The new recombinant shingles vaccine \u2018Shingrix\u2019 is associated with a reduced risk of dementia compared to an earlier shingles vaccine, according to a major new study published in Nature Medicine.
A global collaboration led by scientists at the University of Oxford has discovered that genetic variants in a specific gene cause a rare neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD). NDD is a collective term for severe impairments in how the brain functions that impact learning, behaviour, speech, and movement. Most NDDs are thought to be genetic and caused by changes to DNA, however, to date, around 60% of individuals with these conditions do not know the specific DNA change that causes their disorder.
Globally kidney disease is forecast to be the 5th leading cause of death by 2040, and in the UK more than 3 million people are living with the most severe stages of chronic kidney disease. Chronic kidney disease is often due to autoimmune damage to the filtration units of the kidney, known as the glomeruli, which can occur in lupus, a disease which disproportionally affects women and people of non-white ethnicities, groups often underrepresented in research. Treatment options are limited, can have life threatening side-effects and often don\u2019t slow the disease, which can then progress to end stage, requiring dialysis or a kidney transplant.
Professor Whiffin is an Associate Professor and Sir Henry Dale Fellow at the Big Data Institute and Centre for Human Genetics at NDM. She is also a Research Fellow at St Anne\u2019s College with the Centre for Personalised Medicine, and a visiting scientist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
Researchers from NDM\u2019s Centre for Human Genetics have identified types of genetic variants that lead to a range of rare diseases but are not picked up by standard genetic testing.
Differences between the left and right sides of the nervous system are seen in all animals, including humans. A study by researchers from University College London and NDM\u2019s Division of Structural Biology reveals a new piece in the puzzle of how such asymmetries can arise.
A recent study led by the Centre for Human Genetics at NDM has revealed that areas of the human genome that are routinely overlooked in clinical tests may be the cause of some rare diseases.
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