In a pre-print – which has yet to be peer-reviewed – scientists from Nigeria and the UK analysed data from 140 healthcare workers at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research and Federal Medical Center, Ebute Metta, and two private hospitals in Lagos. All participants had received two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine administered between Jan and July 2021, with 12 weeks between doses.

According to the World Health Organization, around two-thirds of people in Africa are thought to have been exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, with more than 250,000 deaths. Yet, since the rollout of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in mid-2021, there has been no real world data on its effectiveness.

Vaccine rollout across the African continent has been mixed, with less than one in six (16%) of the eligible population receiving both doses and only around one in 75 (1.3%) receiving a booster dose.

The team tested the participants, looking for evidence of antibodies specifically found in individuals who had previously been infected, rather than those raised by the vaccine. They initially found that 62 participants tested positive (44%).

In a subset of 49, they then tested serum samples taken from volunteers against pseudoviruses – synthetic viruses that mimic the behaviour of SARS-CoV-2 and its variants, but which are safe to study in the laboratory – to see whether vaccinated individuals were able to neutralise the virus.

The team found that on average, one month after vaccination the Delta and Omicron variants required a 4.7-fold and 9.6-fold increase in the concentration of serum antibody in order to neutralise the virus, compared to the ‘wild type’ virus (the original strain). This indicates likely poor protection from infection by the Omicron variant, despite two doses of vaccine and infection before or during the study.

To look for evidence of vaccine breakthrough – where the virus is able to infect vaccinated individuals – the team looked at those individuals who had shown no evidence of previous infection and found that 14% became newly-infected between one and three months post-vaccination. This occurred during the Delta wave, and participants showed excellent immunity against Delta but persistently suboptimal immunity to Omicron.

Dr Adam Abdullahi, a Cambridge-Africa Research Fellow from the Institute of Human Virology, Abuja, Nigeria, and the University of Cambridge, said: “Despite being the most widely-deployed vaccine, until now there’s been very little information on how effective the AstraZeneca vaccine is at protecting people in Africa from Omicron, nor even on levels of infections before and following vaccination using accurate lab tests.

“In our study, among healthcare workers in Nigeria, we found that nearly 50% had been infected prior to their first dose of the vaccine in early 2021.”

Professor Babatunde Lawal Salako, Director of the Nigeria Institute of Medical Research, Lagos, said: “There was some good news, in that the AstraZeneca vaccine was effective at protecting people against the virus, at least initially. But with the emergence of the Delta and Omicron variants, we were beginning to see the ability to neutralise the viruses fall, and almost one in five individuals who had received two doses were infected in the three months following vaccination. This could lead to severe disease in those with suppressed immune systems or who are medically vulnerable.”

Professor Ravi Gupta, lead investigator from the Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease at the University of Cambridge added: “Given recent data suggesting that a third ‘booster’ dose with an mRNA vaccine increases and broadens protection against Omicron, we urgently need more longer term follow-up studies in west Africa, including trials of booster doses. If we are going to control this virus, we will only do so by ensuring that everyone eligible is protected against current and future variants that may be more pathogenic and severe.”

The research was funded by NIMR, Lagos, Nigeria, Wellcome and the Africa Research Excellence Fund.

Reference
Abdullahi, A, Oladele, D, Kemp, SA, et al. Prior SARS COV-2 infection and immune responses to AZD1222 in West Africa. Pre-print released 5 May 2022

The new Fellows have been recognised for their remarkable contributions to biomedical and health science and their ability to generate new knowledge and improve the health of people everywhere.

The new Cambridge Fellows are:

• Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Cambridge
• Professor Andres Floto, Professor of Respiratory Biology, University of Cambridge
• Professor Fiona Gilbert, Head of the Department of Radiology, University of Cambridge
• Dr John Marioni, Senior Group Leader at the CRUK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge
• Professor Susan Ozanne, Professor of Developmental Endocrinology, University of Cambridge
• Professor Miles Parkes, Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge
• Professor Anna Philpott, Head of the School of Biological Sciences, University of Cambridge
• Professor David Savage, Professor of Molecular Metabolism, University of Cambridge

In addition, two researchers from the wider community have also been elected:

• Dr Sjors Scheres FRS, Joint Head of Division and Programme Leader, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
• Professor Nicholas Thomson, Group Leader, Wellcome Sanger Institute

Professor Dame Anne Johnson PMedSci, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences said: “It gives me great pleasure to welcome these 60 experts to the Fellowship to help to address the major health challenges facing society.

“Each of the new Fellows has made important contributions to the health of our society, with a breadth of expertise ranging from the physical and mental health of young people to parasitic diseases and computational biology.

“The diversity of biomedical and health expertise within our Fellowship is a formidable asset that in the past year has informed our work on critical issues such as tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, understanding the health impacts of climate change, addressing health inequalities, and making the case for funding science. The new Fellows of 2022 will be critical to helping us deliver our ambitious 10-year strategy that we will launch later this year.”

The new Fellows will be formally admitted to the Academy on Monday 27 June 2022.

Adapted from a press release by the Academy of Medical Sciences

By the time you finish reading this article, at least one new case of child sexual abuse will have been reported. In the US, a child is sexually assaulted every nine minutes. In the UK, this figure is closer to one every seven minutes. The sexual abuse of children is a horrifying and widespread problem that police admit they cannot arrest their way out of.

High-profile cases of systemic child sexual abuse – Jimmy Savile, Jeffrey Epstein, Larry Nassar, cardinals, bishops and priests – have placed the threat front of mind and led members of the public to take matters into their own hands. Social media has given them the means to do so effectively.

Pretending to be children online, hunters wait for predators to initiate sexual communications. When predators ignore reminders that they are talking to “children”, hunters expose them in livestreamed “stings” once they have sufficient evidence of grooming. Several cases have shown that talking to decoys as though they were a real child can be grounds enough for sentencing.

These stings take place in public (where a predator has asked a child to meet him in a park or shopping mall) or at the predator’s home. In the UK alone, over 150 hunting teams were collectively responsible for 1,148 confrontations with suspected paedophiles in 2021. Their evidence helped secure prosecutions in hundreds of cases.

I spent three years embedded with one of the UK’s most prolific hunting teams. An analysis of 356,799 words of private, online team chats during this period, and 831 pages of field notes and interviews, offers unique insights into what it’s like to hunt another human being.

For many involved in these groups, there’s the thrill of the chase. But some also found a deep sense of purpose in confronting a moral pandemic. Many hunters themselves have experienced abuse, and this colours how they view their hunting activities. “So many in this community have been deeply affected by these scum”, one said. “If I can save one child from seeing the world through a survivor’s life then I am blessed”, another added.

Hunters spend nearly as much time judging each other’s stings as they do baiting predators. They do so to reaffirm the purity of their motive – to keep children safe – compared to other teams they accuse of hunting purely for entertainment by poking fun at predators or being physically or verbally abusive.

Still, almost all teams value viewing figures and having an audience. As one explained: "The two we did this weekend have some great exposure: a quarter of a million and 200,000 [viewers]."

The hero’s journey

The way paedophile hunters talk about their work follows a narrative akin to the hero’s journey found in tales like Batman. A selfless hero saves his community from an evil threat when formal institutions (police, politicians) fail to do so. Having restored the moral order, the superhero recedes into obscurity.

Hunters refer to sexual predators as “monsters” and “vile beasts” that prey on “the innocent”. They constantly remind each other to “keep safe” during stings, even as hunters outnumber predators four or more to one.

This attitude offers a logic and a moral justification for what hunters do. Believing that “police should be grateful we are doing their job for them”, they position themselves as society’s last line of defence.

These characters feed off each other: the more impotent the police or parents are perceived to be, the more vulnerable the child, the more beastly the monster, the more heroic the hunter.

Relationship with police

While police broadly welcome citizen involvement in fighting crime, they think hunters unhelpful, even given the role of the evidence they collect. The police accuse hunters of acting on insufficiently robust evidence and jeopardising ongoing investigations. They also say hunters fail to safeguard suspects with learning difficulties who may prove difficult to prosecute, nor do they take sufficient action to protect suspects and their families from reprisals by neighbours and psychological injury.

It can be difficult to understand why hunting teams persist with live streaming stings when less harmful alternatives are easily available. They could, for example, simply hand any evidence to police, upload sting footage only after convictions are secured in court or avoid filming the target’s face to not reveal his identity online.

Since predators are typically released on bail following arrest, hunters argue that live streaming alerts the public of a predator in their midst. Parents deserve to know “there’s a nonce roaming the neighbourhood”, they reason.

My experience suggests that hunters persist with live streaming stings not because they are not aware of less harmful alternatives, but because it is the apotheosis of their quest. The sting is the final battle between good and evil that tests the character of a hunter and must be played out before a live audience – any subsequent convictions in court are, for some teams, neither here nor there. What police presume is a means to an end is, for hunters as heroes, an end itself.

Mark de Rond, Professor of Organisational Ethnography, Cambridge Judge Business School

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The system, comparable in size to an AA battery, contains a type of non-toxic algae called Synechocystis that naturally harvests energy from the sun through photosynthesis. The tiny electrical current this generates then interacts with an aluminium electrode and is used to power a microprocessor.

The system is made of common, inexpensive and largely recyclable materials. This means it could easily be replicated hundreds of thousands of times to power large numbers of small devices as part of the Internet of Things. The researchers say it is likely to be most useful in off-grid situations or remote locations, where small amounts of power can be very beneficial.

“The growing Internet of Things needs an increasing amount of power, and we think this will have to come from systems that can generate energy, rather than simply store it like batteries,” said Professor Christopher Howe in the University of Cambridge’s Department of Biochemistry, joint senior author of the paper.

He added: “Our photosynthetic device doesn’t run down the way a battery does because it’s continually using light as the energy source.”

In the experiment, the device was used to power an Arm Cortex M0+, which is a microprocessor used widely in Internet of Things devices. It operated in a domestic environment and semi-outdoor conditions under natural light and associated temperature fluctuations, and after six months of continuous power production the results were submitted for publication.

The study is published today in the journal Energy & Environmental Science.

“We were impressed by how consistently the system worked over a long period of time – we thought it might stop after a few weeks but it just kept going,” said Dr Paolo Bombelli in the University of Cambridge’s Department of Biochemistry, first author of the paper.

The algae does not need feeding, because it creates its own food as it photosynthesises. And despite the fact that photosynthesis requires light, the device can even continue producing power during periods of darkness. The researchers think this is because the algae processes some of its food when there’s no light, and this continues to generate an electrical current.

The Internet of Things is a vast and growing network of electronic devices - each using only a small amount of power - that collect and share real-time data via the internet. Using low-cost computer chips and wireless networks, many billions of devices are part of this network - from smartwatches to temperature sensors in power stations. This figure is expected to grow to one trillion devices by 2035, requiring a vast number of portable energy sources.

The researchers say that powering trillions of Internet of Things devices using lithium-ion batteries would be impractical: it would need three times more lithium than is produced across the world annually. And traditional photovoltaic devices are made using hazardous materials that have adverse environmental effects.

The work was a collaboration between the University of Cambridge and Arm, a company leading the design of microprocessors. Arm Research developed the ultra-efficient Arm Cortex M0+ testchip, built the board, and set up the data-collection cloud interface presented in the experiments.

The research was funded by the National Biofilms Innovation Centre.

Reference

Bombelli, P. et al: ‘Powering a Microprocessor by Photosynthesis.’ Energy & Environmental Science, May 2022. DOI: 10.1039/D2EE00233G

Global change and human actions are driving rapid changes to tidal wetlands - tidal marshes, mangroves and tidal flats - worldwide. However, ecosystem restoration and natural processes are playing a part in reducing total losses.

But efforts to estimate their current and future status at the global scale remain highly unclear due to uncertainty about how tidal wetlands respond to drivers of change.

In a new study, researchers have developed a machine-learning analysis of vast archives of historical satellite images to detect the extent, timing and type of change across the world’s tidal wetlands between 1999 and 2019.

They found that globally, 13,700 square kilometres of tidal wetlands were lost, offset by gains of 9,700 square kilometres, leading to a net loss of 4,000 square kilometres over the two-decade period.

The study is published today in the journal Science.

“We found 27 per cent of losses and gains were associated with direct human activities, such as conversion to agriculture and restoration of lost wetlands,” said Dr Nicholas Murray, Senior Lecturer and head of James Cook University’s Global Ecology Lab, who led the study.

All other changes were attributed to indirect drivers such as human impacts to river catchments, extensive development in the coastal zone, coastal subsidence, natural coastal processes and climate change.

About three-quarters of the net global tidal wetland decrease happened in Asia, with almost 70 per cent of that total concentrated in Indonesia, China and Myanmar.

“Asia is the global centre of tidal wetland loss from direct human activities. These activities had a lesser role in the losses of tidal wetlands in Europe, Africa, the Americas and Oceania, where coastal wetland dynamics were driven by indirect factors such as wetland migration, coastal modifications and catchment change,” said Murray.

The scientists found that almost three-quarters of tidal wetland loss globally has been offset by the establishment of new tidal wetlands in areas where they formerly did not occur – with notable expansion in the Ganges and Amazon deltas.

Most new areas of tidal wetlands were the result of indirect drivers, highlighting the prominent role that broad-scale coastal processes have in maintaining tidal wetland extent and facilitating natural regeneration.

“This result indicates that we need to allow for the movement and migration of coastal wetlands to account for rapid global change,” said Murray.

He added: “Global-scale monitoring is now essential if we are going to manage changes in coastal environments effectively.”

Over one billion people now live in low-elevation coastal areas globally.

Tidal wetlands are of immense importance to humanity, providing benefits such as carbon storage and sequestration, coastal protection, and fisheries enhancement.

“Protecting our coastal wetlands is critical to supporting coastal communities and the wider health of the planet. These areas are the last refuge for many plants and animals,” said Dr Thomas Worthington, Senior Research Associate in the University of Cambridge’s Department of Zoology and co-author of the study.

He added: “This data can help identify coastal areas most impacted - and therefore in need of protection, or areas where we can prioritise restoration.”

Reference:

Murray, N.J. et al: ‘High-resolution mapping of losses and gains of Earth’s tidal wetlands.’ Science, May 2022. DOI: 10.1126/science.abm9583

More information: www.globalintertidalchange.org

Adapted from a press release by James Cook University

Professor Toope’s evidence focused on the Higher Education sector’s role in raising attainment in schools and sixth-form colleges, widening participation, and exploring different approaches to university examinations and assessment. 

His submission to the inquiry, particularly around widening participation, generated discussion in the media and saw some commentators suggest the University of Cambridge is discriminating against pupils from independent and grammar schools. This suggestion misrepresented the Vice-Chancellor’s comments. Professor Toope's response was published by the Telegraph:

“The University of Cambridge does not and would not discriminate against pupils from any type of school and does not use any quotas when making admissions decisions.

“Universities like Cambridge have been challenged by successive governments to reflect wider society by drawing students from all backgrounds. Unlike our great independent and grammar schools, many comprehensives have no tradition of sending pupils to places like Cambridge with the result that many of their pupils never consider applying. It is those pupils that the country’s leading universities are now trying to reach.

“This does mean that a greater number of applicants from a wider range of backgrounds will be considered for broadly the same number of places. But the most high achieving pupils from independent and grammar schools will still find a welcome at Cambridge, along with those from the comprehensive sector.”

During his submission to the inquiry, the Vice-Chancellor focused on the work universities are doing to share best practice to raise attainment and aspirations in schools.

Professor Toope cited the University’s recently launched Cambridge Foundation Year and STEM SMART programmes as examples of how Cambridge is working to reach talented but educationally disadvantaged students who might not otherwise consider applying to Cambridge, or other top universities. He also highlighted the huge success of more established Cambridge outreach programmes like NRICH and Isaac Physics, as well as Cambridge’s pioneering efforts to widen participation in postgraduate education - including a collaboration with colleagues at Oxford, using a grant from the Office for Students, to develop new admissions practices and systems to help transform selection processes.

New approaches to assessment at Cambridge, that might help close the awarding gap experienced by women, minority ethnic students, and students with learning difficulties, compared with others, were also discussed by Professor Toope. The University has adopted ‘open book’ examinations for certain subjects and is reviewing the benefits. The exams are designed to be every bit as challenging as traditional formats, and data from an ongoing, three-year evaluation will ensure standards remain as high as they always have been.

This year sees the eighth anniversary of the Concordat on Openness on Animal Research, which commits signatories to making available information about their animal research through their websites, communications and public engagement activities.

The University of Cambridge has been a signatory since it launched in 2014. It publishes detailed information on its animal research pages, include information on the different types of animal used in research at Cambridge and the number of procedures carried out each year. Its animal welfare team takes part each year in the Cambridge Festival, giving members of the public the opportunity to discuss the use of animals in research and animal welfare.

Cambridge has received three Openness Awards, most recently for its revised animal research pages (which included and a feature on the use of animals to study ways to restore movement to paralysed limbs). In previous years, it has won awards for its films looking at how mice are helping in the fight against cancer and how animals, including marmosets, help us understand brain disorders such as obsessive compulsive disorder.

Cambridge was recognised as one of 13 inaugural Leaders in Openness in 2019. Each institution is required to apply again every three years, and Cambridge’s application has once again been successful.

Bella Williams, Head of Engagement at Understanding Animal Research, said: ““Each year, the Concordat on Openness on Animal Research in the UK recognises institutions which consistently meet best-practice standards for openness and transparency in communicating about their animal research. These organisations have shown excellence in their use of internal communications, public-facing websites and social media, media communications and public engagement practices, setting a high standard for all research organisations that use animals, and leading by example.

“This year 12 research organisations have been recognised as outstanding in all these areas… [and] will hold the ‘Leaders in Openness’ title for three years in recognition of the energy, consideration and courage that they have shown in providing accessibility and public information around an important but often misunderstood subject.” 

Professor Anne Ferguson-Smith, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research at the University of Cambridge, said: “Animal research continues to be an important part of biomedical science, but as research institutions it is vital that we do not take public support for granted, and instead explain clearly why and how we work with animals and the steps we take to ensure good animal welfare.

“Since first signing the Concordat in 2014, Cambridge University has strived to be as open about our animal research as possible, sharing a wealth of information and case studies, and continuing to engage the public. We believe it’s important to show leadership in this area and we hope our efforts make a difference and show others within the sector what can be achieved.”

Alongside the University of Cambridge, Agenda Life Sciences, The Babraham Institute, The Francis Crick Institute, Imperial College London, The Institute of Cancer Research, Newcastle University, The Pirbright Institute, Royal Veterinary College, University of Bath, University of Leicester, and University of Manchester have all been recognised this year.

Animal research at Cambridge

In 2020, when the most recent figures were published, Cambridge researchers carried out just under 178,000 procedures, of which almost 98% involved mice and zebrafish. The University publishes all of its animal statistics on its website.

Animal research plays an important role in our understanding of health and disease and in the development of modern medicines and surgical techniques. Without the use of animals, we would not have many of the modern medicines, antibiotics, vaccines and surgical techniques that we take for granted in both human and veterinary medicine.

Some of the important and pioneering work for which Cambridge is best known and which has led to major improvements in people’s lives was only possible using animals, from the development of IVF techniques through to human monoclonal antibodies. Some of the work carried out is fundamental research, aimed at understanding how humans and animals develop and how our immune systems and brains work, for example. This knowledge is essential for underpinning our understanding of health and disease for both medical and veterinary purposes. 

Other work is aimed at tackling specific diseases, for example in helping us understand how Parkinson’s disease affects the brain and motor system and how it might be tackled, or in developing new treatments for autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis.

Animal research is only undertaken where there is no alternative. Our researchers always use the most appropriate species: in the vast majority of cases, this involves using mice, rats and zebrafish. Sometimes, however, it is necessary to use species that are closer to humans in size or development.

The research, from the University of Cambridge, Wellcome Sanger Institute, and collaborators, has created an open-access atlas of the immune cells in the human body and focuses on those found within tissues, which are understudied, compared to those circulating in the blood.

This study is part of the international Human Cell Atlas (HCA) consortium, which is aiming to map every cell type in the human body as a basis for both understanding human health and for diagnosing, monitoring, and treating disease. 

Published in Science, the research explores the similarities and differences of the same types of immune cells across 16 different tissues. Knowing more about immune cell traits and reactions in these tissues could help future research into therapies that aim to produce or enhance an immune response to fight disease, such as vaccinations or anti-cancer treatments.  

It is one of a trio of milestone collaborative papers published together in Science this week, which have created comprehensive and openly available cross-tissue cell atlases. The complementary studies shed light on health and disease, and will contribute towards a single Human Cell Atlas. 

The human immune system is made up of many different types of cells that can be found throughout the body, all playing crucial roles. They not only fight off pathogens when they appear, but remember them so they can be eliminated in the future.

In this new research, scientists simultaneously analysed immune cells across 16 tissues from 12 individual organ donors. The team developed a database that automatically classifies different cell types, called CellTypist, to handle the large volume and variation of immune cells. Through this, they were able to identify around 100 distinct cell types.

Using CellTypist and further in-depth analysis, the researchers created a cross-tissue immune cell atlas that revealed the relationship between immune cells in one tissue and their counterparts in others. They found similarities across certain families of immune cells, such as macrophages, as well as differences in others. For example, some memory T cells show unique features depending on which tissue they are in.

The team also uncovered new insights into immune system memory by sequencing the antigen receptors that are found on T and B cells. This part of the study showed the different states that T and B cells undergo if they are exposed to an antigen, such as those found on bacteria and viruses.

The wider research community can use this cross-tissue immune cell atlas to help interpret and inform future research. It could also serve as a framework to identify which immune cells could be useful to activate when designing new therapeutics that focus on guiding or supporting the immune system, such as vaccination and immunotherapies, for both infectious diseases and solid tumours.

Dr Cecilia Domínguez Conde, co-first author from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: “We have created a novel catalogue of immune cells within the human body, allowing us to automatically identify cell types across multiple tissues. By using single-cell sequencing data we have been able to reveal around a hundred different kinds of immune cells including macrophages, B cells, and T cells, uncovering crucial information about how the immune system works. We would like to thank the donors and their families for making this research possible.”

Dr Joanne Jones, co-senior author from the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Cambridge, said: “In this research, we not only identified distinct types of immune cells, we also found that certain immune cell types follow specific tissue distribution patterns. Understanding the varying behaviours of the same type of immune cell in multiple areas of the body can help inform research into disease and how treatments that target these cells might impact other tissues.”

Dr Sarah Teichmann from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, co-founder of the Human Cell Atlas, said: “Our multi-tissue immune cell atlas is a step towards understanding how the immune system functions throughout the entire body and is an important contribution towards the Human Cell Atlas. In addition to creating a new resource for researchers to classify different cell types, our work will have many translational implications, including serving as a framework for developing therapies to fight immune-related diseases and managing infections.”

Reference
Domínguez Conde. C, Xu. C, Jarvis. LB, Rainbow. DB, Wells. SB, et al. (2022) Cross-tissue immune cell analysis reveals tissue-specific features in humans. Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.abl5197

Adapted from a press release by the Wellcome Sanger Institute

The story that Trinity College Cambridge was only founded because Henry VIII’s last wife, Katherine Parr, pleaded with him to do so, has become part of the folklore of Cambridge University. It resurfaced again in Cambridge News this month, along with the claim that it was only the queen’s intervention that stopped Henry from closing down some or all of the Cambridge colleges. 

But research by Richard Rex, Professor of Reformation History at Cambridge, now shows that this much loved and repeated tale is misleading. Rex’s study, published in The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, reveals that numerous powerful people at Court helped to defend the university from the potential threat posed by the king in his final few years, and that Henry had already decided to establish Trinity before the university lobbied Katherine Parr.

The university’s fears centred on the Chantries Act of 1545, which empowered the king to take over, at will, any of the ‘colleges, free chapels, chantries, hospitals’ or other religious foundations with which his kingdom abounded. In principle this power could certainly have swept up the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge to swell the royal coffers.

But as Professor Rex explains: “While the Chantries Act did indeed give Henry the power to suppress any college or church foundation he chose, it’s clear that the university’s friends at Court did all they could, from the start, to ensure that this new power would not be used against Cambridge or Oxford.” 

“Even before the universities knew what was going on, they were given different treatment from the rest of England and Wales as the new law was put into effect.” 

Cambridge did write to Katherine Parr, among others, to lobby against the potential threat to their interests. But her reply only confirms what other sources studied by Rex also make clear: that Henry had already taken the decision to found Christ Church in Oxford and Trinity in Cambridge. 

Parr’s letter, dated 26 February 1546 and preserved in Corpus Christi College’s library in Cambridge, assures the university that the king: 
‘being such a patron to good learning doth tender [i.e. favour] you so much that he will rather advance learning and erect new occasion thereof than to confound those your ancient and godly institutions’.

Even though the processes for establishing the twin foundations were delayed so that the colleges only came into being a month or two before Henry’s death at the end of January 1547, key parts of the plan were already in place as early as summer 1545. 

Rex said: “Katherine Parr was undoubtedly a patron of learning and in particular of the ‘new learning’ of the Protestant Reformation. But the idea that she had a crucial role in the foundation of Trinity is romantic fiction with only the slenderest basis in the historical record.”

Rex’s study undermines other long-held assumptions based on chronological errors, including that Cambridge’s lobbying secured the favourable appointment of university insiders Matthew Parker, John Redman and William May as commissioners to survey its Colleges for the king. 

In fact, their appointment preceded any known Cambridge lobbying by about a month and, Rex argues, this came about thanks to ‘the unsolicited intervention of the university’s friends at court’. Rex found supporting evidence for this among Matthew Parker’s papers in Corpus Christi’s library, which still bears Parker’s name because he left the College his magnificent private collection of books and manuscripts.

Rex, himself a student at Trinity in the 1980s, made these discoveries while working with Colin Armstrong (another Trinity alum) on a chapter for a forthcoming book about the college’s history.

The popular narrative which emphasises Parr’s influence and that of Cambridge lobbyists originated in a book published in 1884 by J.B. Mullinger entitled The University of Cambridge from the royal injunctions of 1545 to the accession of Charles the First. Mullinger was a historian and librarian at St John's College Cambridge. But Rex concludes that he both misread and misdated the patchy original sources which describe these events.

He said: “When I started this work, I simply wanted to nail down the traditional story by checking the sources and footnotes. It had been retold so often by so many good historians that I had no reason to doubt it was true. But I found that the whole thing was a mess, the chronology didn’t make any sense. So I set about trying to put the record straight.”

“The fact that Cambridge and Oxford were, from the start, set apart from the rest of the country in the implementation of the Chantries Act is just one among several indications that Henry VIII already had something special in mind for them. 

“Henry’s plan to establish lasting memorials to himself in both universities had probably been in his mind since mid-1545 at the latest. The ‘Cambridge version’ of events appears to have been an academic flight of fancy. Our lobbying efforts weren’t quite as influential as we once liked to imagine.” 

“Strangely, a fashion has grown up of attributing too much of what Henry VIII did to the influence of those closest to him – Wolsey, Cromwell, Anne Boleyn, or Katherine Parr. Like anyone, Henry was liable to be influenced by those around him. But the big decisions – and the founding of Christ Church and Trinity were big decisions – were his.”

Reference
R Rex, ‘The University of Cambridge and the Chantries Act of 1545’, The Journal of Ecclesiastical History (2022); doi.org/10.1017/S0022046921001494

The enigmatic area of rock, which is located almost directly beneath the Hawaiian Islands, is one of several ultra-low velocity zones – so-called because earthquake waves slow to a crawl as they pass through them.

The research, published in Nature Communications, is the first to reveal the complex internal variability of one of these pockets in detail, shedding light on the landscape of Earth’s deep interior and the processes operating within it.  

“Of all Earth’s deep interior features, these are the most fascinating and complex. We’ve now got the first solid evidence to show their internal structure - it’s a real milestone in deep earth seismology,” said lead author Zhi Li, PhD student at Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences.

Earth’s interior is layered like an onion: at the centre sits the iron-nickel core, surrounded by a thick layer known as the mantle, and on top of that a thin outer shell — the crust we live on. Although the mantle is solid rock, it is hot enough to flow extremely slowly. These internal convection currents feed heat to the surface, driving the movement of tectonic plates and fuelling volcanic eruptions.  

Scientists use seismic waves from earthquakes to 'see' beneath Earth’s surface — the echoes and shadows of these waves reveal radar-like images of deep interior topography. But, until recently, 'images' of the structures at the core-mantle boundary, an area of key interest for studying our planet’s internal heat flow, have been grainy and difficult to interpret.

The researchers used the latest numerical modelling methods to reveal kilometre-scale structures at the core-mantle boundary. According to co-author Dr Kuangdai Leng, who developed the methods while at the University of Oxford, “We are really pushing the limits of modern high-performance computing for elastodynamic simulations, taking advantage of wave symmetries unnoticed or unused before.” Leng, who is currently based at the Science and Technology Facilities Council, says that this means they can improve the resolution of the images by an order of magnitude compared to previous work. 

The researchers observed a 40% reduction in the speed of seismic waves travelling at the base of the ultra-low velocity zone beneath Hawaii. This supports existing proposals that the zone contains much more iron than the surrounding rocks – meaning it is denser and more sluggish. “It’s possible that this iron-rich material is a remnant of ancient rocks from Earth’s early history or even that iron might be leaking from the core by an unknown means,” said project lead Dr Sanne Cottaar from Cambridge Earth Sciences.

The research could also help scientists understand what sits beneath and gives rise to volcanic chains like the Hawaiian Islands. Scientists have started to notice a correlation between the location of the descriptively-named hotspot volcanoes, which include Hawaii and Iceland, and the ultra-low velocity zones at the base of the mantle. The origin of hotspot volcanoes has been debated, but the most popular theory suggests that plume-like structures bring hot mantle material all the way from the core-mantle boundary to the surface.

With images of the ultra-low velocity zone beneath Hawaii now in hand, the team can also gather rare physical evidence from what is likely the root of the plume feeding Hawaii. Their observation of dense, iron-rich rock beneath Hawaii would support surface observations. “Basalts erupting from Hawaii have anomalous isotope signatures which could either point to either an early-Earth origin or core leaking, it means some of this dense material piled up at the base must be dragged to the surface,” said Cottaar.

More of the core-mantle boundary now needs to be imaged to understand if all surface hotspots have a pocket of dense material at the base. Where and how the core-mantle boundary can be targeted does depend on where earthquakes occur, and where seismometers are installed to record the waves.  

The team’s observations add to a growing body of evidence that Earth’s deep interior is just as variable as its surface. “These low velocity zones are one of the most intricate features we see at extreme depths – if we expand our search, we are likely to see ever-increasing levels of complexity, both structural and chemical, at the core-mantle boundary,” said Li.

They now plan to apply their techniques to enhance the resolution of imaging of other pockets at the core-mantle boundary, as well as mapping new zones. Eventually they hope to map the geological landscape across the core-mantle boundary and understand its relationship with the dynamics and evolutionary history of our planet.

Reference:
Zhi Li, Kuangdai Leng, Jennifer Jenkins, Sanne Cottaar. 'Kilometer-scale structure on the core–mantle boundary near Hawaii.' Nature Communications (2022), DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30502-5

The supercapacitor device, which is similar to a rechargeable battery, is the size of a two-pence coin, and is made in part from sustainable materials including coconut shells and seawater.

Designed by researchers from the University of Cambridge, the supercapacitor could help power carbon capture and storage technologies at much lower cost. Around 35 billion tonnes of CO2 are released into the atmosphere per year and solutions are urgently needed to eliminate these emissions and address the climate crisis. The most advanced carbon capture technologies currently require large amounts of energy and are expensive.

The supercapacitor consists of two electrodes of positive and negative charge. In work led by Trevor Binford while completing his Master’s degree at Cambridge, the team tried alternating from a negative to a positive voltage to extend the charging time from previous experiments. This improved the supercapacitor’s ability to capture carbon.

“We found that that by slowly alternating the current between the plates we can capture double the amount of CO2 than before,” said Dr Alexander Forse from Cambridge’s Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, who led the research.

“The charging-discharging process of our supercapacitor potentially uses less energy than the amine heating process used in industry now,” said Forse. “Our next questions will involve investigating the precise mechanisms of CO2 capture and improving them. Then it will be a question of scaling up.”

The results are reported in the journal Nanoscale.

A supercapacitor is similar to a rechargeable battery but the main difference is in how the two devices store charge. A battery uses chemical reactions to store and release charge, whereas a supercapacitor does not rely on chemical reactions. Instead, it relies on the movement of electrons between electrodes, so it takes longer to degrade and has a longer lifespan.

“The trade-off is that supercapacitors can’t store as much charge as batteries, but for something like carbon capture we would prioritise durability,” said co-author Grace Mapstone. “The best part is that the materials used to make supercapacitors are cheap and abundant. The electrodes are made of carbon, which comes from waste coconut shells.

“We want to use materials that are inert, that don’t harm environments, and that we need to dispose of less frequently. For example, the CO2 dissolves into a water-based electrolyte which is basically seawater.”

However, this supercapacitor does not absorb CO2 spontaneously: it must be charging to draw in CO2. When the electrodes become charged, the negative plate draws in the CO2 gas, while ignoring other emissions, such as oxygen, nitrogen and water, which don’t contribute to climate change. Using this method, the supercapacitor both captures carbon and stores energy.

Co-author Dr Israel Temprano contributed to the project by developing a gas analysis technique for the device. The technique uses a pressure sensor that responds to changes in gas adsorption in the electrochemical device. The results from Temprano’s contribution help narrow down the precise mechanism at play inside the supercapacitor when CO2 is absorbed and released. Understanding these mechanisms, the possible losses, and the routes of degradation are all essential before the supercapacitor can be scaled up.

“This field of research is very new so the precise mechanism working inside the supercapacitor still isn’t known,” said Temprano.

The research was funded by a Future Leaders Fellowship to Dr Forse, a UK Research and Innovation scheme developing the next wave of world-class research and innovation.

Reference:
Trevor B. Binford, Grace Mapstone, Israel Temprano, and Alexander C. Forse. 'Enhancing the capacity of supercapacitive swing adsorption CO2 capture by tuning charging protocols.' Nanoscale (2022). DOI: 10.1039/D2NR00748G

In a study published today in BMC Medicine, researchers at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit show that – assuming a causal link – 11% of cases of coronary heart disease could be prevented if people watched less than an hour of TV each day.

According to the British Heart Foundation, coronary heart disease is one of the UK’s leading causes of death, responsible for around 64,000 deaths each year. In the UK, one in eight men and one in 15 women die from the disease. People with coronary heart disease are twice as likely to have a stroke.

One of the major risk factors for coronary heart disease is sedentary behaviour – in other words, sitting for long periods of time rather than being physically active. To examine the link between time spent in screen-based sedentary behaviours such as TV viewing and leisure-time computer use, an individual’s DNA, and their risk of coronary heart disease, researchers examined data from the UK Biobank, a biomedical database and research resource containing anonymised genetic, lifestyle and health information from half a million UK participants.

The team created polygenic risk scores for each individual – that is, their genetic risk of developing coronary heart disease based on 300 genetic variants known to influence their chances of developing the condition. As expected, individuals with higher polygenic risk scores were at greatest risk of developing the condition.

People who watched more than four hours of TV per day were at greatest risk of the disease, regardless of their polygenic risk score. Compared to these individuals, people who watched two to three hours of TV a day had a relative 6% lower rate of developing the condition, while those who watched less than an hour of TV had a relative 16% lower rate. These associations were independent of genetic susceptibility and other known risk factors.

Leisure time spent using a computer did not appear to influence disease risk.

“Our study provides unique insights into the potential role that limiting TV viewing might have in preventing coronary heart disease,” said Dr Youngwon Kim, assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong, and visiting researcher at the MRC Epidemiology Unit, the study’s corresponding author. “Individuals who watch TV for less than one hour a day were less likely to develop the condition, independent of their genetic risk.

“Limiting the amount of time sat watching TV could be a useful, and relatively light touch, lifestyle change that could help individuals with a high genetic predisposition to coronary heart disease in particular to manage their risk.”

Dr Katrien Wijndaele from the MRC Epidemiology Unit, last author of the study, said: “Coronary heart disease is one of the most prominent causes of premature death, so finding ways to help people manage their risk through lifestyle modification is important.

“The World Health Organization recommends reducing the amount of sedentary behaviour and replacing it with physical activity of any intensity as a way of keeping healthier. While it isn’t possible to say for certain that sitting watching TV increases your risk of coronary heart disease, because of various potential confounding factors and measurement error, our work supports the WHO’s guidelines. It suggests a straightforward, measurable way of achieving this goal for the general population as well as individuals at high genetic risk of coronary heart disease.”

There are several potential reasons that might explain the link between TV viewing and coronary heart disease risk, say the team – and in particular, why no link was found with computer use. TV viewing tends to occur in the evening following dinner, usually our most calorific meal, leading to higher levels of glucose and lipids, such as cholesterol, in the blood. People also often snack more when watching TV compared to when surfing the web, for example. Lastly, TV viewing tends to be prolonged, whereas individuals using their computer may be more likely to break up their activity.

The research was funded by the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong.

Reference
Kim, Y, et al. Genetic susceptibility, screen-based sedentary activities and incidence of coronary heart disease. BMC Medicine; 24 May 2022; DOI: 10.1186/s12916-022-02380-7

Dr Freeling, the outgoing President of Hughes Hall, Cambridge, will take up his post on the departure of Professor Stephen J Toope. Recruitment for the post of Vice-Chancellor is under way and an appointment is expected to be announced in the early Autumn.

The appointment of Dr Freeling was confirmed by the University Council at its meeting on Monday 23 May.

Dr Freeling has been President of Hughes Hall since 2014, having initially become involved with the College as a Fellow and Trustee in 2008. As a member of the University Council and Chair of the Colleges Committee, he has extensive experience of the operation of the Collegiate University.

He said: “It is a great honour to be asked to lead the University, picking up the baton from Stephen and passing it on in due course to the next Vice-Chancellor. I look forward to working with the senior teams of the University and of the Colleges. We must jointly maintain momentum on the initiatives that are underway to ensure that Cambridge maintains research and education excellence at the highest global standard, putting our students and staff at the forefront of all we do.”

Professor Toope said: “I have worked closely with Anthony over several years, and particularly in navigating our way through the challenges of the pandemic. He is an exceptionally able colleague and strong leader. He has been instrumental in helping the University and Colleges work more closely, and with greater sense of shared purpose, than ever before. I am entirely confident that this great University will continue to thrive under his leadership, and I wish him every success.”

Mark Lewisohn, Deputy Chair of the University Council, said: “The selection panel was impressed with the exceptionally strong field of applicants for the role of Acting Vice-Chancellor. With the appointment of Anthony, we are entrusting the leadership of the University to a highly experienced figure who has a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities ahead. We are delighted that he has agreed to lead the transition to our next Vice-Chancellor.”

Dr Freeling studied at St John’s College, Cambridge, between 1975 and 1984, completing an MA in Mathematics, an MPhil in Control Engineering and Operation Research, and a PhD in Decision Analysis and Behavioural Economics.

Prior to resuming his long relationship with Cambridge, he spent 18 years with McKinsey & Company, where he was a senior partner, leading its marketing and sales practice across Europe. He has also worked as an independent consultant advising a broad range of companies in areas as diverse as law and global marketing. He was a director of Ashridge Strategic Management Centre, and research director of the Coca-Cola Retailing Research Councils for Europe and Asia. He was formerly on the Council of the Open University and on the Board of UnLtd, the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs.

The researchers used a combination of techniques to mimic the process of aging under sunlight and observe changes in the materials at the nanoscale, helping them gain new insights into the materials, which also show potential for optoelectronic applications such as energy-efficient LEDs and X-ray detectors, but are limited in their longevity.

Their results, reported in the journal Nature, could significantly accelerate the development of long-lasting, commercially available perovskite photovoltaics.

Perovksites are abundant and much cheaper to process than crystalline silicon. They can be prepared in liquid ink that is simply printed to produce a thin film of the material.

While the overall energy output of perovskite solar cells can often meet or – in the case of multi-layered ‘tandem’ devices – exceed that achievable with traditional silicon photovoltaics, the limited longevity of the devices is a key barrier to their commercial viability.

A typical silicon solar panel, like those you might see on the roof of a house, typically lasts about 20-25 years without significant performance losses.

Because perovskite devices are much cheaper to produce, they may not need to have as long a lifetime as their silicon counterparts to enter some markets. But to fulfil their ultimate potential in realising widespread decarbonisation, cells will need to operate for at least a decade or more. Researchers and manufacturers have yet to develop a perovskite device with similar stability to silicon cells.

Now, researchers at the University of Cambridge and the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) in Japan, have discovered the secret to treating the ‘Achilles heel’ of perovskites.

Using high spatial-resolution techniques, in collaboration with the Diamond Light Source synchrotron facility and its electron Physical Sciences Imaging Centre (ePSIC) in Oxfordshire, and the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy in Cambridge, the team was able to observe the nanoscale properties of these thin films and how they change over time under solar illumination.

Previous work by the team using similar techniques has shone light on the defects that cause deficiencies in the performance of perovskite photovoltaics – so-called carrier traps.

“Illuminating the perovskite films over time, simulating the aging of solar cell devices, we find that the most interesting dynamics are occurring at these nanoscopic trap clusters,” said co-author Dr Stuart Macpherson from Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory.

“We now know that the changes we see are related to photodegradation of the films. As a result, efficiency-limiting carrier traps can now be directly linked to the equally crucial issue of solar cell longevity.”

“It’s pretty exciting,” said co-author Dr Tiarnan Doherty, from Cambridge’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, and Murray Edwards College, “because it suggests that if you can address the formation of these surface traps, then you will simultaneously improve performance and the stability of the devices over time.”

By tuning the chemical composition, and how the perovskite film forms, in preparing the devices, the researchers have shown that it’s possible to control how many of these detrimental phases form and, by extension, how long the device will last.

“The most stable devices seem to be serendipitously lowering the density of detrimental phases through subtle compositional and structural modifications,” said Doherty. “We’re hoping that this paper reveals a more rational, targeted approach for doing this and achieving the highest performing devices operating with maximal stability.”

The group is optimistic that their latest findings will bring us closer still to the first commercially available perovskite photovoltaic devices.

“Perovskite solar cells are on the cusp of commercialisation, with the first production lines already producing modules,” said Dr Sam Stranks from Cambridge’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, who led the research.

“We now understand that any residual unwanted phases – even tiny nanoscale pockets remaining from the processing of the cells – will be bad news for the longevity of perovskite solar cells. The manufacturing processes need to incorporate careful tuning of the structure and composition across a large area to eliminate any trace of these unwanted phases – even more careful control than is widely thought for these materials. This is a great example of fundamental science directly guiding scaled manufacturing.”

“It has been very satisfying to see the approaches that we've developed at OIST and Cambridge over the past several years provide direct visuals of these tiny residual unwanted phases, and how they change over time,” said co-author Dr Keshav Dani of OIST’s Femtosecond Spectroscopy Unit. “The hope remains that these techniques will continue to reveal the performance limiting aspects of photovoltaic devices, as we work towards studying operational devices.”

“Another strength of perovskite devices is that they can be made in countries where there’s no existing infrastructure for processing monocrystalline silicon,” said Macpherson. “Silicon solar cells are cheap in the long term but require a substantial initial capital outlay to begin processing. But for perovskites, because they can be solution-processed and printed so easily, using far less material, you remove that initial cost. They offer a viable option for low- and middle-income countries looking to transition to solar energy.”

Reference:
Samuel Stranks et al. 'Local Nanoscale Phase Impurities are Degradation Sites in Halide Perovskites.' Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04872-1

These findings, published in Molecular Autism, have important implications for the healthcare and support of autistic individuals.

Many studies indicate that autistic people are dying far younger than others, but there is a paucity of research on the health and healthcare of autistic people across the adult lifespan. While some studies have previously suggested that autistic people may have significant barriers to accessing healthcare, only a few, small studies have compared the healthcare experiences of autistic people to others.

In the largest study to date on this topic, the team at the Autism Research Centre (ARC) in Cambridge used an anonymous, self-report survey to compare the experiences of 1,285 autistic individuals to 1,364 non-autistic individuals, aged 16-96 years, from 79 different countries. 54% of participants were from the UK. The survey assessed rates of mental and physical health conditions, and the quality of healthcare experiences.

The team found that autistic people self-reported lower quality healthcare than others across 50 out of 51 items on the survey. Autistic people were far less likely to say that they could describe how their symptoms feel in their body, describe how bad their pain feels, explain what their symptoms are, and understand what their healthcare professional means when they discuss their health. Autistic people were also less likely to know what is expected of them when they go to see their healthcare professional, and to feel they are provided with appropriate support after receiving a diagnosis, of any kind.

Autistic people were over seven times more likely to report that their senses frequently overwhelm them so that they have trouble focusing on conversations with healthcare professionals. In addition, they were over three times more likely to say they frequently leave their healthcare professional’s office feeling as though they did not receive any help at all. Autistic people were also four times more likely to report experiencing shutdowns or meltdowns due to a common healthcare scenario (e.g., setting up an appointment to see a healthcare professional).

The team then created an overall ‘health inequality score’ and employed novel data analytic methods, including machine learning. Differences in healthcare experiences were stark: the models could predict whether or not a participant was autistic with 72% accuracy based only on their ‘health inequality score’. The study also found worryingly high rates of chronic physical and mental health conditions, including arthritis, breathing concerns, neurological conditions, anorexia, anxiety, ADHD, bipolar disorder, depression, insomnia, OCD, panic disorders, personality disorders, PTSD, SAD, and self-harm.

Dr Elizabeth Weir, a postdoctoral scientist at the ARC in Cambridge, and the lead researcher of the study, said: “This study should sound the alarm to healthcare professionals that their autistic patients are experiencing high rates of chronic conditions alongside difficulties with accessing healthcare. Current healthcare systems are failing to meet very fundamental needs of autistic people.”

Dr Carrie Allison, Director of Strategy at the ARC and another member of the team, added: “Healthcare systems must adapt to provide appropriate reasonable adjustments to autistic and all neurodiverse patients to ensure that they have equal access to high quality healthcare.”

Professor Sir Simon Baron-Cohen, Director of the ARC and a member of the team, said: “This study is an important step forward in understanding the issues that autistic adults are facing in relation to their health and health care, but much more research is needed. We need more research on long term outcomes of autistic people and how their health and healthcare can be improved. Clinical service providers need to ask autistic people what they need and then meet these needs.”

The research was funded by the Autism Centre of Excellence, the Rosetrees Trust, the Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, the Corbin Charitable Trust, the Queen Anne’s Gate Foundation, the MRC, the Wellcome Trust and the Innovative Medicines Initiative.

Reference
Weir, E., Allison, C., & Baron-Cohen, S. Autistic adults have poorer quality healthcare and worse health based on self-report data. Molecular Autism (2022).

This award recognises centres for excellence in treatment, research and care.

The initiative is part of the TJBCM’s mission to ensure every patient has access to excellent care, no matter where they live. Including these six new centres, there are now 17 Tessa Jowell Centres of Excellence across the UK.

With 12,000 people diagnosed with a brain tumour every year in the UK, there has never been a more important time to recognise the efforts of NHS staff committed to developing and improving brain tumour treatment and care.

Stephen Price, Consultant Neurosurgeon at Addenbrooke’s and Clinician Scientist at the University of Cambridge, said: “We are delighted to be designated as a Tessa Jowell Centre of Excellence as it means that brain tumour patients can be confident they are receiving the highest level of NHS care and have access to the most up to date treatments.

"The designation acknowledges the hard work and dedication of our research and clinical teams to deliver the best possible care for patients.”

To be considered for this award, centres implemented specific feedback from the Mission and made a range of service improvements over a period of 18 months.

The East of England service was recognised for its commitment to equality of access for patients across the region, with the Cambridge University Hospitals, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and Ipswich Hospital teams working closely together to ensure excellence in treatment and care for all patients no matter where in the region they lived.

The committee commended the Addenbrooke’s hospital team for their impressive efforts to further improve their rehabilitation services and the innovative Minderoo Precision Brain Tumour Programme.

Nicola Day, clinical specialist physiotherapist in oncological rehabilitation and exercise at CUH, contributed to the submission and said: “Becoming a centre of excellence recognises the contribution of all members of the multidisciplinary team in providing the best possible care for our patients diagnosed with a brain tumour across the East of England.

"I’m delighted that our rehabilitation services have been particularly commended, which is credit to our in-patient teams alongside the success of our Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (ACT) funded outpatient rehabilitation programme, developed for patients undergoing cancer treatment at the hospital.”

Cambridge is also leading the way in genetic testing, with patients with the most aggressive and fatal form of brain tumour, called glioblastoma, being offered a more detailed diagnosis and tailored treatment plan through rapid whole genome sequencing.

The Minderoo Precision Brain Tumour Programme is the first of its kind in the UK and is a partnership between Cambridge University Hospitals, the Minderoo Foundation, the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission, NHS East Genomics Laboratory Hub, Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre at the University of Cambridge and Illumina.

“The new Centre of Excellence status recognises the research strengths at Cambridge where the newly funded CRUK Brain Cancer Virtual Institute at the CRUK Cambridge Centre and the integrated Minderoo Precision Brain Tumour Programme are bringing together clinicians and researchers to tackle this cancer of unmet need,” added Stephen Price, who also co-leads our CRUK Brain Cancer Virtual Institute.

“Our staff will now have access to the Tessa Jowell Academy for training and sharing best practice across other Centres of Excellence enabling us to continue to improve clinical care and community support services for people living with a brain tumour across the whole of East Anglia.

"As a Centre of Excellence we will also have new funding opportunities for research to better understand and treat brain tumours.”

All six centres will continue to share their expertise with staff in other centres through the Tessa Jowell Academy, the Mission’s national learning and networking platform. This will ensure that multidisciplinary teams continue to connect with peer centres across the country and learn from each other’s excellence to support service improvement nationally.

Jess Mills, Tessa Jowell’s daughter and TJBCM’s Special Adviser said: “We are one step closer to achieving this incredible ambition of excellence for all. The reason we are moving forward at this fast pace is due to the combined efforts and commitment of the doctors, nurses and support staff in each of the hospitals.”

It is hoped that for the 88,000 British people currently living with a brain tumour, the excellence status provides reassurance about the availability of excellent care and commitment to improvement in the NHS across the UK.

Offering precision cancer treatment is a key aim of the planned new Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital, bringing together clinical expertise from Addenbrooke's with cutting-edge research from the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre and University of Cambridge.

The new specialist cancer hospital will combine modern NHS clinical space with three new research institutes dedicated to fulfilling the ambitions set out in the government's Life Science Strategy and the NHS Long Term Plan.

This unique facility will change the story of cancer for patients – in this region, nationally and globally – by detecting cancer earlier, diagnosing it more accurately, and treating it more precisely.

Press release from CRUK Cambridge Cancer Centre

The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, used sensors small and sensitive enough to detect temperature changes inside individual cells, and found that as amyloid-beta misfolds and clumps together, it causes cells to overheat.

In an experiment using human cell lines, the researchers found the heat released by amyloid-beta aggregation could potentially cause other, healthy amyloid-beta to aggregate, causing more and more aggregates to form.

In the same series of experiments, the researchers also showed that amyloid-beta aggregation can be stopped, and the cell temperature lowered, with the addition of a drug compound. The experiments also suggest that the compound has potential as a therapeutic for Alzheimer’s disease, although extensive tests and clinical trials would first be required.

The researchers say their assay could be used as a diagnostic tool for Alzheimer’s disease, or to screen potential drug candidates. The results are reported in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Alzheimer’s disease affects an estimated 44 million people worldwide, and there are currently no effective diagnostics or treatments. In Alzheimer’s disease, amyloid-beta and another protein called tau build up into tangles and plaques – known collectively as aggregates – causing brain cells to die and the brain to shrink. This results in memory loss, personality changes and difficulty carrying out daily functions.

It is a difficult disease to study, since it develops over decades, and a definitive diagnosis can only be given after examining samples of brain tissue after death. It is still not known what kind of biochemical changes inside a cell lead to amyloid-beta aggregation.

In Professor Gabriele Kaminski Schierle’s research group at Cambridge’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, they have been investigating the possible link between temperature and amyloid-beta aggregation in human cells.

The field of studying temperature changes inside a cell is known as intracellular thermogenesis. It is a new and challenging field: scientists have developed sensors with which temperature changes can be measured, however, no one has ever tried to use these sensors to study conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.

“Thermogenesis has been associated with cellular stress, which may promote further aggregation,” said Chyi Wei Chung, the study’s first author. “We believe that when there’s an imbalance in cells, like when the amyloid-beta concentration is slightly too high and it starts to accumulate, cellular temperatures increase.”

“Overheating a cell is like frying an egg – as it heats up, the proteins start to clump together and become non-functional,” said Kaminski Schierle, who led the research.

The researchers used tiny temperature sensors called fluorescent polymeric thermometers (FTPs) to study the link between aggregation and temperature. They added amyloid-beta to human cell lines to kickstart the aggregation process and used a chemical called FCCP as a control, since it is known to induce an increase in temperature.

They found that as amyloid-beta started to form thread-like aggregates called fibrils, the average temperature of the cells started to rise. The increase in cellular temperature was significant compared to cells that did not have any amyloid-beta added.

“As the fibrils start elongating, they release energy in the form of heat,” said Kaminski Schierle. “Amyloid-beta aggregation requires quite a lot of energy to get going, but once the aggregation process starts, it speeds up and releases more heat, allowing more aggregates to form.”

“Once the aggregates have formed, they can exit the cell and be taken up by neighbouring cells, infecting healthy amyloid-beta in those cells,” said Chung. “No one has shown this link between temperature and aggregation in live cells before.”

Using a drug that inhibits amyloid-beta aggregation, the researchers were able to pinpoint the fibrils as the cause of thermogenesis. It had previously been unknown whether protein aggregation or potential damage to mitochondria – the ‘batteries’ that power cells – was responsible for this phenomenon.

The researchers also found that the rise in cellular temperatures could be mitigated by treating them with an aggregation inhibitor, highlighting its potential as a therapeutic for Alzheimer’s disease.

The laboratory experiments were complemented by computational modelling describing what might happen to amyloid-beta in an intracellular environment and why it might lead to an increase in intracellular temperatures. The researchers hope their work will motivate new studies incorporating different parameters of physiological relevance.

The research was supported in part by Alzheimer’s Research UK, the Cambridge Trust, Wellcome, and the Medical Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Reference:
Chyi Wei Chung et al. ‘Intracellular Aβ42 aggregation leads to cellular thermogenesis.’ Journal of the American Chemical Society (2022). DOI: 10.1021/jacs.2c03599

The field of organic electronics has benefited from the discovery of new semiconducting polymers with molecular backbones that are resilient to twists and bends, meaning they can transport charge even if they are flexed into different shapes.

It had been assumed that these materials resemble a plate of spaghetti at the molecular scale, without any long-range order. However, an international team of researchers found that for at least one such material, there are tiny pockets of order within. These ordered pockets, just a few ten-billionths of a metre across, are stiffer than the rest of the material, giving it a ‘fruitcake’ structure with harder and softer regions.

The work was led by the University of Cambridge and Park Systems UK Limited, with KTH Stockholm in Sweden, the Universities of Namur and Mons in Belgium, and Wake Forest University in the USA. Their results, reported in the journal Nature Communications, could be used in the development of next-generation microelectronic and bioelectronic devices.

Studying and understanding the mechanical properties of these materials at the nanoscale – a field known as nanomechanics – could help scientists fine-tune those properties and make the materials suitable for a wider range of applications.

“We know that the fabric of nature on the nanoscale isn’t uniform, but finding uniformity and order where we didn’t expect to see it was a surprise,” said Dr Deepak Venkateshvaran from Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory, who led the research.

The researchers used an imaging technique called higher eigen mode imaging to take nanoscale pictures of the regions of order within a semiconducting polymer called indacenodithiophene-co-benzothiadiazole (C16-IDTBT). These pictures showed clearly how individual polymer chains line up next to each other in some regions of the polymer film. These regions of order are between 10 and 20 nanometres across.

“The sensitivity of these detection methods allowed us to map out the self-organisation of polymers down to the individual molecular strands,” said co-author Dr Leszek Spalek, also from the Cavendish Laboratory. “Higher eigen mode imaging is a valuable method for characterising nanomechanical properties of materials, given the relatively easy sample preparation that is required.”

Further measurements of the stiffness of the material on the nanoscale showed that the areas where the polymers self-organised into ordered regions were harder, while the disordered regions of the material were softer. The experiments were performed in ambient conditions as opposed to an ultra-high vacuum, which had been a requirement in earlier studies.

“Organic polymers are normally studied for their applications in large area, centimetre scale, flexible electronics,” said Venkateshvaran. “Nanomechanics can augment these studies by developing an understanding of their mechanical properties at ultra-small scales with unprecedented resolutions.

“Together, the fundamental knowledge gained from both types of studies could inspire a new generation of soft microelectronic and bioelectronic devices. These futuristic devices will combine the benefits of centimetre scale flexibility, micrometre scale homogeneity, and nanometre scale electrically controlled mechanical motion of polymer chains with superior biocompatibility.”

The research was funded in part by the Royal Society.

Reference:
Illia Dobryden et al. ‘Dynamic self-stabilization in the electronic and nanomechanical properties of an organic polymer semiconductor.’ Nature Communications (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30801-x

Inset image: Organic polymer film. One region shows the parallel alignment of individual polymer chains confirming nanoscopic order. Such organisation is not visible within the disordered region.

The appeal is the starting point for a new book which questions prevailing orthodoxies in academia. Its editors, who are four academics based in Britain and Australia, invite university staff to “rise up and rebel” against these conventions. They attack the assumption that the main output of research should be papers for scholarly journals, describing this as the “boring stuff” of their profession, which often undermines its quality and public value.

Instead, the book calls for more university researchers to “depart radically” from traditional modes of academic production and combine forces with organisations beyond the ‘academy’, “to do the radical kind of work that the world needs right now, in a time of climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, and rising nationalism and populism.”

It examines, in particular, how this could be achieved through the arts. In a wide-ranging survey, different contributors cite examples of how academics have used creative writing, poetry, podcasts, music – and less obvious media including circus arts and magic – both to communicate their work, and as research tools.

The book, Doing Rebellious Research in and beyond the Academy, has been co-written by social scientists, critical theorists and performing artists. It argues that although universities often claim to be interdisciplinary, many academics still work in silos – rarely collaborating with colleagues, let alone beyond their institutions.

It adds that this is often a consequence of convention and not intention, and that rather than being inherently remote and ‘stuffy’, as cliché might have it, many academics are under constant pressure to publish in specialist journals. The volume itself is an anthology of “creative essays” exemplifying alternative ways to present research: as creative writing, poetry and art.

Pamela Burnard, one of the co-editors and a Professor of Arts, Creativities and Educations at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, said: “Universities are meant to exist for everyone’s benefit. It’s bizarre that their main research output is complex, esoteric writing that only a few other academics read or understand.”

“Nobody is claiming that academic writing is pointless, but why is it the norm? If we want research to address the biggest challenges facing society, we need academics to have the confidence – in a sense the permission – to depart radically from it. We need to be braver and take more risks with what we do.”

In the book’s prologue, the editors quote a similar point made by the anthropologist, Mary Pratt, in 1988: “How could such interesting people, doing such interesting things, produce such dull books?”

They argue the arts provide alternative modes of expression that give non-academics better opportunities to connect meaningfully with academic ideas. They also suggest that when used as part of the research process, the arts give academics a means to ‘live’ and ‘experience’ their research as something creative and engaging. This often enables them to see the work differently and innovate further. The book provides numerous examples of how this has been done by researchers around the world, using forms such as dance, the visual arts, poetry, hip-hop and podcasting.

One example is the ‘Departing Radically in Academic Writing’ programme in Australia, which trains postgraduate students not just to turn their research into creative writing, but to use it as a research method. Its methods include ‘thesis drabbling’, in which students summarise their thesis as 100 words of stream-of-consciousness prose. Students say this has helped them to make their work “more human”, focus on its real purpose, and reconnect emotionally with why they wanted to do research in the first place.

Elsewhere, the book presents the recent case of a University of Cambridge student who used podcasting to collect data from students and staff for a study about how COVID-19 affected university life. It explains how the project stemmed partly from a dance workshop and ended with her releasing an electronica and spoken word album featuring performed fragments of the interviews on Spotify, to convey the fears and anxieties experienced on campuses during lockdown.

In a separate chapter a psychologist discusses how she used slam poetry and spoken word art to get marginalised young people to open up about their experiences of social injustice. She concludes that poetry can be used to challenge established “notions of what research and knowledge look like.”

This book also touches on even more offbeat artforms. One chapter, for example, reports on the Stockholm University of the Arts ‘Department of Circus’. This trains circus performers but has also used the unexpected realm of circus arts, and their capacity to test the extremes of human ability and self-control, to undertake studies into issues such as teamwork and collaboration in high-risk environments.

In similar vein, a chapter co-authored by a medic, an award-winning biomechanics researcher, and an illusionist and escapologist, write about  how the Academy of Magic & Science has created ‘magic shows’ which introduce audiences to transdisciplinary practices and ideas connecting diverse fields such as engineering, chemistry, electronics, physiology, psychology and performance cultures. The co-authors argue that the careful structuring of magic acts, to provoke curiosity and surprise, could be applied more widely in scientific writing. They suggest that presenting research as an illusionist might do could engage wider audiences far more than the “cold lists of data and conclusions” in many scientific papers.

Burnard said she fully expects the book, which features plenty of other, different examples of rebellious scholarly writing, to be “written off” by some scholars. “Our ideas and intentions are challenging – but that’s something that academics are meant to be,” she added. “The emergence of unimagined possibilities should be celebrated.”

Doing Rebellious Research in and beyond the Academy is published by Brill-i-Sense. It will be widely available following a launch event in Cambridge on Monday 6 June.

The group's first major event was held in May when 25 parents and carers and 25 young people took part in a visit to the University of East Anglia. They toured the campus, met with current students, and took part in training sessions on student finance and university accommodation.

The trip was the first outing for members of Parent Power Fenland, a new group which aims to tackle educational inequality in the area. 

Mrs Nunn, a member of Parent Power Fenland, said: “We found out a lot about university fees, help and other resources…it makes the choice of going [to university] so much easier. Being from the Traveller community, it was nice to see everyone make us welcome and…not feel excluded from stuff or that my child would miss out….thank you Parent Power.”

Parent Power provides training, advice and guidance sessions on accessing university, so parents and carers can secure opportunities for their children. It is targeted at parents who may not feel comfortable navigating the university admissions system, including those who have not been to university themselves.

Parents also take part in community organising training so they can make change in their wider communities and ensure that everyone has a fair chance at success in education and beyond.

Fenland parents have identified a lack of public transport as a key barrier to their children accessing developmental opportunities. During the trip, parents came together to sign a letter to Fenland power holders asking to meet and discuss this issue. Parents Jenny and Karen said: “We didn’t realise and appreciate the effect of a lack of public transport and the correlation it has with the percentage of 18-year-olds who go to university.”

In the UK today, graduates from the most competitive universities are more likely to access professional careers and have higher rates of life satisfaction. On average they will also earn £10,000 more annually than their peers. But access to these life-changing opportunities is not equal.

Parents and carers from Cromwell Community College, Neale-Wade Academy, Sir Harry Smith Community College, and Thomas Clarkson Academy have been invited to take part in the network. These schools are in areas where the percentage of young people who go to university is lower than the national average.

Across the UK, 37% of 18-year-olds went to university in 2020. But, according to POLAR4 data, which is a way of measuring the percentage of young people in local areas who progress to university, that figure drops to 27% in Whittlesey, in Wisbech it is 25%, in March it is 33.%, and in Chatteris it is just 23.2%. 

The Education Endowment Foundation estimates that parental engagement can help children and young people make an average of 4 months’ additional progress in education, with higher impact for students with lower prior attainment and younger students.

Parent Power Fenland, which is co-founded by the University of Cambridge, is part of a UK-wide network of Parent Power groups coordinated by education charity The Brilliant Club. The Brilliant Club mobilises the PhD community to support students who are less advantaged to access the most competitive universities and succeed when they get there.

Other Parent Power groups have obtained bespoke open days and transport to the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Leicester, received training on student finance, and obtained bursary places at private summer schools for their children. The programme offers opportunities for parents too. Parent leads from other groups have launched a podcast which covers key topics such as resilience and creative thinking, and some have progressed to higher education themselves.

Each group is unique because it is driven by the parents and carers themselves who decide which activities will benefit their local communities. Parent Power Fenland will meet every six weeks over one year, led by a local PhD researcher trained in community organising by Citizens UK. At the end of the first year there will be a celebration event for parents and their families to celebrate their achievements.

Jon Datta, Deputy Head of Widening Participation at the University of Cambridge, said:

“We know that parents care about their children and that they have a colossal influence on their future outcomes. However, parents from less advantaged backgrounds often struggle to navigate their child’s complex and daunting educational journey to higher education, particularly if they didn’t go to university themselves or know anyone who did.

“Parent Power Fenland aims to give parents, based in one of the least socially mobile regions in the UK, a say on their children’s futures and involvement in decision-making at critical points in their education. Parent Power works on the basis that each parent is unique, just as every child is an individual, and that we need to work with them as such. Through the project, we highlight what is available to support parents locally and nationally so they can become more knowledgeable and empowered to support their child’s journey to higher education.”

Jimmy Pickering, Head of Communities at The Brilliant Club, said:

“Our mission is about supporting students who are less advantaged to access and succeed in university. At The Brilliant Club, we know how crucial parents and carers are in their children’s education. Parent Power Fenland is about working with parents and carers so they can support their children to get the opportunities they deserve.”

Sara Basuc, Inclusion Projects Lead for Fenland and East Cambridgeshire Opportunity Area, commented:

“Fenland has been identified as an area of significant disadvantage, meaning children and young people’s chances of doing well in life are particularly low.  There are numerous issues facing the area in part caused by its geography, high levels of deprivation, lack of good transport links, digital connectivity that all result in a marked gap in attainment across Fenland.

“By empowering parents and carers, they can influence change that will support not only their child’s future but other children in their community.  Parental engagement has a significant and positive impact on children and young people’s learning seeking ways to collaborate and work with parents and carers through Parent Power is a positive way to create change and narrow the gap, improving their life chances.”