22q11.2 deletion: the most common syndrome you have never heard of

Posted on 4 June 2019 by doctoral-academy-blog

Natali_Mis/www.shutterstock.com Hayley Moulding, School of Medicine You wouldn’t be blamed for thinking that 22q11.2 was a postcode or password. My guess is you wouldn’t have thought it was the most prevalent syndrome of its kind. So let’s talk about “22q”. Everyone has 23 pairs of chromosomes – that’s 46 all together. Chromosomes are made of
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Helping to rebuild lives after stroke

Posted on 7 May 2019 by doctoral-academy-blog

Last week saw the launch of the Stroke Association’s annual stroke awareness month, Make May Purple. Here, Alex Smith from the School of Medicine tells us how he aims to improve the ways in which stroke survivors can share their experiences and outcomes. A few weeks ago the Stroke Association unveiled its first ever TV
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Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: my journey to finding a a new treatment

Posted on 9 April 2019 by doctoral-academy-blog

In the first of our blog series on rare diseases, Kasope Wolffs, School of Biosciences, tells us how her research into idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis could change the lives of millions of sufferers worldwide. Did you know that fibrosis is responsible for almost half of all deaths? If you’re thinking “that can’t be right”, you’re not
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Five ways nanoscience is making science fiction into fact

Posted on 22 January 2019 by doctoral-academy-blog

www.shutterstock.com Josh Davies, School of Chemistry Russian author Boris Zhitkov wrote the 1931 short story Microhands, in which the narrator creates miniature hands to carry out intricate surgeries. And while that was nearly 100 years ago, the tale illustrates the real fundamentals of the nanoscience researchers are working on today. Nanoscience is the study of
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Maggot racing, bones and organs – how PhD students can inspire the next generation of scientists

Posted on 26 November 2018 by doctoral-academy-blog

Public engagement is an important part of being a PhD student, helping you to communicate your research to a diverse range of audiences. Here, Amy Smith from CITER (Cardiff Institute for Tissue Engineering and Repair) tells us how PhD students can get involved with their range of fun and interactive outreach activities. CITER is primarily a
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Could diagnosing sepsis be as easy as using a pregnancy test?

Posted on 1 October 2018 by doctoral-academy-blog

What if diagnosing serious illnesses such as sepsis or cancer could be as easy as using a pregnancy test?  This might seem like a silly question as they’re such complicated illnesses. However, the home pregnancy test wasn’t used until 1969 and before that you were required to see a doctor or rely on old wives’
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Alzheimer’s is slowly giving up its secrets – and ‘risk genes’ are just one piece of the puzzle

Posted on 3 September 2018 by doctoral-academy-blog

David Smart/Shutterstock.com September is World Alzheimer’s Month – an annual international campaign to raise awareness and challenge the stigma that surrounds dementia. Here, Anna Burt (School of Medicine) tells us how researchers are using genetic information to piece together our understanding of the disease. Although the causes of Alzheimer’s disease remain a mystery, genetic research
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Five ways your eye movements affect everyday actions

Posted on 13 August 2018 by doctoral-academy-blog

Nikita Thomas, PhD Student in School of Optometry and Vision Sciences @Nikita_Thomas1 We make thousands of eye movements every day; some of which we are aware of and others which are subconscious actions that have been programmed into our brain’s visual control centres over millions of years of evolution. All visually-related behaviours, including eye movements,
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My PhD Journey: Dr Emma Yhnell

Posted on 8 March 2018 by doctoral-academy-blog

In this series of blog posts, we will be documenting the PhD journeys of some of our alumni, and finding out where they are now. On International Women’s Day it’s fitting to start the series with a woman who is doing pioneering research at Cardiff University, in a sector where women are still underrepresented. Dr
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