📢 Registration for Mathematical and Statistical Aspects of Molecular Biology (MASAMB) 2026 is open! Join us on 7 - 8 Sept, Cambridge Register here 👇 onlinesales.admin.cam.ac.uk/conferences-...

New paper: Blood Manganese and Risk of Squamous Cell Carcinomas of the Head and Neck published in JAMA Otolaryngology @jamaotolaryngology.com led by Benjamin Clay and Paul Carter, together with Nasir Bashir: jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Blood Manganese and Risk of Squamous Cell Carcinomas of the Head and Neck

This cis-mendelian randomization study aims to determine if variations in genetically predicted blood manganese are associated with risk of squamous cell carcinomas of the oral cavity, oropharynx, hyp...

jamanetwork.com

🤩 Fantastic BSU presence at the 18th World Meeting of the International Society for Bayesian Analysis in Nagoya, Japan last week, with lots of of our brilliant staff and students presenting their work and building new connections. #ISBA2026

New publication "Comparison of methods for assessing effects of risk factors on disease progression in Mendelian randomization under index event bias" at @ajhgnews.bsky.social: authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S.... Collaboration between Eli Lilly, Sequoia Genetics, and Cambridge University. Thread:

New preprint: "Multivariable Mendelian randomization with weak instruments: a comparison of Bayesian and frequentist methods" led by Andrew Grant: arxiv.org/abs/2606.26638. We present a method for multivariable Mendelian randomization (MVMR): MVMR-Pony. Thread follows:

Multivariable Mendelian randomization with weak instruments: a comparison of Bayesian and frequentist methods

Weak instruments are a well known limitation for valid causal inference in Mendelian randomization studies. In the single exposure setting, weak instrument bias can be mitigated by selecting genetic i...

arxiv.org

Many congratulations to Professor Sheila M. Bird on being appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the King's Birthday Honours List 2026, for her services to statistics 👏 Read full article www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/news/pioneer...

Our away days are such a significant date in the BSU calendar. An opportunity for all our brilliant staff and students to get together, share insights, discuss research culture, do some quizzing and most importantly, chat and catch up with colleagues 😊 Well done to the great team of organisers 👏

TODAY - 12pm From Plate to Brain: Global Diet, Cognitive Function and Neuroimaging in Diverse Populations Prof. Sonia Anand (@mcmasteruniversity.bsky.social) will examine the influence and impact of global dietary patterns across diverse populations. Register to attend - buff.ly/FjfjFr7

tinyurl.com/reuxynmc Very excited to see this work I was a small part of published! We analysed two large scale colocalisation datasets: OpenTargets data and an analysis of immune-mediated disease GWAS/immune cell eQTLs seeking to understand the "colocalisation gap". Some highlights:

Design and interpretation of eQTL-GWAS colocalisation studies: Lessons from a large-scale evaluation

Author summary Most of the genetic variants associated with complex traits are located outside genes, limiting functional interpretation. Genetic colocalisation helps identify candidate causal genes b...

journals.plos.org

We are recruiting! Research Associate/Senior Research Associate in Medical Statistics. Exciting role working with Pavel Mozgunov and colleagues on novel dose optimisation designs for combination trials with application in oncology and infectious diseases. 👇 www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

📢 MASAMB 2026 - Abstract deadline fast approaching For those working in or interested in maths, stats, computer science, bioinformatics and life sciences, this is fantastic opportunity to present your work and build connections 🗓 Abstract deadline: 15 May 👉 Submit: docs.google.com/forms/d/1--e...

MASAMB 2026 Abstract Submission

docs.google.com

Congrats to @ruedalab.bsky.social and colleagues! 🤩👏 Their paper on using machine learning to predict treatment outcomes for breast cancer patients is Number 3 in European Association for Cancer Research most interesting and impactful papers in April 2026. 👇 magazine.eacr.org/highlights-i...

Highlights in Cancer Research: April 2026 - The Cancer Researcher

The EACR's 'Highlights in Cancer Research' is a regular summary of the most interesting and impactful recent papers in cancer research.

magazine.eacr.org

On Wednesday, Daniela De Angelis gave a talk about the critical work she and the BSU COVID-19 Working Group did on carrying out real-time nowcasting and forecasting of the COVID-19 pandemic in England. Daniela's excellent talk was the finale for the Cambridge Statistics Discussion Group 👏🤩

New at JASA @amstatnews.bsky.social by @hhau.bsky.social + me @mrc-bsu.bsky.social –Directly specifying parameter priors is often hard –Easier to elicit a predictive distribution for observables/other marginal –Propose new algorithm to translate elicited predictive → parameter prior doi.org/q37b

🔈New research published in Statistics in Medicine, led by @ruedalab.bsky.social, Valeria Leiva and colleagues. Novel Influence Diagnostics in Multistate Models for Breast Cancer Read full paper 👇 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #BreastCancer #Biostatistics #DataScience #Diagnosis

Novel Influence Diagnostics in Multistate Models for Breast Cancer

Multistate models were developed to model survival data where several midpoints and endpoints are of interest; and they have been particular successful in modeling dynamics of cancer. As in any stati....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

The 2nd session of the #UKCTUNetwork's two part webinar on 'methods to improve trial efficiency through incorporating external data' is starting soon. Really looking forward to hearing from Pavel Mozgunov (@mrc-bsu.bsky.social), & Louise Stanton & Sean Ewings @southamptonctu.bsky.social.

Our review "Integrating genetic data with biological insight: A practical guide to cis-Mendelian randomization" is now published at @ajhgnews.bsky.social - led by @vkarhune.bsky.social and Benji Woolf with critical insight from Dipender Gill and Pallav Bhatnagar. Thread follows:

The American Journal of Human Genetics@ajhgnews.bsky.social · 4mo ago

📣New Review! 📄Integrating genetic data with biological insight: A practical guide to cis-Mendelian randomization 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 @vkarhune.bsky.social @stevesphd.bsky.social & co 👉 bit.ly/4tKkY7r

We are delighted to be hosting MASAMB 2026. This year's conference will have a strong focus on interdisciplinary collaboration and early-career researchers. Abstract submission for talk and poster presentations is now open. Deadline: 15 May 👇 docs.google.com/forms/d/1--e...

A fantastic two days of talks, brain-storming and networking at our workshop on Neural Inference for Bayesian Phylodynamics and Genetic Epidemiology 🤩

We are looking forward to taking part in Cambridge Festival on Saturday (21 March) at Cambridge Academy for Science and Technology, 11am - 4pm. Come and have fun with statistics! We will be counting ducks and helping Dr Marble to find the best medicines. @cambridgefestival.bsky.social

New pre-print on treatment effect heterogeneity led by Ash Patel: "Efficient semiparametric estimation of marginal treatment effects with genetic instrumental variables" available at arxiv.org/abs/2603.08871. Brief summary:

Efficient semiparametric estimation of marginal treatment effects with genetic instrumental variables

Alcohol misuse is a key target of public health strategies aimed at reducing cardiovascular risk. The effect of excessive alcohol consumption on blood pressure may vary systematically with individuals...

arxiv.org

Congratulations to Research Associate, Nikita Mozgunov, on receiving an NIHR Development and Skills Enhancement Award 🎉🤩👏 Read more 👇 www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/news/nikita-...

Excited to share a new preprint with the amazing Thomas Williams (from @macsys.bsky.social ) and Louis du Plessis (from @bsse.ethz.ch ) on neural inference for phylodynamics. 🧬🌳 arXiv: arxiv.org/abs/2603.08345

Amortized Phylodynamic Inference with Neural Bayes Estimators and Recursive Neural Networks

Phylodynamics is used to estimate epidemic dynamics from phylogenetic trees or genomic sequences of pathogens, but the likelihood calculations needed can be challenging for complex models. We present ...

arxiv.org

Young Statisticians' Meeting 2026 is coming to Cambridge - 29th -31st July YSM is for early career researchers, offering a great opportunity to present research, build connections, and explore career pathways in a supportive environment. Abstract submissions open: sites.google.com/view/youngst...

YSM - Abstracts

Abstract submissions are now open!! See below sections for key information and guidance.

sites.google.com

New paper in The Lancet Psychiatry, with @thomasjaki.bsky.social as co-author, about the GAINS-2 Trial - A Bayesian adaptive randomised trial which uses a digital intervention to combat the trauma UK healthcare workers experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A digital imagery-competing task intervention for stopping intrusive memories in trauma-exposed health-care staff during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK: a Bayesian adaptive randomised clinical trial

Psychological trauma, such as witnessing an untimely or gruesome death, commonly provokes intrusive memories that might persist for days to years with…

sciencedirect.com

We are looking forward to taking part in #CamFest. We will be at the Big Biomedical Campus Family Day on Sat 21st March and will be having lots of fun with statistics!

University of Cambridge@cam.ac.uk · 6mo ago

The @cambridgefestival.bsky.social is back – and it's bigger and better than ever! 🎉 With over 350 events across science, the arts, society and more, discover the ideas – and the people – shaping our future. Dive into this year's programme: https://bit.ly/4670tIO #CamFest #Cambridge

Happy International Day of Women and Girls in Science 💪🎉 We are proud to have many outstanding women working at the BSU and this graphic represents just some of them. #WomenInSTEM #WomenInScience #WomenInStatistics #EveryVoiceInScience

Join our hybrid Bradford Hill Seminar 'Leveraging External Data for Testing Experimental Therapies with Biomarker Interactions in Randomized Clinical Trials' with Professor Lorenzo Trippa @hsph.harvard.edu & @danafarber.bsky.social 📅 Friday 27 February, 1 PM Info & registration buff.ly/xoDhItz

Exciting news! ✨ We will be hosting MASAMB 2026. Save the dates: 7 - 8 September, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge More info, including how to submit an abstract, will be coming soon 👇 www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/events #MASAMB2026

Medicines360 has acquired global licensing rights to innovative pregnancy-risk tools developed by researchers from @cam.ac.uk & Uni Edinburgh. Paul Kirk is Co-Principal Investigator in the Cambridge team of researchers behind the novel blood-based biomarkers. www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/news/medicin...