Press Releases

7th April 2008
TB bacteria fatten up to survive
Researchers have found that TB bacteria in infected sputum are filled with fat, which could help explain why TB infection is so hard to clear.
One of the biggest hurdles to controlling TB is that the bacterium responsible (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) is very efficient at spreading from one person to another. Despite this, little is known about the transmission of this bacterium.

7th April 2008
It’s all in the genes
Researchers at St George’s may be close to creating the first treatment to halt the progress of a type of motor neurone disease.
Dr Andrew Crosby and members of the Genetics Group have identified the gene responsible for a form of hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP), which attacks nerve fibres in the spine and can strike at any age.

7th April 2008
An X-Ray Vision
Spinal injury can devastate a life. But new research by St George’s neurosurgeon Marios Papadopoulos and his colleagues could one day bring hope to patients facing a bleak future

27th Feb. 2008
‘Widening Participation’ works, results show
Students from poor-performing schools who are accepted into medical school with lower grades do just as well as their higher-grade peers, the first study of its kind has shown.

St George’s, University of London today published the first results of its Adjusted Criteria admissions policy for medicine, introduced in 2003. In the first-year final exams, there was less than a one per cent difference in the average mark achieved by students on the scheme, and those accepted with the standard offer of AAB or above.

20th Nov. 2007
St George’s scoops $21 million
St George’s has been selected, as part of the Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative to receive one of 43 international grants for groundbreaking research projects to improve health in developing countries.

The research group led by Professor Robin Shattock of the Centre for Infection, which includes Professor Martin Cranage and Professor Julian Ma of the Division of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, has received a grant for $19.7 million jointly from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust. This will provide a significant opportunity for the development of new interventions in the fight against HIV and AIDS through the development of novel vaginal vaccines.

1st Nov. 2007
St George's beats Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London and UCL.

St George's, University of London has come second in a Guardian newspaper league table of research papers and their impact, published this week. Figures show that SGUL research papers had twice as much impact as the world average in terms of how often they were cited in peer-reviewed journals.

St George's beat Oxford and Cambridge, Imperial College London and UCL, who came respectively 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th in the Evidence for Education Guardian table. The Institute of Cancer Research came top.

The Guardian judged the impact of the 2,892 SGUL research papers based on the Thomson Scientific Index, which measures impact according to how many more times than the world average (unique to subject areas) the papers have been cited between 2002 and 2006 in peer-reviewed journals.

For the full tables, see www.educationguardian.co.uk

April 30th 2007
Medical training on drink and drugs abuse cases ‘must be improved’
UK medical schools are leading the call for substance abuse training to become part of every trainee doctor’s course in response to the huge volume of drink and drug-related hospital cases
See this link for full release in PDF format  Medical Training Press Release

March 9th 2007
New TB test to speed up diagnosis
A quick and accurate new blood test for diagnosing TB is being developed by scientists at St George’s, University of London.

March 9th 2007
New blood test to detect prostate cancer
Scientists at St George’s, University of London, are working on a blood test that uses DNA markers to identify prostate cancer cells that are shed into the bloodstream.

February 23 2007
Trainee doctors turn Doctor Dolittle
Medical students turned Doctor Dolittle as they entertained a four-legged star guest at the annual St George’s University charity ball.Perry the llama was the main attraction at the St George’s Rag ball on Saturday night, held at London Zoo. He was happy to pose for pictures with students, including ball organiser Charlie Walsh, while handler Jamie Pearce was on hand to keep eight-year-old Perry, which is short for Peridot, on a tight leash. Music was provided by band The Dirty Birds.

19th February 2007
New drug trials could slash TB treatment times
The current incidence and prevalence of tuberculosis are severely straining the capacity of some National Tuberculosis Control Programmes to successfully administer the WHO recommended standard six-month regimen. Trials of a new drug combination to treat tuberculosis could cut the length of time patients have to take their medicine by a third.

19th December 2006
Pioneering Partnership has healthy aims: new three-way alliance launched
A unique academic alliance between Kingston University, Royal Holloway, University of London and St George’s, University of London will be launched on 19 December and will aim to address the historic under-provision of higher education in London’s south-west quadrant. 

12th December 2006
Oxford Gene Technology in collaboration with St George’s, University of London and St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust to develop diagnostic chip to test for multiple sexually transmitted infection Oxford Gene Technology (OGT), St George’s University of London and St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust are pleased to announce the signing of a collaboration agreement to develop a cost-effective single platform microarray to diagnose multiple sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

1st December 2006
€15.5 million EUROPRISE to drive novel approaches to HIV prevention
A €15.5 million grant from the European Commission awarded under the Sixth Framework Programme will bring together HIV/AIDS researchers at 32 institutions - including universities, governmental research institutes and pharmaceutical industries - in 10 countries to prevent the spread of the AIDS pandemic.

Professor Robin Shattock, of St George’s, University of London, who will coordinate the research network called “EUROPRISE”, said the award held out the promise of “the most important advance yet in scientific efforts at a European-wide level in HIV-1 prevention and represents another resounding endorsement of the high commitment to HIV/AIDS prevention research in Europe”.

20th October 2006
New brief intervention initiative to tackle alcohol problems:
A major new Department of Health funded research programme led by St George’s, University of London and University of Newcastle is launched today. A major new research programme to tackle alcohol problems is launched today at a national conference hosted by St George’s, University of London. A new £3.2 million implementation national research programme of alcohol screening and brief intervention, funded by the Department of Health, will identify the best method of helping people with alcohol problems attending primary care, accident and emergency departments, and criminal justice agencies in England. Alcohol misuse and dependence affect 8.2 million adults in England leading to an estimated cost to society of £20 billion per annum. Alcoholic liver disease is at an all time high level, and alcohol is now the 3rd leading cause of ill health after tobacco and high blood pressure.

05 October 2006
Reduction in the number of Drug- Related Deaths
The National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths (np-SAD) based at the International Centre for Drug Policy, St George’s, University of London, has found that there has been a decline in the number of drug-related deaths occurring, from 1,472 in 2004 to 1,382 in 2005, a drop of about six per cent over the number recorded by the same sources.The report published today contains information on drug-related deaths for the year 2005 reported by Coroners in England & Wales and the </SP