Articles about 'Department of Surgery'

Professor Sir Roy Calne, the pioneering transplant surgeon who carried out the first liver transplant in the UK during his time at Cambridge, has died aged 93.

Men with early, curable stages of prostate cancer are missing opportunities to have their cancer detected because national guidelines and media health campaigns focus on urinary symptoms despite a lack of scientific evidence, say experts at the University of Cambridge.

Scientists have used a technique to grow bile duct organoids – often referred to as ‘mini-organs’ – in the lab and shown that these can be used to repair damaged human livers. This is the first time that the technique has been used on human organs.

Cambridge scientists have developed a new method for growing and transplanting artificial bile ducts that could in future be used to help treat liver disease in children, reducing the need for liver transplantation. 

There’s a nationwide shortage of suitable organs for transplanting – but what if some of those organs deemed ‘unsuitable’ could be rejuvenated? Researchers at Addenbrooke’s Hospital have managed just that – and last year gave two patients an unexpected Christmas present.

An experimental cystic fibrosis drug has been shown to prevent the disease’s damage to the liver, thanks to a world-first where scientists grew mini bile ducts in the lab.

The University of Cambridge has received £7.9 million from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to fund Blood and Transplant Research Units. Each Unit is a partnership between University researchers and NHS Blood and Transplant, and will begin in October 2015.

In the earliest moments of a mammal’s life, the developing ball of cells formed shortly after fertilisation ‘does as mother says’ – it follows a course that has been pre-programmed in the egg by the mother. Extraordinary as this is, what happens then is even more remarkable.

Molecular ‘fingerprint’ for tissue taken from first isotope-enriched mouse has huge potential for scientific breakthroughs, as well as improved medical implants. Earliest research based on data has already revealed that a molecule thought to exist for repairing DNA may also in fact trigger bone formation.

Scientists have discovered that the presence of a specific protein can distinguish between prostate cancers that are aggressive and need further treatment, and those that may never seriously harm the patient.