Thu 10 Jul 13:00: Seminar cancelled - Spatial mapping of breast cancer tumour microenvironment in Black British and White British women **Seminar cancelled**
Women of Afro-Caribbean descent confront more aggressive breast cancer subtypes at a younger age than their Caucasian counterparts. Yet, breast cancer research and treatment development have predominantly focused on Caucasian populations, neglecting potential biological drivers of these disparities. Our study addresses this gap by in-depth characterising the breast tumour microenvironment (TME) in an ethnically diverse cohort. We analysed treatment-naïve breast cancer samples from 45 Black British and 45 White British women, matched by age, tumour subtype, and stage by employing spatial transcriptomics (NanoString GeoMx) and hyper-plex protein profiling (Leica Microsytems Cell DIVE ). We captured whole-transcriptome data from cancer (PanCK+), immune (CD45+), and stromal (aSMA+) compartments from both tumour centre and tumour edge. The most striking differences emerged within the immune and stromal compartments, not in the cancer cells, underscoring metabolic, adhesion, and extracellular matrix rewiring in Black British tumours. Complementary spatial protein profiling further revealed changes in tissue architecture with distinct recurrent patterns of cellular organisation and cell-cell interactions, involving endothelial and B-cells. Our findings suggest that the TME plays a pivotal role in driving ethnic disparities in breast cancer, highlighting the urgent need for ethnically tailored therapies and more inclusive clinical trials to advance precision cancer care. This breakthrough offers new avenues for improving overall outcomes in breast cancer.
**Seminar cancelled**
- Speaker: Professor Kairbaan Hodivala-Dilke, Centre for Tumour Microenvironment, 2 Barts Cancer Institute, a Cancer Research UK of Excellence, Queen Mary University of London, Charterhouse Square, London, EC1M 6BQ, UK
- Thursday 10 July 2025, 13:00-14:00
- Venue: CRUK CI Lecture Theatre.
- Series: Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute (CRUK CI) Seminars in Cancer; organiser: Kate Davenport.
Thu 17 Jul 16:00: Elucidating T Cell Signalling Dynamics Using Reconstitution and Optogenetics
This Cambridge Immunology Network Seminar will take place on Thursday 17 July 2025, starting at 4:00pm, in the Ground Floor Lecture Theatre, Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre (JCBC)
Speaker: Dr John James, Associate Professor, Immunology, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick
Title: Elucidating T Cell Signalling Dynamics Using Reconstitution and Optogenetics
Abstract: T cells are an essential part of our immune system; they detect infected cells and either directly kill or orchestrate their removal to keep us healthy despite constant exposure to potential pathogens. Great progress has been made in identifying the parts of the signalling networks that T cells use to execute these decision-making processes, and we now have near-complete lists of these pathways. However, to fully describe T cell function we must also understand how signals traverse these network connections, but this knowledge remains far more limited in T cells.
To address this limitation, we use cellular reconstitution and light-mediated control over these signalling pathways to directly and quantitively investigate T cell signalling in the cellular context. In the talk, I will show how we have used these discovery-based tools to better understand the mechanisms of action for new therapeutics (bispecifics/CAR-T), as well as preliminary data on quantifying inhibitory receptor function. I will also present our reconstitution work on how the pre-T cell receptor can drive commitment to the αβ-T cell lineage in the absence of ligand.
Host: Mathilde Colombe and Tim Halim, CRUK Cambridge
Refreshments will be available following the seminar.
- Speaker: Dr John James, Immunology, Warwick Medical School. Warwick Medical School
- Thursday 17 July 2025, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: Lecture Theatre, Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
- Series: Cambridge Immunology Network Seminar Series; organiser: Ruth Paton.
Fri 19 Sep 08:45: Saving Lives Ethically: A Practical and Organisational Approach to Veterinary CPR.
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Malina Filipas, Department of Veterinary Medicine
- Friday 19 September 2025, 08:45-10:00
- Venue: LT2.
- Series: Friday Morning Seminars, Dept of Veterinary Medicine; organiser: Fiona Roby.
Thu 10 Jul 15:50: From Score to Sound: Music Generation in the AI Era
The seminar “From Score to Sound: Music Production in the AI Era” will explore the evolution of AI-driven methods for automatic music generation, from the early use of Recurrent Neural Networks to the latest Foundational Models. The talk will examine the shift from symbolic score modelling to audio-centric and multimodal approaches. It will also highlight the technical and conceptual advancements that have enabled the development of transformer and diffusion-based models, paving the way for today’s prompt-to-music systems.
- Speaker: Francesco Bardozzo (University of Salerno)
- Thursday 10 July 2025, 15:50-17:20
- Venue: Lecture Theatre 2, Computer Laboratory, William Gates Building.
- Series: Foundation AI; organiser: Pietro Lio.
Thu 03 Jul 15:50: Title to be confirmed
bl
- Speaker: Speaker to be confirmed
- Thursday 03 July 2025, 15:50-17:20
- Venue: Lecture Theatre 2, Computer Laboratory, William Gates Building.
- Series: Foundation AI; organiser: Pietro Lio.
Thu 03 Jul 15:50: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Speaker to be confirmed
- Thursday 03 July 2025, 15:50-17:20
- Venue: Lecture Theatre 2, Computer Laboratory, William Gates Building.
- Series: Foundation AI; organiser: Pietro Lio.
Tue 08 Jul 15:50: Artificial Intelligence in Agrifood and Environment
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is expected to have a transformative impact on the natural sciences by enhancing modeling capabilities and improving the prediction of natural phenomena across multiple spatial and temporal scales. This talk will highlight the urgency of coordinated scientific and regulatory initiatives to ensure the sustainable development of our planet. It will also provide an overview of recent advances in AI-driven approaches within the environmental domain, with a particular focus on solutions for coastal and marine ecosystem monitoring. Finally, the presentation will offer ideas on potential future developments from a modeling perspective, underscoring emerging directions and opportunities for interdisciplinary research.
- Speaker: Prof. Antonino Staiano
- Tuesday 08 July 2025, 15:50-17:20
- Venue: Lecture Theatre 2, Computer Laboratory, William Gates Building.
- Series: Foundation AI; organiser: Pietro Lio.
Mon 07 Jul 17:00: title
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Speaker to be confirmed
- Monday 07 July 2025, 17:00-17:45
- Venue: Lecture Theatre 2, Computer Laboratory, William Gates Building.
- Series: Foundation AI; organiser: Pietro Lio.
Tue 08 Jul 17:00: title
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Speaker to be confirmed
- Tuesday 08 July 2025, 17:00-17:45
- Venue: Lecture Theatre 2, Computer Laboratory, William Gates Building.
- Series: Foundation AI; organiser: Pietro Lio.
Thu 10 Jul 13:00: Predicting Global Patterns of Mycorrhizal Fungal Biodiversity with Self-Supervised Satellite Features
Abstract
Soil fungal communities are critical drivers of terrestrial ecosystem function, yet their global distribution remains largely unknown due to the challenges of widespread physical sampling. We developed a machine learning pipeline to predict fungal biodiversity across Europe and Asia using high-resolution, temporal satellite imagery. We introduce a novel feature set derived from a self-supervised learning (SSL) model applied to Sentinel time series. We trained a model on roughly 12,000 mycorrhizal fungal richness samples, comparing the predictive power of our SSL features against standard environmental datasets. Our combined model achieves a robust R2 of 0.53-0.55 across 50 cross-validation runs. We show that the SSL features are the single most important predictor group, outperforming traditional datasets and implicitly capturing land cover information. Furthermore, we demonstrate that prediction errors are geographically clustered in sparsely sampled regions, providing a data-driven method for identifying “biodiversity data deserts” and guiding future sampling efforts. This work presents a scalable framework for monitoring an overlooked component of global biodiversity and demonstrates the viability of temporally-rich, self-supervised representations for ecological modeling.
Bio
Robin Young is a first-year PhD student in Computer Science at the University of Cambridge.
- Speaker: Robin Young, University of Cambridge
- Thursday 10 July 2025, 13:00-14:00
- Venue: Room GS15 at the William Gates Building and on Zoom: https://cl-cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/4361570789?pwd=Nkl2T3ZLaTZwRm05bzRTOUUxY3Q4QT09&from=addon .
- Series: Energy and Environment Group, Department of CST; organiser: lyr24.
Thu 17 Jul 16:00: Dr John James, Immunology, Warwick Medical School. Warwick Medical School
This Cambridge Immunology Network Seminar will take place on Thursday 17 July 2025, starting at 4:00pm, in the Ground Floor Lecture Theatre, Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre (JCBC)
Speaker: Dr John James, Associate Professor, Immunology, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick
Title: Title: Elucidating T Cell Signalling Dynamics Using Reconstitution and Optogenetics
Abstract: T cells are an essential part of our immune system; they detect infected cells and either directly kill or orchestrate their removal to keep us healthy despite constant exposure to potential pathogens. Great progress has been made in identifying the parts of the signalling networks that T cells use to execute these decision-making processes, and we now have near-complete lists of these pathways. However, to fully describe T cell function we must also understand how signals traverse these network connections, but this knowledge remains far more limited in T cells.
To address this limitation, we use cellular reconstitution and light-mediated control over these signalling pathways to directly and quantitively investigate T cell signalling in the cellular context. In the talk, I will show how we have used these discovery-based tools to better understand the mechanisms of action for new therapeutics (bispecifics/CAR-T), as well as preliminary data on quantifying inhibitory receptor function. I will also present our reconstitution work on how the pre-T cell receptor can drive commitment to the αβ-T cell lineage in the absence of ligand.
Host: Mathilde Colombe and Tim Halim, CRUK Cambridge
Refreshments will be available following the seminar.
- Speaker: Dr John James, Immunology, Warwick Medical School. Warwick Medical School
- Thursday 17 July 2025, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: Lecture Theatre, Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
- Series: Cambridge Immunology Network Seminar Series; organiser: Ruth Paton.
Thu 10 Jul 13:00: Seminar cancelled - Spatial mapping of breast cancer tumour microenvironment in Black British and White British women **Seminar cancelled**
Women of Afro-Caribbean descent confront more aggressive breast cancer subtypes at a younger age than their Caucasian counterparts. Yet, breast cancer research and treatment development have predominantly focused on Caucasian populations, neglecting potential biological drivers of these disparities. Our study addresses this gap by in-depth characterising the breast tumour microenvironment (TME) in an ethnically diverse cohort. We analysed treatment-naïve breast cancer samples from 45 Black British and 45 White British women, matched by age, tumour subtype, and stage by employing spatial transcriptomics (NanoString GeoMx) and hyper-plex protein profiling (Leica Microsytems Cell DIVE ). We captured whole-transcriptome data from cancer (PanCK+), immune (CD45+), and stromal (aSMA+) compartments from both tumour centre and tumour edge. The most striking differences emerged within the immune and stromal compartments, not in the cancer cells, underscoring metabolic, adhesion, and extracellular matrix rewiring in Black British tumours. Complementary spatial protein profiling further revealed changes in tissue architecture with distinct recurrent patterns of cellular organisation and cell-cell interactions, involving endothelial and B-cells. Our findings suggest that the TME plays a pivotal role in driving ethnic disparities in breast cancer, highlighting the urgent need for ethnically tailored therapies and more inclusive clinical trials to advance precision cancer care. This breakthrough offers new avenues for improving overall outcomes in breast cancer.
**Seminar cancelled**
- Speaker: Professor Kairbaan Hodivala-Dilke, Centre for Tumour Microenvironment, 2 Barts Cancer Institute, a Cancer Research UK of Excellence, Queen Mary University of London, Charterhouse Square, London, EC1M 6BQ, UK
- Thursday 10 July 2025, 13:00-14:00
- Venue: CRUK CI Lecture Theatre.
- Series: Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute (CRUK CI) Seminars in Cancer; organiser: Kate Davenport.
Thu 03 Jul 16:00: ‘Unpicking the biology of healthy human nasal microbiome’
This Cambridge Immunology Network Seminar will take place on Thursday 3 July 2025, starting at 4:00pm, in the Ground Floor Lecture Theatre, Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre (JCBC)
Speaker: Dr Ewan Harrison, Head of Respiratory Virus and Microbiome Initiative, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Title: ‘Unpicking the biology of healthy human nasal microbiome’
Host: Menna Clatworthy, CITIID , Cambridge
Refreshments will be available following the seminar.
- Speaker: Dr Ewan Harrison, Wellcome Sanger Institute
- Thursday 03 July 2025, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: Lecture Theatre, Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
- Series: Cambridge Immunology Network Seminar Series; organiser: Ruth Paton.
Tue 08 Jul 11:15: Optimizing Data Delivery and Scalable HI Profile Classification for the SKA Era: Infrastructure and Science Challenges at the Spanish SRC
This talk presents ongoing work at the Spanish SKA Regional Centre (esSRC) in the context of the SRC Net 0.1. The first part focuses on the development of efficient data delivery techniques from the distributed Rucio-based storage system to the SRC infrastructure and, ultimately, to user workspaces. Several approaches have been evaluated to support science-ready access, yet current solutions often involve unnecessary data duplication in user areas, resulting in increased usage of storage and computational resources. To address this, we have prototyped mechanisms based on file linking, caching, and data reuse, enabling more efficient access paths for users. While these methods show promising improvements in terms of performance and resource usage, challenges remain, particularly in terms of orchestration, scalability, and compatibility with existing workload managers. The second part presents advances in the automated classification of neutral hydrogen (HI) profiles using machine learning methods, building on previous work [Parra et al., 2024, arXiv:2501.11657]. We outline a roadmap for extending these techniques to handle the data volumes expected from the SKA Observatory. This includes developing scalable pipelines capable of ingesting and processing large spectral datasets in a reproducible and efficient manner, and adapting the classification models to cope with the diversity and complexity of the SKA data products.
- Speaker: Dr. Manu Parra-Royón (Astrophysics Institute of Andalucia - Spanish National Research Council)
- Tuesday 08 July 2025, 11:15-12:00
- Venue: Coffee area, Battcock Centre.
- Series: Hills Coffee Talks; organiser: Charles Walker.
Wed 09 Jul 18:00: Vanished: An Unnatural History of Extinction
Join us for a fantastic lecture by Prof Sadiah Qureshi on her new book, Vanished, with an introduction by Helen Macdonald.
Why do some lives and histories disappear from view — and who decides what is remembered? In this keynote lecture, historian Sadiah Qureshi shares insights from her acclaimed new book Vanished, which explores how empire, race, and power shaped what the past was allowed to keep — and what it chose to forget. Drawing on stories of lost people, places, and knowledge, Vanished asks urgent questions about memory, erasure, and the making of history. The lecture will be introduced by Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk, and followed by a discussion led by Sarah Qidwai.
This event is free and open to the public, and is organised by the British Society for the History of Science and the Department of History and Philosophy of Science.
Read The Guardian’s interview with Sadiah Qureshi
- Speaker: Sadiah Qureshi (University of Manchester)
- Wednesday 09 July 2025, 18:00-19:15
- Venue: Babbage Lecture Theatre, David Attenborough Building, New Museums Site.
- Series: British Society for the History of Science; organiser: reception.
Wed 30 Jul 14:00: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Stephen Xia, Northwestern University
- Wednesday 30 July 2025, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: Computer Lab, FW26 and Online.
- Series: Centre for Mobile, Wearable Systems and Augmented Intelligence Seminar Series; organiser: Cecilia Mascolo.
Fri 31 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, Departmet 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 10 Oct 08:45: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Meytar Ronel, Department of Veterinary Medicine
- Friday 10 October 2025, 08:45-10:00
- Venue: LT2.
- Series: Friday Morning Seminars, Dept of Veterinary Medicine; organiser: Fiona Roby.
Fri 24 Oct 08:45: Title to be confirmed
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.
Wed 09 Jul 11:15: The effect of staggered local environments on quantum spin chains
I will discuss the properties of non-linear antiferromagnetic (AFM) chains, in which the orientation of the local environment of the magnetic ion is ‘staggered’, i.e. alternates in direction from site to site. Spin-1/2 non-linear chains exhibit additional terms in their Hamiltonians compared to linear chains, including non-trivial staggered g-tensors and Dzyalonshinskii-Moriya interactions. On application of an external magnetic field, these energy scales can give rise to staggered fields, field-dependent energy gaps and low-temperature excitation spectra containing both breather and soliton modes, observations that have previously been explained via the sine-Gordon model of quantum-field theory. Spin-1 AFM chains are known to adopt ground states that differ fundamentally from their spin-1/2 counterparts, an example being the topological Haldane-gapped phase, but until recently the effect of staggered local environments on spin-1 systems had not been explored.
Here, I present magnetometry, muon-spin rotation and neutron-scattering data on several new examples of non-linear spin chains. I will show that a chiral spin-1/2 chain with a four-fold periodic rotation of the local spin environment leads to properties distinct from the alternating chains previously studied. I will also discuss the results obtained by measuring non-linear spin-1 AFM chains, why these differ from the spin-1/2 materials and how competition between single-ion anisotropy and magnetic exchange can give rise to non-collinear or chiral magnetic ground-state structures.
J. Liu et. al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 057207 (2019)
S. Vaidya et. al., Phys. Rev. B 110 , 174438 (2024)
S. Vaidya et. al., PRB 111 , 014421 (2025)
- Speaker: Paul Goddard - University of Warwick
- Wednesday 09 July 2025, 11:15-12:00
- Venue: Seminar Room 1, RDC.
- Series: Quantum Matter Seminar; organiser: Mads Fonager Hansen.