impact on controlling the spread of disease, but methods that reduce the risk of transmission whenever people mix provide an inexpensive way to supplement them,” said Dr Stephen Cornell at the University of Liverpool, co-author of the paper. 

The model arose from a broader research programme to identify control strategies for plant diseases threatening staple crops. By using a mathematical approach rather than a conventional computer simulation model, the authors were able to identify - for a wide range of scenarios - general insights on how to deal with newly emerging infectious diseases of plants and animals. 

“Our new model will help us study how different infectious diseases can spread and become endemic. This will enable us to find better control strategies, and stop future epidemics faster and more efficiently,” said Professor Chris Gilligan in the University of Cambridge’s Department of Plant Sciences, co-author of the paper.

Part of this research was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Reference

Suprunenko, Y.F. et al: ‘Analytical approximation for invasion and endemic thresholds, and the optimal control of epidemics in spatially explicit individual-based models.’ J.R.Soc. Interface, March 2021. DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2020.0966

Gene therapy – where a missing or defective gene is replaced by a healthy version – is becoming increasingly common for a number of neurological conditions including Leber’s Congenital Amaurosis, Spinal Muscular Atrophy and Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy. However, each of these conditions is rare, and monogenic – that is, caused by a single defective gene. The application of gene therapy to complex polygenic conditions, which make up the majority of neurodegenerative diseases, has been limited to date.

A common feature of neurodegenerative diseases is disruption of axonal transport, a cellular process responsible for movement of key molecules and cellular ‘building blocks’ including mitochondria, lipids and proteins to and from the body of a nerve cell. Axons are long fibres that transmit electrical signals, allowing nerve cells to communicate with other nerve cells and muscles. Scientists have suggested that stimulating axonal transport by enhancing intrinsic neuronal processes in the diseased central nervous system might be a way to repair damaged nerve cells.

Two candidate molecules for improving axonal function in injured nerve cells are brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and its receptor tropomyosin receptor kinase B (TrkB).

In research published today in Science Advances, scientists at the University of Cambridge show that delivering both of these molecules simultaneously to nerve cells using a single virus has a strong effect in stimulating axonal growth compared to delivering either molecule on its own. They tested their idea in two models of neurodegenerative disease known to be associated with reduced axonal transport, namely glaucoma and tauopathy (a degenerative disease associated with dementia).

Dr Tasneem Khatib from the John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair at the University of Cambridge, the study’s first author, said: “The axons of nerve cells function a bit like a railway system, where the cargo is essential components required for the cells to survive and function. In neurodegenerative diseases, this railway system can get damaged or blocked. We reckoned that replacing two molecules that we know work effectively together would help to repair this transport network more effectively than delivering either one alone, and that is exactly what we found.

“This combined approach also leads to a much more sustained therapeutic effect, which is very important for a treatment aimed at a chronic degenerative disease.

“Rather than using the standard gene therapy approach of replacing or repairing damaged genes, we used the technique to supplement these molecules in the brain.”

Glaucoma is damage to the optic nerve often, but not always, associated with abnormally high pressure in the eye. In an experimental glaucoma model, the researchers used a tracer dye to show that axonal transport between the eye and brain was impaired in glaucoma. Similarly, a reduction in electrical activity in the retina in response to light suggested that vision was also impaired.

Dr Khatib and colleagues used ‘viral vectors’ – gene therapy delivery systems – to deliver TrkB and BDNF to the retina of rats. They found that this restored axonal transport between the retina and the brain, as observed by movement of the dye. The retinas also showed an improved electrical response to light, a key prerequisite for visual restoration.

Next, the team used transgenic mice bred to model tauopathy, the build-up of ‘tangles’ of tau protein in the brain. Tauopathy is seen in a number of neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia. Once again, injection of the dye showed that axonal transport was impaired between the eye and the brain – and that this was restored using the viral vectors.

Intriguingly, the team also found preliminary evidence of possible improvement in the mice’s short-term memory. Prior to treatment, the researchers tested the mice on an object recognition task. The mouse was placed at the start of a Y-shaped maze and left to explore two identical objects at the end of the two arms. After a short while, the mouse was once again placed in the maze, but this time one arm contained a new object, while the other contained a copy of the repeated object. The researchers measured the amount of the time the mouse spent exploring each object to see whether it had remembered the object from the previous task.

This task was repeated after the viral vector had been injected into the mouse’s brain and the results were suggestive of a small improvement in short-term memory. While the results of this particular study did not quite achieve statistical significance – a measure of how robust the findings are – the researchers say they are promising and a larger study is now planned to confirm the effect.

Professor Keith Martin from the Centre for Eye Research Australia and the University of Melbourne, who led the study while at Cambridge, added: “While this is currently early stage research, we believe it shows promise for helping to treat neurodegenerative diseases that have so far proved intractable. Gene therapy has already proved effective for some rare monogenic conditions, and we hope it will be similarly useful for these more complex diseases which are much more common.”

The research was supported by Fight for Sight, Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust, the Cambridge Eye Trust, the Jukes Glaucoma Research Fund, Quethera Ltd, Alzheimer's Research UK, Gates Cambridge Trust, Wellcome and the Medical Research Council.

Reference
Khatib, TZ et al. Receptor-ligand supplementation via a self-cleaving 2A peptide-based gene therapy promotes CNS axon transport with functional recovery. Science Advances; 31 Mar 2021; DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abd2590

The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, used radar data from a European Space Agency satellite to show that even when the heat from the Sun is absent, these lakes can discharge large amounts of water to the base of the ice sheet. These ‘drainage events’ are thought to play a significant role in accelerating the movement of the ice by lubricating it from below.

Previous studies of draining lakes have all been carried out during the summer months, through a combination of direct field observations and optical satellite data, which requires daylight.

The approach developed by the Cambridge researchers uses the radar ‘backscatter’ – the reflection of waves back to the satellite from where they were emitted – to detect changes in the lakes during the winter months, when Greenland is in near-total darkness.

The results, reported in the journal The Cryosphere, imply that the ‘plumbing’ system beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet doesn’t just slowly leak water from the previous summer, but even in the depths of the Arctic winter, it can be ‘recharged’, as large amounts of surface lake water cascade to the base of the ice sheet.

Many previous studies have shown that the Greenland Ice Sheet is losing mass, and the rate of loss is accelerating, due to melting and runoff.

“One of the unknowns in terms of predicting the future of the ice sheet is how fast the glaciers move – whether they will speed up and if so, by how much,” said co-author Dr Ian Willis from Cambridge’s Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI). “The key control on how fast the glaciers move is the amount of meltwater getting to the bottom of the ice sheet, which is where our work comes in.”

Lakes form on the surface of the Greenland ice sheet each summer as the weather warms. They exist for weeks or months but can drain in a matter of hours due to hydrofracturing, transferring millions of cubic metres of water and heat to the base of the ice sheet. The affected areas include sensitive regions of the ice sheet interior where the impact on ice flow is potentially large.

“It’s always been thought that these lakes drained only in the summer, simply because it’s warmer and the sun causes the ice to melt,” said co-author Corinne Benedek, also from SPRI. “In the winter, it’s dark and the surfaces freeze. We thought that the filling of the lakes is what caused their eventual drainage, but it turns out that isn’t always the case.”

Benedek, who is currently a PhD candidate at SPRI, first became interested in what happens to surface lakes in the winter while she was a Master’s student studying satellite thermal data.

“The thermal data showed me that liquid water can survive in the lakes throughout the winter,” she said. “Previous studies using airborne radar had also identified lakes buried a few metres beneath the surface of the ice sheet in the summer. Both of these things got me thinking about ways to observe lakes all year long. The optical satellite imagery we normally use to observe the lakes isn’t available in winter, or even when it’s cloudy.”

Benedek and Willis developed a method using data from the Sentinel-1 satellite, which uses a type of radar called synthetic aperture radar (SAR). SAR functions at a wavelength that makes it possible to see through clouds and in the dark. Ice and water read differently using SAR, and so they developed an algorithm that tracks when sudden changes in SAR backscatter occur.

Over three winters, they identified six lakes that appeared to drain over the winter months. These lakes were buried lakes or surface lakes that were frozen over. The algorithm was able to identify where the backscatter characteristics of the lake changed markedly between one image and the next one recorded 12 days later.

The SAR data was backed up with additional optical data from the previous autumn and subsequent spring, which confirmed that lakes areas shrank considerably for the six drained lakes. For three of the lakes, the optical data, as well as data from other satellites, was used to show the snow- and ice-covered lakes collapsed, dropping by several metres, again confirming the water had drained.

“The first lake I found was surprising,” said Benedek. “It took me a while to be sure that what I thought I was seeing was really what I was seeing. We used surface elevation data from before and after the events to confirm what we were thinking. We know now that drainage of lakes during the winter is something that can happen, but we don’t yet know how often it happens.”

“Glaciers slow down in the winter, but they’re still moving,” said Willis. “It must be this movement that causes fractures to develop in certain places allowing some lakes to drain. We don’t yet know how widespread this winter lake drainage phenomenon is, but it could have important implications for the Greenland Ice Sheet, as well as elsewhere in the Arctic and Antarctic.”

Reference:
Corinne L. Benedek and Ian C. Willis. ‘Winter drainage of surface lakes on the Greenland Ice Sheet from Sentinel-1 SAR imagery.’ The Cryosphere (2021). DOI: 10.5194/tc-15-1-2021

Cambridge scored a double victory in the Boat Race 2021, with both the men's and women's crews coming out on top following two thrilling races.

The event was moved from the usual course, along the Thames in London, because of a combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and repair work on Hammersmith Bridge.

Professor Stephen Toope, Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, paid tribute to both crews.

"Huge congratulations to both crews in the Boat Race. They did the Light Blues proud in two hard-fought duels against battling and determined Oxford opponents.

"Every member of every crew played their part in an afternoon of extraordinary sporting excitement."

I am used to sceptical looks when I talk to scientists about my work with religious communities. They have reason to see science as under threat from zealots: examples abound, from the treatment of Galileo Galilei to vaccine aversion. But faith communities can feel the same way about scientists. Even if they disagree on important topics, it’s both possible and essential to collaborate on urgent issues, such as the fact that large parts of Earth are becoming uninhabitable. In my view, this Easter, Passover or Ramadan is the perfect time to start.

I’m a political scientist who studies how religious groups respond to problems, from environmental crises to domestic violence to racism. Since 2013, I have worked with other researchers, some religious and some not, to explore climate science with communities of faith.

I’ve seen the power of this approach: some 1,200 institutions have committed to divest from fossil-fuel companies, totalling US$14.5 trillion. One-third are faith-based organizations. Many, such as Operation Noah, are led by scientists. Similarly, the group Extinction Rebellion Muslims has built a transnational network with scientists and activists in Kenya, Gambia, the United Kingdom and beyond; they host “Green Ramadan” seminars. Their efforts stalled plans for a luxury tourist resort that would have destroyed parts of the Nairobi National Park in Kenya. A co-campaigner, Maasai leader Nkamunu Patita, has been appointed to a government task force that will map wildlife-migration routes and be consulted in future development plans.

This is the opening of an opinion piece published in Nature on 30 March 2021. This is open access and can be read in full here.

Dr Tobias Müller is a Junior Research Fellow at the Woolf Institute and an Affiliated Lecturer at Cambridge's Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS).

The research, which used data from around 3,500 young people in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam, shows that promising but poorer students ‘fall away’ during their school years, as challenges associated with their socio-economic circumstances gradually erode their potential. Among children who showed similar levels of ability aged 8, for example, the wealthiest were often over 30 percentage points more likely than the least-wealthy to enter all forms of tertiary education: including university, technical colleges, and teacher training.

Even when they focused only on students who complete secondary school with comparable levels of learning, the researchers found that those from wealthier backgrounds were still more likely to progress to higher education. They describe their findings, reported in the British Education Research Journal, as indicative of the ‘protective effect’ of wealth in relation to academic advantage.

The study was undertaken by the Research in Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre at the Faculty of Education. Dr Sonia Ilie, its lead author, said: “In many lower-income countries, low socio-economic status is a continual barrier to young people’s attainment. What is clear is that these inequalities in higher education access have nothing to do with ability: this is about systems which are consistently failing poorer children.”

The data used in the research was from Young Lives, an international childhood poverty study which is tracking two cohorts of young people from Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam. The Cambridge researchers focused on the group born in 1994/5. Young Lives includes information about education and attainment at ages 8, 12, 15, 19 and 22, and importantly therefore includes the many young people in lower-income countries who may enter higher education after age 19.

The researchers started by comparing basic entry rates into higher education among the poorest 25% and wealthiest 25% of participants. The percentage point gap between these quartiles was 45 in both India and Peru, 41 in Vietnam, and 17 in Ethiopia.

They then analysed higher education progression rates among increasingly comparable groups of students. First, they focused on those with similar demographic characteristics (such as gender, ethnicity, and whether they lived in urban or rural settings). They then progressively added more information about their education to examine students who were both in school, and achieving certain attainment levels, aged 8, 12 and 15.

The gap between the poorest and richest students’ likelihood of enrolling in higher education narrowed steadily as each level of information was factored in. Given the disparity in the ‘raw’ wealth gap, this indicates that children from poor backgrounds often fail to progress because they drop out, or under-achieve, throughout primary and secondary school. It also suggests that factors such as a person’s gender interact with their socio-economic status to influence their likelihood of progressing to higher education.

Crucially, however, a gap still existed between rich and poor even among students who finished secondary school with comparable levels of learning. The size of the remaining gap reflected the complexities of each country’s higher education systems, but showed that at the same level of schooling and learning, wealth played this protective effect.

The study also analysed the progress of ‘high-promise’ children. The researchers identified all children who had achieved a certain level of literacy at age 8, and then used numeracy and maths scores to compare the educational trajectories of the richest and poorest among this group.

Overall, the attainment gap between high-promise children from the top and bottom wealth quartiles widened during school, even though their test scores were similar at age 8. Ultimately, many more high-promise children from the richest quartile entered higher education compared with the poorest: the percentage point gap between the two groups was 39 in Peru, 32 in India and Vietnam, and 15 in Ethiopia.

“Even among children who do well to begin with, poverty clearly becomes an obstacle to progression,” Ilie said. “The reverse also applies: if they are wealthy, even children with initially lower levels of learning catch up with their poorest peers. This is what we mean by the protective effect of wealth.”

The study says that the first priority in addressing the higher education wealth gap should be targeted investment in primary education for the very poorest. This is already an emerging policy focus in many lower-income countries, where disadvantaged children, even if they go to school, often have poor learning outcomes. The reasons for this, documented in several other studies, include limited educational resources and support at home, and practical difficulties with school attendance.

The findings also indicate, however, that targeted support should continue during secondary education, where wealth-related barriers persist. In addition, the residual wealth gap even among those who finish secondary school highlights a need for initiatives that will reduce the cost of higher education for disadvantaged students. The study suggests that means-tested grants may be one viable solution, but further evidence is required. It also warns that at present, taxation-based funding for higher education will essentially ‘subsidise a socio-economic elite’, while tuition fees will further prohibit access for the poorest.

Professor Pauline Rose, Director of the REAL Centre, said: “If we want to equalise opportunities at the point of entry into higher education, we have to intervene early, when the wealth gaps emerge. This study shows that targeted and sustained interventions and funding are needed for the poorest students not only in their earliest years, but throughout their educational careers.”

CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing is a widely used research tool which allows scientists to remove and replace sections of DNA in cells, allowing them, for example, to study the function of a given gene or to repair mutations. Last year the researchers who developed CRISPR-Cas9 were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

In the study published in the journal PNAS, scientists retrospectively analysed data from previous research in which they had studied the role of the OCT4 protein in human embryos during the first few days of development.

The team found that while the majority of CRISPR-Cas9-induced mutations were small insertions or deletions, in approximately 16% of samples there were large unintended mutations that would have been missed by conventional methods to assess DNA changes. 

Research is ongoing to understand the exact nature of the changes at the target sites, but this could include deletions of sections of DNA or more complex genomic rearrangements. 

The discovery highlights the need for researchers who use CRISPR-Cas9-mediated genome editing to edit human cells, whether somatic or germline, to be aware of and test for these potential unintended consequences. This is even more essential if they hope their work will be used clinically, as unintended genetic changes like this could lead to diseases like cancer.  

“Other research teams have reported these types of unintended mutations in human stem cells, cancer cells and other cellular contexts, and now we’ve detected them in human embryos,” said Professor Kathy Niakan, group leader of the Human Embryo and Stem Cell Laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute and Professor of Reproductive Physiology at the University of Cambridge, and senior author of the study.

“This work underscores the importance of testing for these unintended mutations to understand exactly what changes have happened in any human cell type.” 

The researchers have developed an open-source computational pipeline to identify whether CRISPR-Cas9 has caused unintended on-target mutations based on different types of next-generation sequencing data. 

“We and others are trying to develop and refine the tools to assess these complex mutations, “ added Niakan. 

“It is important to understand these events, how they arise and their frequency, so we can appreciate the current limitations of the technology and inform strategies to improve it in the future to minimise these mutations.” 

Gregorio Alanis-Lobato, lead author and former postdoctoral training fellow in the Human Embryo and Stem Cell Laboratory at the Crick, said: “Conventional tests used to check the accuracy of CRISPR-Cas9 can miss the types of unintended on-target mutations we identified in this study. There’s still so much for us to learn about the effects of CRISPR-Cas9 technology and while this valuable tool is refined, we need to thoroughly examine all changes.”  

There are important ongoing debates around the safety and ethics of using CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing on human embryos for reproductive purposes. And in 2019, there was international condemnation of the work of a researcher in China who edited embryos which led to the birth of twins. In the UK, its use on human embryos is closely regulated and is only allowed for research purposes. Research is restricted to the first 14 days of development and embryos are not allowed to be implanted into a womb. 

The data for this work related to embryos previously studied by the Crick’s Human Embryo and Stem Cell Laboratory. The embryos were at the blastocyst stage of early development, consisting of around 200 cells. They had been donated to research by people undergoing in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and were not needed during the course of their treatment. 

The research was led by scientists at the Francis Crick Institute, in collaboration with Professor Dagan Wells at the University of Oxford. Kathy Niakan is Director of the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Trophoblast Research, and Chair of the Cambridge Strategic Research Initiative in Reproduction.

Reference
Alanis-Lobato, G., et al: Frequent loss-of-heterozygosity in CRISPR-Cas9-edited early human embryos. PNAS, April 2021. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2004832117

Adapted from a press release by the Francis Crick Institute.

The new report published in the journal Conservation Lettersfocuses on freshwater mussels, which the researchers have studied extensively, but is applicable to all species moved around for conservation purposes. 

Mussels play an important role in cleaning the water of many of the world’s rivers and lakes, but are one of the most threatened animal groups on Earth. There is growing interest in moving mussels to new locations to boost threatened populations, or so they can be used as ‘biological filters’ to improve water quality. 

A gonad-eating parasitic worm, Rhipidocotyle campanula, which can leave mussels completely sterile, was identified as a huge risk for captive breeding programmes where mussels from many isolated populations are brought together.  

“We need to be much more cautious about moving animals to new places for conservation purposes, because the costs may outweigh the benefits,” said Dr David Aldridge in the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge, senior author of the report.

He added: “We’ve seen that mixing different populations of mussels can allow widespread transmission of gonad-eating worms – it only takes one infected mussel to spread this parasite, which in extreme cases can lead to collapse of an entire population.”

Pathogens can easily be transferred between locations when mussels are moved. In extreme cases, the pathogens may cause a population of mussels to completely collapse. In other cases infections may not cause a problem unless they are present when other factors, such as lack of food or high temperatures, put a population under stress leading to a sudden outbreak.

The report recommends that species are only relocated when absolutely necessary and quarantine periods, tailored to stop transmission of the most likely pathogens being carried, are used. 

It identifies four key factors that determine the risk of spreading pathogens when relocating animals: proportion of infected animals in both source and recipient populations; density of the resulting population; host immunity; and the life-cycle of the pathogen. Pathogens that must infect multiple species to complete their life-cycle, like parasitic mites, will only persist if all of the species are present in a given location.

“Moving animals to a new location is often used to protect or supplement endangered populations. But we must consider the risk this will spread pathogens that we don’t understand very well at all, which could put these populations in even greater danger,” said Josh Brian, a PhD student in the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge and first author of the report.

Different populations of the same species may respond differently to infection with the same pathogen because of adaptations in their immune system. For example, a pack of endangered wolves moved to Yellowstone National Park died because the wolves had no immunity to parasites carried by the local canines.

The researchers say that stocking rivers with fish for anglers, and sourcing exotic plants for home gardens could also move around parasites or diseases. 

“Being aware of the risks of spreading diseases between populations is a vital first step towards making sure we avoid unintentional harm in future conservation work,” said Isobel Ollard, a PhD student in the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge, who was also involved in the study.

This research was funded by the Woolf Fisher Trust.

Reference
Brian, J.I., Ollard, I.S., & Aldridge, D.C. ‘Don’t move a mussel? Parasite and disease risk in conservation action.’ Conservation Letters, April 2021. DOI: 10.1111/conl.12799

The results, reported in the journal Physical Review Letters, could be used to design new types of materials and quantum technology devices. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, captured the movement of the atoms at speeds that are eight orders of magnitude too fast for conventional microscopes.

Two-dimensional materials, such as graphene, have the potential to improve the performance of existing and new devices, due to their unique properties, such as outstanding conductivity and strength. Two-dimensional materials have a wide range of potential applications, from bio-sensing and drug delivery to quantum information and quantum computing. However, in order for two-dimensional materials to reach their full potential, their properties need to be fine-tuned through a controlled growth process.

These materials normally form as atoms ‘jump’ onto a supporting substrate until they attach to a growing cluster. Being able to monitor this process gives scientists much greater control over the finished materials. However, for most materials, this process happens so quickly and at such high temperatures that it can only be followed using snapshots of a frozen surface, capturing a single moment rather than the whole process.

Now, researchers from the University of Cambridge have followed the entire process in real time, at comparable temperatures to those used in industry.

The researchers used a technique known as ‘helium spin-echo’, which has been developed in Cambridge over the last 15 years. The technique has similarities to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), but uses a beam of helium atoms to ‘illuminate’ a target surface, similar to light sources in everyday microscopes.

“Using this technique, we can do MRI-like experiments on the fly as the atoms scatter,” said Dr Nadav Avidor from Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory, the paper’s senior author. “If you think of a light source that shines photons on a sample, as those photons come back to your eye, you can see what happens in the sample.”

Instead of photons however, Avidor and his colleagues use helium atoms to observe what happens on the surface of the sample. The interaction of the helium with atoms at the surface allows the motion of the surface species to be inferred.

Using a test sample of oxygen atoms moving on the surface of ruthenium metal, the researchers recorded the spontaneous breaking and formation of oxygen clusters, just a few atoms in size, and the atoms that quickly diffuse between the clusters.

“This technique isn’t a new one, but it’s never been used in this way, to measure the growth of a two-dimensional material,” said Avidor. “If you look back on the history of spectroscopy, light-based probes revolutionised how we see the world, and the next step – electron-based probes – allowed us to see even more.

“We’re now going another step beyond that, to atom-based probes, allowing us to observe more atomic scale phenomena. Besides its usefulness in the design and manufacture of future materials and devices, I’m excited to find out what else we’ll be able to see.”

The research was conducted in the Cambridge Atom Scattering Centre and supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

Reference:
Jack Kelsall et al. ‘Ultrafast diffusion at the onset of growth: O=Ru(0001).’ Physical Review Letters (2021). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.155901

People who experience bulimia nervosa and a subset of those affected by anorexia nervosa share certain key symptoms, namely recurrent binge-eating and compensatory behaviours, such as vomiting. The two disorders are largely differentiated by body mass index (BMI): adults affected by anorexia nervosa tend to have BMI of less than 18.5 kg/m2. More than 1.6 million people in the UK are thought to have an eating disorder, three-quarters of whom are women.

One prominent theory of binge-eating is that it is a result of stress, which causes individuals to experience difficulties with self-control. However, until now, this theory has not been directly tested in patients.

To examine this theory, researchers at the University of Cambridge, working with clinicians at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, invited 85 women – 22 with anorexia nervosa, 33 with bulimia nervosa and 30 healthy controls – to attend a two-day stay at Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science Translational Research Facility (TRF). The facility, which includes an Eating Behaviour Unit, is designed so that a volunteer’s diet and environment can be strictly controlled and their metabolic status studied in detail during a residential status. The setting is intended to be as naturalistic as possible.

During their stay, each morning the women would receive controlled meals provided by a nutritionist. The women then underwent a fasting period during which they were taken to the next door Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre, where they performed tasks while their brain activity was monitored using a functional MRI scanner.

The first tasks involved stopping the progression of a bar rising up a computer screen by pressing a key. The main task involved stopping the moving bar as it reached the middle line. On a minority of trials, stop-signals were presented, where the moving bar stopped automatically before reaching the middle line; participants were instructed to withhold their response in the event of a stop-signal.

The women then performed a task aimed at raising their stress levels. They were asked to carry out a series of mental arithmetic tests while receiving mild but unpredictable electric shocks, and were told that if they failed to meet the performance criterion, their data would be dismissed from the study. They were given feedback throughout the task, such as ‘Your performance is below average’.

The women then repeated the stop-signal task again.

Once the tasks had been completed – but while the volunteers might still be expected to be in a heightened state of stress – they returned to the Eating Behaviour Unit, where they were offered an ‘all you can eat’ buffet in its relaxing lounge and were told they could eat as much or as little as they would like.

On the second day of their study, the volunteers carried out the same tasks, but without the added stress of unpleasant electric shocks and pressure to perform. (For some participants, the order of the days was reversed.)

Dr Margaret Westwater, who led the research while a PhD student at Cambridge’s Department of Psychiatry, said: “The idea was to see what happened when these women were stressed. Did it affect key regions of the brain important for self-control, and did that in turn lead to increases in food intake? What we found surprised us and goes counter to the prevailing theory.”

The team found that even when they were not stressed, those women with bulimia nervosa performed worse on the main task, where they had to stop the rising bar as it reached the middle bar - but this was not the case for those women affected by anorexia nervosa. This impairment occurred alongside increased activity in a region in the prefrontal cortex, which the team say could mean these particular women were unable to recruit some other regions required by the brain to perform the task optimally.

Interestingly – and contrary to the theory – stress did not affect the actual performance in any way for either of the patient groups or the controls. However, the patient groups showed some differences in brain activity when they were stressed – and this activity differed between women with anorexia and those with bulimia.

While the researchers observed that the patients in general ate less in the buffet than the controls, the amount that they ate did not differ between the stress and control days. However, activity levels in two key brain regions were associated with the amount of calories consumed in all three groups, suggesting that these regions are important for dietary control.

Dr Westwater added: “Even though these two eating disorders are similar in many respects, there are clear differences at the level of the brain. In particular, women with bulimia seem to have a problem with pre-emptively slowing down in response to changes in their environment, which we think might lead them to make hasty decisions, leaving them vulnerable to binge-eating in some way.

“The theory suggests that these women should have eaten more when they were stressed, but that's actually not what we found. Clearly, when we're thinking about eating behaviour in these disorders, we need to take a more nuanced approach.”

In findings published last year, the team took blood samples from the women as they performed their tasks, to look at metabolic markers that are important for our sense of feeling hungry or feeling full. They found that levels of these hormones are affected by stress.

Under stress, patients with anorexia nervosa had an increase in ghrelin, a hormone that tells us when we are hungry. But they also had an increase in peptide tyrosine tyrosine (PYY), a satiety hormone. In other words, when they are stressed, people with anorexia nervosa produce more of the hunger hormone, but contradictorily also more of a hormone that should tell them that they are full, so their bodies are sending them confusing signals about what to do around food.

The situation with bulimia nervosa was again different: while the team saw no differences in levels of ghrelin or PYY, they did see lower levels of cortisol, the ‘stress hormone’, than in healthy volunteers. In times of acute stress, people who are chronically stressed or are experiencing depression are known to show this paradoxical low cortisol phenomenon.

Professor Paul Fletcher, joint senior author at the Department of Psychiatry, said: “It’s clear from our work that the relationship between stress and binge-eating is very complicated. It’s about the environment around us, our psychological state and how our body signals to us that we’re hungry or full.

“If we can get a better understanding of the mechanisms behind how our gut shapes those higher order cognitive processes related to self-control or decision-making, we may be in a better position to help people affected by these extremely debilitating illnesses. To do this, we need to take a much more integrated approach to studying these illnesses. That's where facilities such as Cambridge’s new Translational Research Facility can play a vital role, allowing us to monitor within a relatively naturalistic environment factors such as an individual’s behaviour, hormone levels and, brain activity.”

The research was funded by the Bernard Wolfe Health Neuroscience Fund, Wellcome, the NIH-Oxford-Cambridge Scholars Program and the Cambridge Trust. Further support was provided by the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre.

Reference
Westwater, ML, et al. Prefrontal responses during proactive and reactive inhibition are differentially impacted by stress in anorexia and bulimia nervosa. JNeuro; 12 April 2021; DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2853-20.2021

When researchers applied the technique to analysing samples obtained using the ‘pill on a string’ diagnostic tool Cytosponge, they found that it was capable of reducing by half pathologists’ workload while matching the accuracy of even experienced pathologists.

Early detection of cancer often leads to better survival because pre-malignant lesions and early stage tumours can be more effectively treated. This is particularly important for oesophageal cancer, the sixth most common cause for cancer-related deaths. Patients usually present at an advanced stage with swallowing difficulties and weight loss. The five-year overall survival can be as low as 13%.

One main subtype of oesophageal cancer is preceded by a condition known as Barrett oesophagus, in which cells in the lining of the oesophagus change shape. Barrett oesophagus occurs in patients with Gastro-oesophageal Reflux Disease (GORD), a digestive disorder where acid and bile from the stomach return into the oesophagus leading to heartburn symptoms. In Western countries, 10-15% of the adult population are affected by GORD and are hence at an increased risk of having Barrett oesophagus.

At present Barrett oesophagus can only be detected by a gastroscopy and tissue biopsy. Researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed a far-less invasive diagnostic tool called the Cystosponge – a ‘pill on a string’ that dissolves in the stomach and which, as it is withdrawn, picks up some cells from the lining of the oesophagus. These cells are then stained using a laboratory marker called TFF3 and can then by examined under a microscope.

Now, in a study published today in Nature Medicine, a team at Cambridge has applied deep learning techniques to the sample analysis, stratifying patients into eight triage classes that determine whether a patient sample requires manual review or if automated review would suffice. The algorithms were trained using 4,662 pathology slides from 2,331 patients.

Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald from the MRC Cancer Unit at the University of Cambridge, who developed the Cytosponge and worked with the AI team, said: “Any system that supports clinical decisions needs to balance its performance against workload reduction and potential economic impact. Replacing pathologists entirely could lead to substantial workload reduction and speed up diagnoses, but such an approach would only be viable if the performance remains comparable to that of human experts and there are regulatory hurdles to overcome.”

For the analysis of Cytosponge-TFF3 samples, the triaging approach showed several benefits, substantially reducing workload and matching the sensitivity and specificity of experienced pathologists. Sensitivity is the ‘true positive’ rate – that is, how often a test correctly generates a positive result for people who have Barrett oesophagus. Specificity, on the other hand, measures a test’s ability to correctly generate a negative result for people who don’t have the disease.

The researchers showed that a fully manual review by a pathologist achieves 82% sensitivity and 93% specificity. In a fully automated approach, they observed a sensitivity of 73% and a specificity of 93%. The team was able to demonstrate that using a triage-driven approach, up to two-thirds of cases can be reviewed automatically while achieving a sensitivity of 83% and specificity of 93%. The team estimates that this approach would reduce workload for the pathologists by 57%.

The team were able to build into their algorithm problem-solving techniques applied by pathologists familiar with Cytosponge-TFF3 samples. This meant that the algorithms were interpretable – in other words, a clinician would be able to understand why they had reached a particular decision. This is important for accountability.

Dr Florian Markowetz from the CRUK Cambridge Institute, who led the work on the AI algorithm, said: “We’ve shown that it’s possible to use computer-aided tools to streamline identification of people at risk of Barrett oesophagus. By semi-automating the process, we can reduce the workload by more than half while retaining the accuracy of a skilled pathologist. This could potentially speed up the diagnosis of Barrett oesophagus and, potentially, the identification of those individuals at greatest risk of oesophageal cancer.”

The team say that this triage-driven approach could be applied beyond the Cytosponge to a number of tests for other conditions such as pancreatic cancer, thyroid cancer or salivary gland malignancies.

The research was supported by Cancer Research UK, the Medical Research Council and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Reference
Gehrung, M et al. Triage-driven diagnosis of Barrett esophagus for early detection of esophageal adenocarcinoma using deep learning. Nat Med; 15 Apr 2021; DOI: 10.1038/s41591-021-01287-9

More than 3 million tests have now been processed at the Cambridge COVID-19 Test Centre as part of the University’s extensive response to the pandemic.

The Centre – at the University’s Anne McLaren Building on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus – was created in April 2020 in collaboration with biopharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline to support the UK’s national testing effort.

In just five weeks, the combined expertise of the partners – including the University’s world-leading research – saw the building rapidly repurposed to create the lab, with innovative robots and automation installed as part of an operation that would usually take six months. Soon after its launch, the facility was brought into the Government’s national diagnostic lab network, the largest in UK history.

Hundreds of volunteers from across the three organisations, including researchers from the University, were among staff who worked tirelessly during the Centre’s first phase to scale up the diagnostic process at an unprecedented speed. Since then, along with new collaborations with Primerdesign, part of the international diagnostics company Novacyt, and Charles River Laboratories, in Phase 2, the focus has been on further optimising the high-throughput testing using the world-class skills, knowledge and exceptional research made available through the partnership.

Professor Andy Neely, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Enterprise and Business Relations at the University of Cambridge, said: “The dedication and determination of all those involved in the creation of the Cambridge COVID-19 Test Centre, from the volunteers who were instrumental in its launch, to those who have driven its innovation, has been inspiring. Their efforts in the fight against COVID-19 have been critical, and the new ways of thinking and working developed have helped strengthen the UK’s diagnostics capability and will be key to managing events of this kind in the future, should they occur.”

A team of scientists led by Professor Eske Willerslev in the University of Cambridge’s Department of Zoology and the Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre, University of Copenhagen, have recreated the genomes of animals, plants and bacteria from microscopic fragments of DNA found in the remote Chiquihuite Cave in Mexico.

The findings have been described as the ‘moon landings of genomics’, because researchers will no longer have to rely on finding and testing fossils to determine genetic ancestry and connections.

The results, published today in the journal Current Biology, are the first time environmental DNA has been sequenced from soil and sediment. They include the ancient DNA profile of a Stone Age American black bear taken from samples in the cave.

Working with highly fragmented DNA from soil samples means scientists no longer have to rely on DNA samples from bone or teeth for enough genetic material to recreate a profile of ancient DNA.

The samples included faeces and droplets of urine from an ancestor of the American black bear, which allowed the scientists to recreate the entire genetic code of two species of the animal: the Stone Age American black bear, and a short-faced bear called Arctodus simus that died out 12,000 years ago. 

Professor Willerslev said: “When an animal or a human urinates or defecates, cells from the organism are also excreted. We can detect the DNA fragments from these cells in the soil samples and have now used these to reconstruct genomes for the first time. We have shown that hair, urine and faeces all provide genetic material which, in the right conditions, can survive for much longer than 10,000 years.

“Analysis of DNA found in soil could have the potential to expand the narrative about everything from the evolution of species to developments in climate change – fossils will no longer be needed.”

Chiquihuite Cave is a high-altitude site, situated 2,750 metres above sea level. DNA of mice, black bears, rodents, bats, voles and kangaroo rats was also found. The scientists say that DNA fragments in sediment will now be able to be tested in many former Stone Age settlements around the world.

Professor Willerslev said: “Imagine the stories those traces could tell. It’s a little insane – but also fascinating – to think that, back in the Stone Age, these bears urinated and defecated in the Chiquihuite Cave and left us the traces we’re able to analyse today.”

Reference

Petersen, M.K. et al, Environmental genomics of Late Pleistocene black bears and giant short-faced bears. Current Biology, April 2021. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.04.027

Adapted from a press release by St John's College, Cambridge.

Over a year since the United Kingdom went into its first lockdown, and even as some of the national restrictions are loosened, we continue to suffer from disruption to our core activities of teaching, learning and research.

The latest review of the government’s road map offered little detail – and scant hope – to many university students wondering when they may be able to return to in-person teaching. The frustration and the bewilderment among teachers, students and their families is palpable – and wholly understandable. It is not unreasonable to wonder why students are now able to get their hair cut at a salon, or go shopping, or drink in a pub garden, but are still told by government that they cannot take part in small-group teaching, even under COVID-safe conditions.

Like many other universities, Cambridge has at every opportunity been making a strong case to the government for why students should be allowed back for in-person teaching. Over the past few months we have repeatedly provided the government with compelling reasons to move towards the easing of restrictions.

One of those compelling reasons is the personal care and attention colleges are able to provide to students who are already here – over half of our students, according to a recent survey, with many more still expected back because they will qualify under government exceptions. With support from the colleges, and in line with the public health guidance, many students already in residence are currently able to enjoy some of the advantages of collegiate life, including pastoral care, outdoor sports, and carefully managed social activities.

Another compelling reason is the success of our asymptomatic screening programme, which for the sixth consecutive week has registered zero positive cases among the students already in residence. The latter is, to me, is proof that our student community can be trusted to do the right thing and participate in a programme that has been conceived to keep our collegiate and city communities safe. It shows that, in considering future steps out of lockdown, our students should be neither scapegoated nor patronised. They have had a hard enough time already.

What we know at the moment is that, as regards in-person university teaching, nothing will change until at least 17 May, at which point the examination period will be about to start. Even then, it is not clear that the position will be different, as any new guidance will be entirely dependent on national levels of transmission. I encourage students who believe themselves to meet one of the government’s exceptions, and who wish to return to Cambridge to get in touch with their college to obtain permission to return.

The pandemic has not been easy for anyone. It feels to me, however, like this has been a particularly difficult time to be a university student. The university and the colleges are making every effort to ensure that students continue to receive an exceptional education, and to provide students with the best possible student experience. We will continue to do so. I look forward to the time when all our students can return to Cambridge to enjoy the fullness of the collegiate university experience.

Led by 2019 Physics Nobel Laureate Professor Didier Queloz, the Cambridge Initiative for Planetary Science and Life in the Universe will be the driving force for the development of a new Cambridge research community investigating life in the Universe, from understanding how it emerged on Earth to examining the processes that could make other planets suitable for life.

The initiative comes at a crucial moment in science, as scientists are able to study exoplanets – planets orbiting stars other than our Sun – in ever-greater detail, and outstanding progress is being made in prebiotic chemistry: carefully-regulated laboratory experiments to recreate the conditions when life first formed on Earth.

In addition, the recent successful landing of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover set in motion one of the greatest international scientific endeavours of recent decades. Within the next ten years, samples returned from a four-billion-year-old lake deposit on Mars will offer a unique window on the Solar System as it was when life originated on Earth and could provide evidence of ancient life on the Red Planet.

“These recent revolutions and future perspectives offered by next-generation space missions mean that the planets are aligned for us to create a vibrant new field at the cutting edge of modern science,” said Queloz, from Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory and Director of the Initiative.

Building on the University’s research excellence and enhancing the multidisciplinary research conducted in various departments of the School of the Physical Sciences, the focus of the research within the new Initiative will be to understand the origins and physical properties of planets throughout the Universe, as well as the chemical and biological processes capable of starting and sustaining life.

“By bringing together chemists, geologists, biologists, and astrophysicists to work creatively together toward a common goal, the Initiative will ensure we truly exploit the full potential of this exciting new field of research, bringing us closer to understanding life in the Universe and finding life beyond Earth,” said Queloz.

The School of the Physical Sciences and its various departments (Cavendish Laboratory, Chemistry, Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Earth Sciences and the Institute of Astronomy) recently committed to an initial funding package that will support the Initiative as it builds the foundations of its vision and will create the conditions for its research and educational ambitions to grow and develop.

Professor Nigel Peake, Head of the School of the Physical Sciences, said: “During the last decades our understanding of the microbiology of life has made spectacular progress, but knowledge on origins of life on Earth, and more generally in the Universe, are still nascent. This is about to change. I am proud that Cambridge is leading the way to a radically new approach based on a convergence of recent results in astrophysics, planetology and molecular chemistry.

“With the Cambridge Initiative for Planetary Science and Life in the Universe, we will provide the infrastructure that will allow scholars from various disciplines to combine their interests to address the fundamental question of our origins in the Universe. This sets the scene for a revolution to come.”

For more information, news and updates about the Cambridge Initiative for Planetary Science and Life in the Universe, visit www.iplu.phy.cam.ac.uk.

Low oxygen in the womb - known as chronic fetal hypoxia - is one of the most common complications in human pregnancy. It can be diagnosed when a routine ultrasound scan shows that the baby is not growing properly and is caused by a number of conditions including pre-eclampsia, infection of the placenta, gestational diabetes or maternal obesity. 

The new results show that chronic fetal hypoxia leads to a reduced density of blood vessels, and a reduced number of nerve cells and their connections in parts of the offspring’s brain. When the offspring reaches adulthood, its ability to form lasting memories is reduced and there is evidence of accelerated brain ageing. 

Vitamin C, an anti-oxidant, given to pregnant rats with chronic fetal hypoxia was shown to protect the future brain health of the offspring. The results are published today in the journal FASEB J.

“It’s hugely exciting to think we might be able to protect the brain health of an unborn child by a simple treatment that can be given to the mother during pregnancy,” said Professor Dino Giussani from the University of Cambridge’s Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, who led the study.

The researchers used Vitamin C because it is a well-established and used anti-oxidant. However, only high doses were effective, which could cause adverse side-effects in humans. Follow-up studies are now searching for alternative anti-oxidants to treat chronic fetal hypoxia in humans.

To conduct the research, a group of pregnant rats were kept in ambient air with 13% oxygen – causing hypoxic pregnancies. The rest were kept in normal air (21% oxygen). Half of the rats in each group were given Vitamin C in their drinking water throughout the pregnancy. Following birth, the baby rats were raised to four months old, equivalent to early adulthood in humans, and then performed various tests to assess locomotion, anxiety, spatial learning and memory.

The study found that rats born from hypoxic pregnancies took longer to perform the memory task, and didn’t remember things as well. Rats born from hypoxic pregnancies in which mothers had been given Vitamin C throughout their pregnancy performed the memory task just as well as offspring from normal pregnancies. 

Analysing the brains of the rat offspring, the researchers found that the hippocampus - the area associated with forming memories – was less developed in rats from hypoxic pregnancies. 

In deeper analysis, the scientists showed that hypoxic pregnancy causes excess production of reactive oxygen species, called ‘free radicals’, in the placenta. In healthy pregnancy the body keeps the level of free radicals in check by internal anti-oxidant enzymes, but excess free radicals overwhelm these natural defences and damage the placenta in a process called ‘oxidative stress’.  This reduces blood flow and oxygen delivery to the developing baby.

In this study, placentas from the hypoxic pregnancies showed oxidative stress, while those from the hypoxic pregnancies supplemented with Vitamin C looked healthy.

Taken together, these results show that low oxygen in the womb during pregnancy causes oxidative stress in the placenta, affecting the brain development of the offspring and resulting in memory problems in later life. 

“Chronic fetal hypoxia impairs oxygen delivery at critical periods of development of the baby’s central nervous system. This affects the number of nerve connections and cells made in the brain, which surfaces in adult life as problems with memory and an earlier cognitive decline,” said Dr Emily Camm from Cambridge’s Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, first author of the report, who has recently taken up a new position at The Ritchie Centre in Australia.

The interaction between our genes and lifestyle plays a role in determining our risk of disease as adults. There is also increasing evidence that the environment experienced during sensitive periods of fetal development directly influences our long-term health - a process known as ‘developmental programming.’ 

Brain health problems that may start in the womb due to complicated pregnancy range from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, to brain changes in later life that have been linked with Alzheimer’s disease. 

“In medicine today there has to be a shift in focus from treatment of the disease, when we can do comparatively little, to prevention, when we can do much more. This study shows that we can use preventative medicine even before birth to protect long term brain health,” said Giussani.

The research was funded by The British Heart Foundation and The Medical Research Council, and the programme of work was approved by the University of Cambridge Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Board.

Reference
Camm et al: ‘Maternal antioxidant treatment protects adult offspring against memory loss and hippocampal atrophy in a rodent model of developmental hypoxia.’ The FASEB Journal, April 2021. DOI: 10.1096/fj.202002557RR

The University of Cambridge study found that pupils who learn about the value of languages, how languages shape personal identity, and their impact on social cohesion, feel much more positive about subjects like French, German and Spanish; compared with those who only learn the speaking and writing skills prescribed by the national curriculum.

Researchers conducted a trial with 270 pupils at four English secondary schools over a full academic year. While all the pupils received traditional language lessons, some also participated in activities which explored the value of multilingualism and its significance in their own communities and lives. Pupils who were exposed to this extended programme showed significantly more belief in their ability to learn a language, and were up to 35% more likely to express positive sentiments about studying languages, by the end of the year.

The researchers argue that encouraging young people to form ‘multilingual identities’ could help to reverse the national crisis in language learning. According to the British Council’s annual Language Trends survey, only 51% of pupils opt to study a foreign language to GCSE: far off the Government’s Ebacc target of 75% of pupils by 2022.

Dr Karen Forbes, from the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, said: “Young people in England often wonder why they should study languages given that English is used internationally. The answer they usually get is that it might be useful in the future, which is a pretty unpersuasive argument when you’re 14. We found that if we encourage them to reflect on how languages relate to them personally, they are much more likely to respond positively to language learning. This seems crucial if we want to reverse the decline in these subjects.”

The trial used downloadable materials developed by the University of Cambridge-based ‘We Are Multilingual’ project, which aims to encourage young people both to value multilingualism, and to appreciate that everyone uses more than one ‘language’ in the broadest sense.

Dr Linda Fisher, University Reader in Languages Education, said: “Everyone depends on a repertoire of communication, whether that involves a second language, a particular dialect, non-verbal signs, or something like computer code. Helping young people to realise that is key to showing them that they can ‘do’ languages. Language education needs to be about more than just vocab and verbs.”

The pupils were in Year 9 (ages 13 to 14): the final year of compulsory language education before they choose subjects for GCSE. They were drawn from four very different schools in London and the East of England.

Participants were split into three groups. A control group continued with their regular lessons in French, German or Spanish; while two intervention groups took six, one-hour modules exploring multilingualism over the course of the year. These covered topics such as ‘Why learn languages?’, different types of language and dialect, and the relationship between language, cultural identity and belonging.

The two intervention groups engaged with this material at different levels. While a partial intervention group completed follow-up activities designed to reinforce some of the core ideas, the full intervention group examined how the topics affected them personally. For instance, in one exercise, this latter group was asked to investigate what different languages their own classmates knew; in another they compiled photographs showing how different languages were used where they lived.

The researchers used surveys, both before and after the academic year, to measure how far pupils’ attitudes towards language learning changed. For example, pupils were asked to rate how ‘multilingual’ they considered themselves on a scale of 0-100. They were also asked about their beliefs regarding languages, those of their parents and friends, and how competent and confident they felt as language-learners. In addition, pupils were asked to complete the blanks in statements such as: ‘Learning a foreign language is like… because…’

By the end of the trial, those in the partial and full intervention groups consistently responded more positively to statements about the importance of languages than those in the control group. They also showed much more self-belief about their ability to learn languages.

The most significant findings, however, came from the full intervention group. For example, the extent to which pupils in this group self-identified as multilingual rose on average by 11 percentage points over the year, compared with a 2.5-point rise in the partial intervention, and a one-point fall in the control group.

Significantly, pupils in the full intervention expressed much more enthusiasm for learning languages, and took greater pride in the idea of doing so. When asked to complete different statements regarding their feelings about languages, the percentage of positive responses in this group rose between 15% and 35% across the year, compared with much smaller changes in the other groups.

“It seems pretty clear that pupils who are encouraged to think about what languages mean to them personally are more interested in studying them, and see themselves as more multilingual,” Forbes said.

Fisher added: “The evidence suggests that we are missing an opportunity to teach children about languages, as well as how to speak and write them. Integrating that into the curriculum could potentially lead to very positive transformations in pupils’ attitudes towards language learning.”

The research is published in The Language Learning Journal.

Two hundred and nine senior scientists from across Europe were awarded grants in today’s announcement, representing a total of €507 million in research funding. The UK has 51 grantees in this year’s funding round, the most of any ERC participating country.

ERC grants are awarded through open competition to projects headed by starting and established researchers, irrespective of their origins, who are working or moving to work in Europe. The sole criterion for selection is scientific excellence. ERC Advanced Grants are designed to support excellent scientists in any field with a recognised track record of research achievements in the last ten years. Apart from strengthening Europe’s knowledge base, the new research projects will also lead to the creation of some 1,900 new jobs for post-doctoral fellows, PhD students and other research staff. 

Professor Melinda Duer from the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry has been awarded a grant for her EXTREME project to explore the chemistry that happens when a biological tissue stretches or breaks.

So-called mechanochemistry leads to molecules being generated within the tissue that may be involved in communicating tissue damage to cells. Detecting and understanding this chemistry is highly relevant for understanding ageing, and for developing new therapeutics for degenerative diseases and cancer.

“This award means I can do the research I’ve been dreaming about for the last ten years,” said Duer. “I am extremely grateful to the European Research Council for giving me this amazing opportunity. The ERC is one of the few organisations that understands the need for longer-term funding for high-risk, high-reward research, which is essential for this project. I really couldn’t be more delighted and I can’t wait to get started!”

Professor Manish Chhowalla, from the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, received funding for his 2D-LOTTO project, for the development of energy-efficient electronics.

“This grant will enable our research group to realise the next generation of energy-efficient electronics based on two-dimensional semiconductors,” he said. “The funding will also support a team of students, early career researchers and senior academics to address the challenges of demonstrating practical tunnel field effect transistors.”

Professor Henning Sirringhaus from the Cavendish Laboratory received funding for his NANO-DECTET project, for the development of next-generation energy materials. “Worldwide, only about a third of primary energy is converted into useful energy services: the other two thirds are wasted as heat in the various industrial, transportation, residential energy conversion and electricity generation processes,” said Sirringhaus. “Given the urgent need to mitigate the dangerous consequences of climate change, a waste of energy on this scale needs to be addressed immediately.

“Thermoelectric waste-heat-to-electricity conversion could offer a potential solution, but the performance of thermoelectric materials is currently insufficient. In this project we will use the unique physics of molecular organic semiconductors, as well as hybrid organic-inorganic semiconductors, to make efficient, low-temperature thermoelectric materials.”

Professor Marcos Martinon-Torres from the Department of Archaeology received funding for his REVERSEACTION project, which will study how societies in the past cooperated. “Many prehistoric societies did pretty well at maintaining rich and complex lives without the need for permanent power hierarchies and coercive authorities,” he said. “Arguably, they chose to cooperate, and not just to ensure survival. The lack of state structures did not stop them from developing and sustaining complex technologies, making extraordinary artefacts that required exotic materials, challenging skills and labour arrangements. I’m keen to understand why, but also how they managed.

“This grant couldn’t have come at a better time, as collective action is increasingly recognised as the only way to tackle some of our greatest global concerns, and there is value in studying how people collaborated in the past. With our labs freshly revamped through our recent AHRC infrastructure grant, we are ready to take on a new large-scale, challenging archaeological science project.”

Professor Marta Mirazon Lahr, also from the Department of Archaeology, was awarded funding for her NGIPALAJEM project, which will bring a new understanding of how the evolution of our species is part of a broader and longer African evolutionary landscape.

“My research is in human evolution, a field that advances through technical breakthroughs, new ideas, and critically, new fossils,” said Lahr. “A big part of my work is to find new hominin fossils in Africa, which requires not only supportive local communities and institutions, but long-term planning and implementation, a dedicated team, significant funds and the time to excavate, study, compare and interpret new discoveries. This new grant from the ERC gives me all this and more – and I just can’t wait to get started!”

Professor Richard Samworth’s RobustStats project will develop robust statistical methodology and theory for large-scale data. “Large-scale data are usually messy: they may be collected under different conditions, and data may be missing or corrupted, which makes it difficult to draw reliable conclusions,” said Samworth, from the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics. “This grant will allow me to focus my time on developing robust statistical methodology and theory to address these challenges. Equally importantly, I will be able to build a group of PhD students and post-docs that will dramatically increase the scale and scope of what we are able to achieve.

Professor Zoran Hadzibabic from the Cavendish Laboratory was awarded funding for his UNIFLAT project. One of the great successes of the last-century physics was recognising that complex and seemingly disparate systems are fundamentally alike. This allowed the classification of the equilibrium states of matter into classes based on their basic properties. At the heart of this classification is the universal collective behaviour, insensitive to the microscopic details, displayed by systems close to phase transitions.

A grand challenge for modern physics is to achieve such a feat for the far richer world of the nonequilibrium collective phenomena. “Our ambition is to make a leading contribution to this worldwide effort, through a series of coordinated experiments on homogeneous atomic gases in two-dimensional (2D) geometry,” said Hadzibabic. “Specifically, we will study in parallel three problems – the dynamics of the topological Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition, turbulence in driven systems, and the universal spatiotemporal scaling behaviour in isolated quantum systems far from equilibrium. Each of these topics is fascinating and of fundamental importance in its own right, but beyond that we will experimentally establish an emerging picture that connects them.”

Dr Helen Williams from the Department of Earth Sciences said: “By funding the EarthMelt project, the ERC has given me the amazing opportunity to study the early evolution of the Earth and its transition from a largely molten state to the habitable planet we know today. This funding will also help me to develop exciting new instrumentation and analytical techniques, and, most importantly, mentor and support the next generation of PhD students and postdoctoral researchers working in geochemistry.”

Professor Sir Richard Friend from the Cavendish Laboratory has been awarded funding for his Spin Control in Radical Semiconductors (SCORS) project, which will explore the electronic properties of organic semiconductors that have an unpaired electron to give net magnetic spin. The project is based on a recent discovery that this unpaired electron can couple strongly to light, allowing very efficient luminescence in LEDs. Friend’s group will explore new combinations of optical excited states with magnetic spin states. This will allow new designs for LEDs and solar cells, and opportunities to control the ground state spin polarisation in spintronic devices.

Professor Christopher Hunter’s InfoMols project is focused on synthetic information molecules. “The aim of our project is replication and evolution with artificial polymers,” said Hunter, from the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry. “The timeframe for achieving such a breakthrough is unpredictable, and it is the flexibility provided by an ERC award that makes tackling such challenging targets possible.”

Professor Mark Gross from the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics received funding for his Mirror symmetry in Algebraic Geometry (MSAG) project, and Professor Geoffrey Khan from the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies was awarded funding for ALHOME: Echoes of Vanishing Voices in the Mountains: A Linguistic History of Minorities in the Near East.

A radically reformed approach to education, in which different subjects teach connected themes, like climate change or food security, is being proposed by researchers, who argue that it would better prepare children for future crises.

In a newly-published study, education researchers from the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh argue that there is a compelling case for a drastic shake-up of the school curriculum, so that subjects are no longer taught independently of one another. Instead, they argue that the arts and sciences should ‘teach together’ around real-world problems, and in a manner rooted in pupils’ lived experiences.

The model draws inspiration from Renaissance polymaths like Leonardo Da Vinci, who worked across disciplinary boundaries in pursuit of deeper knowledge. Similar, ‘trans-disciplinary’ approaches are already used in well-regarded education systems such as Finland’s. The idea also echoes recent calls by the youth campaign, Teach the Future, to break down subject silos to teach climate change.

The academic paper, in the journal Curriculum Perspectives, also presents evidence from two recent projects in which pupils appeared to benefit from an approach to teaching which blurred subject boundaries.

One, which invited South African teenagers from disadvantaged settings to create ‘math-artworks’, produced evidence that as well as increasing their familiarity with key mathematical principles, the project also enabled pupils to understand more about the relevance of maths in their own lives. In the second case study, primary school children in Aberdeen showed a deeper understanding of food security and environmental protection issues after learning to grow food in their school grounds.

Pam Burnard, Professor of Arts, Creativities and Education at the University of Cambridge, said: “If we look at the amazing designs that Da Vinci produced, it’s clear he was combining different disciplines to advance knowledge and solve problems. We need to encourage children to think in a similar way because tomorrow’s adults will have to problem-solve differently due to the existential crises they will face: especially those of climate, sustainability, and the precarity of life on Earth.”

Dr Laura Colucci-Gray, of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Education and Sport, said: “The nature of these problems calls for a radically different approach to knowledge. We are proposing a move from the idea of a curriculum as something children are just ‘given’ to a curriculum ‘in-the-making’, in response to transformations that will define their lives.”

The paper contributes to an emerging field called ‘STEAM’ education. This seeks to reinsert the ‘A’ of arts into national attempts to encourage the uptake of STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), in response to a critical skills gap in related areas of the economy.

Some educationists argue that the emphasis on STEM is devaluing other subjects, and that arts disciplines are also powerful tools for delivering the problem-solving skills society needs. “For education to reflect that requires a major shift away from linear conceptions where subjects are taught separately, and towards a situation where they are inseparable,” Burnard said.

In their alternative model, the researchers suggest giving schools greater freedom to determine how to meet general study targets set by the curriculum. Teachers and leadership teams would make collective decisions and share practices about how to engage pupils with unifying, cross-curricular themes, such as environmental sustainability.

They add that this might also involve the imaginative use of space and resources, and closer links between schools and their communities to connect learning to pupils’ lived experiences beyond the classroom.

Evidence is also emerging that a transdisciplinary approach enhances pupils’ acquisition of key skills. In the math-artwork project cited in the study, students in South Africa were asked to create art which showed the links between maths and the world around them. Subsequent analysis of the 113 submissions showed that pupils had applied principles such as measurement, ratio and proportion, and geometry in their creations.

The researchers also found, however, that participants had engaged deeply with the meaning of maths at a level rarely seen in conventional lessons. One especially powerful example, by a 16-year-old male student, was entitled The Stressed Vitruvian Man, inspired by Da Vinci’s The Vitruvian Man. Like Da Vinci, the young artist’s work was partly a study of the proportions of the human body, but at the same time, the student used it to comment on both the potential, and dangers, of creating a society built on mathematical principles alone.

Similarly, the primary school pupils in Aberdeen showed a deepened understanding of issues like food production and natural resource management when they were given the opportunity to take responsibility for a small piece of land in their school. Researchers found that the survival of plants became personal to the pupils, rather than just an abstract concept that they had learned about in science lessons. It also introduced them to other, related ethical challenges which those lessons rarely address: such as how to produce enough food when space is limited.

Any attempted reimagining of education along transdisciplinary lines would require children’s attainment to be measured differently, the researchers add. “It would require a system of testing which measures how children are internalising ideas and what they are expressing – not just what they know,” Burnard said. “That may be an uncomfortable idea for some, but it is the sort of radical thinking we need if education is going to prepare young people for the future.”

The new development will help address the strong demand for nursery places and support staff and students with their personal arrangements around work and study, alongside the three high quality nurseries already operated by the University. 

The nursery will be named after the former Chair of the Nursery Project Board (NPB), Professor Chris Abell, who sadly passed away unexpectedly in October last year. Professor Abell led the Board with tenacity and enthusiasm, and his determination, wise counsel and strategic vision were instrumental in the University successfully commencing construction of the new nursery.

Professor Eilís Ferran, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Institutional and International Relations, said: “The expansion of our nursery services is key to supporting our staff and students with childcare responsibilities and we are delighted more people will benefit from this. Balancing work, study and family life can be challenging, and the University is committed to working to remove potential barriers and ensure we attract and retain the best students and staff from all over the world.”

SDC are the main contractors for the nursery project and are making good progress on site, with most groundwork now complete and the cross-laminated timber frame largely in position. SDC continue with work on the roof, façade and internal areas.

In line with the University’s commitment to sustainability, the building is anticipated to achieve a BREEAM status of ‘Excellent’.  A BREEAM assessment evaluates a building’s design, construction and use, and covers a comprehensive range of topics from energy, water use, ecology and materials, to health and wellbeing. 

Work on site is due to be completed during Michaelmas Term, and we expect to be able to begin accepting applications from parents in December 2021, ahead of the nursery opening in January 2022. This will be advertised in our current nurseries and on the University Childcare Office website, and all parents currently on the waiting list will receive a notification.

Professor Chris Abell: In addition to his role as Chair of the NPB, Professor Abell FRS, FMedSci was the University’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research; Professor of Biological Chemistry and Todd-Hamied Fellow of Christ’s College; a pioneer in the field of fragment-based drug discovery; a successful entrepreneur; a founding director of Cambridge Enterprise; the University’s first Director of Postdoctoral Affairs; and an alumnus of St John’s College.  He was named a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2012 and a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2016.