Campendium: Easter Term 2024
Archaeology
200+fragments of a 75,000-year-old Neanderthal skull reconstructed at the Department of Archaeology, revealing the face of ‘Shanidar Z’
Philanthropy
Landmark donation boosts pioneering early cancer research at Cambridge
The Early Cancer Institute – the UK’s only research facility dedicated to understanding early cancer – has received a landmark £11m donation to support its vital work in the fight against cancer.
The generous gift will support the redevelopment of the Institute’s Hutchison Building, enabling it to create the cutting-edge laboratory space its research teams need to drive their early detection efforts forward.
Detecting and treating all types of cancer earlier dramatically increases survival rates and reduces healthcare costs. But detection and treatment methods have changed very little for hard-to-treat types of cancer over the past few years. Researchers at the Institute are making pioneering early detection research advances and translating these into clinical practice.
They have used the power of theoretical physics to identify blood cancer years before the patient has symptoms, while biology and chemical engineering experts have collaborated to develop a method to detect and destroy early lung cancer.
The building will be renamed the Li Ka Shing Early Cancer Institute, in honour of the enduring partnership between the Li Ka Shing Foundation and the University. Sir Ka-shing Li generously donated to the original Hutchison Building in 2002, and then – in 2007 – to the Li Ka Shing Centre, which houses the CRUK Cambridge Institute.
“This inspirational journey with Cambridge University, spanning more than two decades, fulfils my lifetime commitment to build the good of science,” says Sir Ka-shing Li. “I am truly gratified by this partnership.”
Research gift
Renowned biomedical Egyptologist Professor Rosalie David has made a gift in her will that will support early career researchers at the Department of Archaeology. “People who are very good often tend to not continue their research, largely because they cannot see how to fund their next steps,” she says. “If we can bridge that gap, more young researchers can build their careers.”
Deconstructed
Medieval money mystery solved: new tests reveal the origins of silver coins
- Between 660 and 750 AD, the use of silver ‘pennies’ in Anglo-Saxon England surged. But until now, nobody knew where that silver came from.
- A research team has analysed coins held by the Fitzwilliam Museum for the first time, using a new technique known as portable laser ablation.
- They found that coins from 660 to 750 AD matched silver from the Byzantine Empire, while coins from 750 to 820 AD matched silver from France.
- “Now we have confirmation that Byzantine silver was the dominant source behind the surge in minting and trade,” says Professor Rory Naismith.
Three-minute Tripos
Wellness belongs to political radicalism and not the rich and famous. Discuss.
AAAAAAAAEEEEEEE! AAAGGGHHHH!
What the actual heck?
I’m practising primal screaming within the forest bath, therefore holistically releasing the psychological toxins from the deep core of my lizard-brain.
And how much did you pay for that?
My wellness guru is doing a special offer for a selection of followers only. If you book five forest screaming sessions, you get a free organic vegan protein meal substitute shake.
Wow.
And a water bottle! For the environment. And for the climax of the ceremony when we all drink our own urine.
OK.
It has amazing health benefits.
You do know that you can scream and drink your own wee in the forest for free, right? That’s what they did back in the 70s.
Yeah, but back in the 70s all the gurus were so… hairy.
Well, at least they were championing self-care as a way to enhance social wellbeing just as much as they focused on the needs of the individual.
I am absolutely enhancing social wellbeing when I spend £50 on dehydrated dopamine balancing water pills and share a picture of them! I’m sharing love and grace!
But don’t you long for the era which Dr James Riley describes in his new book, Well Beings: How the Seventies Lost its Mind and Taught Us to Find Ourselves? When wellness wasn’t about celebrity endorsements and quackery for the rich, but something much more practical, accessible and political?
Now that’s an entirely new wellness concept! Stripped down! Back to basics! Hairy!
Neuroscience
Gene therapy breakthrough in hearing treatment
A baby girl born deaf can now hear unaided for the first time after receiving gene therapy at Addenbrooke’s Hospital.
Opal Sandy was born completely deaf because of a rare genetic condition, auditory neuropathy, caused by the disruption of nerve impulses travelling from the inner ear to the brain.
At 11 months, she was given a gene therapy infusion to deliver a working copy of the OTOF gene. This gene produces a vital protein called otoferlin, which allows the inner hair cells in the ear to communicate with the hearing nerve.
Now 18 months old, Opal can respond to her parents’ voices and can communicate words such as “Dada” and “bye-bye.”
Chief investigator of the trial Professor Manohar Bance, an ear surgeon at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, says these results are “spectacular”.
“Gene therapy has been the future of otology and audiology for many years and I’m so excited that it is now finally here,” he adds. “This is hopefully the start of a new era for gene therapies for the inner ear and many types of hearing loss.”
In brief
New climate campaign
Climate experts including Nigel Topping, the UN’s COP28 Climate Champion, and Mike Berners-Lee, author of There Is No Planet B, are backing the Cambridge Press and Assessment Climate Campaign. The group is calling for an independent review to gather evidence on the climate knowledge and skills young people urgently need.
A dog’s life
A new study from the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience suggests a quarter of labradors have a genetic mutation that hard-wires them for obesity. The POMC mutation profoundly changes the way certain dogs behave around food, making them feel hungrier in between meals and burn fewer calories when resting.
Concrete evidence
Researchers from the Department of Engineering say their method of recycling cement – the carbon-hungry ingredient in concrete – could be a ‘miracle’ for the transition to net zero. By substituting the lime flux normally used in steel recycling with used cement, recycled steel and recycled cement are created simultaneously, reducing their carbon footprint with no significant cost increases.