University of Birmingham’s top ten medicine and health stories of 2024

In the College of Medicine and Health, our world-leading academics are shaping the future of health and medicine through their outstanding research. Our interdisciplinary research teams are translating findings into clinical practice, with dedication to improving quality of life, preventing premature deaths and reducing healthcare burden around the world.

Here is a selection of our most read stories this year:

1. Birmingham academic becomes youngest UK clinical professor

Professor Joht Singh Chandan is believed to have become the youngest medical professor in the United Kingdom at 32 years old.

2. Red light therapy for repairing spinal cord injury passes milestone

Patients with spinal cord injury could benefit from a future treatment to repair nerve connections using red and near-infrared light.

3. Birmingham opens first pancreatic cancer mRNA vaccine trial in Europe

Working together with the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, researchers from University of Birmingham have opened a first-in-Europe trial to study how messenger RNA cancer vaccines may be used to prevent recurrence of pancreatic cancer.

4. Lifesaving projects targeting maternal mortality

Researchers at the University of Birmingham are developing lifesaving interventions for two major causes of maternal mortality: postpartum haemorrhage and unsafe caesarean sections.

5. Combining anti-tumour drugs with chemo may improve rare children’s cancer outcomes

Children who develop neuroblastomas, a rare form of cancer which develops in nerve cells, may benefit from receiving certain anti-tumour drugs as well as chemotherapy, a new trial has found.

6. New research into autoimmune liver condition suggests unique cell movements may be driving disease

Research suggests that a recent understanding of cell movements may help shed light on the mechanisms driving primary biliary cholangitis, an autoimmune disease which attacks the bile ducts of the liver.

7. First patient treated in cutting-edge rare liver disease clinical trial

New trial exploring the potential of faecal microbiota transplantation to slow the progression of primary sclerosing cholangitis has opened.

8. New and highly infectious E. coli strain resistant to powerful antibiotics

A new type of E. coli that is both highly infectious and resistant to some antibiotics has been discovered and found to have caused two outbreaks in a children’s hospital in China.

9. Major contract awarded for a concussion research programme from the US Department of Defense

Birmingham experts will lead a major research programme involving hundreds of people across the UK to transform the way concussion is identified and managed.

10. New research will target earliest stages of bone marrow cancer

The opportunity to eradicate a major and incurable bone marrow cancer has been made possible with a new programme funded by Cancer Research UK.