News

Today, Professor Ewan St. John Smith begins his new role as the Head of Department!He succeeds Professor Laura Itzhaki, who departs from the position after six years in the post. Professor Smith wrote the following to mark this change:Today marks an exciting, but daunting day as I begin as Head of Department - Department of Pharmacology, University…

Dr Alecia-Jane Twigger, Group Leader at the Department of Pharmacology and the Department of Biochemistry, and the Cambridge Lactation Lab have been featured in The Times Online and The Sunday Times.The article “Why is breastfeeding so hard? Biology might finally have the answer”, written by Melissa Denes, is a deep dive into breastfeeding and lact…

On Friday, 25th September, we hosted a Macmillan Coffee Morning Bake-Off event!This was a baking competition, where members of the Department brought home-made cakes to be graded by a panel of judges. Congratulations to Ellis Wilde, whose Passionfruit Cake won!We raised £153.75, including Gift Aid, during the Bake-Off. This is a fantastic result an…

We hosted our yearly Away Day at St. Catharine's College on Monday, 14th of September. As usual, the day was filled with a mix of activities: research talks, guest speakers, poster presentations, and group activities. We want to thank our guest speakers, Lusia Ciampi and Lara Abel, for their talk on narrative CVs and Team Handbooks, and Antonina Kr…

Applications are now open for the MPhil in Therapeutic Sciences at the University of Cambridge, starting in October 2027. World-leading teaching and research in academia and industry, training students to be future leaders in therapeutic sciences.An 11-month full-time course with a 6-month research placement, in the beautiful and historic city of C…

The Department had the pleasure of hosting the 2026 Sutton Trust Summer School cohort on Thursday, 20th August. 11 students from various schools across the country visited our labs for hands-on demos of research techniques. Many thanks to the Florian T. Merkle, Paul Miller and Catherine Lindon labs for hosting our visitors!The Sutton Trust Summer S…

Yujia Cui, a PhD Student in the Howarth Group, recently won the Crick Innovation Challenge as part of their team Nanostellar! This follows a week-long event where teams developed pitches, culminating in a 5-minuite deck presentation to a packed public auditorium. Visit the Crick Innovation Challenge LinkedIn page for full details. The Crick Innovat…

We are delighted to receive news that a former PhD student and postdoctoral researcher, Dr Saroj Kiran Velamakanni, PhD, FRSA, has been inducted as a Knight (KCR) by Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza, Head of the Portuguese Royal House, in May 2026.The honour was awarded in recognition of Dr Velamakanni's contributions to education, scientific research,…

On Thursday, 2nd of July, we welcomed our soon-to-graduate PhD and MPhil students to St. John's College for our annual day-long Final Year Talks. Our speakers and topics were:MPhil Students:Holly BarnesTiffany ChenDerek ChienJohn WangDaniella FauriePhD Students:Gabrielle AdmansOnyeka AwunorRowda DahirJanice Neng, Sulin LiuTom PritchardCaroline Wyat…

Our Department has been busy publishing high-quality research across various journals. We have compiled all the publications released from February 2026 - May 2026 for your reading pleasure.FebruaryRank signaling drives basal cell-lineage infidelity leading to mammary tumorigenesis – Khaled GroupMarchCromolyn inhibits PGE2-mediated sensitisation of…

The Cambridge Protein Screening Facility (CamPSF) is a new facility based in the Department of Pharmacology to enable the development of novel antibody binders for research, diagnostics and therapeutics using phage and yeast display. They have recently launched a website offering their services: https://www.campsf.phar.cam.ac.uk/. This page is acce…

TheFlorian T. MerkleandTaufiq Rahmangroups, led by the Clemence Blouet group, recently published an article in Cell Metabolism on Cav3.1, its role in sensing leucine, and its potential links to weight loss. Below is a short summary of the paper: Eating a high-protein meal tends to keep you fuller for longer than a high-carb or high-fat meal. A new…

From the 27th - 28th of March, we returned to the Cambridge Festival! Our team had an intense weekend running our new activities and engaging with curious families and children.The Cambridge Festival is an annual event coordinated by the University of Cambridge’s Public Engagement team. It is a multidisciplinary festival with a mix of online, on-de…

On the 25th of March, we hosted 40 people at Newnham College for a half-day of talks, networking and activities. We aimed to showcase the range of research and activities we undertake at the Department, while also giving Industry representatives space to demonstrate their company and interests.We heard from:Florian MerkleDavid HumphreysIoanna MelaL…

Department of Pharmacology Recent Publications: November 2025 - January 2026Our Department has been busy publishing high-quality research across various journals. We have compiled all the publications released from November 2025 to January 2026 for your reading pleasure.NovemberMicroglia-mediated BLA glutamatergic neuronal hyperactivity in the BLA-…