News

Paul Kirk and Steve Charnock-Jones at the Wellcome Leap showcase during JPM week, standing in front of banners about In Utero and Medicines360

Medicines360 acquires global licensing rights to innovative pregnancy-risk tools

12 January 2026

Licensing of scientific discoveries from University of Cambridge and University of Edinburgh is aiming to speed translation and access to life-saving diagnostics for women worldwide. Medicines360, a women’s health innovation organisation, has acquired global licensing rights to new technologies designed to accurately...

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Using ‘cut distributions’ to improve analysis of multiple datasets

22 December 2025

Research published in the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B: Statistical Methodology (JRSS-B) highlights an innovative new approach to combining and analysing data from many different sources. In medical research, we often try to combine as much data as possible to get the most precise results. However, we...

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Genetic evidence suggests that alcohol’s effect is limited to certain cancer types

17 December 2025

Research published in BMC Medicine demonstrates a link between greater alcohol consumption and higher risk of some cancer types. However, the evidence was mixed, with the research indicating that alcohol consumption raises the risk of cancer of the head and neck, cancer of the oesophagus, and cancer of the bowels – parts...

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Incorporating historical information to improve basket trials

2 December 2025

A new modelling technique has been developed by BSU researchers to improve the reliability of clinical trials. Basket trials are a type of clinical study where the effect of a single treatment is tested across multiple groups of patients, referred to as “baskets”, with each group defined by a specific disease or condition...

Addressing use of medical record data to define Pulmonary Hypertension cases

13 November 2025

Largescale population-based biobanks with medical record data are becoming increasingly popular as a data source for studying very rare conditions, like Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH), a condition in which blood pressure in the lungs in dangerously high. However, the suitability of these datasets for very rare...

BSU provides comments on draft ICH E20 Harmonised Guidelines on Adaptive Designs

12 November 2025

With the ICH E20 Draft Guidelines on Adaptive Designs currently open for comments, researchers in the Efficient Study Design theme at the BSU are sharing their thoughts. The comments presented are classified into three key areas: (1) General comments (endorsed by members of the MRC-NIHR TMRP Adaptive designs working group...

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Inspiring our future STEM leaders

4 November 2025

In August, the BSU were delighted to welcome Anjali Jadeja for a work experience placement. Anjali is studying Biology, Chemistry and Physics at A-Level and was keen to get a taste of what it's like to be a researcher, so she spent two weeks of her summer holidays working with us at the BSU. Under the expert supervision of...

Graphic of dice in two rows - one row of green and one row of white. Representing randomization. - Thanks to Pixabay

Searching for a balanced view on response-adaptive randomization

27 October 2025

What is response-adaptive randomization? Randomization as a method to allocate patients to treatments in a clinical trial, has long been considered a defining element of a well-conducted study. It ensures comparability of treatment groups, mitigating selection bias, and additionally providing the basis for statistical...

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New research shows any level of alcohol consumption increases risk of dementia

19 September 2025

Any amount of alcohol consumption may increase risk of dementia, according to the most comprehensive study of alcohol consumption and dementia risk to date. Led by the University of Oxford, Yale University, and the University of Cambridge, the new research challenges previous suggestions that light-to-moderate drinking may...

Photo of BSU interns - all standing on grass in front of building, smiling and lifting their arms up in the air.

Another great year for the BSU Internship Programme

1 September 2025

This summer, the BSU welcomed a new and fantastic cohort of interns. Our successful and widely recognised internship programme provides undergraduate students with an interest in data science and knowledge of statistics to join the Unit for 8 weeks, to work on and contribute to research projects led by our researchers...