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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Illustration of mRNA strand

Researchers redesign future mRNA therapeutics to prevent potentially harmful immune responses

06 Dec 2023

Researchers have discovered that misreading of therapeutic mRNAs by the cell’s decoding machinery can cause an unintended immune response in the body...

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Scanning electron micrograph of MRSA

COVID-19 showed the importance of genomic surveillance – we need it to help fight antimicrobial resistance

14 Nov 2023

During the COVID-19 pandemic, genomic surveillance proved vital in helping understand the evolution and spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Now, an...

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Coronavirus newspaper headline montage

“Get back to school” headlines eroded teacher wellbeing during the pandemic

06 Nov 2023

Intense public pressure on teachers to “get back to school” during the COVID-19 lockdowns deepened an already widespread sense that they were...

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Virus variants

Vulnerability to different COVID-19 mutations depends on previous infections and vaccination, study suggests

06 Oct 2023

A person’s immune response to variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, depends on their previous exposure – and differences in the...

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Digital generated image of different variants of virus cells against a black background.

New vaccine technology could protect from future viruses and variants

25 Sep 2023

Studies of a ‘future-proof’ vaccine candidate have shown that just one antigen can be modified to provide a broadly protective immune response in...

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Image of SARS-CoV-2 viruses

Widely-used COVID-19 antiviral could be helping SARS-CoV-2 to evolve

25 Sep 2023

Molnupiravir, an antiviral drug used to treat patients with COVID-19, appears to be driving SARS-CoV-2 to mutate and evolve, with some of these new...

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Patient receiving a COVID-19 vaccination

Obesity accelerates loss of COVID-19 vaccination immunity, study finds

11 May 2023

The protection offered by COVID-19 vaccination declines more rapidly in people with severe obesity than in those with normal weight, scientists at...

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Vaccine being administered by needle-free injection into a volunteer's arm

Cambridge University’s needle-free coronavirus vaccine begins clinical trials in home city

24 Apr 2023

Recruitment is underway in Cambridge for volunteers to take part in clinical trials of a revolutionary new needle-free vaccine to protect against...

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COVID-19 variants

Roadmap sets out new global strategy for development of more effective coronavirus vaccines

21 Feb 2023

Plan will accelerate a new approach to coronavirus vaccines research and development, to protect against COVID-19 variants and future pandemic...

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COVID has increased trust in genetics, study finds

26 Jan 2023

A survey of over 2,000 British adults finds that trust in genetics is high and went up significantly during the pandemic. It also finds that there is...

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Doctor examining a patient

Gone fishing: highly accurate test for common respiratory viruses uses DNA as ‘bait’

16 Jan 2023

A new test that ‘fishes’ for multiple respiratory viruses at once using single strands of DNA as ‘bait’, and gives highly accurate results in under...

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Coronavirus

‘Cocktail’ vaccines could offer increased protection against future COVID-19 variants of concern

14 Dec 2022

COVID-19 vaccinations that combine two or more distinct variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus could offer protection against both current and future ‘...

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