"Since becoming Vice-Chancellor, I have spoken often of Cambridge’s place at the forefront of tackling the world’s greatest challenges. Those challenges are not diminishing, and nor is our leading role in seeking the solutions the world so desperately needs. We know you — our most trusted, influential and loyal supporters and advocates — are keen to be conversant in the myriad ways in which Cambridge is researching, analysing and shaping the future. Through this new Cambridge Insight Series, we will share our latest research and invite you to discuss our strategies."
- Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stephen J Toope
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Cambridge Insight Series: An update on our medical response to COVID 19
Thursday, 19 November 2020 - 6:00 - 6:50 pm GMT - Online event
A recording of the event is now available for you to watch on YouTube; please note this is only accessible to those who have a link.
Nobody wants an international medical emergency. This year’s terrible pandemic has tested hospitals and laboratories throughout the world. At Cambridge, we found ourselves ahead of the curve with our recently established Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease (CITIID), housed in our just completed, purpose-built Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre. With such an Institute and ideal facilities, we were perfectly poised to pivot our research almost entirely towards tackling the multitude of challenges posed by a new and deadly virus. COVID-19 has tested the very boundaries of our exceptional capability.
In the first event of our Cambridge Insight Series, Professor Ken Smith, Head of the Department of Medicine and Director of the Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease (CITIID), discussed the vital contribution Cambridge has made to the fight against COVID-19.
From developing fast testing for NHS staff and the Cambridge Testing Centre to the efficient testing programme for our own students, Cambridge has been behind many of the scientific developments in the past few months. Our rapid sequencing of the virus enables detection of different types of outbreak. We are working with the Hilleman Laboratories to develop a cheap, accessible vaccine that will be available for less than a dollar a dose, and which will not require a cold chain. And, as global temperatures continue to rise and the danger of new pandemics increases, we are looking to the future and how to prevent or limit the effects of the next great global threat.
Speaker: Professor Ken Smith
Head of the Department of Medicine
Ken Smith is Professor of Medicine and Head of the Department of Medicine at the University of Cambridge. Ken trained in nephrology and clinical immunology in Melbourne, and completed his PhD at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. He is a Wellcome Trust Investigator and leads an MRC Programme. In 2006, he was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, and in 2007 he was awarded the Lister Institute Research Prize.
Ken’s laboratory studies immunological mechanisms underlying immunemediated disease and immunodeficiency in humans, most recently through involvement in the NIHR BioResource Rare Diseases Primary immunodeficiency programme. The laboratory also runs a translational program in autoimmune disease (particularly SLE, vasculitis and IBD) that has led to the discovery of a prognosis-predicting biomarker entering clinical trials, and to the identification of new pathways driving disease outcomes in autoimmunity and infection. By integrating human and animal studies and using advanced bioinformatic methodology, the laboratory tries to explore fundamental immunological mechanisms that are relevant to human disease, and to translate these results into applications of direct benefit to patients.
You can read more about Professor Ken Smith and his work at the Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease (CITIID) here.
Host: Professor Stephen J Toope
Vice-Chancellor
Professor Stephen J Toope (Trinity 1983) is the 346th Vice-Chancellor of the University. He was Director of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, and President, the University of British Columbia. A former Dean of Law, McGill University, Professor Toope was also Chair of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances.
He publishes in global journals on human rights, international dispute resolution, international environmental law, the use of force, and international legal theory, and has lectured at universities around the world.
This event has now ended. To watch the recording please follow this link.