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.

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.

Read more
Charlotte Summers

Tackling COVID-19: Dr Charlotte Summers

02 Jul 2020

An intensive care specialist at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Charlotte Summers has spent the last few months dealing with the biggest challenge of her...

Read more
Botanic Garden

More than 100 University buildings reopened for research

02 Jul 2020

This week, the University passed the key milestone of 100 reopened buildings, as researchers gradually return to the city and restart the work which...

Read more
Child with hands over face - children may be at risk by too much focus on COVID-19

Opinion: Why too much focus on COVID-19 could be harming our children

25 Jun 2020

COVID-19 hurts even those who escape infection – particularly children, writes paediatrician Dr Kai Hensel from the University of Cambridge in the...

Read more

Pig farming

Human interactions with wild and farmed animals must change dramatically to reduce risk of another deadly pandemic

25 Jun 2020

Compiled by a team of international wildlife and veterinary experts, a new study has identified seven routes by which pandemics could occur and 161...

Read more

Tackling COVID-19: Dr Sharath Srinivasan

25 Jun 2020

“Without trust, we don’t flatten the curve,” says Sharath Srinivasan, whose work in developing countries has given him an acute insight into how...

Read more

The importance of 'weak ties' in our post-lockdown lives

19 Jun 2020

The casual encounters we took for granted are good for wellbeing and business, says social psychologist Dr Simone Schnall – but how to get them back?


Professor Ravi Gupta (third from left) with colleagues in CITIID

Tackling COVID-19: Professor Ravi Gupta

18 Jun 2020

“This virus is probably going to be circulating for years - it will take a long time to sort out.” In a building that has been largely empty for the...

Read more
Woman at home alone

Stigma of broken family relationships compounded by lockdown

18 Jun 2020

Lockdown restrictions have not brought estranged family members closer together, and recent focus on the importance of family support has made...

Read more
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Sheffield, UK

UK modelling study finds case isolation and contact tracing vital to COVID-19 epidemic control

16 Jun 2020

In the absence of a vaccine or highly effective treatments for COVID-19, combining isolation and intensive contact tracing with physical distancing...

Read more

Waning immunity and the second wave: projections for COVID-19

16 Jun 2020

Will partial lockdown and social distancing become the future norm? Economist Dr Flavio Toxvaerd discusses his latest modelling research.

What have been the fatal risks of Covid, particularly to children and younger adults?

15 Jun 2020

David Spiegelhalter, Professor for the Understanding of Risk, attempts to break down the mortality risk by age in a blog for the Winton Centre for...

Coronavirus: what's safe and what's not

14 Jun 2020

Dr Sander van der Linden discusses the risks posed by COVID-19 – both real and perceived – with Roger Highfield for the Science Museum.

Pages