Research impact stories
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Altering cellular function of immune system could hold key to targeting allergies
10 September 2013
Peanut allergy forms an increasing health burden in Western societies, with long term consequences and potentially life threatening effects. Yet despite more than a century of experimental therapeutics, there remains no clinically available curative treatment. A cellular and molecular perspective provided by Bristol University experts could provide new clues.
Understanding the brain’s role in obesity
16 August 2013
The world’s growing obesity crisis is rarely out of the headlines, given the increasing burden on the healthcare system and the livelihoods of those affected. The abundance of highly calorific foods and aggressive marketing is often blamed. A new study hopes to find out the truth, using neuroimaging techniques to measure the neural, hormonal and behavioural responses to food consumption.
Physiologists look to neuronal networks for pain targets
24 June 2013
We are all familiar with the sensation of acute pain. Describing the symptoms – the discomfort, the distress – comes relatively easily, but sometimes, if pain becomes chronic, identifying the cause is much harder. For physiologists, this remains one of the most complex areas of study and for the medical community, one of the most urgent. Researchers at the University of Bristol believe the answer lies in untangling the neuronal networks that tie the physiological system together.
Neurotransmitters could be to blame for debilitating headaches
17 June 2013
Motivation, addiction, sleep, high blood pressure – one family of neurones is implicated in all such conditions and if researchers at the University of Bristol hypothesise correctly, migraines could also be added to that list. In approaching a conclusion, their efforts are focused towards refining the molecular techniques and analysing the complex neuronal processes involved in transmitting signals that mastermind the networks connecting brain to body.
Creative science opens up unlimited possibilities in biochemistry
28 May 2013
An artistic approach to unpacking the structural components of proteins is proving revelatory for biochemists at the University of Bristol. Their back-to-basics philosophy is a useful antidote to the complexity of one of the on-going challenges in the discipline, allowing them to create new proteins entirely by design.
Studies link schizophrenia to functional disconnections in the brain
13 May 2013
Attempts to understand schizophrenia and its diverse symptoms have taken researchers and psychiatrists on a journey throughout the brain. Schizophrenia is one of the most common of the mental illnesses and is thought to affect about 70 million adults worldwide – yet effective alleviation of its broad range of symptoms continues to elude medical practitioners.
Philosophical reasoning brings clarity to the complex
25 April 2013
Are there any meaningful commonalities in how the different scientific disciplines tackle complexity and can they provide a reliable definition for this constantly evolving field? A rigorous investigation that unpicks the theories and crunches the numbers finds a way through the confusion - but points out that no definition can ever be absolute.
Tracing the evolution of genes sheds light on the origins of life, including humans
20 February 2013
Looking at how genes function across different species is helping to answer questions about human origins as well as how we view life on Earth. Dr Davide Pisani is integrating genomic data with palaeontological data to answer fundamental questions such as when vision first originated in animals and what was the first chemical smelled.
Making sense of uncertainty in complex systems
5 February 2013
While most of us begin to feel restless and insecure in the face of uncertainty, Dr Jonathan Rougier seems to thrive in it. Rougier is a statistician who specialises in assessing the uncertainty inherent in complex systems - systems that are typical in environmental science.
Using 19th century equations to understand transition to turbulence in pipe flow
20 February 2012
Understanding how fluid flow through a straight pipe changes from being steady to an irregular state – the so-called ‘transition to turbulence’ problem – is one of the greatest challenges in fluid mechanics. By combining theory and experimentation, Professor Richard Kerswell (Bristol University) and Professor Tom Mullin (Manchester University) studied how solutions to equations over 150-years-old could explain what is seen in nature. The ultimate aim of this work is to control or even prevent turbulence arising when its consequences such as increased drag are undesirable, for example, pumping oil in transcontinental pipelines and the airflow across an aeroplane wing.
Statistical modelling and methods for complex causal inference
20 February 2012
Dr Vanessa Didelez is a statistician developing methods to understand better causal mechanisms, the processes linking cause and effect in complex systems in motion that evolve over time, so-called dynamical systems. As many standard methods fail to handle multiple time-varying factors rendering them unusable, she is uniquely combining graphical models with background knowledge and statistical algorithms. Although her anticipated methodology could be applied in many different contexts, she foresees particular benefits for computer scientists, social scientists, geneticists and health professionals. For example, well acquainted with the biomedical community, she helps medical researchers analysing large longitudinal HIV patient data sets to enable the advancement of personalised medicine treatment programmes.