3 Aug 2016

‘Take me to the Bridge!’ marks 50 years across the Tay

The University of Dundee’s Gair Dunlop has brought together work from local artists and writers for a publication marking the Tay Road Bridge’s upcoming 50th anniversary. Irreverent yet celebratory , ‘Take me to the Bridge!’ is a 24-page artists’ newspaper enabling members of Dundee and Fife’s creative community, including several writers and artists from the University, to explore what the bridge means to them and the region. Contents include Eddie Summerton’s investigation of rumours of royal skulduggery, Janice Aitken speculating that a well-known Japanese mon...

2 Aug 2016

Appendix and tonsil removals lead to higher pregnancy rates, study shows

Women who have their appendix or tonsils removed when they are young are more likely to get pregnant, and do so sooner, than the rest of the population, a new study led by the University of Dundee has shown. The study examined the anonymised medical records of hundreds of thousands of women in the United Kingdom. Pregnancy rates were significantly higher among those who had had an appendectomy (54.4%), tonsillectomy (53.4%) or both (59.7%) than those in the rest of the population (43.7%). Time to pregnancy was also shortest among those who had both an appendectomy and tonsillectomy, followed by appendect...

1 Aug 2016

Dr Hadwen Trust grant to boost Thiel training

The University of Dundee’s pioneering work with the Thiel embalming method means that those who bequeath their remains for research and education will soon be helping to teach doctors potentially life-saving surgical interventions and validate the testing of new medical devices. A £311,409 grant from the Dr Hadwen Trust will enable staff from the University’s School of Medicine and Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification (CAHID) to develop a programme for training senior medics. Heart, stroke, kidney and liver patients are among those who will benefit from the training clinicians und...

29 Jul 2016

Lab method sheds light on how genetic mutations cause inherited Parkinson’s disease

Researchers led by the University of Dundee’s Professor Dario Alessi have developed a new method of measuring the activity of disease-causing mutations in the LRRK2 gene, a major cause of inherited Parkinson’s disease. The team believes this research, which is published in Biochemical Journal, could help pave the way for future development of a clinical test that could facilitate evaluation of drugs to target this form of the condition. Mutations in the LRRK2 gene are the most common cause of genetic Parkinson’s disease. The most common disease-causing mutation in this gene increases th...

28 Jul 2016

Death on the Fringe

Staff and students from the University of Dundee will explore what happens when you shuffle off this mortal coil as they take to the stage at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe next weekend. The previously unseen ‘Death Pantomime’ written by Eddie Small, English Tutor at the University, will feature staff and students from across the institution in a bid to raise awareness of the cultural changes in our traditions of death over the last 80 years through dark comedy and song. The play searches the culture of death in Scotland and seeks to highlight how bereavement has changed, as more and more cult...