UCL Faculty of Medical Sciences

Lord Sebastian Coe officially opened a new sport institute which will be a lasting legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, treating elite athletes, ‘weekend warriors’ and NHS patients under the same roof.

Epidemiology and gene sequencing technologies have been used by researchers in the UK, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the US and Canada to show that the novel Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus can spread between people in healthcare settings. The work is published in the New England Journal of Medicine today.

Scientists at UCL have developed new technology which reveals that blood pressure measured close to the heart is much higher during sleep than previously thought. Night time blood pressure is a strong predictor of both heart disease and stroke, with previous studies establishing that blood pressure measured over the arm falls at night during sleep. However these new data indicate that the night-time decline in blood pressure may be less extensive than previously thought.

What sounds make up London’s global university? UCL Communications has announced the winners of its ‘Sounds of UCL’ competition, which invited staff and students to capture ambient audio clips that reflect the life of UCL.

The European Commission needs to make some key innovations in its science funding programme if Europe is to enjoy the full benefits of the €70 billion to be spent on science research as part of the Horizon 2020 programme kicking off in 2014, according to an academic paper published by SAGE in the Journal of Health Services Research & Policy today.

For the first time, teams that care for children needing heart surgery have been able to review their short-term success rate better across all the different operations they perform.

Joanna Brunker, a PhD student in the UCL Department of Medical Physics and Bioengineering, struck Gold at a competition in the House of Commons, for the excellence of her Biology research, walking away with a £3,000 prize yesterday.

On Saturday 16th March 2013, over 300 individuals took to the paths of Regent's Park running either 5km or 10km in aid of Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders).

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UCL and the University of Oxford have come together to form CASMI - the Centre for the Advancement of Sustainable Medical Innovation.

A dedicated team of intensive care doctors, nurses and scientists are taking more than 200 people to the Himalayas to study how our bodies respond to low levels of oxygen.

UCL guidelines on open access and a publishing guide are available to UCL researchers.

The RCUK Policy on Open Access introduces, with effect from 1 April 2013, new open access requirements for research papers funded by the Research Councils.

Bowel cancer cells missing one of three genes can rapidly reshuffle their genetic ‘pack of cards’ – the chromosomes that hold the cell’s genetic information. This reshuffling has been previously shown to render tumours more resistant to treatment.

UCL researchers have recently commenced an academic-industrial collaboration – EpiFemCare – to develop new methods for screening, diagnosing and personalising treatment of breast and ovarian cancers.

Some of the biggest challenges to the improvement of cancer care for children and young people are set out in a series of studies published in today's Lancet Oncology.

Between 1990 and 2010 new HIV infections in the UK rose in men who have sex with men (MSM). The rise was driven by a 26 per cent increase in the proportion having condomless sex, according to new research by UCL and the Health Protection Agency.

Research shows that a new scan offering patients a less invasive diagnostic test for possible bowel cancer is more effective than the current radiological standard of barium enema and should be considered alongside the ‘gold standard’ of colonoscopy.

Embarrassment and not wanting to waste their doctors’ time are more frequently reported by British people than in other countries, according to new research led by UCL and King’s College London. This may be holding British people back from presenting early with symptoms of cancer.

Molecular vibrations, rather than molecular shape, give substances their distinct smell according to a new study by UCL scientists.

Modern cardiovascular surgery is being transformed by virtual imaging, according to a talk given at the Yale UCL Cardiovascular Device Innovation Summit.

23 postdoctoral researchers from 14 different countries have been awarded Marie Curie Individual Fellowships. The awards will enable researchers to spend up to two years working with research teams across all schools at UCL.

The UCL Grand Challenges Small Grants Scheme invites applications to fund cross-disciplinary projects in Global Health, Sustainable Cities, Intercultural Interaction and Human Wellbeing.

A new hand-held device that can diagnose patients at the early stages of HIV and give results within minutes is in development following a £1 million investment in the technology.

 Myocardial Ischaemia National Audit Project (MINAP) has published its 11th  Annual Public Report reporting on performance against national standards for hospitals that admit patients with a heart attack.

The results of the UCL Research Frontiers contest have been announced, celebrating the fact that curiosity-driven discovery and analysis has been a feature of UCL from its foundation.