Feed aggregator

Dealroom’s Global Tech Ecosystem Index analyses and compares start-up ecosystems in 288 cities across 69 countries. To measure innovation intensity, it looks for ecosystems that are performing well relative to their population size. These hubs typically have high start-up activity, research intensity and strong links with local universities.

Diarmuid O’Brien, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Innovation at the University of Cambridge, said: “It’s great to see that, as a relatively small city, Cambridge continues to lead the UK in innovation intensity but it’s no accident that we punch above our weight. In recent years, the University and the wider ecosystem have put in place a range of initiatives to ensure that we realise our potential and are able to bring transformative science and technologies out of the lab and into the real world.”

Gerard Grech, Head of Founders at the University of Cambridge, which supports new ventures emerging from the University, added: “Cambridge is proof of what happens when world-class research meets relentless ambition. While global venture capital funding in 2024 pulled back, Cambridge doubled investment - a powerful signal that deep tech innovation is increasingly leading the way in shaping our future economies.

“What makes Cambridge unique is its cutting-edge science, an increasing flywheel of people who have successfully scaled ventures, and a culture built to turn ground-breaking ideas into transformative companies.”

A new report by Dealroom shows that Cambridge is, for its size, the most innovative city in the UK. Globally, it ranks fourth behind US innovation powerhouses San Francisco, Boston and New York. 

Hand holding test tubes in a lab

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

Yes

Dealroom’s Global Tech Ecosystem Index analyses and compares start-up ecosystems in 288 cities across 69 countries. To measure innovation intensity, it looks for ecosystems that are performing well relative to their population size. These hubs typically have high start-up activity, research intensity and strong links with local universities.

Diarmuid O’Brien, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Innovation at the University of Cambridge, said: “It’s great to see that, as a relatively small city, Cambridge continues to lead the UK in innovation intensity but it’s no accident that we punch above our weight. In recent years, the University and the wider ecosystem have put in place a range of initiatives to ensure that we realise our potential and are able to bring transformative science and technologies out of the lab and into the real world.”

Gerard Grech, Head of Founders at the University of Cambridge, which supports new ventures emerging from the University, added: “Cambridge is proof of what happens when world-class research meets relentless ambition. While global venture capital funding in 2024 pulled back, Cambridge doubled investment - a powerful signal that deep tech innovation is increasingly leading the way in shaping our future economies.

“What makes Cambridge unique is its cutting-edge science, an increasing flywheel of people who have successfully scaled ventures, and a culture built to turn ground-breaking ideas into transformative companies.”

A new report by Dealroom shows that Cambridge is, for its size, the most innovative city in the UK. Globally, it ranks fourth behind US innovation powerhouses San Francisco, Boston and New York. 

Hand holding test tubes in a lab

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

Yes

The new Fellows have been recognised for their remarkable contributions to advancing medical science, groundbreaking research discoveries and translating developments into benefits for patients and the wider public. Their work exemplifies the Academy’s mission to create an open and progressive research sector that improves health for everyone.

They join an esteemed Fellowship of 1,450 researchers who are at the heart of the Academy’s work, which includes nurturing the next generation of scientists and shaping research and health policy in the UK and worldwide.

One of Cambridge’s new Fellows, Professor Sam Behjati, is a former recipient of the Academy’s prestigious Foulkes Foundation medal, which recognises rising stars within biomedical research. Sam is Clinical Professor of Paediatric Oncology at the University and an Honorary Consultant Paediatric Oncologist at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, as well as Group Leader at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. His research is rooted in cancer genomics, phylogenetics, and single cell transcriptomics and spans a wide range of diseases and biological problems. More recently, his work has focused on the origin of cancers, in particular of childhood cancer. In addition, he explores how to use genomic data to improve the treatment of children. Sam is a Fellow at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

Also elected to the Academy of Medical Sciences Fellowship are:

Professor Clare Bryant, Departments of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine

Clare Bryant is Professor of Innate Immunity. She studies innate immune cell signalling during bacterial infection to answer fundamental questions about host-pathogen interactions and to search for new drugs to modify them. She also applies these approaches to study inflammatory signalling in chronic diseases of humans and animals.  Clare has extensive collaborations with many pharmaceutical companies, is on the scientific advisory board of several biotech companies, and helped found the natural product company Polypharmakos. Clare is a Fellow of Queens’ College, Cambridge.

Professor Frank Reimann, Institute of Metabolic Science-Metabolic Research Laboratories

Frank Reimann is Professor of Endocrine Signaling. The main focus of his group, run in close partnership with Fiona Gribble, is the enteroendocrine system within the gut, which helps regulate digestion, metabolism, and how full we feel. Their work has included the use of animal models and human cellular models to understand how cells function. One of these cells, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is the target of therapies now widely used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus and obesity. How cells shape feeding behaviour has become a major focus of the lab in recent years.

Professor Mina Ryten, UK Dementia Research Institute

Mina Ryten is a clinical geneticist and neuroscientist, and Director of the UK Dementia Research Institute at Cambridge since January 2024. She also holds the Van Geest Professorship and leads a lab focused on understanding molecular mechanisms driving neurodegeneration. Mina’s research looks at how genetic variation influences neurological diseases, particularly Lewy body disorders. Her work has advanced the use of single cell and long-read RNA sequencing to map disease pathways and identify potential targets for new treatments. Her expertise in clinical care and functional genomics has enabled her to bridge the gap between patient experience and scientific discovery.

Professor Andrew Morris CBE FRSE PMedSci, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences, said: “The breadth of disciplines represented in this year’s cohort – from mental health and infectious disease to cancer biology and respiratory medicine – reflects the rich diversity of medical science today. Their election comes at a crucial time when scientific excellence and collaboration across disciplines are essential for addressing global health challenges both now and in the future. We look forward to working with them to advance biomedical research and create an environment where the best science can flourish for the benefit of people everywhere.”

The new Fellows will be formally admitted to the Academy at a ceremony on Wednesday 9 July 2025.

Four Cambridge biomedical and health researchers are among those announced today as newly-elected Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Big T Images for Academy of Medical SciencesAcademy of Medical Sciences plaque

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

Yes

The new Fellows have been recognised for their remarkable contributions to advancing medical science, groundbreaking research discoveries and translating developments into benefits for patients and the wider public. Their work exemplifies the Academy’s mission to create an open and progressive research sector that improves health for everyone.

They join an esteemed Fellowship of 1,450 researchers who are at the heart of the Academy’s work, which includes nurturing the next generation of scientists and shaping research and health policy in the UK and worldwide.

One of Cambridge’s new Fellows, Professor Sam Behjati, is a former recipient of the Academy’s prestigious Foulkes Foundation medal, which recognises rising stars within biomedical research. Sam is Clinical Professor of Paediatric Oncology at the University and an Honorary Consultant Paediatric Oncologist at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, as well as Group Leader at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. His research is rooted in cancer genomics, phylogenetics, and single cell transcriptomics and spans a wide range of diseases and biological problems. More recently, his work has focused on the origin of cancers, in particular of childhood cancer. In addition, he explores how to use genomic data to improve the treatment of children. Sam is a Fellow at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

Also elected to the Academy of Medical Sciences Fellowship are:

Professor Clare Bryant, Departments of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine

Clare Bryant is Professor of Innate Immunity. She studies innate immune cell signalling during bacterial infection to answer fundamental questions about host-pathogen interactions and to search for new drugs to modify them. She also applies these approaches to study inflammatory signalling in chronic diseases of humans and animals.  Clare has extensive collaborations with many pharmaceutical companies, is on the scientific advisory board of several biotech companies, and helped found the natural product company Polypharmakos. Clare is a Fellow of Queens’ College, Cambridge.

Professor Frank Reimann, Institute of Metabolic Science-Metabolic Research Laboratories

Frank Reimann is Professor of Endocrine Signaling. The main focus of his group, run in close partnership with Fiona Gribble, is the enteroendocrine system within the gut, which helps regulate digestion, metabolism, and how full we feel. Their work has included the use of animal models and human cellular models to understand how cells function. One of these cells, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is the target of therapies now widely used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus and obesity. How cells shape feeding behaviour has become a major focus of the lab in recent years.

Professor Mina Ryten, UK Dementia Research Institute

Mina Ryten is a clinical geneticist and neuroscientist, and Director of the UK Dementia Research Institute at Cambridge since January 2024. She also holds the Van Geest Professorship and leads a lab focused on understanding molecular mechanisms driving neurodegeneration. Mina’s research looks at how genetic variation influences neurological diseases, particularly Lewy body disorders. Her work has advanced the use of single cell and long-read RNA sequencing to map disease pathways and identify potential targets for new treatments. Her expertise in clinical care and functional genomics has enabled her to bridge the gap between patient experience and scientific discovery.

Professor Andrew Morris CBE FRSE PMedSci, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences, said: “The breadth of disciplines represented in this year’s cohort – from mental health and infectious disease to cancer biology and respiratory medicine – reflects the rich diversity of medical science today. Their election comes at a crucial time when scientific excellence and collaboration across disciplines are essential for addressing global health challenges both now and in the future. We look forward to working with them to advance biomedical research and create an environment where the best science can flourish for the benefit of people everywhere.”

The new Fellows will be formally admitted to the Academy at a ceremony on Wednesday 9 July 2025.

Four Cambridge biomedical and health researchers are among those announced today as newly-elected Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Big T Images for Academy of Medical SciencesAcademy of Medical Sciences plaque

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

Yes

Around 10% of women have very dense breasts. Between the ages of 50 and 70, these women are up to four-times more likely to develop breast cancer compared to women with low breast density.

Over 2.2 million women receive breast screening in the UK each year. For women with very dense breasts, mammograms (breast X-rays), which are used for breast screening, can be less effective at detecting cancer. This is because denser breasts look whiter on mammograms, which makes it harder to spot small early-stage cancers which also appear white.

Published today in The Lancet, a trial of over 9000 women across the UK who have dense breasts and had a negative (no cancer) mammogram result, found 85 cancers.

The trial, called BRAID, tested different scanning methods that could be used in addition to mammograms to detect cancers in dense breasts. Per 1000 women screened, two of the methods detected 17-19 cancers that were not seen in mammograms.

The two methods are known as CEM (contrast enhanced mammography) and AB-MRI (abbreviated magnetic resonance imaging).

The researchers that ran the trial recommend that adding either of these methods to existing breast screening could detect 3,500 more cancers per year in the UK. Estimates suggest that screening reduces mortality for about 20% of cancers detected, so this could mean an extra 700 lives saved each year.

BRAID also included a third scanning method, ABUS (automated whole breast ultrasound), which also detected cancers not seen in mammograms but was three times less effective than CEM and AB-MRI.

Each of the three methods was used to scan around 2000 women. Per 1000 women scanned, CEM detected 19 cancers, AB-MRI found 17 cancers, and ABUS found 4.

Mammograms already detect approximately 8 cancers per 1000 women with dense breasts. This means additional scans could more than treble breast cancer detection in this group of women.

BRAID is the first trial to directly compare supplemental imaging methods and to demonstrate their value for early cancer detection as part of widespread screening. The team hope their results will be used to enhance screening programmes in the UK and globally to diagnose more cancers early.

More work is needed to confirm whether additional scans will reduce the number of deaths as cancers detected through screening are not always life-threatening.

The trial was led from Cambridge. It recruited across 10 UK sites, including over 2000 women at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge.

The research was led by Professor Fiona Gilbert, Department of Radiology, University of Cambridge and honorary consultant radiologist at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, part of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH). The trial was funded by Cancer Research UK with support from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre (BRC).

Professor Gilbert said: “Getting a cancer diagnosis early makes a huge difference for patients in terms of their treatment and outlook. We need to change our national screening programme so we can make sure more cancers are diagnosed early, giving many more women a much better chance of survival.”

Professor Stephen Duffy, Emeritus Professor, Queen Mary University, London, trial statistician and screening programme expert said: “The NHS Breast Screening Programme has made a huge difference to many lives. Thanks to these results we can see that the technology exists to make screening even better, particularly for the 10% of women with dense breast tissue."

Dr David Crosby, head of prevention and early detection at Cancer Research UK, said: “Breast cancer screening is for people without symptoms and helps to spot the disease at an early stage, when treatment is more likely to be successful. But having dense breasts can make it harder to detect cancer.

“This study shows that making blood vessels more visible during mammograms could make it much easier for doctors to spot signs of cancer in women with dense breasts. More research is needed to fully understand the effectiveness of these techniques, but these results are encouraging.

“Remember, having dense breasts is not something you can check for yourself or change, but if you’re concerned at all, you can speak to your GP.”

Reference
Gilbert, FJ et al. Comparison of supplemental imaging techniques – interim results of BRAID (Breast Screening: risk adapted imaging for density) randomized controlled trial. Lancet; 22 May 2025; DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(25)00582-3 

Press release from Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Researchers in Cambridge are calling for additional scans to be added to breast screening for women with very dense breasts. This follows a large-scale trial, which shows that extra scans could treble cancer detection for these women potentially saving up to 700 lives a year in the UK.

We need to change our national screening programme so we can make sure more cancers are diagnosed early, giving many more women a much better chance of survivalFiona GilbertTom Werner (Getty Images)Woman undergoing mammogram procedure - stock photoLouise’s story

Louise Duffield, age 60, a grandmother of four from Ely was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer as a result of the BRAID trial.

Louise works in local government. She spends her free time knitting, and visiting 1940s events around the UK with her husband, Fred, and their two restored wartime Jeep. She is enthusiastic about clinical research and has previously participated as a healthy participant in several studies.

In 2023, Louise was invited to participate in the BRAID trial following her regular mammogram screening, which showed that she had very dense breasts. As part of the trial, Louise had an AB-MRI scan which identified a small lump deep inside one of her breasts.

“When they rang to say they’d found something, it was a big shock. You start thinking all sorts of things but, in the end, I just thought, at least if they’ve found something, they’ve found it early. The staff were brilliant, and so supportive.”

Soon after the MRI, Louise had a biopsy that confirmed she had stage 0 (very early) breast cancer within the ducts of one of her breasts. Six weeks later Louise underwent surgery to remove the tumour, during that time the tumour had already grown larger than it appeared on the scans.

“It’s been a stressful time and it’s a huge relief to have it gone. The team have been fantastic throughout. The tumour was deep in the breast so, if I hadn’t been on the trial, it could have gone unnoticed for years.

“I feel very lucky, it almost doesn’t feel like I’ve really had cancer. Without this research I could have had a very different experience.”

The location of Louise’s tumour meant it would have been difficult for her to find it through self-examination, and since it was not detected during her regular mammogram it would have been at least three years before she was invited for another.

Following a short course of radiotherapy, Louise is now cancer free. She will continue to be monitored for several years and will continue to be attending her regular mammograms every three years as part of the national breast cancer screening programme.

“This experience has highlighted to me how important screening is. If I hadn’t had the mammogram, I wouldn’t have been invited to the trial. Getting treated was so quick because they found the cancer early.”

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

Yes

Around 10% of women have very dense breasts. Between the ages of 50 and 70, these women are up to four-times more likely to develop breast cancer compared to women with low breast density.

Over 2.2 million women receive breast screening in the UK each year. For women with very dense breasts, mammograms (breast X-rays), which are used for breast screening, can be less effective at detecting cancer. This is because denser breasts look whiter on mammograms, which makes it harder to spot small early-stage cancers which also appear white.

Published today in The Lancet, a trial of over 9000 women across the UK who have dense breasts and had a negative (no cancer) mammogram result, found 85 cancers.

The trial, called BRAID, tested different scanning methods that could be used in addition to mammograms to detect cancers in dense breasts. Per 1000 women screened, two of the methods detected 17-19 cancers that were not seen in mammograms.

The two methods are known as CEM (contrast enhanced mammography) and AB-MRI (abbreviated magnetic resonance imaging).

The researchers that ran the trial recommend that adding either of these methods to existing breast screening could detect 3,500 more cancers per year in the UK. Estimates suggest that screening reduces mortality for about 20% of cancers detected, so this could mean an extra 700 lives saved each year.

BRAID also included a third scanning method, ABUS (automated whole breast ultrasound), which also detected cancers not seen in mammograms but was three times less effective than CEM and AB-MRI.

Each of the three methods was used to scan around 2000 women. Per 1000 women scanned, CEM detected 19 cancers, AB-MRI found 17 cancers, and ABUS found 4.

Mammograms already detect approximately 8 cancers per 1000 women with dense breasts. This means additional scans could more than treble breast cancer detection in this group of women.

BRAID is the first trial to directly compare supplemental imaging methods and to demonstrate their value for early cancer detection as part of widespread screening. The team hope their results will be used to enhance screening programmes in the UK and globally to diagnose more cancers early.

More work is needed to confirm whether additional scans will reduce the number of deaths as cancers detected through screening are not always life-threatening.

The trial was led from Cambridge. It recruited across 10 UK sites, including over 2000 women at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge.

The research was led by Professor Fiona Gilbert, Department of Radiology, University of Cambridge and honorary consultant radiologist at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, part of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH). The trial was funded by Cancer Research UK with support from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre (BRC).

Professor Gilbert said: “Getting a cancer diagnosis early makes a huge difference for patients in terms of their treatment and outlook. We need to change our national screening programme so we can make sure more cancers are diagnosed early, giving many more women a much better chance of survival.”

Professor Stephen Duffy, Emeritus Professor, Queen Mary University, London, trial statistician and screening programme expert said: “The NHS Breast Screening Programme has made a huge difference to many lives. Thanks to these results we can see that the technology exists to make screening even better, particularly for the 10% of women with dense breast tissue."

Dr David Crosby, head of prevention and early detection at Cancer Research UK, said: “Breast cancer screening is for people without symptoms and helps to spot the disease at an early stage, when treatment is more likely to be successful. But having dense breasts can make it harder to detect cancer.

“This study shows that making blood vessels more visible during mammograms could make it much easier for doctors to spot signs of cancer in women with dense breasts. More research is needed to fully understand the effectiveness of these techniques, but these results are encouraging.

“Remember, having dense breasts is not something you can check for yourself or change, but if you’re concerned at all, you can speak to your GP.”

Reference
Gilbert, FJ et al. Comparison of supplemental imaging techniques – interim results of BRAID (Breast Screening: risk adapted imaging for density) randomized controlled trial. Lancet; 22 May 2025; DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(25)00582-3 

Press release from Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Researchers in Cambridge are calling for additional scans to be added to breast screening for women with very dense breasts. This follows a large-scale trial, which shows that extra scans could treble cancer detection for these women potentially saving up to 700 lives a year in the UK.

We need to change our national screening programme so we can make sure more cancers are diagnosed early, giving many more women a much better chance of survivalFiona GilbertTom Werner (Getty Images)Woman undergoing mammogram procedure - stock photoLouise’s story

Louise Duffield, age 60, a grandmother of four from Ely was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer as a result of the BRAID trial.

Louise works in local government. She spends her free time knitting, and visiting 1940s events around the UK with her husband, Fred, and their two restored wartime Jeep. She is enthusiastic about clinical research and has previously participated as a healthy participant in several studies.

In 2023, Louise was invited to participate in the BRAID trial following her regular mammogram screening, which showed that she had very dense breasts. As part of the trial, Louise had an AB-MRI scan which identified a small lump deep inside one of her breasts.

“When they rang to say they’d found something, it was a big shock. You start thinking all sorts of things but, in the end, I just thought, at least if they’ve found something, they’ve found it early. The staff were brilliant, and so supportive.”

Soon after the MRI, Louise had a biopsy that confirmed she had stage 0 (very early) breast cancer within the ducts of one of her breasts. Six weeks later Louise underwent surgery to remove the tumour, during that time the tumour had already grown larger than it appeared on the scans.

“It’s been a stressful time and it’s a huge relief to have it gone. The team have been fantastic throughout. The tumour was deep in the breast so, if I hadn’t been on the trial, it could have gone unnoticed for years.

“I feel very lucky, it almost doesn’t feel like I’ve really had cancer. Without this research I could have had a very different experience.”

The location of Louise’s tumour meant it would have been difficult for her to find it through self-examination, and since it was not detected during her regular mammogram it would have been at least three years before she was invited for another.

Following a short course of radiotherapy, Louise is now cancer free. She will continue to be monitored for several years and will continue to be attending her regular mammograms every three years as part of the national breast cancer screening programme.

“This experience has highlighted to me how important screening is. If I hadn’t had the mammogram, I wouldn’t have been invited to the trial. Getting treated was so quick because they found the cancer early.”

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

Yes

Presented by The Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University, the exhibit is part of a brand-new GreenSTEM section that celebrates cutting-edge research and innovation in the world of plant science.

Blooming Numbers takes visitors on an immersive journey through the latest discoveries in quantitative plant biology—starting with the humble flower and diving deep into molecular biology, genetics, imaging technologies, computational modelling, and the often-overlooked mathematical patterns that govern plant development.

“This award is just so exciting,” said Kathy Grube from the Sainsbury Laboratory.

“We came in in the morning to water the plants and turn on the microscopes, and the medal had been laid out by the judges. We were jumping up and down when we found it.”

The eye-catching exhibit was a collaborative effort across multiple Cambridge institutions and partners. The University’s Department of Engineering co-designed the infrastructure, drawing inspiration from the Fibonacci sequence—an iconic numerical pattern found throughout nature. The Pollinator Patch, a lush highlight of the exhibit, was designed and cultivated by Oakington Garden Centre to demonstrate pollinator-friendly planting. Darwin Nurseries added wildlife-friendly hanging baskets that captivated visitors and judges alike.

“One of our fellow exhibitors, who have been coming to Chelsea for years, told us that getting a silver-gilt on your first try is a real achievement,” said Kathy.

“The judges came over and said the design of the stand was fantastic, and they loved the interactive exhibits. We’re just so honoured.”

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show, the world’s most famous horticultural show, runs until the end of the week and attracts horticultural experts, designers, and plant lovers from across the globe.
 

The University of Cambridge has made a dazzling debut at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, winning a prestigious silver-gilt medal for its interactive plant science exhibit, Blooming Numbers.

The Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

YesRelated Links: GreenSTEM spotlights horticultural science at RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Presented by The Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University, the exhibit is part of a brand-new GreenSTEM section that celebrates cutting-edge research and innovation in the world of plant science.

Blooming Numbers takes visitors on an immersive journey through the latest discoveries in quantitative plant biology—starting with the humble flower and diving deep into molecular biology, genetics, imaging technologies, computational modelling, and the often-overlooked mathematical patterns that govern plant development.

“This award is just so exciting,” said Kathy Grube from the Sainsbury Laboratory.

“We came in in the morning to water the plants and turn on the microscopes, and the medal had been laid out by the judges. We were jumping up and down when we found it.”

The eye-catching exhibit was a collaborative effort across multiple Cambridge institutions and partners. The University’s Department of Engineering co-designed the infrastructure, drawing inspiration from the Fibonacci sequence—an iconic numerical pattern found throughout nature. The Pollinator Patch, a lush highlight of the exhibit, was designed and cultivated by Oakington Garden Centre to demonstrate pollinator-friendly planting. Darwin Nurseries added wildlife-friendly hanging baskets that captivated visitors and judges alike.

“One of our fellow exhibitors, who have been coming to Chelsea for years, told us that getting a silver-gilt on your first try is a real achievement,” said Kathy.

“The judges came over and said the design of the stand was fantastic, and they loved the interactive exhibits. We’re just so honoured.”

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show, the world’s most famous horticultural show, runs until the end of the week and attracts horticultural experts, designers, and plant lovers from across the globe.
 

The University of Cambridge has made a dazzling debut at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, winning a prestigious silver-gilt medal for its interactive plant science exhibit, Blooming Numbers.

The Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

YesRelated Links: GreenSTEM spotlights horticultural science at RHS Chelsea Flower Show

“It is with great pleasure that I welcome the latest cohort of outstanding researchers into the Fellowship of the Royal Society,” said Sir Adrian Smith, President of the Royal Society. “Their achievements represent the very best of scientific endeavour, from basic discovery to research with real-world impact across health, technology and policy. From tackling global health challenges to reimagining what AI can do for humanity, their work is a testament to the power of curiosity-driven research and innovation.

“The strength of the Fellowship lies not only in individual excellence, but in the diversity of backgrounds, perspectives and experiences each new member brings. This cohort represents the truly global nature of modern science and the importance of collaboration in driving scientific breakthroughs.”

The Fellows and Foreign Members join the ranks of Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Lise Meitner, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar and Dorothy Hodgkin.

The new Cambridge fellows are:

Professor Edward Bullmore FMedSci FRS

Professor Ed Bullmore is Professor of Psychiatry and former Head of the Department of Psychiatry. His research mainly involves the application of brain imaging to psychiatry. He has introduced an entirely original approach to the analysis of human brain anatomy, involving graph theory and its application to small-world networks. This has had an enormous impact on the field, especially in relation to understanding the biological basis of schizophrenia and depression. His work has been key to the understanding of the 'wiring' of the human brain.

Professor Gábor Csányi FRS

Professor Gábor Csányi is Professor of Molecular Modelling in the Department of Engineering, and a Fellow of Pembroke College. His work is in the field of computational chemistry, and is focused on developing algorithms to predict the properties of materials and molecules from first principles. He pioneered the application of machine learning to molecular modelling which lead to enormous gains in the efficiency of molecular dynamics simulation.

Professor Judith Driscoll FRS

Professor Judith Driscoll is Professor of Materials Science in the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, and a Fellow of Trinity College. Her research is concerned with the nanoscale design and tuning of functional oxide thin film materials for energy-efficient electronic applications. A particular focus of her research group is oxide thin films, owing to their wide range of functionalities and their stability. However, their compositions tend to be complex, defects are prevalent, and interface effects play a strong role. Also, for many applications device structural dimensions are required down to nanometre length-scales. Together, all these factors produce exciting challenges for the materials scientist.

Professor Marie Edmonds FRS

Professor Marie Edmonds is Head of Department and Professor of Volcanology and Petrology in the Department of Earth Sciences. She is also a Fellow of Queens’ College. Her research focuses on understanding the impact of volcanoes on our environment and on the habitability of our planet. Her research spans the boundaries between traditional disciplines, from deciphering the nature of the interior of the Earth, to magma transport and storage in the crust, to volcano monitoring, understanding ore deposits and the dynamic chemistry of volcanic gases in the atmosphere and climate.

Professor Julian Hibberd FRS

Professor Julian Hibberd is Head of the Department of Plant Sciences and a Fellow of Emmanuel College. His research focuses on guiding optimisation of photosynthesis to improve crop yields. The C4 pathway is a complex form of photosynthesis that evolved around 30 million years ago and is now used by the most productive plants on the planet. Professor Hibberd has provided key insights into the evolution of C4 photosynthesis through analysis of plant physiology, cell specialisation, organelle development, and the control of gene expression.

Dr Gregory Jefferis FRS

Dr Gregory Jefferis is Joint Head of the Neurobiology Division at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Director of Research of the Department of Zoology. The broad goal of his research is to understand how smell turns into behaviour in the fruit fly brain. His group is particularly interested in how odour information is processed by the higher olfactory centres that mediate innate and learned behaviour.

Professor Jason Miller FRS

Professor Jason Miller is a Professor in the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics and a Fellow of Trinity College. His research interests are in probability, in particular stochastic interface models, random walk, mixing times for Markov chains, and interacting particle systems.

Professor Andrew Pitts FRS

Professor Andrew Pitts is Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Computer Science in the Department of Computer Science and Technology and an Emeritus Fellow of Darwin College. His research makes use of techniques from category theory, mathematical logic and type theory to advance the foundations of programming language semantics and theorem proving systems. His aim is to develop mathematical models and methods that aid language design and the development of formal logics for specifying and reasoning about programs. He is particularly interested in higher-order typed programming languages and in dependently typed logics.

Dr Marta Zlatic FRS

Dr Marta Zlatic is Programme Leader at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, and Director of Research in the Department of Zoology. She is also a Fellow of Trinity College. Her research aims to understand the relationship between the structure of the nervous system and its function and to discover the basic principles by which neural circuits implement fundamental computations. A major focus of her research is the circuit implementation of learning and decision-making.

Nine outstanding Cambridge scientists have been elected as Fellows of the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of sciences and the oldest science academy in continuous existence.

Tom MorrisEntrance to the Royal Society

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

YesLicence type: Attribution-ShareAlike

“It is with great pleasure that I welcome the latest cohort of outstanding researchers into the Fellowship of the Royal Society,” said Sir Adrian Smith, President of the Royal Society. “Their achievements represent the very best of scientific endeavour, from basic discovery to research with real-world impact across health, technology and policy. From tackling global health challenges to reimagining what AI can do for humanity, their work is a testament to the power of curiosity-driven research and innovation.

“The strength of the Fellowship lies not only in individual excellence, but in the diversity of backgrounds, perspectives and experiences each new member brings. This cohort represents the truly global nature of modern science and the importance of collaboration in driving scientific breakthroughs.”

The Fellows and Foreign Members join the ranks of Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Lise Meitner, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar and Dorothy Hodgkin.

The new Cambridge fellows are:

Professor Edward Bullmore FMedSci FRS

Professor Ed Bullmore is Professor of Psychiatry and former Head of the Department of Psychiatry. His research mainly involves the application of brain imaging to psychiatry. He has introduced an entirely original approach to the analysis of human brain anatomy, involving graph theory and its application to small-world networks. This has had an enormous impact on the field, especially in relation to understanding the biological basis of schizophrenia and depression. His work has been key to the understanding of the 'wiring' of the human brain.

Professor Gábor Csányi FRS

Professor Gábor Csányi is Professor of Molecular Modelling in the Department of Engineering, and a Fellow of Pembroke College. His work is in the field of computational chemistry, and is focused on developing algorithms to predict the properties of materials and molecules from first principles. He pioneered the application of machine learning to molecular modelling which lead to enormous gains in the efficiency of molecular dynamics simulation.

Professor Judith Driscoll FRS

Professor Judith Driscoll is Professor of Materials Science in the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, and a Fellow of Trinity College. Her research is concerned with the nanoscale design and tuning of functional oxide thin film materials for energy-efficient electronic applications. A particular focus of her research group is oxide thin films, owing to their wide range of functionalities and their stability. However, their compositions tend to be complex, defects are prevalent, and interface effects play a strong role. Also, for many applications device structural dimensions are required down to nanometre length-scales. Together, all these factors produce exciting challenges for the materials scientist.

Professor Marie Edmonds FRS

Professor Marie Edmonds is Head of Department and Professor of Volcanology and Petrology in the Department of Earth Sciences. She is also a Fellow of Queens’ College. Her research focuses on understanding the impact of volcanoes on our environment and on the habitability of our planet. Her research spans the boundaries between traditional disciplines, from deciphering the nature of the interior of the Earth, to magma transport and storage in the crust, to volcano monitoring, understanding ore deposits and the dynamic chemistry of volcanic gases in the atmosphere and climate.

Professor Julian Hibberd FRS

Professor Julian Hibberd is Head of the Department of Plant Sciences and a Fellow of Emmanuel College. His research focuses on guiding optimisation of photosynthesis to improve crop yields. The C4 pathway is a complex form of photosynthesis that evolved around 30 million years ago and is now used by the most productive plants on the planet. Professor Hibberd has provided key insights into the evolution of C4 photosynthesis through analysis of plant physiology, cell specialisation, organelle development, and the control of gene expression.

Dr Gregory Jefferis FRS

Dr Gregory Jefferis is Joint Head of the Neurobiology Division at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Director of Research of the Department of Zoology. The broad goal of his research is to understand how smell turns into behaviour in the fruit fly brain. His group is particularly interested in how odour information is processed by the higher olfactory centres that mediate innate and learned behaviour.

Professor Jason Miller FRS

Professor Jason Miller is a Professor in the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics and a Fellow of Trinity College. His research interests are in probability, in particular stochastic interface models, random walk, mixing times for Markov chains, and interacting particle systems.

Professor Andrew Pitts FRS

Professor Andrew Pitts is Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Computer Science in the Department of Computer Science and Technology and an Emeritus Fellow of Darwin College. His research makes use of techniques from category theory, mathematical logic and type theory to advance the foundations of programming language semantics and theorem proving systems. His aim is to develop mathematical models and methods that aid language design and the development of formal logics for specifying and reasoning about programs. He is particularly interested in higher-order typed programming languages and in dependently typed logics.

Dr Marta Zlatic FRS

Dr Marta Zlatic is Programme Leader at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, and Director of Research in the Department of Zoology. She is also a Fellow of Trinity College. Her research aims to understand the relationship between the structure of the nervous system and its function and to discover the basic principles by which neural circuits implement fundamental computations. A major focus of her research is the circuit implementation of learning and decision-making.

Nine outstanding Cambridge scientists have been elected as Fellows of the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of sciences and the oldest science academy in continuous existence.

Tom MorrisEntrance to the Royal Society

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

YesLicence type: Attribution-ShareAlike

What is a memory?

Is it a distinct pattern of brain activity, a blueprint for future behaviour, or a skill that we can improve with a little training? Probably all these things and more, argues Jon Simons, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in the Department of Psychology and Head of the School of the Biological Sciences.

Jon’s Memory Lab studies all aspects of memory. They invite volunteers to complete memory tasks online, in the laboratory, or sometimes while lying in an MRI machine while the team scans their brains. 

If memory serves

The biochemical changes that represent memories range across the brain’s real estate. A long list of factors determine which brain areas light up during the experience: whether a memory is being encoded or reconstructed, whether it's an old or a new pattern, and what kind of information it deals with.

“We know that the hippocampus is crucial for forming new memories, but it’s not necessarily the permanent storage site," Jon says. "For long-term storage, we also recruit cortical areas – the frontal lobes, temporal lobes, parietal lobes and more.”

To plot a route through tangled terrain, researchers divide memory into different types. Short-term memory lasts a minute at most and has a limited capacity – around 7 items give-or-take, according to Harvard’s George Miller in the 1950s. Think of repeating numbers to yourself while jotting down someone’s phone number. If we don’t record those numbers fast enough, they’ll fade quickly. 

But even short-term memory isn’t unitary. Alan Baddeley (Churchill 1959), former director of Cambridge’s Medical Research Council (MRC) Applied Psychology Unit (now called the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit), coined a new way of understanding how short-term memories are stored and manipulated. His 'working memory' model proposes that separate brain systems deal with different kinds of inputs. One part rehearses and replays sounds, for instance, while another holds visual information like a ‘mental canvas’. 

the_working_memory_model.svg_.png

This is different yet again from our long-term memories. These deeper experiences can stay with us for a lifetime. Recalling them can be thought of as a kind of ‘mental time-travel’, allowing us to subjectively relive past events complete with the sights, smells and sounds of cherished scenes.

Researchers now believe that we reconstruct our memories each time we experience them. From scant traces, we extrapolate the narrative of what happened. In this way, memory is a creative act, not a simple recap. One classic Cambridge study revealed how our memories are morphed by bias, beliefs, feelings and expectations.
 

Cambridge’s long memory

Enter the elegant study of Sir Frederic Bartlett, Cambridge’s first Psychology professor. 

Bartlett’s book ‘Remembering’ (1932) made use of a now famous story: the war of the ghosts. 

In this Native American folk tale, a man meets warriors paddling their canoes downriver, who invite him to join a war party. He later realises the men are ghosts, waging war on the living. 

Bartlett taught his Edwardian undergraduates this tale, then asked them to retell it in their own words. Over several retellings, his students altered key elements of the story so that it sounded more like the world they knew. ‘Canoes’ became ‘boats’, while mentions of ‘spirits’ were dropped altogether.

canoe.jpg

Bartlett's study showed the effects of culture on recall, and how the changes we make to our memories aren’t random. Even if we’re not conscious of doing so, we prefer to change story elements so that they align with our expectations, biases and cultural norms.

This feature of memory has massive implications for how we remember the past. Eye-witness testimony will be prey to the same biases. Unintentional errors, made in favour of what is familiar to us, are very difficult to avoid.

Another titan of memory research was an undergraduate while Bartlett was teaching. During World War II, Brenda Milner (Newnham 1936) helped the Psychology department repurpose itself for the war effort. After this, Milner moved to Canada to analyse patient Henry Molaison (formerly known as H M). Molaison would become one of the most famous patients in all of psychology. 

Molaison had profound amnesia. This was due to experimental surgery, where doctors removed his hippocampus to try and improve his epilepsy. Milner meticulously documented how Molaison’s memory functioned after surgery. She showed how he was unable to form new memories or remember events from the years leading up to his surgery, but that his memories from earlier in life remained intact. This work transformed our understanding of the hippocampus’ role in memory.

Psychologists like Milner and Bartlett showed us the primacy of the hippocampus and highlighted the creative nature of memory. Modern Cambridge researchers can take our investigations even further.
 

Peak performance

With all we now know about memory, can we understand what makes for better performance?

Together with Professor Simon Baron-Cohen and his team at the Autism Research Centre, Jon is currently studying thousands of the UK’s best memorisers to find the keys to their prowess. Volunteers completed a battery of memory tests online – the best performers then came for brain scans and further testing in the lab.

Their early results suggest some interesting traits, as well as the strategies people use to enhance their abilities. 

“There's a psychological trait called ‘systemising’,” says Jon. “It's found in people who have a drive to analyse and construct rule-based ways of thinking. Those kinds of people seem to be more likely to have exceptional memories.”

Simon Baron-Cohen was the first to define this trait. He did so in relation to people on the autism spectrum, for whom ‘systemising’ is set very high. 

So if you happen to think like a ‘systemiser’, you may have a better memory. If you don’t, there are also concrete strategies to boost your memory capacities.

“Mnemonics are an evidence-based technique that can improve our memories,” Jon explains. “They often involve thinking spatially. Start by visualising somewhere you know well, then mentally ‘place’ important information in that map. You can then 'travel through' that map when recalling.”

Think Sherlock’s ‘mind palace’ from the BBC adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s books. Jon points out that pre-BBC, this strategy was familiar to ancient Greek and Roman orators. They called it the method of loci, using it as a way to remember extremely long speeches. It can also be helpful for everyday tasks, like remembering a shopping list.

gettyimages-1270935214.jpg

Jon’s tip for this method is to make the memory triggers striking. Associate the eggs on your shopping list with a fire-breathing dragon guarding its young, for example, and the sensory impression might be distinct enough to stand out from the background noise. 

“The more bizarre the better! Our memories have a big job in trying to differentiate one memory from another. We can help it out by making key information more distinctive. This helps our brains to distinguish memories from one another, and stop irrelevant ones from overlapping or interfering.”

Indeed, one of the functions of the hippocampus is to perform pattern separation – trying to make our memories distinct. If memories are too similar, we find it harder to recall specific experiences. 

This might go some way to explaining the ‘brain fog’ many experienced during COVID-19 lockdowns. With days inside tending to repeat familiar routines, we had less distinct and varied experiences. Our brains were less able to create rich, meaningful memories. Looking back on 2020 and 2021, people find it hard to separate what happened when.

There’s a lesson for non-lockdown living here too. If we want a rich life that feels like it lasts longer and is full of accessible, interesting memories, we should prioritise variety in our experience.

To further improve memory function, we should strive to decrease stress, fear and anxiety (where possible). These emotional states increase our cognitive load and reduce our memory abilities.

“When anxious thoughts flood our minds, they compete for space in our working memory and impair our ability to recall long-term memories. They pull attention and resources away from the things we’d like to focus on. If we can find ways to reduce stress and anxiety, our memory can often bounce back.”

While this might be easier said than done, science has concrete recommendations for reducing stress and anxiety. Done consistently, a healthy diet, regular exercise and a good sleep schedule, as well as techniques like mindfulness practice, can have transformative effects. 

Researchers like Jon are deepening our understanding of what memories are. The Memory Lab follows an illustrious line of Cambridge psychologists who identified key pieces of memory’s endless puzzle. Wherever the next steps lead, they will affirm a wonder of nature: the intricate patterns our mind weaves to make sense of the world outside.

For a handy guide to building mental resilience, check out Brain Boost by Dr Barbara Sahakian and Dr Christelle Langley. To focus on fighting anxiety with scientific techniques, try Dr Olivia Remes.

To find out how you can participate in Memory Lab studies, get in touch.

By tying together more than a century of memory research at Cambridge, the Memory Lab gives us tangible ways to improve, preserve and understand our memory.

When anxious thoughts flood our minds, they compete for space in our working memory and impair our ability to recall long-term memories. If we can find ways to reduce stress and anxiety, our memory can often bounce back.Jon SimonsSusana CamachoJon Simons, by Susana Camacho

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

Yes

What is a memory?

Is it a distinct pattern of brain activity, a blueprint for future behaviour, or a skill that we can improve with a little training? Probably all these things and more, argues Jon Simons, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in the Department of Psychology and Head of the School of the Biological Sciences.

Jon’s Memory Lab studies all aspects of memory. They invite volunteers to complete memory tasks online, in the laboratory, or sometimes while lying in an MRI machine while the team scans their brains. 

If memory serves

The biochemical changes that represent memories range across the brain’s real estate. A long list of factors determine which brain areas light up during the experience: whether a memory is being encoded or reconstructed, whether it's an old or a new pattern, and what kind of information it deals with.

“We know that the hippocampus is crucial for forming new memories, but it’s not necessarily the permanent storage site," Jon says. "For long-term storage, we also recruit cortical areas – the frontal lobes, temporal lobes, parietal lobes and more.”

To plot a route through tangled terrain, researchers divide memory into different types. Short-term memory lasts a minute at most and has a limited capacity – around 7 items give-or-take, according to Harvard’s George Miller in the 1950s. Think of repeating numbers to yourself while jotting down someone’s phone number. If we don’t record those numbers fast enough, they’ll fade quickly. 

But even short-term memory isn’t unitary. Alan Baddeley (Churchill 1959), former director of Cambridge’s Medical Research Council (MRC) Applied Psychology Unit (now called the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit), coined a new way of understanding how short-term memories are stored and manipulated. His 'working memory' model proposes that separate brain systems deal with different kinds of inputs. One part rehearses and replays sounds, for instance, while another holds visual information like a ‘mental canvas’. 

the_working_memory_model.svg_.png

This is different yet again from our long-term memories. These deeper experiences can stay with us for a lifetime. Recalling them can be thought of as a kind of ‘mental time-travel’, allowing us to subjectively relive past events complete with the sights, smells and sounds of cherished scenes.

Researchers now believe that we reconstruct our memories each time we experience them. From scant traces, we extrapolate the narrative of what happened. In this way, memory is a creative act, not a simple recap. One classic Cambridge study revealed how our memories are morphed by bias, beliefs, feelings and expectations.
 

Cambridge’s long memory

Enter the elegant study of Sir Frederic Bartlett, Cambridge’s first Psychology professor. 

Bartlett’s book ‘Remembering’ (1932) made use of a now famous story: the war of the ghosts. 

In this Native American folk tale, a man meets warriors paddling their canoes downriver, who invite him to join a war party. He later realises the men are ghosts, waging war on the living. 

Bartlett taught his Edwardian undergraduates this tale, then asked them to retell it in their own words. Over several retellings, his students altered key elements of the story so that it sounded more like the world they knew. ‘Canoes’ became ‘boats’, while mentions of ‘spirits’ were dropped altogether.

canoe.jpg

Bartlett's study showed the effects of culture on recall, and how the changes we make to our memories aren’t random. Even if we’re not conscious of doing so, we prefer to change story elements so that they align with our expectations, biases and cultural norms.

This feature of memory has massive implications for how we remember the past. Eye-witness testimony will be prey to the same biases. Unintentional errors, made in favour of what is familiar to us, are very difficult to avoid.

Another titan of memory research was an undergraduate while Bartlett was teaching. During World War II, Brenda Milner (Newnham 1936) helped the Psychology department repurpose itself for the war effort. After this, Milner moved to Canada to analyse patient Henry Molaison (formerly known as H M). Molaison would become one of the most famous patients in all of psychology. 

Molaison had profound amnesia. This was due to experimental surgery, where doctors removed his hippocampus to try and improve his epilepsy. Milner meticulously documented how Molaison’s memory functioned after surgery. She showed how he was unable to form new memories or remember events from the years leading up to his surgery, but that his memories from earlier in life remained intact. This work transformed our understanding of the hippocampus’ role in memory.

Psychologists like Milner and Bartlett showed us the primacy of the hippocampus and highlighted the creative nature of memory. Modern Cambridge researchers can take our investigations even further.
 

Peak performance

With all we now know about memory, can we understand what makes for better performance?

Together with Professor Simon Baron-Cohen and his team at the Autism Research Centre, Jon is currently studying thousands of the UK’s best memorisers to find the keys to their prowess. Volunteers completed a battery of memory tests online – the best performers then came for brain scans and further testing in the lab.

Their early results suggest some interesting traits, as well as the strategies people use to enhance their abilities. 

“There's a psychological trait called ‘systemising’,” says Jon. “It's found in people who have a drive to analyse and construct rule-based ways of thinking. Those kinds of people seem to be more likely to have exceptional memories.”

Simon Baron-Cohen was the first to define this trait. He did so in relation to people on the autism spectrum, for whom ‘systemising’ is set very high. 

So if you happen to think like a ‘systemiser’, you may have a better memory. If you don’t, there are also concrete strategies to boost your memory capacities.

“Mnemonics are an evidence-based technique that can improve our memories,” Jon explains. “They often involve thinking spatially. Start by visualising somewhere you know well, then mentally ‘place’ important information in that map. You can then 'travel through' that map when recalling.”

Think Sherlock’s ‘mind palace’ from the BBC adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s books. Jon points out that pre-BBC, this strategy was familiar to ancient Greek and Roman orators. They called it the method of loci, using it as a way to remember extremely long speeches. It can also be helpful for everyday tasks, like remembering a shopping list.

gettyimages-1270935214.jpg

Jon’s tip for this method is to make the memory triggers striking. Associate the eggs on your shopping list with a fire-breathing dragon guarding its young, for example, and the sensory impression might be distinct enough to stand out from the background noise. 

“The more bizarre the better! Our memories have a big job in trying to differentiate one memory from another. We can help it out by making key information more distinctive. This helps our brains to distinguish memories from one another, and stop irrelevant ones from overlapping or interfering.”

Indeed, one of the functions of the hippocampus is to perform pattern separation – trying to make our memories distinct. If memories are too similar, we find it harder to recall specific experiences. 

This might go some way to explaining the ‘brain fog’ many experienced during COVID-19 lockdowns. With days inside tending to repeat familiar routines, we had less distinct and varied experiences. Our brains were less able to create rich, meaningful memories. Looking back on 2020 and 2021, people find it hard to separate what happened when.

There’s a lesson for non-lockdown living here too. If we want a rich life that feels like it lasts longer and is full of accessible, interesting memories, we should prioritise variety in our experience.

To further improve memory function, we should strive to decrease stress, fear and anxiety (where possible). These emotional states increase our cognitive load and reduce our memory abilities.

“When anxious thoughts flood our minds, they compete for space in our working memory and impair our ability to recall long-term memories. They pull attention and resources away from the things we’d like to focus on. If we can find ways to reduce stress and anxiety, our memory can often bounce back.”

While this might be easier said than done, science has concrete recommendations for reducing stress and anxiety. Done consistently, a healthy diet, regular exercise and a good sleep schedule, as well as techniques like mindfulness practice, can have transformative effects. 

Researchers like Jon are deepening our understanding of what memories are. The Memory Lab follows an illustrious line of Cambridge psychologists who identified key pieces of memory’s endless puzzle. Wherever the next steps lead, they will affirm a wonder of nature: the intricate patterns our mind weaves to make sense of the world outside.

For a handy guide to building mental resilience, check out Brain Boost by Dr Barbara Sahakian and Dr Christelle Langley. To focus on fighting anxiety with scientific techniques, try Dr Olivia Remes.

To find out how you can participate in Memory Lab studies, get in touch.

By tying together more than a century of memory research at Cambridge, the Memory Lab gives us tangible ways to improve, preserve and understand our memory.

When anxious thoughts flood our minds, they compete for space in our working memory and impair our ability to recall long-term memories. If we can find ways to reduce stress and anxiety, our memory can often bounce back.Jon SimonsSusana CamachoJon Simons, by Susana Camacho

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

Yes

Dr O’Brien, who is an Irish citizen, will leave his role in Cambridge in September.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Prentice said: “Diarmuid has helped deliver genuine progress in ensuring that Cambridge continues to be recognised globally as a centre of innovation and technology, building partnerships, working with Government, and driving UK economic growth.

"We have great plans and ambitions, including for a new Innovation Hub in the heart of this city. We wish Diarmuid well in his exciting new role in Ireland.”

Dr O’Brien, who was previously Chief Executive of Cambridge Enterprise, said: “I have hugely enjoyed my time in Cambridge, which is a thriving world leader in innovation.

"The brilliant people and dynamic ecosystem here will continue to generate the startups and success stories of the future. I look forward to watching Cambridge flourish.”

He will remain in the role until September, with Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research, Professor Sir John Aston, providing continuing leadership through the transition from Diarmuid to his successor. Recruitment will begin in due course.
 

The University’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Innovation, Dr Diarmuid O’Brien, has been appointed as the first Chief Executive Officer of Research Ireland, Ireland’s new research and innovation funding agency, based in Dublin. 

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

Yes

Dr O’Brien, who is an Irish citizen, will leave his role in Cambridge in September.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Prentice said: “Diarmuid has helped deliver genuine progress in ensuring that Cambridge continues to be recognised globally as a centre of innovation and technology, building partnerships, working with Government, and driving UK economic growth.

"We have great plans and ambitions, including for a new Innovation Hub in the heart of this city. We wish Diarmuid well in his exciting new role in Ireland.”

Dr O’Brien, who was previously Chief Executive of Cambridge Enterprise, said: “I have hugely enjoyed my time in Cambridge, which is a thriving world leader in innovation.

"The brilliant people and dynamic ecosystem here will continue to generate the startups and success stories of the future. I look forward to watching Cambridge flourish.”

He will remain in the role until September, with Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research, Professor Sir John Aston, providing continuing leadership through the transition from Diarmuid to his successor. Recruitment will begin in due course.
 

The University’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Innovation, Dr Diarmuid O’Brien, has been appointed as the first Chief Executive Officer of Research Ireland, Ireland’s new research and innovation funding agency, based in Dublin. 

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

Yes

In a trial where cancers were treated with chemotherapy followed by a targeted cancer drug before surgery, 100% of patients survived the critical three-year period post-surgery.

The discovery, published today in Nature Communications, could become the most effective treatment to date for patients with early-stage breast cancer with inherited BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations.

Breast cancers with faulty copies of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are challenging to treat, and came to public attention when actress Angelina Jolie, a BRCA1 carrier, underwent a preventative double mastectomy in 2013.

Current standard treatment aims to shrink the tumour using chemotherapy and immunotherapy, before removing it through surgery. The first three years after surgery is a critical period, when there is the greatest risk of relapse or death.

The Partner trial took a different approach and demonstrates two innovations: the addition of olaparib and chemotherapy pre-surgery, and the benefits of careful timing of when the treatments are given to patients. Taken as tablets, olaparib is a targeted cancer drug already available on the NHS.

Led by Addenbrooke’s Hospital, part of Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Cambridge, the trial saw patients recruited from 23 NHS sites across the UK.

Results show that leaving a 48-hour “gap” between chemotherapy and olaparib, leads to better outcomes, possibly because a patient’s bone marrow has time to recover from chemotherapy, while leaving the tumour cells susceptible to the targeted drug.

Of the 39 patients who received chemotherapy followed by olaparib, only one patient relapsed three years after surgery and 100% of patients survived.

In comparison, the survival rate for the control arm was 88% three years after surgery. Of the 45 patients on the control arm who received chemotherapy only, nine patients relapsed, of whom six died.

Jackie Van Bochoven, 59, from South Cambridgeshire, was diagnosed in February 2019 with a small but aggressive tumour. She said: “When I had the diagnosis, I was completely shocked and numb, I thought about my children, and my mum and sister who were diagnosed with breast cancer. I was pretty worried.

“Six years on, I’m well and cancer free. I’m back at work, enjoying life and spending time with my family. When you’ve had cancer, I think you look at life differently and every day is a bonus.”

The findings have the potential to be applied to other cancers caused by faulty copies of BRCA genes, such as some ovarian, prostate and pancreatic cancers.

It may also have cost-saving benefits for the NHS, as patients currently offered olaparib take the drug post-surgery for 12 months, whereas patients on the trial took the tablets pre-surgery for 12 weeks.

Addenbrooke’s consultant and trial lead, Professor Jean Abraham said: “It is rare to have a 100% survival rate in a study like this and for these aggressive types of cancer. We’re incredibly excited about the potential of this new approach, as it’s crucial that we find a way to treat and hopefully cure patients who are diagnosed with BRCA1 and BRCA2 related cancers.”

Professor Abraham, who is also Professor of Precision Breast Cancer Medicine at the University of Cambridge, said trialling the 48-hour gap approach followed a “chance conversation” with Mark O’Connor, chief scientist in Early Oncology R&D at nearby AstraZeneca.

Mark O’Connor added: “The Partner trial highlights the importance of detecting and treating cancer early, and the value of innovative science in informing clinical trial design, in this case using bone marrow stem cells to identify the combination gap schedule. While the findings need to be validated in a larger study, they’re incredibly exciting, and have the potential to transform outcomes for patient populations who have unmet clinical need.”

This type of collaboration between NHS, academia and industry reflects the vision of Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital, a specialist cancer research hospital due to be built on Europe’s leading life sciences campus, the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. It will bring clinical expertise from Addenbrooke’s Hospital with world-class scientists from the University of Cambridge, Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre, and industry partners together in one location to create new diagnostics and treatments to detect the earliest signs of cancer and deliver personalised, precision medicine.

Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK, Michelle Mitchell, said: “One of the best ways that we can beat cancer sooner is by making more effective use of treatments that are already available to us.

"While this research is still in its infancy, it is an exciting discovery that adding olaparib at a carefully-timed stage of treatment can potentially give patients with this specific type of breast cancer more time with their loved ones.

“Research like this can help find safer and kinder ways to treat certain types of cancer. Further studies in more patients are needed to confirm whether this new technique is safe and effective enough to be used by the NHS."

Professor Abraham and team are now planning the next phase of the research, which will look to replicate the results in a larger study and confirm that the Partner approach offers a less toxic treatment for patients as well as being more cost effective, compared to the current standard of care.

The Partner trial was sponsored by Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Cambridge, funded by Cancer Research UK and AstraZeneca, and supported by the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre and Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (ACT).

Reference

Abraham, JE et al. Neoadjuvant PARP inhibitor scheduling in BRCA1 and BRCA2 related breast cancer: PARTNER, a randomized phase II/III trial. Nat Comms; 13 May 2025; DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59151-0

Press release from Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

A new treatment approach significantly improves survival rates for patients with aggressive, inherited breast cancers, according to Cambridge researchers.

It is rare to have a 100% survival rate in a study like this and for these aggressive types of cancerJean Abraham The new treatment improving survival rates for breast cancer patients. Stillvision/University of CambridgeJean Abraham and Jackie Van Bochoven

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

Yes

In a trial where cancers were treated with chemotherapy followed by a targeted cancer drug before surgery, 100% of patients survived the critical three-year period post-surgery.

The discovery, published today in Nature Communications, could become the most effective treatment to date for patients with early-stage breast cancer with inherited BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations.

Breast cancers with faulty copies of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are challenging to treat, and came to public attention when actress Angelina Jolie, a BRCA1 carrier, underwent a preventative double mastectomy in 2013.

Current standard treatment aims to shrink the tumour using chemotherapy and immunotherapy, before removing it through surgery. The first three years after surgery is a critical period, when there is the greatest risk of relapse or death.

The Partner trial took a different approach and demonstrates two innovations: the addition of olaparib and chemotherapy pre-surgery, and the benefits of careful timing of when the treatments are given to patients. Taken as tablets, olaparib is a targeted cancer drug already available on the NHS.

Led by Addenbrooke’s Hospital, part of Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Cambridge, the trial saw patients recruited from 23 NHS sites across the UK.

Results show that leaving a 48-hour “gap” between chemotherapy and olaparib, leads to better outcomes, possibly because a patient’s bone marrow has time to recover from chemotherapy, while leaving the tumour cells susceptible to the targeted drug.

Of the 39 patients who received chemotherapy followed by olaparib, only one patient relapsed three years after surgery and 100% of patients survived.

In comparison, the survival rate for the control arm was 88% three years after surgery. Of the 45 patients on the control arm who received chemotherapy only, nine patients relapsed, of whom six died.

Jackie Van Bochoven, 59, from South Cambridgeshire, was diagnosed in February 2019 with a small but aggressive tumour. She said: “When I had the diagnosis, I was completely shocked and numb, I thought about my children, and my mum and sister who were diagnosed with breast cancer. I was pretty worried.

“Six years on, I’m well and cancer free. I’m back at work, enjoying life and spending time with my family. When you’ve had cancer, I think you look at life differently and every day is a bonus.”

The findings have the potential to be applied to other cancers caused by faulty copies of BRCA genes, such as some ovarian, prostate and pancreatic cancers.

It may also have cost-saving benefits for the NHS, as patients currently offered olaparib take the drug post-surgery for 12 months, whereas patients on the trial took the tablets pre-surgery for 12 weeks.

Addenbrooke’s consultant and trial lead, Professor Jean Abraham said: “It is rare to have a 100% survival rate in a study like this and for these aggressive types of cancer. We’re incredibly excited about the potential of this new approach, as it’s crucial that we find a way to treat and hopefully cure patients who are diagnosed with BRCA1 and BRCA2 related cancers.”

Professor Abraham, who is also Professor of Precision Breast Cancer Medicine at the University of Cambridge, said trialling the 48-hour gap approach followed a “chance conversation” with Mark O’Connor, chief scientist in Early Oncology R&D at nearby AstraZeneca.

Mark O’Connor added: “The Partner trial highlights the importance of detecting and treating cancer early, and the value of innovative science in informing clinical trial design, in this case using bone marrow stem cells to identify the combination gap schedule. While the findings need to be validated in a larger study, they’re incredibly exciting, and have the potential to transform outcomes for patient populations who have unmet clinical need.”

This type of collaboration between NHS, academia and industry reflects the vision of Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital, a specialist cancer research hospital due to be built on Europe’s leading life sciences campus, the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. It will bring clinical expertise from Addenbrooke’s Hospital with world-class scientists from the University of Cambridge, Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre, and industry partners together in one location to create new diagnostics and treatments to detect the earliest signs of cancer and deliver personalised, precision medicine.

Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK, Michelle Mitchell, said: “One of the best ways that we can beat cancer sooner is by making more effective use of treatments that are already available to us.

"While this research is still in its infancy, it is an exciting discovery that adding olaparib at a carefully-timed stage of treatment can potentially give patients with this specific type of breast cancer more time with their loved ones.

“Research like this can help find safer and kinder ways to treat certain types of cancer. Further studies in more patients are needed to confirm whether this new technique is safe and effective enough to be used by the NHS."

Professor Abraham and team are now planning the next phase of the research, which will look to replicate the results in a larger study and confirm that the Partner approach offers a less toxic treatment for patients as well as being more cost effective, compared to the current standard of care.

The Partner trial was sponsored by Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Cambridge, funded by Cancer Research UK and AstraZeneca, and supported by the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre and Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (ACT).

Reference

Abraham, JE et al. Neoadjuvant PARP inhibitor scheduling in BRCA1 and BRCA2 related breast cancer: PARTNER, a randomized phase II/III trial. Nat Comms; 13 May 2025; DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59151-0

Press release from Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

A new treatment approach significantly improves survival rates for patients with aggressive, inherited breast cancers, according to Cambridge researchers.

It is rare to have a 100% survival rate in a study like this and for these aggressive types of cancerJean Abraham The new treatment improving survival rates for breast cancer patients. Stillvision/University of CambridgeJean Abraham and Jackie Van Bochoven

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

Yes

The Minister joined dignitaries including Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Prentice, Dagmar Dolby, and Head of the Cavendish Laboratory, Professor Mete Atatüre, for the opening ceremony, which celebrated the transformative potential of the Centre for both the University and the nation.

The Ray Dolby Centre now serves as the new home of the Cavendish Laboratory, one of the world’s most renowned centres for physics. More than just a University asset, the Centre – in the Department of Physics – is a national resource: its cutting-edge research capabilities will be made available to academic and industrial researchers from institutions across the UK.

Designed to accelerate breakthroughs in quantum technologies, semiconductors, disease detection, and sustainable energy, the Centre is set to play a critical role in driving UK innovation. It anchors the new Cambridge West Innovation District, which will bring industry and academia together on an unprecedented scale. When complete, the District is expected to support 14,000 jobs and position Cambridge as Europe’s foremost hub for AI, quantum research, and climate solutions.

Ahead of the opening, Lord Livermore toured the proposed city-centre site for Cambridge’s flagship Innovation Hub, a project recently endorsed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves. This Hub will act as the UK’s answer to Boston’s Lab Central and Paris’s Station F – connecting entrepreneurs, investors, and corporate partners to catalyse high-growth innovation. 

The Hub is projected to double Cambridge’s rate of unicorn company creation, increase venture investment, and significantly grow the number of startups. It is expected to attract global R&D-intensive businesses, reinforcing the UK’s position as a science and innovation superpower.

Lord Livermore also visited the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, where he received a rooftop tour of Europe’s leading life sciences cluster at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology. There, he met with leaders from Cambridge University Health Partners (CUHP) to discuss the region’s role in advancing healthcare innovation and economic growth.

Lord Spencer Livermore, Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Minister for Growth, visited Cambridge to officially open the Ray Dolby Centre – a state-of-the-art facility that will redefine the future of physics research and innovation in the UK.

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

Yes

The Minister joined dignitaries including Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Prentice, Dagmar Dolby, and Head of the Cavendish Laboratory, Professor Mete Atatüre, for the opening ceremony, which celebrated the transformative potential of the Centre for both the University and the nation.

The Ray Dolby Centre now serves as the new home of the Cavendish Laboratory, one of the world’s most renowned centres for physics. More than just a University asset, the Centre – in the Department of Physics – is a national resource: its cutting-edge research capabilities will be made available to academic and industrial researchers from institutions across the UK.

Designed to accelerate breakthroughs in quantum technologies, semiconductors, disease detection, and sustainable energy, the Centre is set to play a critical role in driving UK innovation. It anchors the new Cambridge West Innovation District, which will bring industry and academia together on an unprecedented scale. When complete, the District is expected to support 14,000 jobs and position Cambridge as Europe’s foremost hub for AI, quantum research, and climate solutions.

Ahead of the opening, Lord Livermore toured the proposed city-centre site for Cambridge’s flagship Innovation Hub, a project recently endorsed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves. This Hub will act as the UK’s answer to Boston’s Lab Central and Paris’s Station F – connecting entrepreneurs, investors, and corporate partners to catalyse high-growth innovation. 

The Hub is projected to double Cambridge’s rate of unicorn company creation, increase venture investment, and significantly grow the number of startups. It is expected to attract global R&D-intensive businesses, reinforcing the UK’s position as a science and innovation superpower.

Lord Livermore also visited the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, where he received a rooftop tour of Europe’s leading life sciences cluster at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology. There, he met with leaders from Cambridge University Health Partners (CUHP) to discuss the region’s role in advancing healthcare innovation and economic growth.

Lord Spencer Livermore, Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Minister for Growth, visited Cambridge to officially open the Ray Dolby Centre – a state-of-the-art facility that will redefine the future of physics research and innovation in the UK.

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

Yes

Women with certain variants of the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 have a high risk of developing ovarian and breast cancer. These women are recommended to have their ovaries and fallopian tubes removed at a relatively early age – between the ages 35 and 40 years for BRCA1 carriers, and between the ages 40 and 45 for BRCA2 carriers.

Previously, BSO has been shown to lead to an 80% reduction in the risk of developing ovarian cancer among these women, but there is concern that there may be unintended consequences as a result of the body’s main source of oestrogen being removed, which brings on early menopause. This can be especially challenging for BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers with a history of breast cancer, as they may not typically receive hormone replacement therapy to manage symptoms. The overall impact of BSO in BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers with a prior history of breast cancer remains uncertain. 

Ordinarily, researchers would assess the benefits and risks associated with BSO through randomised controlled trials, the ‘gold standard’ for testing how well treatments work. However, to do so in women who carry the BRCA1 and BRCA2 variants would be unethical as it would put them at substantially greater risk of developing ovarian cancer.

To work around this problem, a team at the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with the National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) in NHS England, turned to electronic health records and data from NHS genetic testing laboratories collected and curated by NDRS to examine the long-term outcomes of BSO among BRCA1 and BRCA2 PV carriers diagnosed with breast cancer. The results of their study, the first large-scale study of its kind, are published today in The Lancet Oncology.

The team identified a total of 3,400 women carrying one of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 cancer-causing variants (around 1,700 women for each variant). Around 850 of the BRCA1 carriers and 1,000 of the BRCA2 carriers had undergone BSO surgery.

Women who underwent BSO were around half as likely to die from cancer or any other cause over the follow-up period (a median follow-up time of 5.5 years). This reduction was more pronounced in BRCA2 carriers compared to BRCA1 carriers (a 56% reduction compared to 38% respectively). These women were also at around a 40% lower risk of developing a second cancer.

Although the team say it is impossible to say with 100% certainty that BSO causes this reduction in risk, they argue that the evidence points strongly towards this conclusion.

Importantly, the researchers found no link between BSO and increased risk of other long-term outcomes such as heart disease and stroke, or with depression. This is in contrast to previous studies that found evidence in the general population of an association between BSO and increased risk of these conditions.

First author Hend Hassan, a PhD student at the Centre for Cancer Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, and Wolfson College, Cambridge, said: “We know that removing the ovaries and fallopian tubes dramatically reduces the risk of ovarian cancer, but there’s been a question mark over the potential unintended consequences that might arise from the sudden onset of menopause that this causes.

“Reassuringly, our research has shown that for women with a personal history of breast cancer, this procedure brings clear benefits in terms of survival and a lower risk of other cancers without the adverse side effects such as heart conditions or depression.”

Most women undergoing BSO were white. Black and Asian women were around half as likely to have BSO compared to white women. Women who lived in less deprived areas were more likely to have BSO compared to those in the most-deprived category.

Hassan added: “Given the clear benefits that this procedure provides for at-risk women, it’s concerning that some groups of women are less likely to undergo it. We need to understand why this is and encourage uptake among these women.”

Professor Antonis Antoniou, from the Department of Public Health and Primary Care, the study’s senior author, said: “Our findings will be crucial for counselling women with cancer linked to one of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 variants, allowing them to make informed decisions about whether or not to opt for this operation.”

Professor Antoniou, who is also Director of the Cancer Data-Driven Detection programme, added: “The study also highlights the power of exceptional NHS datasets in driving impactful, clinically relevant research.”

The research was funded by Cancer Research UK, with additional support from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre.

The University of Cambridge is fundraising for a new hospital that will transform how we diagnose and treat cancer. Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital, a partnership with Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, will treat patients across the East of England, but the research that takes place there promises to change the lives of cancer patients across the UK and beyond. Find out more here.

Reference

Hassan, H et al. Long-term health outcomes of bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy in BRCA1 and BRCA2 pathogenic variant carriers with personal history of breast cancer: a retrospective cohort study using linked electronic health records. Lancet Oncology; 7 May 2025; DOI: 10.1016/S1470-2045(25)00156-1

Women diagnosed with breast cancer who carry particular BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic variants are offered surgery to remove the ovaries and fallopian tubes as this dramatically reduces their risk of ovarian cancer. Now, Cambridge researchers have shown that this procedure – known as bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (BSO) – is associated with a substantial reduction in the risk of early death among these women, without any serious side-effects.

Our findings will be crucial for counselling women with cancer linked to one of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 variants, allowing them to make informed decisions about whether or not to opt for this operationAntonis Antonioupixelfit (Getty Images)Doctor and patient making a mammography

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

Yes

Women with certain variants of the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 have a high risk of developing ovarian and breast cancer. These women are recommended to have their ovaries and fallopian tubes removed at a relatively early age – between the ages 35 and 40 years for BRCA1 carriers, and between the ages 40 and 45 for BRCA2 carriers.

Previously, BSO has been shown to lead to an 80% reduction in the risk of developing ovarian cancer among these women, but there is concern that there may be unintended consequences as a result of the body’s main source of oestrogen being removed, which brings on early menopause. This can be especially challenging for BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers with a history of breast cancer, as they may not typically receive hormone replacement therapy to manage symptoms. The overall impact of BSO in BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers with a prior history of breast cancer remains uncertain. 

Ordinarily, researchers would assess the benefits and risks associated with BSO through randomised controlled trials, the ‘gold standard’ for testing how well treatments work. However, to do so in women who carry the BRCA1 and BRCA2 variants would be unethical as it would put them at substantially greater risk of developing ovarian cancer.

To work around this problem, a team at the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with the National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) in NHS England, turned to electronic health records and data from NHS genetic testing laboratories collected and curated by NDRS to examine the long-term outcomes of BSO among BRCA1 and BRCA2 PV carriers diagnosed with breast cancer. The results of their study, the first large-scale study of its kind, are published today in The Lancet Oncology.

The team identified a total of 3,400 women carrying one of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 cancer-causing variants (around 1,700 women for each variant). Around 850 of the BRCA1 carriers and 1,000 of the BRCA2 carriers had undergone BSO surgery.

Women who underwent BSO were around half as likely to die from cancer or any other cause over the follow-up period (a median follow-up time of 5.5 years). This reduction was more pronounced in BRCA2 carriers compared to BRCA1 carriers (a 56% reduction compared to 38% respectively). These women were also at around a 40% lower risk of developing a second cancer.

Although the team say it is impossible to say with 100% certainty that BSO causes this reduction in risk, they argue that the evidence points strongly towards this conclusion.

Importantly, the researchers found no link between BSO and increased risk of other long-term outcomes such as heart disease and stroke, or with depression. This is in contrast to previous studies that found evidence in the general population of an association between BSO and increased risk of these conditions.

First author Hend Hassan, a PhD student at the Centre for Cancer Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, and Wolfson College, Cambridge, said: “We know that removing the ovaries and fallopian tubes dramatically reduces the risk of ovarian cancer, but there’s been a question mark over the potential unintended consequences that might arise from the sudden onset of menopause that this causes.

“Reassuringly, our research has shown that for women with a personal history of breast cancer, this procedure brings clear benefits in terms of survival and a lower risk of other cancers without the adverse side effects such as heart conditions or depression.”

Most women undergoing BSO were white. Black and Asian women were around half as likely to have BSO compared to white women. Women who lived in less deprived areas were more likely to have BSO compared to those in the most-deprived category.

Hassan added: “Given the clear benefits that this procedure provides for at-risk women, it’s concerning that some groups of women are less likely to undergo it. We need to understand why this is and encourage uptake among these women.”

Professor Antonis Antoniou, from the Department of Public Health and Primary Care, the study’s senior author, said: “Our findings will be crucial for counselling women with cancer linked to one of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 variants, allowing them to make informed decisions about whether or not to opt for this operation.”

Professor Antoniou, who is also Director of the Cancer Data-Driven Detection programme, added: “The study also highlights the power of exceptional NHS datasets in driving impactful, clinically relevant research.”

The research was funded by Cancer Research UK, with additional support from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre.

The University of Cambridge is fundraising for a new hospital that will transform how we diagnose and treat cancer. Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital, a partnership with Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, will treat patients across the East of England, but the research that takes place there promises to change the lives of cancer patients across the UK and beyond. Find out more here.

Reference

Hassan, H et al. Long-term health outcomes of bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy in BRCA1 and BRCA2 pathogenic variant carriers with personal history of breast cancer: a retrospective cohort study using linked electronic health records. Lancet Oncology; 7 May 2025; DOI: 10.1016/S1470-2045(25)00156-1

Women diagnosed with breast cancer who carry particular BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic variants are offered surgery to remove the ovaries and fallopian tubes as this dramatically reduces their risk of ovarian cancer. Now, Cambridge researchers have shown that this procedure – known as bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (BSO) – is associated with a substantial reduction in the risk of early death among these women, without any serious side-effects.

Our findings will be crucial for counselling women with cancer linked to one of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 variants, allowing them to make informed decisions about whether or not to opt for this operationAntonis Antonioupixelfit (Getty Images)Doctor and patient making a mammography

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

Yes