Medicine Interviews

Inflammation in Chronic Fatigue

Some unusual neurological findings at post mortem suggest a mechanism which causes the symptom of pain in chronic fatigue syndrome...Dr. Abhijit Chaudhuri, Queen's Hospital, Romford and Professor Hugh Perry, Southampton University

Looking at Muscle Cells in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Professor Julia Newton has been looking at muscle cells from patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, to see if a problem with acid could be causing fatigue - and to work out if we can use this to treat patients.Professor Julia Newton, Newcastle University

What is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?

Dr. Esther Crawley explains what chronic fatigue syndrome is, who gets it, the genetic component of chronic fatigue syndrome, and what we can currently do to help young people with the disease.Dr. Esther Crawley, Bristol University

Boosting Brown Fat for Weight Control

This week, scientists at Cambridge University have identified a signal that controls the activity of brown fat – that's a special kind of adipose tissue that when boosted, could help people to lose weight...Andrew Whittle, Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge

Children of the 90s

A story that starts with 9,000 placentas floating in plastic buckets of formaldehyde...Nell Barrie

Autism genes

Researchers in America have looked at about 600 families who’ve got people with autism in the family, and they found three new high risk genes...Nell Barrie

Zebra fish ears - Dr Tanya Whitfield

Dr Tanya Whitfield and her team at the University of Sheffield are using a rather different model - stripey little zebrafish - to study ear development. The first thing I had to ask was what on earth a zebrafish’s ear looks like.Dr Tanya Whitfield, University of Sheffield

Epilepsy in dogs

Another story that I noticed involving dogs and their diseases is about epilepsy. And actually a quite number of different breeds of dogs are affected by epilepsy. Nell Barrie

Epstein-Barr virus in dogs

This is about dogs and Epstein-Barr virus, which is type of virus that can cause some types of cancer. And it can also do that in dogs as well...Nell Barrie

Tumour evolution - Professor Charles Swanton

One of the biggest genetics stories this month came from the world of cancer research. Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, Professor Charles Swanton and his team discovered that different parts of a tumour - as well tumours that have spread to other parts of the body - have different patterns of gene faults. His work builds on other recent findings suggesting that cancer may be much more complicated on a genetic level than we ever thought, and has big implications for the future of personalised cancer treatment. I spoke to Professor Swanton, who’s based at the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute, about his new results, and what it means for our understanding of cancer and how we treat it. Professor Charles Swanton - Cancer Research UK London Research Institute

Medicines from Marine Microbes

It's not only food that we get from the oceans. Marine species from corals and sea squirts, right down to the tiniest bacteria, are offering up chemicals that could be potential new treatments for infectious diseases and cancer. We hear from two 'bio-prospectors' to find out more... Paul Jensen, Scripps Institution of Oceanography; Marcel Jaspars, University of Aberdeen

Fighting Cancer Cell Resistance to Radiotherapy

Cancer cells can develop resistance to radiotherapy, which means large doses have to be given which can damage nearby cells. Scientists Nina Edin and Erik Pettersen at the University of Oslo may have found the response which generates this resistance.Nina Edin, Erik Pettersen, Biophysics and Medical Physics, Department of Physics, Oslo University

Immune Attack of Cancer Cells

Cancer cells may escape attack by the body's immune system by releasing chemicals to suppress it, but we may be able to overcome this in the future.Alexandre Corthay, Institute of Immunology, University of Oslo

3D Tissue Imaging and Skilful Subordinate Meerkats

Imaging human tissue in 3 dimensions, a potential drug to treat autism, how wind turbines are affecting local temperatures and the benefits of perseverance by low ranking meerkats...Derek Magee, University of Leeds; Jacqueline Crawley, National Institue of Mental Health; Sobnath Baidya Roy, University of Illinois;

How Protein Pathways Set Cell Clocks

Circadian rhythms are clearly important for staying fit, both in terms of good health and of survival of the fittest. They fit chemical cycles to the day and night pattern, and this seems to have offered an evolutionary advantage. But why would that be and what are these essential chemical pathways that encouraged body clocks to evolve? To find out more, we talk to Akh Reddy from the Institute of Metabolic Science, here at the University of Cambridge.Dr. Akhilesh Reddy, Institute of Metabolic Sciences, Cambridge University

Body Clocks, Obesity and Diabetes

Our lives are becoming increasingly 24/7 - around 1 in 5 adults works non-standard time, so not the 9 to 5; we regularly travel across time zones for work and pleasure; and around 30% of adults say they have difficulty sleeping. At the same time, over 25% of adults are obese and 30% of children between 2 and 15 are overweight or obese. Dr. Orfeu Buxton tells us about a new study which reveals there may be a link between the two...Dr. Orfeu Buxton, Harvard Medical School

I Got Rhythm - Setting the Body's Circadian Clock

The ancient Greeks were accredited with first pointing out that some plants appear to be able to tell the time by altering their leaf shapes during the day and some of the first evidence of the existence of a similar internal clock in animals, including in us, was produced about a hundred years ago when scientists showed 24-hour patterns of activity even in the absence of any time cues. And now we know a lot more about how this whole system works and that is partly thanks to one of the pioneers in this area of study, Oxford University’s Professor Russell Foster.Professor Russell Foster, Oxford University

Frog Fungi - A Global Problem Affecting Amphibians

Amphibian species around the world are subject to an increasing threat in the form of a fungus. Over 200 amphibian species are thought to have become extinct and the problem isn’t just restricted to frogs, toads and newts. New research suggests it could affect food security today...Trent Garner, Institute of Zoology & and Matthew Fisher, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London

Water Sources in Africa and Orangutan Engineers

Water sources below Africa, potential anti-cancer effects of Aspirin, a new polymer for cheaper solar cells and how orangutans engineer their nests...Helen Bonsor, British Geological Survey; Graham Hardie, University of Dundee; Bernard Kippelen from the Georgia Institute of Technology; Roland Ennor, University of Manchester

Saving sailors in sunken submarines

Submarines, manned or unmanned have been vital in learning about the deep sea as well as playing an essential role as part of our armed forces. But sometimes, subs get into trouble and its passengers aren't able to bailout. Jonty Powis explains how systems such as NATO are coming to the rescue...Jonathan (Jonty) Powis, Rolls Royce