Cancer is something that has impacted all of us either directly or indirectly and is a leading cause of death globally. As a result, there is an urgent and ongoing need to discover and develop new treatments to tackle this disease more efficiently. Interestingly, most of the small-molecule drugs that have been approved as...

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...

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...

Cross-feeding, or the exchange of nutrients between organisms, is fundamental to the diversity and function of microbial communities. However, pinpointing the corresponding donors and receivers to understand more about this nutrient exchange is challenging as amino acids, nucleotides and more are universal across all...

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...

Mesothelioma is a type of cancer predominantly caused by breathing in asbestos fibres. However, the disease usually doesn’t develop for decades after exposure. Once diagnosed, the tumours are already at an advanced stage and current therapies have minimal impact on prolonging the life of patients, so there is an urgent...

Research from the Patil group published in Science Advances reveals that parts of the TCA cycle, originally thought to only happen in the mitochondria, are happening in the nucleus, closer to the DNA and ready to be dispatched when critical processes of the cell increase their demand, without barriers.

Common medications can accumulate in gut bacteria, altering bacterial function and potentially reducing the medications’ effectiveness. This study started as a collaborative project at EMBL Heidelberg and was concluded in the group of Kiran Patil after his move to the MRC Toxiciology Unit in Cambridge. Read the full...

Mesothelioma cancer patients may benefit from new research that sheds light onto the reason behind the growth of these tumour cells which, unlike most cancers, have no oncogenic drivers. Scientists from the MRC Toxicology Unit (University of Cambridge) and the CRUK Beatson Institute (University of Glasgow) worked on the...

A recently publised article from Dr. James Thaventhiran's group about the potential treatment effect of remedesvir in COVID-19 patients was chosen as a featured paper by Nature Communiactions. The scientific achivement is highlighted under the topic of "Microbiology and Infectious diseases" in the journal's January issue .