Blog

This is my first trip to Australia and after twenty-two hours travelling and three flights, I finally arrived in Sydney. It was then a two and half hour drive, north, to Newcastle.

The week at the University of Newcastle, New South Wales, was spent meeting researchers interested in signaling, extracellular…

There is a road in Applecross in the north-west Highlands called Bealach na Bà which twists,winds and climbs to more than 2,000ft above sea level, making it the greatest ascent of any road climb in the UK. With a gradient approaching 20% in some places, its narrow sharp bends have…

Dr Pradeep Ratnasekare, Consultant in Medical Administration and Healthcare Management, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka, recently spent time at the School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition as an Honorary Visiting Fellow. Here he reflects on his experience of living and working in Aberdeen.

"I am a medical doctor and…

Developing new and improved methods for engaging students with pharmacokinetics

I recall when I was a student how difficult the mathematical elements of pharmacokinetics were to understand. They were traditionally taught in a dry manner using blackboard and chalk making their relevance to pharmacology and clinical outcomes difficult to connect.…

Last weekend, as part of Aberdeen’s annual soundfestival, I co-led a walk, ‘Sounds like Aberdeen’, between two of the programme’s performances.

The walk was one of a series hosted by my colleagues and I over the last couple of years and used our app, [M]apping, which we co-developed with funding…

Tremendous progress has been made in tackling breast cancer over the last few decades and in many instances, it’s not the death sentence it perhaps once was. This has been underpinned by initial discoveries in laboratories, which have been translated into clinical benefit. But we need to do more. Breast…

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is used every day in tens of thousands of hospitals around the world, helping doctors to diagnose disease and monitor treatment. Almost 40 years ago, a team of scientists at Aberdeen University built the world’s first human-sized MRI scanner, and used it to perform the first-ever…

The statistics for cancer incidence rates make for sobering reading with the projection that those born in1960s have a one in two chance of being diagnosed with cancer at some time in their lifetime.  The lifetime risk was found to have increased from about 40% to 50% when analysing…

This might surprise you – obesity is the leading cause of cancer after smoking in the UK.  You will have heard the term obesity in the news, at the office, and all over place, but what is “obesity” really?  Obesity is when a person has an unhealthy amount of body…

An ECG (electrocardiogram) is a simple test that can be used to check a heart’s rhythm and electrical activity, designed to detect any underlying issues. The Apple Watch 4 will be the first mainstream wearable gadget, available on the commercial market, to integrate this kind of medical diagnostic technology. My…