News

We all go through times when we are not on track, feeling a little blue and out of our usual form. These are the times when we need a little warmth from those close to us – some extra support, a helping hand. The same goes for the proteins in our cells.Proteins are the workhorses in our cells and have numerous tasks to complete every day just to ke…

Work published by Prof Anne Willis and Dr James Thaventhiran, alongside collaborators in Kent, Oxford and Liverpool, describing how mRNA therapeutics may cause an unintended immune response and need fine-tuning for the future was reported across multiple national and international media outlets.You can read the Unit's news article and/or the paper,…

Researchers from the Willis and Thaventhiran labs have discovered that misreading of therapeutic mRNAs by the cell’s decoding machinery can cause an unintended immune response in the body. They have identified the sequence within the mRNA that causes this to occur and found a way to prevent ‘off-target’ immune responses to enable the safer design o…

You might imagine the cells in your body as quite static. In reality, they are hives of activity and contain cocktails of different molecules. Just like us, these different molecules in our cells all have a job. Just like us, those jobs span a wide range of roles and take place in designated spaces – instead of offices or labs, for example, they ta…

Yizhou Yu, a PhD student in the Martins lab, was the runner-up in the international Falling Walls Emerging Talents pitch finals this week.Falling Walls is an annual competition that challenges students and early-career professionals of all disciplines to pitch their innovative ideas to an audience, including a panel of judges, in just three minutes…

Researchers from the MRC Toxicology Unit, in collaboration with the MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit in Cambridge, have uncovered why individuals who are prescribed some antipsychotic drugs can develop movement disorders. How these side-effects might develop was not clear – until now - and it is all linked to damage to the mitochondria!Schizophrenia …

The Mirror covered the latest exciting research from the Thaventhiran lab in collaboration with researchers across the University of Cambridge. Described as a "huge step forward" by Dr Miriam Stoppard, the discovery made by Unit researchers may explain why, even among vulnerable patient groups, some have better responses to vaccines than others.Rea…

Researchers from the MRC Toxicology Unit have identified a signature in the blood that could help predict how well an individual will respond to vaccines. The discovery, published today in the journal Nature Communications, may explain why, even among vulnerable patient groups, some individuals have better responses to vaccines than others.During t…

Work published by Dr James Thaventhiran and collaborators in Cambridge and Edinburgh describing how obesity accelerates the loss of protection from COVID-19 vaccines was reported across national media outlets. Dr Thaventhiran was also interviewed about their findings on local radio.You can read the Unit's news article and/or the paper, published in…

The protection offered by COVID-19 vaccination declines more rapidly in people with severe obesity compared to those with normal weight, researchers from the MRC Toxicology Unit and collaborators within the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh have found. The study suggests that people with obesity are likely to need more frequent booster doses …

Researchers from the MRC Toxicology Unit had a successful time at the BTS Annual Congress this week in Birmingham sharing their fascinating research.Congratulations to our prize winners:David O’Louglin who won the Best BTS Annual Congress Oral Presentation.Tiago Marques Pedro who won the Best UKAAT Poster Presentation.Yizhou Yu who won the OUP Toxi…

Yizhou Yu, who is a PhD student in the Martins lab at the MRC Toxicology Unit, has been selected to attend this year’s 72nd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. From 25th-30th June, Yu is one of 635 young scientists from 98 countries who will be able to meet each other and around 40 Nobel Laureates. Yizhou's research focuses on potential therapeutic targ…

Unit researchers and collaborators in Glasgow have been awarded £2.1 million by Cancer Research UK to help solve the mystery of how exposure to asbestos can take decades to develop into mesothelioma.The disease most commonly starts in layers of tissue covering the lungs and usually following the inhalation of asbestos fibres, but it can take over 4…

Parkinson’s disease is a complex neurodegenerative disorder, and currently there is no cure. With 1 in 37 people alive today in the UK predicted to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s in their lifetime, finding new ways to diagnose earlier and delay the progression of the disease is urgently needed.Although most cases of Parkinson’s disease are not linke…

We are delighted to share the news that Prof Anne Willis and Dr Ritwick Sawarkar are a part of a consortium that has been awarded £8 million by the Nucleic Acid Therapy Accelerator (NATA) to enhance the UK's nucleic acid therapeutics delivery platforms.The consortium, led by Professor Matthew Wood at the University of Oxford, brings together a mix …