Articles about 'Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience (PDN)'

A new book illustrates the origins of the terms we use to describe the human anatomy.

Last year, Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, Professor of Mammalian Development and Stem Cell Biology, made not one, but two world-changing discoveries.

Smoking, lack of exercise, bad diet and our genes are all well-known risk factors for heart disease, cancer and diabetes. But, as researchers are beginning to understand, the environment in the womb as we first begin to grow may also determine our future.

Scientists at the University of Cambridge will this week begin studying sheep that have been genetically modified to carry the mutation that causes Huntington’s disease. The sheep are believed to be the first Merinos to have been imported into the UK from Australia for about 50 years.

The stirrings of a revolution are starting to ripple through hundreds of laboratories. It’s a revolution that aims to result in new medicines – faster and with fewer failures – and it’s being led by three UK universities and three global pharmaceutical companies.

How difficult is it to conceive? According to a widely-held view, fewer than one in three embryos make it to term, but a new study from a researcher at the University of Cambridge suggests that human embryos are not as susceptible to dying in the first weeks after fertilisation as often claimed.

Sherpas have evolved to become superhuman mountain climbers, extremely efficient at producing the energy to power their bodies even when oxygen is scarce, suggests new research published in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Why do we age when we get older? Epigenetics may hold the answer – but could it one day help us turn back the clock? Professor Wolf Reik from the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge and Dr Oliver Stegle from the European Bioinformatics Institute look at the ‘epigenetic clock’ in The Conversation.

A team of researchers at Cambridge has identified how two key areas of the brain govern both our emotions and our heart activity, helping explain why people with depression or anxiety have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

A faster and more accurate method of identifying which of an individual’s genes are associated with particular symptoms has been developed by a team of researchers from the UK and Saudi Arabia. This new approach could enable scientists to take advantage of recent developments in genome sequencing to improve diagnosis and potential treatment options.