Smoking cessation

We identified novel DNA methylation markers of smoking exposure. More information: doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyab044

We have found that nicotine exposure (without exposure to everything else that is found in tobacco smoke) does not appear to cause lung cancer, poor lung function, heart disease or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but it does increase heart rate. More information: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1011157  

We have developed a just-in-time intervention which aims to prevent a lapse in the smoker's quit attempt becoming a full relapse to smoking. Smoking-specific movements are detected by a smartwatch which then delivers intervention messaging at the point of lapse. More information: https://doi.org/10.2196/preprints.56999 

This summary-level multivariable MR analysis found smoking and alcohol independently increase the risk of both HPV-positive and HPV-negative head and neck cancer. These findings have important implications for understanding the modifying risk factors between subtypes but lacked power to detect interactions and further individual-level MR analysis is indicated. More information: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51679-x 

We used blood-derived DNA methylation to model cigarette smoking history. Our models achieve reasonably high accuracy indicating that DNA methylation can reliably be used as an objective measure of smoking exposure. More information: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13148-021-01191-6  

We have contributed to consultations regarding the regulation of e-cigarettes, highlighting the potential impact on smoking cessation. More information: https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/youth-vaping-call-for-evidence/outcome/youth-vaping-call-for-evidence-analysis