News in 2024

Research reveals more people died from hot or cold weather conditions than COVID-19 in parts of UK 23 May 2024 Research has highlighted how weather extremes worsened by climate change are now a major national public health threat.
Elizabeth Blackwell Institute to welcome new Director 23 May 2024 Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research has appointed Professor Pat Kehoe as new Director it was announced today (Thursday 23 May 2024).
Emotional recognition toolkit for autistic children 17 May 2024 This Mental Health Awareness Week (13 to 19 May 2024) we caught up with a researcher we supported to find out the latest with their work looking into developing an emotion recognition toolkit for autistic children.
Adiposity in childhood affects the risk of breast cancer by changing breast tissue composition, study suggests 13 May 2024 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 (the degree of fatty tissue in the body) 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.
Improving pre-award processes for equitable and transparent research assessment 30 April 2024 The processes that take place before research is submitted for funding (pre-award processes) serve as important scaffolding to support equitable and transparent research assessment. A new report summarises the key recommendations from a recent funder discussion group symposia and workshops to improve pre-award processes. The report includes actions for realistic and transformative change, and practical real-world examples of change.
Supporting neurodivergent young people who camouflage 23 April 2024 A known coping mechanism neurodivergent people use is ‘camouflaging’ or ‘masking’, the hiding or compensating for neurodivergent characteristics, which has been consistently associated with anxiety and depression in neurodivergent populations. We caught up with one researcher looking into interventions to prevent or reduce the development of anxiety and depression in neurodivergent young people.
Supporting health research – getting AI ready 16 April 2024 Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) - such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, or DeepMind's AlphaFold - have shown AI as a transformative force in many areas including health and biomedical research, and healthcare. AI has enormous potential to speed up diagnoses, help discover new drugs, assist surgeries, and deliver therapies and treatments. But with this rapid revolutionising of the healthcare field comes a pressing need to develop these technologies in an ethical, safe, and sustainable way.
Immune cell therapy provides hope for cancer tumour treatment 3 April 2024 Researchers at the University of Bristol are offering a glimmer of hope to patients with advanced cancer with a potentially powerful new treatment avenue.
Inclusion, decolonising and dentistry 27 March 2024 A new study from the University of Bristol seeks to understand the barriers and facilitators of inclusion for dental students, ensuring that every new student, regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion or background, has access to the same opportunities and facilities.
Happiness can be learnt, but we have to work at it – study finds 19 March 2024 We can learn to be happy, but only get lasting benefits if we keep practising, a first-of-its-kind study has revealed.
Surgical Smoke – how best to persuade patients who face surgery to keep off tobacco 13 March 2024 Researchers from the University of Bristol investigate the best way to help surgical patients to stop smoking.
Global research network to combat deadly Strep A infections 28 February 2024 Bristol researchers are part of a newly-launched multi-institution network to research bacterial cause of sepsis and heart damage in children. Each year, around half a million people, including many children and young people, die around the world because of serious group A streptococcal (Strep A) bacterial infections. While most cases are relatively mild – affecting only the skin or throat - some infections can lead to deadly sepsis or autoimmune damage to the heart. There is currently no available vaccine for Strep A.
Elizabeth Blackwell Annual Public Lectures 20 February 2024 The Elizabeth Blackwell Institute held our tenth Annual Public Lecture with Professor Patricia Kingori on Monday 22 January 2024. Below we share our previous public lectures to give a flavour of the breadth of topics we have covered over the years.
Facts, fakes, society and health: Professor Patricia Kingori 30 January 2024 We were delighted to welcome University of Oxford’s Professor Patricia Kingori for our tenth annual public lecture on 22 January 2024. The sold out event filled the beautiful City Hall in Bristol, with a mix of staff and students from the University, people working in health and care, and members of the public.
Towards understanding the relationship between age, breast development and breast cancer 30 January 2024 Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK: every month, an estimated 4,000 new cases are diagnosed. Throughout a woman’s lifetime, however, the risk of developing the disease varies greatly. Early puberty, for example, is associated with an increased risk of developing breast cancer, whereas pregnancy before the age of 20 is associated with a decreased risk - but the biological reasons aren’t clear.
Tobacco-themed drama inspired by University of Bristol research 16 January 2024 A four-part audio-drama, Tobias and Syd, inspired by University of Bristol and Durham University research, aims to open up conversations around tobacco use and its impacts.
A potential link between intestinal microbes and respiratory infections 11 January 2024 Could the vast population of microbes that we all carry around with us hold the key to understanding more about respiratory tract infections?
Building collaborative research relationships through creative activities 11 January 2024 Engaging in creative activities can help to shift the power dynamics between public contributors and researchers, according to a paper published in BMC Research Involvement and Engagement. However, collaborative projects need to work for everyone and taking community-led ideas forwards remains challenging.
Drugs already licensed could be trialled to potentially treat secondary brain cancer, new research finds 4 January 2024 The largest review of papers for brain cancer that has spread from the lungs has found abnormalities in the brain cancer and for which licensed drugs could be clinically trialled to find out if they could treat the disease. The research led by the University of Bristol and published in Neuro-Oncology Advances also found genetic differences between smokers and non-smokers.