Topic description and stories

Intermittent fasting conceptual image, showing a plate of food to represent a clock.

Scientists identify how fasting may protect against inflammation

30 Jan 2024

Cambridge scientists may have discovered a new way in which fasting helps reduce inflammation – a potentially damaging side-effect of the body’s...

Read more
Ancient migrations

Ancient DNA reveals reason for high MS and Alzheimer's rates in Europe

10 Jan 2024

Researchers have created the world’s largest ancient human gene bank, and used it to map the historical spread of genes – and diseases – over time as...

Read more
Alzheimers disease. Computer illustration of amyloid plaques amongst neurons.

AI-driven techniques reveal new targets for drug discovery

27 Sep 2023

Researchers have developed a method to identify new targets for human disease, including neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Read more

Brown mouse

HIV drug helps protect against build-up of dementia-related proteins in mouse brains

26 Apr 2023

Cambridge scientists have shown how the brain’s ability to clear out toxic proteins is impaired in Huntington’s disease and other forms of dementia...

Read more
Elderly person's hands

Scientists detect dementia signs as early as nine years ahead of diagnosis

13 Oct 2022

Cambridge scientists have shown that it may be possible to spot signs of brain impairment in patients as early as nine years before they receive a...

Read more
Mammalian cell stained with fluorescence polymeric thermometers and falsely-coloured based on temperature gradients.

Alzheimer’s disease causes cells to overheat and ‘fry like eggs’

31 May 2022

Researchers have shown that aggregation of amyloid-beta, one of two key proteins implicated in Alzheimer’s disease, causes cells to overheat and ‘fry...

Read more

Nurse taking care of elderly sick woman in wheelchair

‘Stressed’ cells offer clues to eliminating build-up of toxic proteins in dementia

06 May 2022

It’s often said that a little stress can be good for you. Now scientists have shown that the same may be true for cells, uncovering a newly-...

Read more
Alarm clock at night

Seven hours of sleep is optimal in middle and old age, say researchers

28 Apr 2022

Seven hours is the ideal amount of sleep for people in their middle age and upwards, with too little or too much sleep associated with poorer...

Read more
Older couple walking

Study suggests lithium may decrease risk of developing dementia

17 Mar 2022

Researchers have identified a link which suggests that lithium could decrease the risk of developing dementia, which affects nearly one million...

Read more

SumaLateral Whole Brain Image

Scientists identify the cause of Alzheimer’s progression in the brain

29 Oct 2021

For the first time, researchers have used human data to quantify the speed of different processes that lead to Alzheimer’s disease and found that it...

Read more

AI could detect dementia years before symptoms appear

12 Aug 2021

Artificial intelligence could spot the early signs of dementia from a simple brain scan long before major symptoms appear – and in some cases before...

Read more
Beta-Amyloid Plaques and Tau in the Brain

Following the hops of disordered proteins could lead to future treatments of Alzheimer’s disease

14 Jan 2021

Study shows how to determine the elusive motions of proteins that remain disordered.

Read more

Pages