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News

A model of human lungs with branching bronchioles

Mark Coles receives funding to tackle viral threats

Professor Mark Coles is leading one of three innovative University of Oxford research projects that have secured funding through the UK's Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) to transform how we protect against respiratory viruses.

A cancer cell is being targeted by immune T cells

Researchers uncover hidden mechanism behind a major cancer therapy target

Kennedy researchers have revealed how one of the immune system's most important regulatory pathways operates at the earliest moments of T cell activation, providing new insights that could help improve cancer immunotherapy.

Woman with osteoarthritis in her hands

Pioneering study sets out to answer and address why osteoarthritis impacts patients differently

Researchers from NDORMS are playing leading roles in a major new UK-wide research consortium aiming to improve treatment and outcomes for people living with osteoarthritis.

Synovial fluid being extracted from the knee

Largest study of knee osteoarthritis tissue reveals the core biological pathways underlying osteoarthritis

A major international study led by researchers at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology at the University of Oxford has found that osteoarthritis (OA) – the most common form of arthritis worldwide – is not a collection of separate diseases, as many scientists had previously speculated, but rather a single condition with common core underlying biological pathways.

Irina Udalova

Major MRC funding for Irina Udalova to unravel neutrophil behaviour across immune pathologies

Prof Irina Udalova has received a programme grant of £2.7M from the Medical Research Council (MRC) to investigate how neutrophils – a type of white blood cell that forms the body’s first line of defence – adapt their behaviour to tissue requirements and contribute to immune diseases, leading to the development of a new class of neutrophil-targeted therapeutics.

Researchers find clue to how Sjögren’s disease persists

A new study has found that a protein TRIM21 linked to Sjögren’s disease may be fuelling the condition in an unexpected way. Researchers at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology have discovered that during a specific type of cell death, TRIM21 is released and combines with antibodies to overstimulate the immune system, potentially maintaining the symptoms of Sjögren’s disease.

Close up of woman holding painful elbow with red inflammation area, representing arthritis.

£3M study led by patient voices targets pain in inflammatory arthritis

Researchers across the UK are banding together to tackle one of the largest unmet clinical needs in inflammatory arthritis, pain reduction, in a new £3m research programme funded by Arthritis UK.

Liver organoid visualised by live multi-colour fluorescence confocal imaging, acquired at the ZEISS 980 in the Oxford-ZEISS Centre of Excellence. The image shows the nucleus of different cell types present in the tissue in blue, the cholangiocytes in orange, and collagen fibers in red. The new SPI-LLSM method now allows the quantitative measurement of the reaction diffusion dynamics of small molecules across such organoids.

Oxford–ZEISS Centre to advance live-cell imaging for drug discovery

The pioneering technology will be able to precisely quantify drug behaviour at the cellular level for the development of novel therapeutics.

Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology secures five-year major funding from the Kennedy Trust for Rheumatology Research

The Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology (KIR) at the University of Oxford has secured a major five-year funding commitment of £28 million from the Kennedy Trust for Rheumatology Research (KTRR), extending its long-standing strategic partnership to 2031.

Cytotoxic T cell

Anchoring a key immune molecule boosts T cell responses

Researchers at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology have found that physically resisting the formation of an immunological synapse actually promotes a stronger immune response. The findings could help explain how immune responses become weakened in cancer and chronic infection and inform the design of more effective vaccines.

Woman with arthritis in her hand

Kennedy scientists join world-leading researchers in ‘pivotal’ study to help arthritis patients to live drug free

The prospect of long-lasting drug-free remission for children and adults living with inflammatory arthritis is a step closer to becoming a reality, thanks to a new collaboration.

T stem cells normally undergo asymmetric cell division (left) whereby one daughter cell becomes a long-lived memory T cell. When autophagy is disrupted, both daughter cells inherit old mitochondria (red) and become effector T-cells.

What determines the fate of a T cell?

Research led by Dr Mariana Borsa at the Kennedy Institute has found that a cellular housekeeping mechanism called autophagy plays a major role in ensuring that T cells generate diverse progenies upon cell division. The findings, published in Nature Cell Biology, could help boost vaccine response in older adults.

AI health solutions

Kennedy researchers contribute to UK-wide AI and bioscience training initiative

Together with a group of Oxford researchers, Mark Coles, Professor of Immunology at the Kennedy Institute, will co-lead the Enabling Next-generation AI for a Bioscience-Led Economy (ENAIBLE) initiative.

Alex Clarke

Prof Alex Clarke wins ERC Consolidator Grant

Prof Alex Clarke, Associate Professor at the Kennedy Institute and Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist, has received a prestigious €2m European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant to study cellular metabolism in lymphoid tissues.

Lakshanie Wickramasinghe and Adrien Hallou

Researchers win prestigious Kennedy Trust grant awards

Two Kennedy researchers have been awarded highly competitive Kennedy Trust Transition Fellowships, supporting their journey towards independent research leadership, and another receiving a Research Ignition Award to kick-start innovative interdisciplinary research.

Researcher pipetting a solution into a tube

Oxford and GSK launch Experimental Medicine Collaboration

GSK invests £10 million over five years to establish the Experimental Medicine Collaboration with the University of Oxford.

Neutrophil nucleus

Shaping immunity - the secrets behind the shape of neutrophils

Researchers at the Kennedy Institute have provided the most comprehensive overview to date of how the distinctive segmented nucleus of neutrophils influences their function in health and disease.

Linh Nguyen

Linh Nguyen receives Lee Placito Research Fellowship

Congratulations to Linh Nguyen who has been awarded a Lee Placito Research Fellowship in Gastrointestinal Disease.

Knee pain and nerve pathways

Oxford researchers to redefine new human-based research models of pain

Professor Tonia Vincent is part of an interdisciplinary team from Oxford University leading a major new initiative which aims to redefine human-based research models for greater understanding of disease and the acceleration of new medicines.

Microbiome with microbiota

New Microbiome Innovation Network to drive UK Bioscience Research

Researchers from the Kennedy Institute are part of a UK-wide consortium that has been awarded a £644K BBSRC Network Grant to establish the Microbiome Innovation Network (Microbiome-Net).

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