This year a total of 84 Fellows have been elected to the Fellowship, of which five are Cambridge academics:

• Professor Duncan Bell, Professor of Political Thought and International Relations, Fellow of Christ’s College
• Professor Sarah Franklin, Chair of Sociology, Fellow of Christ's College
• Professor Richard Holton, Professor of Philosophy, Fellow of Peterhouse
• Professor Samuel Lieu, President of the International Union of Academies, Bye Fellow of Robinson College
• Professor Ianthi Tsimpli, Professor of English and Applied Linguistics, Fellow of Fitzwilliam College 

Founded in 1902, the British Academy is the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. It is a Fellowship of over 1400 of the leading minds in these subjects from the UK and overseas. The Academy is also a funding body for research, nationally and internationally, and a forum for debate and engagement.

Welcoming the Fellows, the new President of the British Academy, Professor Julia Black, said: 

“As the new President of the British Academy, it gives me great pleasure to welcome this new cohort of Fellows, who are as impressive as ever and remind us of the rich and diverse scholarship and research undertaken within the SHAPE disciplines – the social sciences, humanities and the arts. I am very much looking forward to working with them on our shared interests.  

“The need for SHAPE subjects has never been greater. As Britain recovers from the pandemic and seeks to build back better, the insights from our diverse disciplines will be vital to ensure the health, wellbeing and prosperity of the UK and will continue to provide the cultural and societal enrichment that has sustained us over the last eighteen months. Our new Fellows embody the value of their subjects and I congratulate them warmly for their achievement.”
 

The team say that a test for detecting glioma using urine is the first of its kind in the world.

Although the research, published in EMBO Molecular Medicine, is in its early stages and only a small number of patients were analysed, the team say their results are promising.

The researchers suggest that in the future, these tests could be used by GPs to monitor patients at high risk of brain tumours, which may be more convenient than having an MRI every three months, which is the standard method.

When people have a brain tumour removed, the likelihood of it returning can be high, so they are monitored with an MRI scan every three months, which is followed by biopsy.

Blood tests for detecting different cancer types are a major focus of research for teams across the world, and there are some in use in the clinic. These tests are mainly based on finding mutated DNA, shed by tumour cells when they die, known as cell-free DNA (cfDNA).

However, detecting brain tumour cfDNA in the blood has historically been difficult because of the blood-brain-barrier, which separates blood from the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, preventing the passage of cells and other particles, such as cfDNA.

Researchers have previously looked at detecting cfDNA in CSF, but the spinal taps needed to obtain it can be dangerous for people with brain tumours so are not appropriate for patient monitoring.

Scientists have known that cfDNA with similar mutations to the original tumour can be found in blood and other bodily fluids such as urine in very low levels, but the challenge has been developing a test sensitive enough to detect these specific mutations.

The researchers, led by Dr Florent Mouliere who is based at the Rosenfeld Lab of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute and at the Amsterdam UMC, and Dr Richard Mair, who is based at Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute and the University of Cambridge developed two approaches in parallel to overcome the challenge of detecting brain tumour cfDNA.

The first approach works for patients who have previously had glioma removed and biopsied. The team designed a tumour-guided sequencing test that was able to look for the mutations found in the tumour tissue within the cfDNA in the patient’s urine, CSF, and blood plasma.

A total of eight patients who had suspected brain tumours based on MRIs were included in this part of the study. Samples were taken at their initial brain tumour biopsies, alongside CSF, blood and urine samples.

By knowing where in the DNA strand to look, the researchers found that it was possible to find mutations even in the tiny amounts of cfDNA found in the blood plasma and urine.

The test was able to detect cfDNA in 7 out of 8 CSF samples, 10 out of the 12 plasma blood samples and 10 out of the 16 urine samples.

For the second approach the researchers looked for other patterns in the cfDNA that could also indicate the presence of a tumour, without having to identify the mutations.

They analysed 35 samples from glioma patients, 27 people with non-malignant brain disorders, and 26 healthy people. They used whole genome sequencing, where all the cfDNA of the tumour is analysed, not just the mutations.

They found in the blood plasma and urine samples that fragments of cfDNA, which came from patients with brain tumours were different sizes than those from patients with no tumours in CSF. They then fed this data into a machine learning algorithm which was able to successfully differentiate between the urine samples of people with and without glioma.

The researchers say that while the machine learning test is cheaper and easier, and a tissue biopsy from the tumour is not needed, it is not as sensitive and is less specific than the first tumour-guided sequencing approach.

MRIs are not invasive or expensive, but they do require a trip to the hospital, and the three-month gap between checks can be a regular source of anxiety for patients.

The researchers suggest that their tests could be used between MRI scans, and could ultimately be able to detect a returning brain tumour earlier.

The next stage of this research will see the team comparing both tests against MRI scans in a trial with patients with brain tumours who are in remission to see if it can detect if their tumours are coming back at the same time or earlier than the MRI. If the tests prove that they can detect brain tumours earlier than an MRI, then the researchers will look at how they can adapt the tests so they could be offered in the clinic, which could be within the next ten years.

“We believe the tests we’ve developed could in the future be able to detect a returning glioma earlier and improve patient outcomes,” said Mair. “Talking to my patients, I know the three-month scan becomes a focal point for worry. If we could offer a regular blood or urine test, not only will you be picking up recurrence earlier, you can also be doing something positive for the patient’s mental health.”

Michelle Mitchell, Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK said, “While this is early research, it’s opened up the possibility that within the next decade we could be able to detect the presence of a brain tumour with a simple urine or blood test. Liquid biopsies are a huge area of research interest right now because of the opportunities they create for improved patient care and early diagnosis. It’s great to see Cancer Research UK researchers making strides in this important field.”

Sue Humphreys, from Wallsall, a brain tumour patient, said: "If these tests are found to be as accurate as the standard MRI for monitoring brain tumours, it could be life changing.

If patients can be given a regular and simple test by their GP, it may help not only detect a returning brain tumour in its earliest stages, it can also provide the quick reassurance that nothing is going on which is the main problem we all suffer from, the dreaded Scanxiety.

The problem with three-monthly scans is that these procedures can get disrupted by other things going on, such as what we have seen with the Covid pandemic. As a patient, this causes worry as there is a risk that things may be missed, or delayed, and early intervention is the key to any successful treatment.”

Reference:
Florent Mouliere et al. ‘Fragmentation patterns and personalized sequencing of cell-free DNA in urine and plasma of glioma patients.’ EMBO Molecular Medicine (2021). DOI: 10.15252/emmm.202012881

Adapted from a Cancer Research UK press release.

They found that the carbon drawn into Earth’s interior at subduction zones - where tectonic plates collide and dive into Earth’s interior - tends to stay locked away at depth, rather than resurfacing in the form of volcanic emissions.

Their findings, published in Nature Communications, suggest that only about a third of the carbon recycled beneath volcanic chains returns to the surface via recycling, in contrast to previous theories that what goes down mostly comes back up.

One of the solutions to tackle climate change is to find ways to reduce the amount of CO₂ in Earth’s atmosphere. By studying how carbon behaves in the deep Earth, which houses the majority of our planet’s carbon, scientists can better understand the entire lifecycle of carbon on Earth, and how it flows between the atmosphere, oceans and life at the surface.

The best-understood parts of the carbon cycle are at or near Earth’s surface, but deep carbon stores play a key role in maintaining the habitability of our planet by regulating atmospheric CO₂ levels. “We currently have a relatively good understanding of the surface reservoirs of carbon and the fluxes between them, but know much less about Earth’s interior carbon stores, which cycle carbon over millions of years,” said lead author Stefan Farsang, who conducted the research while a PhD student at Cambridge's Department of Earth Sciences.

There are a number of ways for carbon to be released back to the atmosphere (as CO₂) but there is only one path in which it can return to the Earth’s interior: via plate subduction. Here, surface carbon, for instance in the form of seashells and micro-organisms which have locked atmospheric CO₂ into their shells, is channelled into Earth’s interior. Scientists had thought that much of this carbon was then returned to the atmosphere as CO₂ via emissions from volcanoes. But the new study reveals that chemical reactions taking place in rocks swallowed up at subduction zones trap carbon and send it deeper into Earth’s interior - stopping some of it coming back to Earth’s surface.

The team conducted a series of experiments at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, “The ESRF has world-leading facilities and the expertise that we needed to get our results,” said co-author Simon Redfern, Dean of the College of Science at NTU Singapore, “The facility can measure very low concentrations of these metals at the high pressure and temperature conditions of interest to us.” To replicate the high pressures and temperatures of subductions zones, they used a heated ‘diamond anvil’, in which extreme pressures are achieved by pressing two tiny diamond anvils against the sample.

The work supports growing evidence that carbonate rocks, which have the same chemical makeup as chalk, become less calcium-rich and more magnesium-rich when channelled deeper into the mantle. This chemical transformation makes carbonate less soluble – meaning it doesn’t get drawn into the fluids that supply volcanoes. Instead, the majority of the carbonate sinks deeper into the mantle where it may eventually become diamond.

“There is still a lot of research to be done in this field,” said Farsang. “In the future, we aim to refine our estimates by studying carbonate solubility in a wider temperature, pressure range and in several fluid compositions.”

The findings are also important for understanding the role of carbonate formation in our climate system more generally. “Our results show that these minerals are very stable and can certainly lock up CO₂ from the atmosphere into solid mineral forms that could result in negative emissions,” said Redfern. The team have been looking into the use of similar methods for carbon capture, which moves atmospheric CO₂ into storage in rocks and the oceans.

“These results will also help us understand better ways to lock carbon into the solid Earth, out of the atmosphere. If we can accelerate this process faster than nature handles it, it could prove a route to help solve the climate crisis,” said Redfern.

Reference:
Farsang, S, Louvel, M, Zhao, C et al. Deep carbon cycle constrained by carbonate solubility. Nature Communications (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24533-7

Adapted from a news release by the ESRF

The researchers, from the University of Cambridge and the Max Planck Institute for Extra-terrestrial Physics, have shown how exoplanets in binary star systems – such as the ‘Tatooine’ planets spotted by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope – came into being without being destroyed in their chaotic birth environment.

They studied a type of binary system where the smaller companion star orbits the larger parent star approximately once every 100 years – our nearest neighbour, Alpha Centauri, is an example of such a system.

“A system like this would be the equivalent of a second Sun where Uranus is, which would have made our own solar system look very different,” said co-author Dr Roman Rafikov from Cambridge’s Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics.

Rafikov and his co-author Dr Kedron Silsbee from the Max Planck Institute for Extra-terrestrial Physics found that for planets to form in these systems, the planetesimals – planetary building blocks which orbit around a young star – need to start off at least 10 kilometres in diameter, and the disc of dust and ice and gas surrounding the star within which the planets form needs to be relatively circular.

The research, which is published in Astronomy and Astrophysics, brings the study of planet formation in binaries to a new level of realism and explains how such planets, a number of which have been detected, could have formed.

Planet formation is believed to begin in a protoplanetary disc – made primarily of hydrogen, helium, and tiny particles of ices and dust – orbiting a young star. According to the current leading theory on how planets form, known as core accretion, the dust particles stick to each other, eventually forming larger and larger solid bodies. If the process stops early, the result can be a rocky Earth-like planet. If the planet grows bigger than Earth, then its gravity is sufficient to trap a large quantity of gas from the disc, leading to the formation of a gas giant like Jupiter.

“This theory makes sense for planetary systems formed around a single star, but planet formation in binary systems is more complicated, because the companion star acts like a giant eggbeater, dynamically exciting the protoplanetary disc,” said Rafikov.

“In a system with a single star the particles in the disc are moving at low velocities, so they easily stick together when they collide, allowing them to grow,” said Silsbee. “But because of the gravitational ‘eggbeater’ effect of the companion star in a binary system, the solid particles there collide with each other at much higher velocity. So, when they collide, they destroy each other.”

Many exoplanets have been spotted in binary systems, so the question is how they got there. Some astronomers have even suggested that perhaps these planets were floating in interstellar space and got sucked in by the gravity of a binary, for instance.

Rafikov and Silsbee carried out a series of simulations to help solve this mystery. They developed a detailed mathematical model of planetary growth in a binary that uses realistic physical inputs and accounts for processes that are often overlooked, such as the gravitational effect of the gas disc on the motion of planetesimals within it.

“The disc is known to directly affect planetesimals through gas drag, acting like a kind of wind,” said Silsbee. “A few years ago, we realised that in addition to the gas drag, the gravity of the disc itself dramatically alters dynamics of the planetesimals, in some cases allowing planets to form even despite the gravitational perturbations due to the stellar companion.”

“The model we’ve built pulls together this work, as well as other previous work, to test the planet formation theories,” said Rafikov.

Their model found that planets can form in binary systems such as Alpha Centauri, provided that the planetesimals start out at least 10 kilometres across in size, and that the protoplanetary disc itself is close to circular, without major irregularities. When these conditions are met, the planetesimals in certain parts of the disc end up moving slowly enough relative to each other that they stick together instead of destroying each other.

These findings lend support to a particular mechanism of planetesimal formation, called the streaming instability, being an integral part of the planet formation process. This instability is a collective effect, involving many solid particles in the presence of gas, that is capable of concentrating pebble-to-boulder sized dust grains to produce a few large planetesimals, which would survive most collisions.

The results of this work provide important insights for theories of planet formation around both binary and single stars, as well as for the hydrodynamic simulations of protoplanetary discs in binaries. In future, the model could also be used to explain the origin of the ‘Tatooine’ planets – exoplanets orbiting both components of a binary – about a dozen of which have been identified by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope.

Reference:
Kedron Silsbee and Roman R. Rafikov. ‘Planet Formation in Stellar Binaries: Global Simulations of Planetesimal Growth.’ Astronomy and Astrophysics (2021). DOI:10.1051/0004-6361/20214113

A further 30 Black students are to receive a £20,000 per year scholarship to study at the University of Cambridge following a new philanthropic partnership between HSBC UK and the #Merky Foundation, the UK charity founded by British musician, Stormzy.

The scholarships will fund the tuition fees and maintenance costs (equivalent of £20,000 per student each year) for 10 new students each year over the next three years, for a degree course of either three or four years’ duration.

The combined support of HSBC UK, the #Merky Foundation and an anonymous donor means the University is set to welcome a total of 13 Stormzy Scholars in the autumn.

The move represents a significant expansion of The Stormzy Scholarship programme, launched in 2018, which to date, has supported six Black students through their Cambridge education.

In June 2020, Stormzy’s #Merky Foundation announced it would be donating £10 million over ten years to charities and other organisations committed to tackling racial inequality in the UK. HSBC UK’s donation is in addition to #Merky Foundation’s initial commitment, with the Foundation encouraging other companies to follow suit and join them in pledging.

The Stormzy Scholarships are credited with helping Cambridge to attract more applications from a traditionally underrepresented group. In 2017 the University admitted 58 Black British students to undergraduate degree courses. In 2020, this had risen to 137. This represented a 50% increase on the previous year and in turn was coined ‘The Stormzy Effect’.

Stormzy, said: "For 30 more Black students to have the opportunity to study at Cambridge University - the same year our initial 2018 scholars graduate - feels like an incredible milestone. Thank you to HSBC UK for their significant donation and, of course, Cambridge University for always backing our mission. I hope this scholarship continues to serve as a small reminder to young Black students that the opportunity to study at one of the best universities in the world is theirs for the taking."

The first two Stormzy Scholars graduated this summer with a high 2:1 and 2:1.

The University of Cambridge’s Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Professor Graham Virgo, said: "We are enormously grateful to HSBC UK for supporting the #Merky Foundation in funding the degree courses of an additional 30 Black students over the next three years.

"Since the Stormzy Scholarships were announced in 2018 we have seen a significant increase in the number of Black students applying to study here and being admitted and we are very proud to see the first two students supported by the scheme graduate this year. We’re confident that they are starting out on an exciting journey which may not have been possible without the generous support of philanthropists like Stormzy. With the launch of our Foundation Year, for admission next year, we will be in a position to support a lot more students who have experienced educational disadvantage on their path through higher education."

Ian Stuart, Chief Executive of HSBC UK, said: "Education is a great equalizer and a powerful force for change. We are incredibly proud to support the growth of the Stormzy Scholarships at the University of Cambridge, helping remove barriers to higher education as part of our wider commitment to support racial equality in the UK."

All Stormzy Scholarship applicants will also have the option to explore work experience, skills development and mentoring opportunities with the bank.

To be eligible for a 2021 award applicants must have a confirmed place to start at Cambridge in October, and be a home student (UK) of Black or mixed race heritage. Applications must be submitted to the University no later than Friday 27 August 2021. The students will be selected from a list of applicants by a panel of University staff and experts from higher education. The President of the University’s student African-Caribbean Society also sits on this selection panel.

Students from low income families can apply for awards of up to £3,500 a year from the Cambridge Bursary Scheme. In the 2019/20 academic year, almost £8.5m was distributed to a total of 2,711 students.

The scheme, approved by Cambridge City Council subject to a Section 106 agreement, signals a new approach to university-industry collaboration, with innovation ‘designed-in’ to encourage creativity to flourish. The restyled site will build on Cambridge’s innovation success and support the region's economic recovery post-pandemic.

A wide range of jobs at various skill levels will be created as part of the site’s development, with an ambition to grow the number of employees at West Cambridge from the current 4,000 to 15,000 by 2041. The scheme will also boost sustainable travel at the site and in the west of the city, with a significant investment in pedestrian and cycle improvements.

New academic and commercial spaces will provide ‘side-by-side’ collaborative working - including Growth Hubs and an Innovation Space to support the development of start-ups - and at the heart of the District will be a series of shared amenity hubs that offer flexible space for teaching and study, as well as business meetings, social and networking events, talks and art exhibitions. The first of these hubs, is set to open later this year, and will include a café, restaurant and retail facilities that will welcome the local community and complement existing amenities such as the Sports Centre that already offers state-of-the-art leisure facilities for everyone living and working in the area.

Architecture and landscaping will help create a more open and welcoming environment for staff, students, and the wider community, putting the ‘science on show’ and encouraging social interaction. Pedestrianised plazas, central gardens, lakes and urban orchards will place healthy living and the natural world are at the heart of the development, contributing to the plan’s positive impact on the local ecology and quality of place. 

University officers have worked closely with Council officers and with local residents to address concerns and to ensure the development will have a positive impact.

Full consideration of environmental impact is integral to the development and includes future plans for a solar farm to supply University buildings on the site with low-carbon electricity. The Innovation District will also be a testbed for developing innovative approaches to help the University achieve its ambition of becoming net zero by 2048. 

The West Cambridge campus – where The Ray Dolby Centre will be the centrepiece of the new Cavendish Laboratory - is already home to world-leading research in technology and the physical sciences. The University sits at the heart of the so-called ‘Cambridge Cluster’, in which more than 5,300 knowledge-intensive firms employ more than 67,000 people and generate £18 billion in turnover. Cambridge has the highest number of patent applications per 100,000 residents in the UK.

Professor Andy Neely, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Enterprise and Business Relations at the University of Cambridge, said: “The West Cambridge Innovation District will be a vibrant new destination quarter within the city, connecting industry with academic expertise and creating a welcoming, people-focused environment, including leisure facilities, that will be enjoyed by the wider Cambridge community. The District will have a positive impact on biodiversity, and bring a wide range of new jobs at various skill levels, turning Cambridge brilliance into sustained economic growth.

“The development of West Cambridge will support the region's economic recovery post-pandemic and nurture the entrepreneurial strengths of the Cambridge Cluster. Through architecture and landscaping, the restyled campus will foster connectivity and the kind of 'serendipitous collisions', or chance meetings, that spark new ideas and change the world.” 

The other new Fellows are Professor Samuel Kaski from the University of Manchester, Professor Mirella Lapata from the University of Edinburgh, Professor Philip Torr from the University of Oxford, and Professor Michael Wooldridge from the University of Oxford.

The fellowships, named after AI pioneer Alan Turing, are part of the UK’s commitment to further strengthen its position as a global leader in the field.

Retaining and attracting some of the best international research talent in a highly competitive international environment will increase the UK’s competitive advantage and capability in AI.

The fellows’ research will have a transformative effect on the international AI research and innovation landscape by tackling some of the fundamental challenges in the field.

It could also deliver major societal impact in areas including decision-making in personalised medicine, synthetic biology and drug design, financial modelling, and autonomous vehicles.

Professor Ghahramani, from Cambridge’s Department of Engineering, is Senior Director and Distinguished Researcher at Google, former Chief Scientist at Uber and a Fellow of the Royal Society.

In his fellowship, which he will hold jointly while continuing to work at Google, he aims to develop the new algorithms and applications needed to address limitations faced by the AI systems that underpin technologies such as voice and face recognition and autonomous vehicles. This includes ensuring they can better adapt to new data and apply data-driven machine learning approaches to simulators to understand complex systems.

“The Turing AI Fellowships provide a fantastic opportunity to grow the UK’s research talent in AI, and to build stronger relationships between industry and academia,” said Ghahramani. “Most modern AI systems are based on machine learning technology that learns from patterns in data. This research programme aims to improve such systems by making them more robust and reliable, so that they can better respond to changing circumstances, and better incorporate prior knowledge, symbolic reasoning and data.”

The fellows are supported with an £18 million investment by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

In addition to this, 39 different collaborators including IBM, AstraZeneca and Facebook are making contributions worth £15.7 million to the fellows’ research programmes.

The fellowships are being delivered by UKRI’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

“The Turing AI World-Leading Researcher Fellowships recognise internationally-leading researchers in AI, and provide the support needed to tackle some of the biggest challenges and opportunities in AI research,” said EPSRC Executive Chair Professor Dame Lynn Gladden. “These fellowships enable the UK to attract top international talent to the UK as well as retaining our own world-leaders. Attracting and retaining top talent is essential to keep the UK at the leading edge of AI research and innovation.”

The Turing AI Fellowships investment is delivered in partnership by UKRI, the Office for AI, and The Alan Turing Institute, the national institute for data science and AI.

The merger creates a larger, global organisation that offers world-leading academic research, learning and assessment, backed by the first-class teaching and research departments of the University of Cambridge.

The move is in response to a growing desire from learners, teachers and researchers to engage with Cambridge in a joined up digital way, and the demand for innovative products that combine expertise in learning and assessment.

Peter Phillips, Chief Executive of the new organisation, said: “Our teams have been working ever more closely in recent years and this is a natural next step. By working in partnership we can drive innovation and deliver even more effectively for the learners, teachers and researchers we serve.”

The University of Cambridge announced its intention to bring together its publishing and assessment operations last year. Cambridge University Press & Assessment remains part of the University and shares its mission to ‘contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence.’

As one organisation we offer a comprehensive range of products and services including assessments, qualifications and exams, English language learning, education resources and support for schools, teachers, and education systems worldwide, dictionaries, academic books and journals, bibles, and original research.

Peter added: “Our capabilities have broadened and strengthened as a result of this change and we are investing even more in new products and services to support the changing needs of all our customers and communities around the globe, while continuing to provide the same great service and support.”

Diabetes is the most common cause of kidney failure, accounting for just under a third (30%) of cases. As the number of people living with type 2 diabetes increases, so too does the number of people requiring dialysis or a kidney transplant. Kidney failure increases the risk of hypoglycaemia and hyperglycaemia – abnormally low or high levels of blood sugar respectively – which in turn can cause complications from dizziness to falls and even to coma.

Managing diabetes in patients with kidney failure is challenging for both patients and healthcare professionals. Many aspects of their care are poorly understood, including targets for blood sugar levels and treatments. Most oral diabetes medications are not recommended for these patients, so insulin injections are the most commonly used diabetes therapy – though optimal insulin dosing regimens are difficult to establish.

A team at the University of Cambridge and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has previously developed an artificial pancreas with the aim of replacing insulin injections for patients living with type 1 diabetes. In research published today in Nature Medicine, the team – working with researchers at Bern University Hospital and University of Bern, Switzerland – has shown that the device can be used to support patients living with both type 2 diabetes and kidney failure.

Unlike the artificial pancreas being used for type 1 diabetes, this version is a fully closed loop system – whereas patients with type 1 diabetes need to tell their artificial pancreas that they are about to eat to allow adjustment of insulin, for example, with this new version they can leave the device to function entirely automatically.

Dr Charlotte Boughton from the Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science at the University of Cambridge, who led the study, said: “Patients living with type 2 diabetes and kidney failure are a particularly vulnerable group and managing their condition – trying to prevent potentially dangerous highs or lows of blood sugar levels – can be a challenge. There’s a real unmet need for new approaches to help them manage their condition safely and effectively.”

The artificial pancreas is a small, portable medical device designed to carry out the function of a healthy pancreas in controlling blood glucose levels, using digital technology to automate insulin delivery. The system is worn externally on the body, and is made up of three functional components: a glucose sensor, a computer algorithm to calculate the insulin dose, and an insulin pump. Software in the user’s smartphone sends a signal to an insulin pump to adjust the level of insulin the patient receives. The glucose sensor measures the patient’s blood sugar levels and sends these back to the smartphone to enable it to make further adjustments.

The team recruited 26 patients requiring dialysis between October 2019 and November 2020. Thirteen participants were randomised to receive the artificial pancreas first and 13 to receive standard insulin therapy first. The researchers compared how long patients spent in the target blood sugar range (5.6 to 10.0mmol/L) over a 20-day period as outpatients.

Patients using the artificial pancreas spent on average 53% of their time in the target range, compared to 38% when they used the control treatment. This equated to around 3.5 additional hours every day spent in the target range compared with the control therapy.

Mean blood sugar levels were lower with the artificial pancreas (10.1 vs. 11.6 mmol/L). The artificial pancreas reduced the amount of time patients spent with potentially dangerously low blood sugar levels, or ‘hypos’.

The efficacy of the artificial pancreas improved considerably over the study period as the algorithm adapted, and the time spent in the target blood sugar range increased from 36% on day one to over 60% by the twentieth day. This finding highlights the importance of using an adaptive algorithm, which can adjust in response to an individual’s changing insulin requirements over time.

When asked about their experiences of using the artificial pancreas, everyone who responded said they would recommend it to others. Nine out of ten (92%) reported that they spent less time managing their diabetes with the artificial pancreas than during the control period, and similar numbers (87%) were less worried about their blood sugar levels when using it.

Other benefits of the artificial pancreas reported by study participants included less need for finger-prick blood sugar checks, less time required to manage their diabetes resulting in more personal time and freedom, and improved peace of mind and reassurance. Downsides included discomfort wearing the insulin pump and carrying the smartphone.

Senior author Professor Roman Hovorka, also from the Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science, said: “Not only did the artificial pancreas increase the amount of time patients spent within the target range for the blood sugar levels, it also gave the users peace of mind. They were able to spend less time having to focus on managing their condition and worrying about their blood sugar levels, and more time getting on with their lives.”

Dr Boughton added: “Now that we’ve shown the artificial pancreas works in one of the more difficult-to-treat groups of patients, we believe it could prove useful in the wider population of people living with type 2 diabetes.”

The team is currently trialling the artificial pancreas for outpatient use in people living with type 2 diabetes who do not need dialysis and exploring the system in complex medical situations such as perioperative care.

Dr Lia Bally, who co-led the study in Bern, said: “The artificial pancreas has the potential to become a key feature of integrated personalised care for people with complex medical needs.”

The research was supported by the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, The Novo Nordisk UK Research Foundation, Swiss Society for Endocrinology and Diabetes, and Swiss Diabetes Foundation and Swiss Kidney Foundation.

Reference
Boughton, CK et al.  Fully automated closed-loop glucose control compared with standard insulin therapy in adults with type 2 diabetes requiring dialysis: an open-label, randomised crossover trial. Nat Med; 4 Aug 2021; DOI: 10.1038/s41591-021-01453-z

The heart is one the major organs damaged by infection with SARS-CoV-2, particularly the heart cells, or ‘cardiomyocytes’, which contract and circulate blood. It is also thought that damage to heart cells may contribute to the symptoms of long COVID.

Patients with underlying heart problems are more than four times as likely to die from COVID-19, the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection. The case fatality rate in patients with COVID-19 rises from 2.3% to 10.5% in these individuals.

To gain entry into our cells, SARS-CoV-2 hijacks a protein on the surface of the cells, a receptor known as ACE2.  Spike proteins on the surface of SARS-CoV-2 – which give it its characteristic ‘corona’-like appearance – bind to ACE2. Both the spike protein and ACE2 are then cleaved, allowing genetic material from the virus to enter the host cell. The virus manipulates the host cell’s machinery to allow itself to replicate and spread.

A team of scientists at the University of Cambridge has used human embryonic stem cells to grow clusters of heart cells in the lab and shown that these cells mimic the behaviour of the cells in the body, beating as if to pump blood. Crucially, these model heart cells also contained the key components necessary for SARS-CoV-2 infection – in particular, the ACE2 receptor.

Working in special biosafety laboratories and using a safer, modified synthetic (‘pseudotyped’) virus decorated with the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, the team mimicked how the virus infects the heart cells. They then used this model to screen for potential drugs to block infection.

Dr Sanjay Sinha from the Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute said: “Using stem cells, we’ve managed to create a model which, in many ways, behaves just like a heart does, beating in rhythm. This has allowed us to look at how the coronavirus infects cells and, importantly, helps us screen possible drugs that might prevent damage to the heart.”

The team showed that some drugs that targeted the proteins involved in SARS-CoV-2 viral entry significantly reduced levels of infection. These included an ACE2 antibody that has been shown previously to neutralise pseudotyped SARS-CoV-2 virus, and DX600, an experimental drug.

DX600 is an ACE2 peptide antagonist – that is, a molecule that specifically targets ACE2 and inhibits the activity of peptides that play a role in allowing the virus to break into the cell.

DX600 was around seven times more effective at preventing infection compared to the antibody, though the researchers say this may be because it was used in higher concentrations. The drug did not affect the number of heart cells, implying that it would be unlikely to be toxic.

Professor Anthony Davenport from the Department of Medicine and a fellow at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge said: “The spike protein is like a key that fits into the ‘lock’ on the surface of the cells – the ACE2 receptor – allowing it entry. DX600 acts like gum, jamming the lock’s mechanism, making it much more difficult for the key to turn and unlock the cell door.

“We need to do further research on this drug, but it could provide us with a new treatment to help reduce harm to the heart in patients recently infected with the virus, particularly those who already have underlying heart conditions or who have not been vaccinated. We believe it may also help reduce the symptoms of long COVID.”

The research was largely supported by Wellcome, Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust, Rosetrees Trust Charity and British Heart Foundation.

Reference
Williams, TL et al. Human embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte platform screens inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Communications Biology; 29 Jul 2017; DOI: 10.1038/s42003-021-02453-y

The research compiles data gathered from almost 300 heads and other school leaders in June 2020, as schools were beginning to reopen after the first wave of closures. It documents leadership teams’ struggles with overwhelming and disorganised information dumps by Government and the Department for Education (DfE), which were often issued with barely any notice and then continually updated.

The researchers, from the University of Cambridge and University College London, calculate that between 18 March and 18 June 2020, DfE released 201 policy updates for schools. This included 12 cases in which five or more documents were published in a single day for immediate interpretation and implementation.

Asked about the main challenges they faced, heads repeatedly cited ‘changing updates’, ‘clarity’ and ‘time’. 77% of executive heads and 71% of headteachers complained about “too many inputs and too much information”. In follow-up interviews, participants referred to being “inundated” with Government updates, which often contradicted earlier guidance.

Peter Fotheringham, a doctoral researcher at the University’s Faculty of Education and the study’s lead author, said: “We expected the biggest challenge for school leaders during lockdown would be student welfare. In fact, time and again, the message we got was: ‘I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, nothing is being shared in advance, and it’s overwhelming.’”

“It was uncanny how often the term ‘avalanche’ was used to describe the ridiculous amount of information they were getting. Policy measures were also typically announced to the public before official guidance even arrived, so parents were on the phone before heads even had a chance to read it. We think that with some simple fixes, a lot of this could be avoided in the future.”

The study invited a random sample of heads and other school leaders in England to complete a simple, anonymous questionnaire about what information had informed their schools’ responses to the pandemic, and any associated challenges and opportunities. 298 leaders responded, 29 of whom were later randomly selected for follow-up interviews.

Asked to rate the importance of different information sources on a scale of one to five, school leaders perceived guidance from the DfE (average score 4.1) and Government (4.0) as most important – ahead of sources such as Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs), unions, or the media.

Many, however, expressed deep frustration with the lack of notice that preceded new Government guidance, which they often heard about first through televised coronavirus briefings or other public announcements. “Society at large is being given information at the same time as schools,” one head told the researchers. “There is no time to put our thoughts in place before parents start calling.”

Follow-up guidance, either from DfE, Local Education Authorities, or MATs, tended to lag behind. The study finds this meant heads had to interpret key policies – such as those concerning safety measures, social distancing, in-person tuition for the children of key workers, or schools reopening – before further information arrived which sometimes contradicted their judgements.

One survey response read: “It is quite clear that cabinet does not communicate with the DfE before making announcements, leaving everyone scrabbling to develop policies in the dark, while parents and students look to the College for immediate guidance.”

The sheer volume of information being released also represented a major challenge. During the three-month period concerned, DfE published 74 unique guidance documents; each of which was updated three times on average. The net result was that school leaders received an average of three policy updates per day, for 90 days, including at weekends.

“A critical problem was that there was no way of telling what had changed from one update to the next,” Fotheringham said. “Leadership teams literally had to print off different versions and go through them with a highlighter, usually in hastily-organised powwows at 7am.”

“These things are very, very time-consuming to read, but have highly technical consequences. Even a small change to distancing rules, for example, affects how you manage classrooms, corridors and play areas. The release process made the translation of such policies into action incredibly difficult.”

The study concludes that introducing simple measures, such as signalling in-line changes to policy updates, ‘would have a high impact’ on school leaders’ ability to implement policy during any future disruption. Fotheringham added that “numerous mechanisms” were available to DfE to sharpen its communications with heads – not least a direct-line email system to school leaders, which could have been used to give them advance warning about new guidance.

The findings also underline the value of schools’ wider networks within their communities and of the professional connections of school leaders themselves. Heads repeatedly described, in particular, the benefits they experienced from having opportunities to collaborate and share ideas with other school leaders as they tried to steer their schools through the crisis. Investing in further opportunities to do this beyond the ‘traditional’ structures offered by local authorities or MATs would, the authors suggest, prove beneficial.

The study warns that the challenges faced by school leaders in the spring of 2020 appear to echo those encountered both internationally and in the UK during previous school closures – for example, amid the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic, when 74 UK schools had to close.

“We frequently describe COVD as unprecedented, but school closures are a common public health measure,” Fotheringham said. “Previous cases have provided plentiful evidence that Government communications with schools can be a problem. The findings of this study would suggest we haven’t yet learned those lessons.”

The study is published in the British Educational Research Journal.

Currently, much of the thinking around risks posed by volcanoes follows a simple equation: the bigger the likely eruption, the worse it will be for society and human welfare.

However, a team of experts now argues that too much focus is on the risks of massive yet rare volcanic explosions, while far too little attention is paid to the potential domino effects of moderate eruptions in key parts of the planet.

Researchers led by the University of Cambridge’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) have identified seven “pinch points” where clusters of relatively small but active volcanoes sit alongside vital infrastructure that, if paralyzed, could have catastrophic global consequences.  

These regions include volcano groups in Taiwan, North Africa, the North Atlantic, and the northwestern United States. The report is published today in the journal Nature Communications.        

“Even a minor eruption in one of the areas we identify could erupt enough ash or generate large enough tremors to disrupt networks that are central to global supply chains and financial systems,” said Dr Lara Mani from CSER, lead author of the latest report.

“At the moment, calculations are too skewed towards giant explosions or nightmare scenarios, when the more likely risks come from moderate events that disable major international communications, trade networks or transport hubs. This is true of earthquakes and extreme weather as well as volcanic eruption.”

Mani and colleagues say that smaller eruptions ranking up to 6 on the “volcanic explosivity index”– rather than the 7s and 8s that tend to occupy catastrophist thinking – could easily produce ash clouds, mudflows and landslides that scupper undersea cables, leading to financial market shutdowns, or devastate crop yields, causing food shortages that lead to political turmoil.

As an example from recent history, the team point to events of 2010 in Iceland, where a magnitude 4 eruption from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano, close to the major “pinch point” of mainland Europe, saw plumes of ash carried on northwesterly winds close European airspace at a cost of US$5 billion to the global economy.

Yet when Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted in 1991, a magnitude 6 eruption some 100 times greater in scale than the Icelandic event, its distance from vital infrastructure[l1] [FL2]  meant that overall economic damage was less than a fifth of Eyjafjallajökull. (Pinatubo would have a global economic impact of around US$740 million if it occurred in 2021.)

The seven “pinch point” areas identified by the experts – within which relatively small eruptions could inflict maximum global mayhem – include the volcanic group on the northern tip of Taiwan. Home to one of the largest producers of electronic chips, if this area – along with the Port of Taipei – was indefinitely incapacitated, the global tech industry could grind to a halt.  

Another pinch point is the Mediterranean, where legends of the classical world such as Vesuvius and Santorini could induce tsunamis that smash submerged cable networks and seal off the Suez Canal. “We saw what a six-day closure to the Suez Canal did earlier this year, when a single stuck container ship cost up to ten billion dollars a week in global trade,” said Mani.    

Eruptions in the US state of Washington in the Pacific Northwest could trigger mudflows and ash clouds that blanket Seattle, shutting down airports and seaports. Scenario modelling for a magnitude 6 eruption from Mount Rainier predicts potential economic losses of more than US$7 trillion over the ensuing five years.

The highly active volcanic centres along the Indonesian archipelago – from Sumatra to Central Java – also line the Strait of Malacca: one of the busiest shipping passages in the world, with 40% of global trade traversing the narrow route each year.

The Luzon Strait in the South China Sea, another key shipping route, is the crux of all the major submerged cabling that connects China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. It is also encircled by the Luzon Volcanic Arc.

The researchers also identify the volcanic region straddling the Chinese-North-Korean border, from which plumes of ash would disrupt the busiest air routes in the east, and point out that a reawakening of Icelandic volcanoes would do the same in the west.    

“It’s time to change how we view extreme volcanic risk,” added Mani. “We need to move away from thinking in terms of colossal eruptions destroying the world, as portrayed in Hollywood films. The more probable scenarios involve lower-magnitude eruptions interacting with our societal vulnerabilities and cascading us towards catastrophe.”

Students across the country received their A-level results on 10 August 2021, after another highly unusual year for everyone in education. Among them is the next intake of Cambridge undergraduates whose effort and determination has finally been rewarded. Here are just a few of them:

Tasnia Khan will study Law at Lucy Cavendish College after receiving 3A*s in English, Sociology and History at Oasis Academy Hadley in Enfield. 

Tasnia – pictured left with fellow Oasis Academy student Nana, who will study HSPS at Cambridge – said she decided to apply to Cambridge because of the small-group supervisions that give students the opportunity to explore their subject more deeply. "That really attracted me because I enjoy learning through discussion," she said. "And then of course there is Cambridge's overall academic excellence too! 

"I'm thrilled to be going to Cambridge, especially after such a bumpy year in terms of the pandemic and all those worries. This has been a distant dream but now it's a reality."

Bethany Baljak, a student at Gower College Swansea, is heading to Lucy Cavendish College to study Linguistics.

She said: "I'm very excited to head off to Cambridge and begin the course. With everything that has taken place over the past two years, it feels very satisfying to have concrete confirmation of the hard work that I and other students have put into our education during the pandemic. I'm grateful for all the support and encouragement Gower College Swansea has given me in my application process, and I feel ready to tackle my next year in Cambridge with confidence and enthusiasm."

Caleb Ebenezer from Dagenham is one of 55 students from Brampton Manor Academy in East London who will be attending Oxford or Cambridge this year. He achieved 2 A*s in Maths and Economics, and an A in Further Maths, and will be studying Economics at Lucy Cavendish College – which is this year admitting male students for the first time.

He said: “I’m very proud to be attending Cambridge. It was a tough two years but I’m thankful to all the support I’ve received from my family and friends. Looking forward to my next three years!”

Ben Roberts achieved 3 A*s grades at Chipping Sodbury School, Bristol, and will study Chemical Engineering at Christ's College. 

"Applying to Cambridge this year has given a lot of focus and structure to a tumultuous and unpredictable year through strong support and friendly correspondence," he said. "Though my studies have been much different than I'd hoped, continuing into Cambridge will no doubt continue to inspire me and help me achieve further academic excellence. I look forward to being there soon!"

Headteacher Katherine Turner said Ben's cohort had coped well despite "the numerous additional hurdles they have had to manage". She said: "Staff have worked tirelessly to support our young people and to ensure they have not been disadvantaged. It is a credit to all students and staff that their efforts and achievements have been acknowledged.”

Jeneve Hines-Braham will study English at St Edmund's College as a mature student, after passing an Access to HE Diploma in English, Writing and Media at The Manchester College. She completed her International Baccalaureate several years ago before she decided to take a break from education, to travel and volunteer.

Jeneve said: "It all still feels slightly surreal. I spoke to St Edmund's very early on when I decided I wanted to return to education and was thinking about applying, and they were really helpful. And because of that I decided to carry on with the application process. I've always loved the arts and English is where my strength has always been. My mum always told me I was good enough to be at Cambridge, and I must always have had that at the back of my head!"

Rudi Konrath achieved 3A*s in Maths, Physics, and Further Maths at Lincoln UTC. He will arrive in Cambridge in October to study Engineering at Peterhouse.

"I'm a bit nervous, but excited as well," he said."I made the decision to apply to Cambridge during the first lockdown - I thought if I don't get in, I don't get in, but I spent the summer hoping that I'd get the grades I needed. My family are also delighted and we're hoping to come down in the next few weeks, stay in a hotel and have a good look around the city."

Principal of Lincoln UTC, John Morrison, said: “This has been a very difficult year for us all but particularly for Year 13 students who have endured disruption to their studies for the last two academic years. Therefore, we are particularly pleased that despite numerous challenges our students have achieved excellent and very well-deserved A-level results.”

Ryan Hall from Gateshead, who achieved 4A*s in Physics, Chemistry, Maths, and Biology will study Natural Science at Emmanuel College.

The Lord Lawson of Beamish Academy student said getting his results had been "surreal". He said: "Everything just seemed to stop, and there was a lot of crying from my family! 

"I don't know anyone who has studied at Cambridge; I applied because of the flexibility of the course. I'm looking forward to getting to Cambridge and getting involved with some of the Societies, which look really interesting and a good way to meet people."

A University spokesperson said: "The University of Cambridge would like to congratulate all those students who have met their offers today. In another year of exceptional challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, many have faced disruption to their studies. We’re pleased to say that we’re able to accommodate everyone who met the terms of their offer. Our diligent numbers management process was essential in avoiding the position of having to ask any students to defer or switch College. We’re also able to use Adjustment, for selected widening participation students, for the third year in a row." 

The study, published today in Science, found that a particular subtype of oesophageal cancer known as oesophageal adenocarcinoma is always preceded by Barrett’s oesophagus – abnormal cells of the oesophagus – even if these cells are no longer visible at the time of cancer diagnosis. This confirms that screening for Barrett’s is an important approach to oesophageal cancer control.

Cancer of the oesophagus is the sixth most deadly cancer, and oesophageal adenocarcinoma is on the rise in western countries. Scientists and doctors have known for some time that the development of this cancer is linked with Barrett’s oesophagus, which shows up in endoscopy as a pink ‘patch’ in the surface of oesophagus and affects around one out of every 100 to 200 people in the United Kingdom – and between 3 and 13 people out of 100 with this condition will go on to develop oesophageal adenocarcinoma in their lifetime. However, the question of where these abnormal cells come from has been a mystery that has baffled scientists for decades.

A multidisciplinary group of scientists led by Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald at the Medical Research Council Cancer Unit, University of Cambridge, today provides the most comprehensive explanation to date.

Dr Lizhe Zhuang, joint first author of the study, said: “It’s intriguing that, although Barrett’s oesophagus predominately occurs in the lower part of oesophagus close to stomach, it has so-called ‘goblet cells’ resembling a much more distant organ, the small intestine. Over the past twenty years there have been at least six different hypotheses about the origin of Barrett’s oesophagus. Using the latest techniques, we believe we have arrived at an answer to this mystery.”

The research team analysed tissue samples from patients with Barrett’s oesophagus and from organ donors who have never had the condition. The samples were collected as part of the Cambridge Biorepository for Translational Medicine at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, part of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Lead authors Dr Karol Nowicki-Osuch and Dr Lizhe Zhuang established a detailed ‘atlas’ of human cells and tissues from all possible origins of Barrett’s oesophagus, including oesophageal submucosal glands, an elusive tissue structure that acts in a similar way to saliva glands and has never before been isolated from fresh human tissue.

The researchers then compared the maps of cells from healthy tissues, Barrett’s oesophagus and oesophageal adenocarcinoma using a number of state-of-the-art molecular technologies. These included single cell RNA sequencing, a powerful technology that enables researchers to investigate the functions of a large number of individual cells. They also looked at methylation profiles –chemical modifications to the DNA of cells in the tissue – and at genetic linage to trace back where a particular cell type originated.

The results showed a striking similarity between stomach cells and Barrett’s oesophagus, suggesting that the cells at the very top of the stomach can be reprogrammed to adopt a new tissue identity, becoming more like intestine cells, and replace the oesophageal cells. Furthermore, in this new study the team showed that two genes, MYC and HNF4A, are the keys that switch the tissue identity from stomach to intestinal cells.

Dr Karol Nowicki-Osuch, joint first author of the study, said: “The techniques we used have shown us the internal processes that happen in the stomach cells when they become Barrett’s. The big question now is: what triggers these genes? It’s likely to be a complex combination of factors that include bile acid reflux (often felt as heartburn) and other risk factors, such as obesity, age, male sex and Caucasian ethnicity.”

Importantly, the researchers found that all oesophageal adenocarcinoma cells begin as stomach cells before transforming into Barrett’s cells and then into cancer cells.

Professor Fitzgerald added: “Even if the pre-cancerous Barrett’s is not visible at the time of cancer diagnosis, our data suggests the cancer cells will have been through this stage. This has been debated for some time, but our conclusion is important as it means that screening for Barrett’s is an important approach to controlling oesophageal cancer.”

Michelle Mitchell, Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK, said, “Today’s insights into the origin of oesophageal adenocarcinoma could help inform future research efforts into how to diagnose this type of cancer early – which is key for improving patient outcomes.

“This research goes hand in hand with other recent successes in early detection such as Cytosponge, the sponge-on a-string test, which we funded to detect Barrett’s in patients with heartburn symptoms.”

Detecting cancer earlier will be a key focus of the Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital, a partnership between Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Cambridge to build a new specialist cancer hospital. The hospital will combine modern NHS clinical space with two new research institutes, including the National Institute for the Early Detection of Cancer, which will lead the way in helping advance early cancer detection techniques.

The research was largely funded by the Medical Research Council, Wellcome and Cancer Research UK.

Further information on oesophageal cancer and Barrett’s oesophagus is available via Cancer Research UK.

Reference
Nowicki-Osuch, K & Zhuang, L et al. Molecular phenotyping reveals the identity of Barrett’s esophagus and its malignant transition. Science; 13 Aug 2021; DOI: 10.1126/science.abd1449

What is more, 49 students have been offered places through Adjustment (the scheme which offers a place to talented widening participation students who apply but miss out on an offer and then go on to achieve high grades).

With some outstanding decisions yet to be made, it’s looking like the University will be welcoming just over 3,600 freshers in October. This compares to almost 3,900 last year (when we accepted a greater number of students due to a revision in A-level grades) and 3,528 in 2019 (a more representative year to make comparisons with).

The University will be welcoming another record number of state school students. The overall figure will be between 71 and 72% and is likely to be closer to 72% (up from 70.6% in 2020, which was itself a record).

We congratulate those students for their hard work during what has been another challenging year. The University, and Colleges, will be ready to offer extra support to any student who has had their studies disrupted due to the Covid pandemic.

Commenting on this year’s Admissions process, Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Professor Graham Virgo, said:

"After another challenging year for students and teachers, we are pleased that Cambridge has been able to accept all offer holders who met the terms of their offers, without having to ask anyone to defer or move College, as well as another 49 who were made offers through Adjustment. At least 71% of our new students will have attended state schools, another increase on last year’s record, while more than a quarter are from the least advantaged backgrounds, including more than 230 who have declared themselves eligible for Free School Meals. We applaud the achievements of all our new students and look forward to welcoming them in Cambridge in October."

More students will now be eligible for support from our new Cambridge Bursary scheme, with enhanced provision for those on very low incomes. Details of the scheme can be found here.

The University is planning to host as much teaching in person this term as possible, as long as it is safe to do so. One of the strengths of a Cambridge education is the small group teaching and supervision we offer…this will continue.

A new study reveals the extent of the political divide opening up between city and countryside right across Europe, with research suggesting that political polarisation in the 21st century may have a lot to do with place and location.

University of Cambridge researchers analysed survey data collected between 2002 and 2018 to gauge the social and civic attitudes of people across the cities, towns and rural areas of thirty European countries.

The findings show that political division throughout the continent runs on a “gradient” of disenchantment and distrust in democracy that increases as it moves from urban centres through suburbs, towns, villages and out into open country.

People in the more rural parts of Europe have the lowest levels of trust in their nation’s current political system – and yet are significantly more likely than their urban counterparts to actually vote in elections.

Those in suburbs, followed by towns and then the countryside, are increasingly more likely to see themselves as politically conservative, and hold anti-immigration and anti-EU views, while city dwellers lean towards the left.

However, it’s not the poorest rural areas where disillusion is strongest, and small town and countryside dwellers report much higher levels of life satisfaction while voicing dissatisfaction with democratic institutions.

Researchers from Cambridge’s Bennett Institute for Public Policy and Department of Land Economy say the study suggests a “deepening geographical fracture” in European societies that could see a return to the stark urban-rural political divides of the early 20th century.

“Those living outside of Europe’s major urban centres have much less faith in politics,” said study co-author Prof Michael Kenny from the Bennett Institute.

“The growth of disenchantment in more rural areas has provided fertile soil for nationalist and populist parties and causes – a trend that looks set to continue.”

“Mainstream politicians seeking to re-engage residents of small towns and villages must provide economic opportunities, but they also need to address feelings of disconnection from mainstream politics and the changes associated with a more globalised economy,” he said.

Across Western Europe, residents of rural areas are on average 33.5% more likely to vote than those in inner cities, but 16% less likely to report a one-unit increase in their trust of political parties on a scale of 0-10. They are also far less likely to engage in political actions such as protests and boycotts.

Conservatism incrementally increases as locations shift from suburb to town to the countryside. Europeans in rural places are an average of 57% more likely to feel one point closer to the right on the political spectrum (on a ten-point scale where five is the centre ground) than a city dweller.

When asked if migration and the EU “enrich the national culture”, rural Europeans are 55% more likely than those in cities to disagree by one unit on a ten-unit scale.

However, on issues of the welfare state and trust in police – both iconic in post-war rhetorical battles between left and right – no urban-rural divisions were detected. “Worries about law and welfare may no longer be key to Europe’s political geography in our new populist age,” said Kenny.

Last year, research from the Bennett Institute revealed a global decline in satisfaction with democracy, and the latest study suggests that – in Europe, at least – this is most acute in rural locations.

After discounting characteristics typically thought to influence political attitudes, from education to age, the researchers still found that people in rural housing were 10% more likely than urbanites to report a one unit drop in democratic satisfaction (on a scale of 0-10).

“We find that there is a geography to current patterns of political disillusion,” said Dr Davide Luca of the Land Economy Department, co-author of the study now published in the Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society.

“As disenchantment rises in European hinterlands, democratic politics risks being eroded from within by people who engage with elections yet distrust the system and are drawn to populist, anti-system parties.”

Of the thirty nations they looked at – the EU27 plus Norway, Switzerland and the UK – France had the sharpest urban-rural divide in political attitudes. “Large cities such as Paris and Lyon are seen to be highly globalised and full of bohemians nicknamed the ‘bobos’, while small towns and rural areas are primarily inhabited by long-term immigrants and the indigenous working classes,” Luca said.

While less pronounced across the Channel, the trend is still very much in evidence in the UK. “Cambridge is a prime example,” explains Luca. “The centre hosts the world’s leading labs and companies, yet greater Cambridge is one of the UK’s least equal cities – and the fenland market towns are even more disconnected from the city’s hyper-globalised core.”

Added Luca: “Ageing populations in small towns and villages combined with years of austerity have put pressure on public services in rural areas – services that are often central to the social connections needed for a community to thrive. “Reviving these services may be key to reducing the political divides emerging between urban and rural populations across Europe.”

The results, published today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, are the first evidence of an animal whose memory of specific events does not deteriorate with age.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge, the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and the University of Caen, conducted memory tests on twenty-four common cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis. Half of these were 10-12 months old - not-quite adult, and the other half were in old age at 22-24 months - equivalent to humans in their 90s.

“Cuttlefish can remember what they ate, where and when, and use this to guide their feeding decisions in the future. What’s surprising is that they don’t lose this ability with age, despite showing other signs of ageing like loss of muscle function and appetite,” said Dr Alexandra Schnell in the University of Cambridge’s Department of Psychology, first author of the paper.

As humans age, we gradually lose the ability to remember experiences that happened at particular times and places – for example, what we had for dinner last Tuesday. This is termed ‘episodic memory’, and its decline is thought to be due to deterioration of a part of the brain called the hippocampus.

Cuttlefish do not have a hippocampus, and their brain structure is dramatically different to ours. The ‘vertical lobe’ of the cuttlefish brain is associated with learning and memory. This does not deteriorate until the last two to three days of the animal’s life, which the researchers say could explain why episodic-like memory is not affected by age in cuttlefish.

To conduct the experiment, the cuttlefish were first trained to approach a specific location in their tank marked with a black and white flag. Then they were trained to learn that two foods they commonly eat were available at specific flag-marked locations and after specific delays. At one spot, the flag was waved and a piece of king prawn, their less preferred food, was provided. Live grass shrimp, which they like more, was provided at a different spot where another flag was also waved - but only every three hours. This was repeated for four weeks.

Then the cuttlefishes’ recall of which food would be available, where, and when was tested. To make sure they hadn’t just learned a pattern, the two feeding locations were unique each day. All the cuttlefish - regardless of age - watched which food first appeared at each flag and used that to work out which feeding spot was best at each subsequent flag-waving. This suggests that episodic-like memory does not decline with age in cuttlefish, unlike in humans.

“The old cuttlefish were just as good as the younger ones in the memory task – in fact, many of the older ones did better in the test phase. We think this ability might help cuttlefish in the wild to remember who they mated with, so they don’t go back to the same partner,” said Schnell.

Cuttlefish only breed at the end of their life. By remembering who they mated with, where, and how long ago, the researchers think this helps the cuttlefish to spread their genes widely by mating with as many partners as possible.  

Cuttlefish have short lifespans – most live until around two years old – making them a good subject to test whether memory declines with age. Since it is impossible to test whether animals are consciously remembering things, the authors used the term ‘episodic-like memory’ to refer to the ability of cuttlefish to remember what, where and when specific things happened.

This research was funded by the Royal Society and the Grass Foundation. 

Reference
Schnell, A.K. et al: ‘Episodic-like memory is preserved with age in cuttlefish.’ Proceedings of the Royal Society B, August 2021. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.1052

In a study published today in the BJGP Open, a team from the University of Cambridge looked at the relationship between shortages in the healthcare workforce and levels of deprivation. The team found significantly fewer full time equivalent (FTE) GPs per 10,000 patients in practices within areas of higher levels of deprivation. This inequality has widened slightly over time. By December 2020, there were on average 1.4 fewer FTE GPs per 10,000 patients in the most deprived areas compared to the least deprived areas.

The same was the case for total direct patient care staff (all patient-facing general practice staff excluding GPs and nurses), with 1.5 fewer FTE staff per 10,000 patients in the most deprived areas compared to the least deprived areas.

The lower GP numbers in deprived areas, was compensated, in part, by more nurses.

The analysis used data captured between September 2015 and December 2020 from the NHS Digital General Practice Workforce collection. They compared this workforce data against practice population sizes and levels of deprivation across England.

In addition to their report, the team have today launched an interactive dashboard that maps local-level primary care workforce inequalities to accompany the national-level analysis done in the paper. Clear local-level inequalities in GP distribution can be seen within West, North and East Cumbria, Humber, Coast and Vale, and Coventry and Warwickshire STP (Sustainability and Transformation Plan) areas, among others. 

Workforce shortages, especially in primary care, have been a problem for health care systems for some time now, and the gap between the growing demand for services and sufficient staff has been widening. Although the number of consultations in general practice has been increasing, staff numbers have not kept up with demand. The number of GPs relative to the size of population has been decreasing since 2009, and the GP workforce is ageing. Doctors are increasingly working part-time, which suggests that shortages will grow steadily worse.

In 2015, then-Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt promised an additional 5,000 GPs for the NHS by 2020, but this was not achieved. Instead, it is predicted that there will be a shortage of 7,000 GPs by 2024.

Dr John Ford from the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge, the study’s senior author, said: “People who live in disadvantaged regions of England are not only more likely to have long-term health problems, but are likely to find it even more difficult to see a GP and experience worse care when they see a GP. This is just one aspect of how disadvantage accumulates for some people leading to poor health and early death.

“There may be some compensation due to increasing number of other health professionals, which may partially alleviate the undersupply of GPs in more socioeconomically disadvantaged areas. But this is not a like-for-like replacement and it is unlikely to be enough.”

The researchers say there are a number of reasons that may account for why GP workforce shortages disproportionately affect practices in areas of higher deprivation. Previous studies have suggested that the primary driver of GP inequality was the opening and closing of practices in more disadvantaged areas, with practice closures increasing in recent years.

Claire Nussbaum, the study’s first author, added: “The government has made reducing health inequalities a core commitment, but this will be challenging with the increasing shortage of GPs in areas of high socioeconomic disadvantage, where health needs are greatest. The primary care staffing inequalities we observed are especially concerning, as they suggest that access to care is becoming increasingly limited where health needs are greatest.

“Addressing barriers to health care access is even more urgent in the context of COVID-19, which has widened pre-existing health and social inequities.”

The researchers say that the imbalance in recruitment of staff within primary care must be addressed by policymakers, who will need to consider why practices and networks in disadvantaged areas are relatively under-staffed, and how this can be reversed. Potential options include increased recruitment to medical school from disadvantaged areas, incentivisation of direct patient care posts in under-staffed areas, enhanced training offers for these roles, and offering practices and networks in under-staffed areas additional recruitment support.

Expanded use of additional roles under the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, designed to provide financial reimbursement for Primary Care Networks to build workforce capacity, may partially alleviate GP workload in overstretched practices, but the report’s authors argue that there is a risk that additional workforce will gravitate to more affluent areas, further perpetuating inequity in primary care staffing.

Dr James Matheson, a GP at Hill Top Surgery in Oldham, said: "People living in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas shoulder a much higher burden of physical and mental health problems but have less access to the GPs who could support them towards better health. For the primary care teams looking after them this means a greater workload with fewer resources - a burnout risk which can further exacerbate the problem.

“General Practice in disadvantaged areas is challenging but also enjoyable and professionally rewarding but now, more than ever, we need to see a more equitable distribution of workforce and resources to ensure it is sustainable."

Reference
Nussbaum, C et al. Inequalities in the distribution of the general practice workforce in England. BJGP Open; 18 Aug 2021; DOI: 10.3399/BJGPO.2021.0066

The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, used methods of theoretical biophysics to construct the model, which can tell how much a specific amount of exertion will cause a muscle to grow and how long it will take. The model could form the basis of a software product, where users could optimise their exercise regimes by entering a few details of their individual physiology.

The model is based on earlier work by the same team, which found that a component of muscle called titin is responsible for generating the chemical signals which affect muscle growth.

The results, reported in the Biophysical Journal, suggest that there is an optimal weight at which to do resistance training for each person and each muscle growth target. Muscles can only be near their maximal load for a very short time, and it is the load integrated over time which activates the cell signalling pathway that leads to synthesis of new muscle proteins. But below a certain value, the load is insufficient to cause much signalling, and exercise time would have to increase exponentially to compensate. The value of this critical load is likely to depend on the particular physiology of the individual.

We all know that exercise builds muscle. Or do we? “Surprisingly, not very much is known about why or how exercise builds muscles: there’s a lot of anecdotal knowledge and acquired wisdom, but very little in the way of hard or proven data,” said Professor Eugene Terentjev from Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory, one of the paper’s authors.

When exercising, the higher the load, the more repetitions or the greater the frequency, then the greater the increase in muscle size. However, even when looking at the whole muscle, why or how much this happens isn’t known. The answers to both questions get even trickier as the focus goes down to a single muscle or its individual fibres.

Muscles are made up of individual filaments, which are only 2 micrometres long and less than a micrometre across, smaller than the size of the muscle cell. “Because of this, part of the explanation for muscle growth must be at the molecular scale,” said co-author Neil Ibata. “The interactions between the main structural molecules in muscle were only pieced together around 50 years ago. How the smaller, accessory proteins fit into the picture is still not fully clear.”

This is because the data is very difficult to obtain: people differ greatly in their physiology and behaviour, making it almost impossible to conduct a controlled experiment on muscle size changes in a real person. “You can extract muscle cells and look at those individually, but that then ignores other problems like oxygen and glucose levels during exercise,” said Terentjev. “It’s very hard to look at it all together.”

Terentjev and his colleagues started looking at the mechanisms of mechanosensing – the ability of cells to sense mechanical cues in their environment – several years ago. The research was noticed by the English Institute of Sport, who were interested in whether it might relate to their observations in muscle rehabilitation. Together, they found that muscle hyper/atrophy was directly linked to the Cambridge work.

In 2018, the Cambridge researchers started a project on how the proteins in muscle filaments change under force. They found that main muscle constituents, actin and myosin, lack binding sites for signalling molecules, so it had to be the third-most abundant muscle component – titin – that was responsible for signalling the changes in applied force.

Whenever part of a molecule is under tension for a sufficiently long time, it toggles into a different state, exposing a previously hidden region. If this region can then bind to a small molecule involved in cell signalling, it activates that molecule, generating a chemical signal chain. Titin is a giant protein, a large part of which is extended when a muscle is stretched, but a small part of the molecule is also under tension during muscle contraction. This part of titin contains the so-called titin kinase domain, which is the one that generates the chemical signal that affects muscle growth.

The molecule will be more likely to open if it is under more force, or when kept under the same force for longer. Both conditions will increase the number of activated signalling molecules. These molecules then induce the synthesis of more messenger RNA, leading to production of new muscle proteins, and the cross-section of the muscle cell increases.

This realisation led to the current work, started by Ibata, himself a keen athlete. “I was excited to gain a better understanding of both the why and how of muscle growth,” he said. “So much time and resources could be saved in avoiding low-productivity exercise regimes, and maximising athletes’ potential with regular higher value sessions, given a specific volume that the athlete is capable of achieving.”

Terentjev and Ibata set out to constrict a mathematical model that could give quantitative predictions on muscle growth. They started with a simple model that kept track of titin molecules opening under force and starting the signalling cascade. They used microscopy data to determine the force-dependent probability that a titin kinase unit would open or close under force and activate a signalling molecule.

They then made the model more complex by including additional information, such as metabolic energy exchange, as well as repetition length and recovery. The model was validated using past long-term studies on muscle hypertrophy.

“While there is experimental data showing similar muscle growth with loads as little as 30% of maximum load, our model suggests that loads of 70% are a more efficient method of stimulating growth,” said Terentjev, who is a Fellow of Queens' College. “Below that, the opening rate of titin kinase drops precipitously and precludes mechanosensitive signalling from taking place. Above that, rapid exhaustion prevents a good outcome, which our model has quantitatively predicted.”

“One of the challenges in preparing elite athletes is the common requirement for maximising adaptations while balancing associated trade-offs like energy costs,” said Fionn MacPartlin, Senior Strength & Conditioning Coach at the English Institute of Sport. “This work gives us more insight into the potential mechanisms of how muscles sense and respond to load, which can help us more specifically design interventions to meet these goals.”

The model also addresses the problem of muscle atrophy, which occurs during long periods of bed rest or for astronauts in microgravity, showing both how long can a muscle afford to remain inactive before starting to deteriorate, and what the optimal recovery regime could be.

Eventually, the researchers hope to produce a user-friendly software-based application that could give individualised exercise regimes for specific goals. The researchers also hope to improve their model by extending their analysis with detailed data for both men and women, as many exercise studies are heavily biased towards male athletes.

Reference:
Neil Ibata and Eugene M. Terentjev. ‘Why exercise builds muscles: Titin mechanosensing controls skeletal muscle growth under load.’ Biophysical Journal (2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2021.07.023

To halt the decline of nature and meet Paris Agreement objectives, strategies must be designed and implemented to better manage land use for agriculture, infrastructure, biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation and adaptation, water provision, and other needs.

A new paper by the Nature Map consortium, published today in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, presents an approach for spatial planning to support such integrated conservation strategies.

The study demonstrates that by jointly considering biodiversity, carbon, and water, synergies can be gained from conservation efforts compared to placing emphasis on any individual asset alone. Through strategic action in selected locations, significant benefits can be achieved across all three dimensions. However, conservation efforts need to be greatly scaled-up to meet global biodiversity and climate objectives. 

The paper sets out to determine areas of global importance to manage for conservation that would simultaneously protect the greatest number of species from extinction, conserve vulnerable terrestrial carbon stocks, and safeguard freshwater resources. 

This work is the first of its kind to truly integrate biodiversity, carbon, and water conservation within a common approach and a single global priority map. 

“To implement post-2020 biodiversity strategies such as the Global Biodiversity Framework, policymakers and governments need clarity on where resources and conservation management could bring the greatest potential benefits to biodiversity,” said lead author Martin Jung, a researcher in the IIASA Biodiversity, Ecology, and Conservation Research Group.

He added: “Biodiversity should not be looked at in isolation. Other aspects such as conserving carbon stocks within natural ecosystems should also be considered, so that synergies and trade-offs can be evaluated when pursuing multiple objectives.” 

“This type of approach can support decision makers in prioritising locations for conservation efforts, and shows just how much both people and nature could gain,” said Lera Miles, Principal Technical Specialist – Planning for Places, UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

She added “To be successful long-term, these areas must be managed effectively and equitably. That includes respecting the rights of, and empowering indigenous peoples and local communities.” 

“Maps for integrated land use planning can accelerate progress towards climate and biodiversity objectives and have many important additional policy uses, including helping to generate finance for natural climate solutions, improving carbon markets, and greening supply chains,” said Guido Schmidt-Traub, an author of the paper who has also written a related commentary in the same issue of Nature Ecology and Evolution.

The global priority maps can be explored interactively on the UN Biodiversity lab to support decision makers and generate insight and impact for conservation and sustainable development.

Reference
Jung, M., et al.: Areas of global importance for conserving terrestrial biodiversity, carbon, and water. Nature Ecology and Evolution. August 2021. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-021-01528-7

Adapted from a press release by The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA).