Beyond the Screen: Understanding Vaccine Hesitancy in the Age of Social Media

Author: Rebecca Light // Editor: Erin Pallott In an age where information about any subject is available at the click of a button, we have all been exposed to ‘#antivax’ information on social media, whether that be someone on a community Facebook page showing genuine concern over the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine they …

The Game-Changing Effects of Radiotherapy on Breast Cancer: Beyond Killing Cancer Cells

Author: Yamini Meshram // Editor: Erin Pallott Imagine you are giving your home a fresh coat of paint, but instead of just changing the colour, you end up remodelling the whole structure and even influencing the neighbourhood’s vibe. That's a bit like what radiotherapy does in the world of breast cancer treatment. Sure, it's known …

NF-kB, It Isn’t a Sorority, But Rather an Important Inflammatory Signalling Molecule

Writer: Jess Mackin // Illustrator: Brendan Capey // Editor: Erin Pallott The most common icebreaker in research is to ask “What do you work on?”. When I tell a researcher my topic, NF-κB signalling, I am met with the joking question “Is that a sorority?”. I cannot blame them, it does sound like it! I …

Celebrating Our Peers – DAGS Conference 2023

Authors: Erin Pallott & Charlotte Mellor // Editor: Erin Pallott It’s been a busy period for conferences and showcases. Whether you love being in the spotlight and preaching your findings, or you’d much rather be hiding away in the lab focusing on experiments, presentations and conferences are an essential part of your PhD journey. We …

3 Things We Learned From The MICRA Showcase Guest Lecture

Author: Schenelle Dlima // Editor: Erin Pallott Screenshot from the MICRA Research Showcase livestream on YouTube. Did you know that Manchester is the first city and region in the UK to achieve the World Health Organization age-friendly status? This means that Manchester strives to ensure its ageing citizens are able to maintain good health, forge …

An Overview of Computational Models in Biology

Author: Jessica Mackin // Editor: Erin Pallott Feature photo by Snufkin (CC0 1.0) The introduction and development of technology has vastly changed our day-to-day lives. We have limitless information to hand in a mobile phone. Saving, loading, and running data from a laptop is simple and convenient. The development of technology in life sciences has …

The Value of Public Engagement – Pint of Science Launch Event

Authors: Erin Pallott, Ayobami Olanrewaju & Jill Merlini I don’t think we need to emphasise the importance of communicating research to the public. It is essential we keep a two-way conversation about how public money is spent, how research is conducted, and how our research is beneficial, in language understandable to all. This is already …

Delirium — a snapshot of this serious cognitive condition

Author - Schenelle Dlima // Editor - Erin Pallott “My voice did not obey me. I tried to answer, but could only indicate yes or no.” “I had fantasies and was horrified: the nurses were dangerous. I was attending my own funeral.” “I have been from Heaven to Hell.” No, these are not lines from …

MUCUS! (Finish your lunch first)

Author: Erin Pallott You know the feeling. That scratch starts in the back of your throat, your whole head hurts, and only one nostril is working. Great, you’ve got a common cold. A first-class ticket to snot city. When you hear the word 'mucus', this is probably the first image that comes into your head. …

The human placenta: the most successful organ transplant

By Chloe Brady Throughout pregnancy, the fetus (consisting of both maternal and paternal genes), must evade the maternal immune system. For this reason, the fetus has been previously described as the most successful organ transplant, tolerated by the mother for around 40 weeks. In the 1950s, biologist Sir Peter Medawar first recognised that pregnancy is …