Fri 14 Nov 08:45: Investigation into the role of Poly ADP-Ribose (PAR) in intervertebral disc calcification in dogs
Carolina Malco Rullan graduated with a degree in Veterinary Medicine in 2024 and worked as a general practitioner in Spain before moving to the UK to begin her PhD at the University of Cambridge in October. Her doctoral research focuses on understanding the process of intervertebral disc calcification, with particular interest in the role of Poly ADP -ribose (PAR)—a molecule previously associated with vascular calcification in humans. Carolina is investigating whether this molecule could also be involved in disc calcification in dogs, with the ultimate aim of developing a treatment that targets its precursor, PARP , to reduce or even prevent disc calcification, a condition linked to an increased risk of disc herniation
- Speaker: Carolina Malco Rullan, Department of Veterinary Medicine
- Friday 14 November 2025, 08:45-10:00
- Venue: LT2.
- Series: Friday Morning Seminars, Dept of Veterinary Medicine; organiser: Fiona Roby.
Fri 07 Nov 08:45: Grand Rounds - Farm Animal
Ian McCrone to chair
- Speaker: (Ian McCrone), Department of Veterinary Medicine
- Friday 07 November 2025, 08:45-10:00
- Venue: LT2.
- Series: Friday Morning Seminars, Dept of Veterinary Medicine; organiser: Fiona Roby.
Fri 31 Oct 08:45: Smart Medicine for All Species: AI in Veterinary and Biomedical Research
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Rachel Hewitt, Department of Veterinary Medicine
- Friday 31 October 2025, 08:45-10:00
- Venue: LT2.
- Series: Friday Morning Seminars, Dept of Veterinary Medicine; organiser: Fiona Roby.
Fri 24 Oct 08:45: Uncovering Genomic Drivers Across 13 Feline Cancer Types
Bailey is a first-year PhD student and bioinformatician, supervised by Prof. Elizabeth Murchison and co-supervised by Dr. Louise van der Weyden from the Wellcome Sanger Institute. His research utilises next-generation DNA sequencing data to unravel the molecular underpinnings of companion animal cancers. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Manchester and a master’s degree in Bioinformatics from the University of Nottingham. When he is not coding, he enjoys playing football and cricket.
- Speaker: Bailey Francis, Department of Veterinary Medicine
- Friday 24 October 2025, 08:45-10:00
- Venue: LT2.
- Series: Friday Morning Seminars, Dept of Veterinary Medicine; organiser: Fiona Roby.
Fri 24 Oct 08:45: Novel antimicrobial peptides in Teladorsagia circumcincta excretory-secretory products: new leads in helminth–microbiota interactions
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Elâ Sutcliffe, Departmet of Veterinary Medicine
- Friday 24 October 2025, 08:45-10:00
- Venue: LT2.
- Series: Friday Morning Seminars, Dept of Veterinary Medicine; organiser: Fiona Roby.
Fri 17 Oct 08:45: CRAF forms (staff talk)
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Hannah Wong/Barbara Blacklaws, Department of Veterinary Medicine
- Friday 17 October 2025, 08:45-10:00
- Venue: LT2.
- Series: Friday Morning Seminars, Dept of Veterinary Medicine; organiser: Fiona Roby.
Fri 17 Oct 08:45: Innate Immune Sensing of Cytosolic Bacterial Lipopeptides
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Weidong Jing, Department of Veterinary Medicine
- Friday 17 October 2025, 08:45-10:00
- Venue: LT2.
- Series: Friday Morning Seminars, Dept of Veterinary Medicine; organiser: Fiona Roby.
Fri 03 Oct 08:45: Grand Rounds
Abstract not available
- Speaker: tbc, Department of Veterinary Medicine
- Friday 03 October 2025, 08:45-10:00
- Venue: LT2.
- Series: Friday Morning Seminars, Dept of Veterinary Medicine; organiser: Fiona Roby.
Fri 31 Oct 08:45: Multivalent recombinant vaccines based on the bacterial Outer Membrane Vesicles (OMV) platform
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Piero Mastroeni, Department of Veterinary Medicine
- Friday 31 October 2025, 08:45-10:00
- Venue: LT2.
- Series: Friday Morning Seminars, Dept of Veterinary Medicine; organiser: Fiona Roby.
Fri 19 Sep 14:00: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Xuhai “Orson” Xu, Columbia University
- Friday 19 September 2025, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: Computer Lab, LT2 and Online.
- Series: Mobile and Wearable Health Seminar Series; organiser: Cecilia Mascolo.
Fri 13 Feb 17:30: Song in the Ancient World: Echoes of Religion and Resistance
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Dr Matthew Gordley, Carlow University
- Friday 13 February 2026, 17:30-18:30
- Venue: Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Avenue.
- Series: Darwin College Lecture Series; organiser: Janet Gibson.
Wed 05 Nov 15:00: tbc
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Prof. Michael Willis, University of Oxford
- Wednesday 05 November 2025, 15:00-16:00
- Venue: Dept. of Chemistry, Wolfson Lecture Theatre.
- Series: Synthetic Chemistry Research Interest Group; organiser: Dr. Robert J. Phipps.
Tue 23 Sep 14:00: BSU Seminar: "Upgrading survival models with CARE" This will be a free hybrid seminar. To register to attend remotely, please click here: https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/M66a6T77T9-0PCylnJfB7g
Clinical risk prediction models are regularly updated as new data, often with additional covariates, become available. We propose CARE (Convex Aggregation of relative Risk Estimators) as a general approach for combining existing “external” estimators with a new data set in a time-to-event survival analysis setting. Our method initially employs the new data to fit a flexible family of reproducing kernel estimators via penalised partial likelihood maximisation. The final relative risk estimator is then constructed as a convex combination of the kernel and external estimators, with the convex combination coefficients and regularisation parameters selected using cross-validation. We establish high-probability bounds for the L2-error of our proposed aggregated estimator, showing that it achieves a rate of convergence that is at least as good as both the optimal kernel estimator and the best external model. Empirical results from simulation studies align with the theoretical results, and we illustrate the improvements our methods provide for cardiovascular disease risk modelling.
This will be a free hybrid seminar. To register to attend remotely, please click here: https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/M66a6T77T9-0PCylnJfB7g
- Speaker: William Underwood, Statistical Laboratory, University of Cambridge
- Tuesday 23 September 2025, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: Large Downstairs Teaching Room, East Forvie Building, Forvie Site Robinson Way Cambridge CB2 0SR..
- Series: MRC Biostatistics Unit Seminars; organiser: Alison Quenault.
Tue 23 Sep 14:00: BSU Seminar: "Upgrading survival models with CARE" This will be a free hybrid seminar. To register to attend remotely, please click here: https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/M66a6T77T9-0PCylnJfB7g
Clinical risk prediction models are regularly updated as new data, often with additional covariates, become available. We propose CARE (Convex Aggregation of relative Risk Estimators) as a general approach for combining existing “external” estimators with a new data set in a time-to-event survival analysis setting. Our method initially employs the new data to fit a flexible family of reproducing kernel estimators via penalised partial likelihood maximisation. The final relative risk estimator is then constructed as a convex combination of the kernel and external estimators, with the convex combination coefficients and regularisation parameters selected using cross-validation. We establish high-probability bounds for the L2-error of our proposed aggregated estimator, showing that it achieves a rate of convergence that is at least as good as both the optimal kernel estimator and the best external model. Empirical results from simulation studies align with the theoretical results, and we illustrate the improvements our methods provide for cardiovascular disease risk modelling.
This will be a free hybrid seminar. To register to attend remotely, please click here: https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/M66a6T77T9-0PCylnJfB7g
- Speaker: William Underwood, Statistical Laboratory, University of Cambridge
- Tuesday 23 September 2025, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: Large Downstairs Teaching Room, East Forvie Building, Forvie Site Robinson Way Cambridge CB2 0SR..
- Series: MRC Biostatistics Unit Seminars; organiser: Alison Quenault.
Fri 23 Jan 17:30: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Professor Hans Slabberkoorn, Leiden University
- Friday 23 January 2026, 17:30-18:30
- Venue: Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Avenue.
- Series: Darwin College Lecture Series; organiser: Janet Gibson.
Fri 13 Mar 17:30: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Richard Morrison, The Times
- Friday 13 March 2026, 17:30-18:30
- Venue: Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Avenue.
- Series: Darwin College Lecture Series; organiser: Janet Gibson.
Fri 06 Mar 17:30: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Professor Issa Boulos, University of Chicago
- Friday 06 March 2026, 17:30-18:30
- Venue: Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Avenue.
- Series: Darwin College Lecture Series; organiser: Janet Gibson.
Fri 27 Feb 17:30: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Professor Conny Aerts, KU Leuven
- Friday 27 February 2026, 17:30-18:30
- Venue: Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Avenue.
- Series: Darwin College Lecture Series; organiser: Janet Gibson.
Fri 20 Feb 17:30: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Dr Carola Darwin, Royal College of Music
- Friday 20 February 2026, 17:30-18:30
- Venue: Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Avenue.
- Series: Darwin College Lecture Series; organiser: Janet Gibson.
Fri 13 Feb 17:30: Song in the Ancient World: Echoes of Religion and Resistance
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Dr Matthew Gordley, Carlow University
- Friday 13 February 2026, 17:30-18:30
- Venue: Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Avenue.
- Series: Darwin College Lecture Series; organiser: Janet Gibson.