Do you have plans for life beyond your PhD?

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Winfred Gatua shares her perspective of the recent Life Beyond PhD Conference 2024 that was held at Cumberland Lodge

As a PhD student, getting caught up in the pressure surrounding immediate research output is easy. However, what happens after earning a PhD?

I recently had the privilege of attending the Life Beyond PhD 2024 conference, organized by Cumberland Lodge and with the support of the University of Bristol. This event brought together PhD students and alumni across various disciplines to explore the challenges and opportunities ahead. The conference was designed to leave no stone unturned regarding coping with the PhD and beyond. From dealing with imposter syndrome to practising presentation, improving writing skills and fostering inclusive societies. (more…)

Away day brings programmes together to explore cancer challenges

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Bringing researchers from different areas together is vital in sharing expertise and generating opportunities for new collaborations and connections. Last week members of the Integrative Cancer Epidemiology Programme (ICEP) joined colleagues specialising in Mendelian randomization (MR) within the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU), for a day of discussion, networking and sharing their latest research.

Here, Senior Research Fellow Philip Haycock, who leads the Cancer Progression and Drug Target research theme in ICEP, summarises some the day’s discussions and overlapping research. (more…)

Adiposity in childhood affects the risk of breast cancer by changing breast tissue composition, study suggests

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A close up of a strand of DNA.
Photo by Sangharsh Lohakare on Unsplash

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide.  With rates continuing to rise, there is an urgent need to identify new modifiable breast cancer risk factors. New research led by the University of Bristol suggests that higher adiposity in childhood leads to less dense breast tissue forming, which results in a reduced breast cancer risk.  However, further research is needed to understand the mechanism of the overall protective effect of childhood adiposity to identify new targets for intervention and prevention. (more…)

A novel measure of inflammation in depression

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Éimear Foley discusses a recent paper

Inflammation is thought to play a role in depression. According to research that combined information from many studies (i.e., systematic review and meta-analysis), approximately a quarter of all those diagnosed with depression also have consistently higher levels of inflammatory proteins, like C-reactive protein (CRP), in their blood. Large population-based studies and studies using genetic information (i.e., Mendelian Randomization) further suggest that inflammation, particularly an inflammatory protein called interleukin 6 (IL-6), play a key role in causing depression. (You can read more about the role of inflammation in depression in our IEUREKA blog on “Immune cells as biomarkers of depression”.) 

So far, studies examining this relationship between inflammation and depression have only focused on the levels of individual immune proteins in the blood, like IL-6 and CRP. At a cellular level, an inflammatory response is not caused by the activity of one inflammatory protein but rather by the interaction between several proteins working together to trigger a signalling response. Looking at the activity of proteins gives further insight into how these proteins relate to a particular condition, like depression. For this reason, in a recent study, we examined how IL-6 activity relates to symptoms and cognitive performance in people diagnosed with depression.   (more…)

Environment and sustainability in health research – and what we are doing about it

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Large supercomputer with green lights.

In our research unit we are looking at ways to reduce the environmental impact of our research. Chin Yang Shapland and Hayley Wragg share some of what they learned in a recent workshop and how IEU is beginning to apply this learning in making our computing processes more sustainable. (more…)

Lessons from organising and participating in the University of Bristol Faculty of Health Sciences PGR Symposium

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PhD student Winfred Gatua was part of the team that organised a recent Postgraduate Research Symposium. In this post, she shares how organising this event helped her develop important skills for her research and beyond. (more…)

EASD 2023: At the interface between diabetes research and clinical practice

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PhD student Maddy Smith shares what she learned from attending a recent international conference on diabetes research.

An exciting time for metabolic health

Weight loss drugs such as Wegovy and Ozempic have made many headlines and sparked a frenzy on social media in recent months. Not only is their potential to “end obesity” being unpacked in the media, but also their issues such as side effects, weight regain after stopping taking it, and supply shortages. Since obesity is a main risk factor for type 2 diabetes, these new drugs have implications for diabetes treatment – in fact, some of them were originally developed to treat diabetes and weight loss was noticed to be a concurrent effect.

A selection of news headlines about drugs to treat obesity.

 

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The MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol (IEU) conducts some of the UK's most advanced population health science research. It uses genetics, population data and experimental interventions to look for the underlying causes of chronic disease.