The UK government’s Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL), introduced in April 2018 to help combat childhood obesity and related conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, has resulted in soft drinks manufacturers in the UK lowering the sugar levels in their drinks, researchers have found. The research was carried out by teams at the University […]

Having genetically higher testosterone levels increases the risk of metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes in women, while reducing the risk in men. Higher testosterone levels also increase the risks of breast and endometrial cancers in women, and prostate cancer in men. The findings come from the largest study to date on the genetic […]

From the  7–11 September 2020, the MRC Epidemiology Unit will be holding its 10th Physical Activity Measurement Seminar at The Møller Centre in Cambridge, UK. The course is primarily aimed at Research Assistants and PhD students interested or involved in the objective monitoring of free-living physical activity. However, anyone interested in this area of research […]

Congratulations to Steve O’Rahilly who has today been awarded the prestigious Rank Prize in Nutrition. The Nutrition prize of £80,000 was presented to Professor Sir Stephen O’Rahilly for outstanding research that has advanced understanding of genetic causes of obesity and its treatment.  The Rank Prize Funds were established in 1972 by the late Lord J. […]

Leaving school and getting a job both lead to a drop in the amount of physical activity, while becoming a mother is linked to increased weight gain, conclude two reviews published today and led by researchers at the University of Cambridge. Many people tend to put on weight as they leave adolescence and move into […]

Congratulations to Fiona Gribble who has been nominated as Vice President of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes and its closely-related Foundation (EASD/EFSD) with effect from January 1 2020. Professor Gribble’s term of office runs until the end of 2021.  The EASD is a non-profit, medical scientific association founded in 1965 with aims […]

New research published in Nature and undertaken in the MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit at the University of Cambridge, with collaborators at NGM Biopharmacueticals, the University of Glasgow and elsewhere, shows how metformin, the world’s most commonly prescribed anti-diabetic drug, works to reduce body weight. Metformin has been used to treat Type 2 diabetes for over […]

Congratulations to Professor Stephen O’Rahilly who has won the 2019 Manpei Suzuki International Prize  – a prestigious annual award made to one individual for original and excellent achievements in diabetes research.  Prof O’Rahilly will receive the award, a prize of $150K and a Japanese object d’art at a ceremony on March 4 2020. The Selection […]

Opportunities for PhD studentships are available at the MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge. The studentships enable students to explore and develop their own area of research, within the context of the broader aims of: Understanding the determinants of dietary and physical activity behaviour at individual, community and societal levels. Developing, evaluating and modelling the […]

Opportunities for PhD studentships are available at the MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge.  The studentships enable students to explore and develop their own area of research, within the context of the broader aims of the following research programmes: Aetiology and Mechanisms of Diabetes and Related Metabolic Disorders of Later Life Early Life Aetiology and […]