Population Health Sciences

Bristol Neuroscience awarded £6.5 million to nurture mental health by keeping young brains on track

We need to look after young brains: threats including early life adversity, sleep disruption, drug addiction and genetic mutations can all challenge brain development and lifelong mental health. Thanks to funding of over £6.5 million for new brain research, neuroscientists at the University of Bristol hope to alleviate these threats and their burden on patients, carers, clinicians and society.

Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines offer high protection against severe COVID-19, six months after second doses, study finds

Protection against severe COVID-19 by two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines remained high up to six months after second doses, finds new research which analysed NHS health record data on over seven million adults. Reassuringly, the University of Bristol-led study published in The BMJ today [July 20], found protection in older adults aged over 65 years, and in clinically vulnerable adults.

Scientists discover genes that affect the risk of developing pre-leukaemia

The discovery of 14 inherited genetic changes which significantly increase the risk of a person developing a symptomless blood disorder associated with the onset of some types of cancer and heart disease is published today [July 14] in Nature Genetics. The finding, made in one of the largest studies of its kind through genetic data analysis on 421,738 people, could pave the way for potential new approaches for the prevention and early detection of cancers including leukaemia.