Topic description and stories

Cambridge researchers have played a vital role in the fight back against COVID-19, from the use of genomics to track its spread and mathematic modelling to understand infection rates through to innovative screening programmes to keep its students and staff safe.

Intensive care unit at Addenbrooke's Hospital

Underactive immune response may explain obesity link to COVID-19 severity

20 March 2023

Individuals who are obese may be more susceptible to severe COVID-19 because of a poorer inflammatory immune response, say Cambridge scientists.

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Person wearing wedding ring

Genomics study identifies routes of transmission of coronavirus in care homes

03 Mar 2021

Genomic surveillance – using information about genetic differences between virus samples – can help identify how SARS-CoV-2 spreads in care home...

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Vaccines: how to make sense of reports on their effectiveness

02 Mar 2021

Dr Mark Toshner cuts through the noise to sum up the latest on vaccine efficacy for The Conversation.

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Here is what scientists know about new COVID-19 variant B1525

01 Mar 2021

Prof Sharon Peacock, Director of COG-UK, the COVID-19 genomics consortium, gets you up to speed on new variant B1525, which may have emerged in...

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A silent epidemic of grief

01 Mar 2021

Major changes in bereavement care have occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, amid a flood of demand for help from bereaved people, according to new...

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Coronavirus

Single dose of Pfizer BioNTech vaccine reduces asymptomatic infections and potential for SARS-CoV-2 transmission

26 Feb 2021

New data from Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge suggests that a single dose of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine can reduce by 75% the number of...

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Testing kit

Cambridge institute publishes ethical framework for asymptomatic COVID-19 student testing in HE institutions

25 Feb 2021

The Healthcare Improvement Studies (THIS) Institute has today published an ethical framework for higher education institutions considering running...

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Professor Sharon Peacock

Q&A with Sharon Peacock, coronavirus variant hunter

22 Feb 2021

The UK is a world leader in sequencing SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Of all the coronavirus genomes that have been sequenced in the...

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Diagram showing connections between people

New national modelling group to provide faster, more rigorous COVID-19 predictions

18 Feb 2021

A new national consortium, co-led by the University of Cambridge, will bring together mathematical modellers to produce faster, more rigorous...

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Central Leeds during the first UK lockdown

First COVID-19 lockdown cost UK hospitality and high street £45 billion in turnover, researchers estimate

18 Feb 2021

However, UK supermarkets and online retailers made an additional £4 billion each thanks to the coronavirus lockdown that began in March last year...

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Robot dog

Robotic dogs and laughter therapy: 10 ways to combat loneliness and isolation while social distancing

17 Feb 2021

Robotic dogs, laughter therapy and mindfulness are some of the ways that might help people – particularly the elderly – cope with loneliness and...

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Graphene could one day be used to make quick, reliable tests for viruses like SARS-CoV-2

16 Feb 2021

Dr Luigi Occhipinti from the Department of Engineering dicusses the role of graphene in future medical technologies for The Conversation.

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How the pandemic may damage children’s social intelligence

12 Feb 2021

Prof Barbara Sahakian and her Cambridge colleague Dr Christelle Langley look at how lockdowns might lead to lost social skills in children, and how...

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