UK Research and Innovation

AI is helping to make a difference in detecting bowel cancer!

Odin Vision, an Olympus company, have developed CADDIE, an AI system that can assist doctors in detecting ‘harder to find’ polyps during colonoscopies by acting as a second pair of eyes.

By finding more potentially cancerous polyps sooner, it means they can be removed before the cancer has developed. For patients and their families, that means earlier treatment and better outcomes.

AI can be a divisive topic – but is it really all or nothing?

AI is changing our world rapidly, sometimes in ways that are hard to predict. We need research to understand what’s happening, spot problems early, and develop ways to responsibly manage them.

This knowledge can feed into laws and policies that help us maximise AI’s benefits and minimise the unintended consequences.

Want to find out more about this research? Here are some searches to help you get started:

Responsible AI UK
AI Safety Institute

LondonTechWeek

This BBC Ideas film spotlights UKRI-funded research that could help change how endometriosis is diagnosed.

Dr Barbara Guinn’s team at the University of Hull is developing EndoTect: a rapid, non-invasive urine test designed to detect endometriosis earlier and help reduce the wait for diagnosis.

Watch the film below and read more about the research: https://www.ukri.org/news-and-events/lives-and-livelihoods/health/the-endometriosis-breakthrough-aiming-to-cut-years-of-suffering/

What does “photocopying” DNA have to do with vaccines? 🧬

Researchers Neha Karim and Dr Ira Sabli from Imperial College London are making antibodies to understand what our immune system recognises when it meets meningitis-causing bacteria.

By copying antibody DNA, scientists can produce antibodies in the lab and study which parts of the bacteria they bind to. This can help identify potential vaccine targets and support research into new meningitis vaccines.

The aim of the research led by Dr Fadil Bidmos, is to develop vaccines that could be more effective, more accessible and help protect more people from diseases like meningitis.

Huge thank you to Neha and Ira for showing us the process!

Stay tuned for more on Dr Bidmos’ research.

This research exposed a flaw in how we light our world – and then helped fix it

How is this research improving lighting?

Its findings were used in a set of guidelines called the WELL Building Standard. They define how different types of room should be lit to make them friendlier to our body clocks.

For example, work areas should have a higher melanopic lux to help us feel alert and focussed. But sleeping areas need multiple lighting options for different times of day, including low melanopic lux lighting for evening.

We still don’t know everything about how light affects our body clocks, but as we discover more, these guidelines can become even better.

Thunderstorms are on the way⛈️

As our climate warms, we’re seeing bigger, more frequent storms, and higher pollen levels. Together, they can trigger thunderstorm asthma.

Scientists still don’t fully understand why it happens, but it’s been linked to strong winds during storms drawing large amounts of pollen and fungal spores into the air.

Researchers at are now digging into the data to uncover the triggers, and what this could mean for the future.

Remix via

Think you know your age? Your heart might disagree👀🫀

Ageing is a major risk factor for heart disease, but it affects everyone differently.

Professor Declan O’Regan, head of the computational cardiac imaging group .lms, and his team, have developed an AI tool that can calculate a person’s heart age from MRI scans.

They’re using this tool to pinpoint genes that could make the heart age faster, to help us predict future risks of developing heart disease and develop new therapies to prevent it.

Parkinson’s doesn’t start with a tremor. It starts in the brain, long before any symptoms appear. 🧠

Dr Dayne Beccano-Kelly at the UK Dementia Research Institute is uncovering why brain cells stop talking to each other, and when it starts to happen.

This research could mean earlier diagnoses, improved treatments to support people living with Parkinson’s, and one day prevention.

Follow for more research that’s changing lives and livelihoods.

Why would you ride a bike inside an MRI?🚲

We spoke with Prof. Declan O’Regan, head of the computational cardiac imaging group .lms, about how they’re using exercise cardiac MRI to spot heart disease earlier.

In a typical MRI scanner, you’re lying flat at rest, but this machine has special attachments that allow you to pedal like you’re on a bike.

For some people, an early or undiagnosed heart condition doesn’t cause many problems while they’re resting. But by making the heart work, doctors can get a much clearer idea of its health to spot disease earlier and more accurately.

Stay tuned for more on Declan’s research soon!

How does fat go from helpful to harmful? 🤔

Fat in itself isn’t unhealthy - but how it functions and where it’s stored can be.
When fat moves to the wrong places in the body, it can lead to metabolic disease.

Dr Alice Pollard .lms is growing human fat cells in the lab to understand how that shift happens and how we can prevent it.

Because fat tissue dysfunction affects everyone differently, Alice is creating models from a wide range of patients to help develop more targeted treatments for metabolic diseases.