King's Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine

Clinical trials are fundamental to modern healthcare, but what are they, how do they work and why are they important? As part of our summer campaign, 'Development of new medicines and treatments at King's', hear from Galloway James, Professor of Rheumatology and Clinical Trials Specialist at King's, answer the key questions around clinical trials and explain why almost every decision made involving patients is underpinned by them. https://lnkd.in/eJ52w7pK

A new mechanism for transporting long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs), like omega-3s, from the mother to the foetus during pregnancy has been identified in a new study led by King's College London. The findings are a first step in understanding the unique and complex mechanisms of metabolism during pregnancy. The team, led by Professor Marika Charalambous, hopes the findings could be used to inform the design of new clinical interventions in the future to tackle LC-PUFA deficiency and improve pregnancy outcomes for both the mother and child. Read more below ⬇ https://lnkd.in/dQdfeami

King’s researchers together with industry and collaboration partners have developed a new device for non-invasive detection of liver abnormalities via Magnetic Resonance Elastography. #healthcare #MedTech #innovation

Pioneering new research from King’s and UCL has found that weight loss surgery may reduce the risk of heart failure for people living with obesity. Co-led by Professor Barbara McGowan (Professor in Diabetes and Endocrinology, King’s) and Professor Charlotte Manisty (Professor of Cardiology, UCL), and the support from Professor Francesco Rubino (Chair of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, King's) the study found blood flow to the patient’s heart increased six months after weight loss surgery. Find out how ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/eYUsRjG9

A new study looking at the experiences of families and healthcare professionals following incidents involving NHS maternity care highlights critical factors for improving communication with families. The team hopes the findings from the study will drive improvements in open disclosure in a way that best supports both families and healthcare professionals. "What we found was that in these NHS trusts, good practice surrounding open disclosure wasn’t systemic, but dependent on staff members’ ability to have, and experience with having, difficult conversations with families. The key issue is how do we make these processes part of standard care, and how can we best support staff to have these difficult conversations," said Professor Jane Sandall CBE FMedSci from King's College London who co-led the study with Dr Mary Adams. Read more about the findings from the DISCERN study below ⬇ https://lnkd.in/eQkSbhc7 The study was carried out with collaborators at King’s, Sands - baby loss charity, BirthRights, The University of Manchester and the Birth Trauma Association (UK), and funded by the NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research).

Genevieve Lachance is a Data Manager in the Department of Twin Research & Genetic Epidemiology within our School of Life Course & Population Sciences at King's College London. Genevieve recently won an Outstanding Professional Services Award at our Faculty Staff Awards for her work on the TwinsUK cohort data 👏 We spoke to Genevieve to find out more about her work, current projects and what she gets up to outside of the office (including singing in a video with Annie Lennox!). Read the full interview below ⬇ https://lnkd.in/e9nk7SFZ

Did you know that the first NHS offering of gene-editing therapy is based on research from our Faculty? In 2007, Dr Swee Lay Thein, Professor of Molecular Haematology at King's (at the time) and Dr Stuart Orkin, a Professor at Harvard University, made a discovery that has led to a 'revolutionary breakthrough' for patients with the blood disorders sickle cell disease and beta thalassaemia.   Dr Swee Lay Thein and her group revealed the influence of the gene BCL11A on the persistence of the fetal form of haemoglobin. She and Dr Orkin were jointly awarded the prestigious Shaw Prize in Life Science & Medicine this year for their groundbreaking research around BCL11A. Their work with BCL11A eventually led to the revolutionary and highly effective genome-editing therapy used to treat haemoglobinopathies.   Today, the research is continued by a group of clinical and lab academics at King's, including Professors John Strouboulis and David Rees and Drs Stephan Menzel, John Brewin, Kate Gardner and others, in collaboration with colleagues in Nigeria, Tanzania, Brazil and the US.   Read more about the practical application of this therapy in the BBC article below: https://lnkd.in/eStW-nNr

NIHR has funded universities across 12 regions in England £33.2m as part of the new INSIGHT: Inspiring Students into Research scheme. The three-year funding supports King’s to deliver research training and engagement programmes for students and early career professionals. It is open to students and recent graduates from registered healthcare professions (not including doctors and dentists), social work professions and public health professions. Read more below: https://lnkd.in/eiD656Cv

So exciting! Stay tuned for the full reveal in September!! #hubforappliedbioinformatics

We are pleased to be hosting the inaugural Interdisciplinary Aortic Dissection Symposium on Friday 6th September at King’s College London.  This innovative one-day symposium will welcome internationally recognised experts to discuss contemporary topics related to the management of aortic dissection.   We are delighted that our outstanding faculty from outside the UK have agreed to attend the meeting in person and we look forward to presentations from Stephen Cheng, Cherrie Abraham, Firas Mussa, Stephan Haulon, Tilo Kolbel, Germano Melissano, Barend Mees and Tim Resch.  We also have high quality faculty members from the UK including Rachel Bell, Tara Mastracci, Aung Oo, Christoph Neinaber and Michael Sabetai. The event stands out for its multidisciplinary approach, welcoming vascular and cardiothoracic surgeons, interventional radiologists, allied healthcare professionals, and trainee colleagues. Featuring not only talks by world-renowned experts, the symposium also includes information on upcoming trials, encourages debate and highlights real-life difficult to manage cases.  We look forward to welcoming you to this unique and innovative meeting Register at https://lnkd.in/gE3dyK8U With thanks to our sponsors - Cook Medical, Medtronic, Terumo Aortic, Gore and Bentley