14 October 2011
On 11 September, Professor Azra Ghani, Professor Christl D onnelly, Dr Emily Lyons, Dr Lucy Okell, Dr Deirdre Hollingsworth and Dr Bhargavi Rao (all Public Health) took on the Adidas Women’s 5k Challenge in Hyde Park, to raise money for the charity, Malaria No More. Emily shares her experience of the day:
Tags: Public Health
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23 September 2011
Research led by Imperial academics has identified six new genetic variants associated with type 2 diabetes in south Asians, in a study published in the journal Nature Genetics in late August.
Tags: Public Health
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9 June 2011
Professor Brian Spratt (Public Health) has won the 2011 GlaxoSmithKline International Member of the Year Award, presented by the American Society for Microbiology.
Tags: Awards and Honours, Public Health
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18 May 2011
Tags: Chernobyl Tissue Bank, National Heart and Lung Institute, Public Health, Surgery and Cancer, Tuberculosis Research Unit
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12 May 2011
A gene that appears to play a role in regulating how much alcohol people drink has been identified in an international study led by researchers from Imperial and King’s College London, published on 4 April in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
This gene, called autism susceptibility candidate 2 or AUTS2, has previously been linked to autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but its function is not known.
The study, which looked at 47,000 people, found that there are two versions of the AUTS2 gene, one three times more common than the other. People with the less common version drink on average five per cent less alcohol than people with the more common version.
The gene is most active in those parts of the brain associated with neuropsychological reward mechanisms, suggesting that it might play a part in regulating the positive reinforcement that people feel when they drink alcohol.
Professor Paul Elliott (Public Health) said: “Of course, there are a lot of factors that affect how much alcohol a person drinks, but we know from twin studies that genes play an important role. The difference that this particular gene makes is only small but, by finding it, we’ve opened up a new area of research into the biological mechanisms that control drinking.”
The researchers say that the discovery of a common genetic variation influencing levels of alcohol consumption may lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying alcohol drinking behaviour in the general population.
— Sam Wong, Communications and Development
Tags: Public Health
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11 April 2011
On 23 March Britain’s best known natural history film maker, Sir David Attenborough, held a Q&A session at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change. The event was attended by staff and PhD students from the Grantham Institute and the Division of Biology, as well as philanthropists Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham. Julia Halder, a PhD student (Public Health), reports on her experience of meeting one of her heroes:
Tags: Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Grantham Institute for Climate Change, Life Sciences, Public Health
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29 March 2011
Five new genetic variants linked to heart disease have been identified in a meta- analysis of four large genome-wide association studies, published in Nature Genetics in the first week of March. The findings will guide research into new treatments for coronary heart disease, which kills 88,000 people in Britain each year.
Tags: Faculty of Medicine, National Heart and Lung Institute, Public Health
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29 March 2011
Drinking sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with higher blood pressure, according to a study of over 2,500 people reported in the first week of March in the journal Hypertension.
Tags: Faculty of Medicine, Public Health
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29 March 2011
A new partnership to study the myriad environmental factors that affect a person’s health held its first meeting at the MRC-HPA Centre for Environment and Health in the School of Public Health on 25 February. The Exposome Alliance, a collaboration between Imperial and the University of California, Berkeley, will investigate the causes of chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, cancer and diabetes.
Tags: Faculty of Medicine, News, Public Health
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10 March 2011
Patients who are told by their doctor that they are overweight or obese are more likely to acknowledge a weight problem and try to do something about it, according to a new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine on 28 February.
Tags: Faculty of Medicine, Public Health
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7 March 2011
Grant funding of £2.5 million has been awarded to a research project investigating a drug intended to make IVF safer. The study involves collaboration between researchers Dr Waljit Dhillo, Professor Steve Bloom (both Medicine), Professor Deborah Ashby (Public Health) and Dr Geoffrey Trew (Surgery and Cancer).
Tags: Faculty of Medicine, Medical Research Council, Medicine, News, Public Health, Surgery and Cancer
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7 March 2011
Imperial medics and senior members of the Faculty of Medicine attended an event at the House of Lords on 26 January, to discuss the Kashmir International Relief Fund’s (KIRF) project to develop maternal healthcare services in Azad Kashmir.
Tags: Faculty of Medicine, News, Public Health
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7 March 2011
A huge drop in the numbers of people infected with HIV in Zimbabwe is due to mass social change, driven by fear of infection, according to an international study reported on 9 February in the journal PLoS Medicine. The scientists unravelling the reasons behind this unexpected downturn have revealed what they hope are the most important lessons in the fight against the disease for the rest of Africa.
Tags: Faculty of Medicine, Public Health
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10 February 2011
“We have big battles to fight,” says Professor Elio Riboli, Director of the School of Public Health. “The demographics of our society are rapidly changing and we need to alter our approach to meet the needs of the population”. Reporter finds out what researchers in the School of Public Health plan to do to help the world’s expanding population tackle issues including obesity, cardiovascular and infectious diseases.
Tags: Faculty of Medicine, Public Health
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28 January 2011
Reporter speaks to Professor Salman Rawaf, Director of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Public Health Education and Training in Imperial’s School of Public Health, about addressing health problems on a global scale.
Tags: Faculty of Medicine, Mini Profile, Public Health
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