Our first Bradford Hill Seminar of 2026 will be in-person with Professor Clare Turnbull of the Institute of Cancer Research to discuss expanding testing of cancer susceptibility genes from the clinic to the population. 📅 Wed 14 Jan, 1 PM (UK) Register: buff.ly/hZtYEKZ @phgfoundation.bsky.social

Genetic evidence suggests that alcohol’s effect is limited to certain cancer types. New research published in BMC Medicine, led by Stephen Burgess, Susanna Larsson and Siddhartha Kar. Read more 👇 www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/news/genetic... Read full paper 👇 link.springer.com/article/10.1...

New paper: "Alcohol consumption and risk of cancer: a Mendelian randomization analysis of four biobanks and consortium data" out at BMC Medicine: link.springer.com/article/10.1.... Lots of interesting findings! Brief thread:

Libby Daniells from the BSU and colleagues have developed a new technique to improve the reliability of #ClinicalTrials. Read more 👇 www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/news/incorpo... Paper in Biostatistics 👇 academic.oup.com/biostatistic...

BSU PhD student, Jackie Rao, is at the Machine Learning for Health Symposium in San Diego, organised by the Association for Health Learning and Inference. Yesterday, Jackie presented a poster about her work on Federate Variational Inference for Bayesian Mixture Models. Congrats to Jackie 🤩👏

In a letter published in European Respiratory Society, Benjamin Woolf, Stephen Burgess and colleagues, demonstrate that medical record codes are an unreliable source of information for defining Pulmonary Hypertension cases. www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/news/address...

New pre-print "Mendelian randomization in a multi-ancestry world: reflections and practical advice" led by @amymariemason.bsky.social on - arxiv.org/abs/2510.17554

Another fantastic Armitage Workshop! This year, it was on the theme of integration of data from multiple domains, with fantastic talks and discussions. Thanks to all our speakers and to all those who attended.

Our brilliant BSU #PhD students, joined by Matthew Stephens from University of Chicago.

Happy #WorldStatisticsDay2025! 🎉 At the BSU, you can find a fantastic group of passionate people driven to improve the way we look at scientific problems and design methods to help us understand the deluge of data we are surrounded by.

I'm very excited to be attending my first #ASHG25 this week! Come find me at poster board 1090F to talk about flexible and efficient eQTL mapping with quasar!

📣Preprint alert - a tricky one, as there are no significant results (and we all know null-results are hard to publish) Do PCSK9 levels affect survival in breast cancer patients? We tried to replicate findings in cell lines and mouse model using 3 Mendelian Randomization approaches, but failed.

Our Director John Whittaker took part in a short video interview discussing; what motivated him to work in biostatistics, why he enjoys being Director, and his thoughts on the future of #Biostatistics. Watch here 👇 youtu.be/o3ArK999wgE

Full recording of the PSI webinar by myself and @jack_bowdenjack on instrumental variable methods is available online: psiweb.org/vod/item/efs...

There are 2 weeks left to register for our annual flagship event - 22nd Armitage Workshop and Lecture. The theme this year is integration of data from multiple domains, with a brilliant programme of talks. 23 Oct, Cambridge and online onlinesales.admin.cam.ac.uk/conferences-...

🧠Any level of alcohol consumption increases risk of dementia This study, led by Oxford Population Health, @yaleschoolofmed.bsky.social, @mrc-bsu.bsky.social and @oxfordpsychiatry.bsky.social shows even low levels of drinking may increase risk of dementia. Learn more ➡️

Happy #PostdocAppreciationWeek 😀🎉🤩 Programme Leaders, Sofia Villar and Paul Kirk, endorse just how brilliant our BSU postdocs are and how they add significant value to our research portfolio and working environment. Thank you to each and every one of you 🙏

At our next hybrid Bradford Hill Seminar, @dannydorling.bsky.social of the University of Oxford will discuss: The politics of epidemiology and public health in the UK 📅 Wed 15 October, 1 PM (UK) Register at buff.ly/wblZfOx @dphpc.bsky.social @mrc-bsu.bsky.social @phgfoundation.bsky.social

A few weeks ago, we filmed a lovely short interview with Research Associate, Rajenki Das 🤩 Rajenki gives a summary of her current research and discusses what she enjoys about working at the BSU, as well as what she likes to do outside of work. Watch the video at 👇 youtu.be/NzQl4KXkgwo

This summer we welcomed another fantastic cohort of #Interns to work on and contribute to BSU research projects. "The internship has not only given me technical skills and research experience, but also something deeper - a sense of direction." Read more: www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/news/another...

Our short course on Adaptive Methods in Clinical Research is back! 17 - 19 Nov, Cambridge We introduce the definition of adaptive designs and consider its several most common types. More info & registration 👇 onlinesales.admin.cam.ac.uk/conferences-...

We were delighted to take part in the first Cambridge Biomedical Campus School Safari. We welcomed a group of local school students to our Unit, to have fun with statistics and inspire future careers in #STEM. Read more 👇 www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/news/local-s...

This summer, we are privileged to have a fantastic group of interns with us for eight weeks. They are each working with our researchers on projects and experiencing life at our Unit. It's great to have you all with us 😀

New pre-print online: "Context-stratified Mendelian randomization: exploiting regional exposure variation to explore causal effect heterogeneity and non-linearity", arxiv.org/abs/2507.11088. We propose an alternative approach to assess non-linearity in Mendelian randomization.

Very excited to share new work from my PhD on a new software package for eQTL mapping: quasar. The quasar software package is a C++ program designed to provide a flexible and efficient eQTL mapping. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

We're sharing more Natsal methods innovations at #ESRA25 today: Tommy Nyberg @mrc-bsu.bsky.social is presenting on integrating survey data from different samples Eileen Irvin @ipsosintheuk.bsky.social is presenting about remote biosample collection

Today, Tommy Nyberg is speaking at #ESRA2025 about his work on the Natsal Study @natsal.bsky.social - "Data Integration Using Doubly Robust and Bayesian Meta-Analysis Methods for Probability and Convenience Samples" www.europeansurveyresearch.org/conf2025/pro...

👀Look out for three Natsal-4 talks at #ESRA25 this week: Katharine Sadler @natcen.bsky.social with an overview of Natsal-4's methods Eileen Irvin @ipsosintheuk.bsky.social on remote biosampling Tommy Nyberg @mrc-bsu.bsky.social on analysis methods to combine probability and non-probability data

On 7 May 2025, Victoria Hall of the UK Health Security Agency delivered a Bradford Hill Seminar: The SIREN study at five years: Tracking SARS-CoV-2 and respiratory infections in UK healthcare workers since 2020 Watch a recording: buff.ly/S6Y59TP @mrc-bsu.bsky.social @phgfoundation.bsky.social

In May, we organised a one-day workshop on the topic of HIV and STI data and how they can be better used to inform sexual health services. Read more: www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/news/using-l...

Registration now open for short course on: Efficient Adaptive Designs for Phase I Dose-Finding and Dose-Optimisation Studies 24 - 26 Sept, Cambridge Register: onlinesales.admin.cam.ac.uk/conferences-... @pmozgunov.bsky.social @thomasjaki.bsky.social

Congratulations to our Emeritus Director, Prof Sylvia Richardson, on being named a 2024 Top Scholar by Scholar GPS 👏 scholargps.com/scholars/184...

Many congratulations to Research Associate, Mia Tackney, on being awarded an NIHR Advanced Fellowship 👏🤩 Mia's fellowship will focus on digital outcome measures in clinical trials. Read more 👇 www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/news/mia-tac... @nihr.bsky.social

Sarah Dawson and Sofia Villar from the BSU are at #CCR25. Sarah is presenting about the Nasal High-Flow Oxygen Therapy after Cardiac Surgery, with colleagues Andrew Klein and Siddesh Shetty. @criticalcarereviews.com

We had a fantastic away day yesterday, bringing together our amazing and talented staff and students for a day of sharing, learning and recognising the great people who work at the BSU. Big thanks to the organising team for creating a brilliant day for us all 🤩

📣Paper alert! (Spoiler: this is not my usual GenEpi paper 😁 #phylogenetics) How many small trees do you need to define one supertree? Mareike Fischer and I explored this question and defined a subclass of taxon sets that guarantees decisiveness aka one supertree link.springer.com/article/10.1...

New publication at European Journal of Epidemiology: "Search for common genetic variants to allow reliable Mendelian randomization investigations into ketone metabolism" led by Zhu Liduzi (Julie) Jiesisibieke. Link: link.springer.com/article/10.1.... Brief thread:

PPI Showcase! Thursday 12th June! Afternoon talks highlighting the best of local PPI include: How PPIE can get you over the starting line @cam.ac.uk Prostate cancer: diet & gut health @cuh.nhs.uk @angliaruskin.bsky.social @campsydept.bsky.social @mrc-bsu.bsky.social @caminfectdis.bsky.social

Fantastic two days of stimulating talks and discussions at our Workshop on Adaptive and Bayesian Designs in Real Trials, where statisticians, clinicians and patients have shared their experiences of #ClinicalTrials. Thanks to all our speakers and all those who attended.

📢 READ-OUT Study milestone: Six UK sites now open with more to follow this month! The Blood Biomarker Challenge project is expanding rapidly to improve #dementia diagnosis through innovative testing. Learn how to participate: zurl.co/wIkYp#dementia #DPUK #DementiaResearch

Many congratulations to BSU Research Associate, Stina Zetterstrom, on being awarded the Best Student Paper Award by the Swedish Society for Medical Statistics, for her paper on 'Bounds for selection bias using outcome probabilities' 🤩👏 statistikframjandet.se/fms/best-pap...

Daniela De Angelis, Conor Egan and Constantin Schmidt are at the 45th Conference on Applied Statistics in Ireland. Daniela gave a keynote talk, while Conor and Constantin each presented about their PhD work. Congrats to them all 🤩 #CASI2025

Very proud of this work led by @nguyenlab.bsky.social ! Massive effort to characterise clonal diversity in PDTXs from breast cancer

I joined Will Dixon and the team at BBC’s Curious Cases to chat about how weather and seasons might influence inflammation and pain. A really fun conversation! www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Last week, Sofia Villar gave a talk at @astrazeneca.bsky.social about her expert research on response-adaptive randomisation in #ClinicalTrials, discussing the strengths and limitations of response-adaptive studies.

Still time to register for this exciting hybrid event on Adaptive and Bayesian Designs in Real Trials. 📆 5 & 6 June, Cambridge and online Register 👇 onlinesales.admin.cam.ac.uk/conferences-... #AdaptiveDesigns #ClinicalTrials #Bayesian @pmozgunov.bsky.social

We are delighted to have Peter Mueller from the University of Texas visiting our Unit. Today he is delivering the first part of a short course on Nonparametric Bayesian Methods in Biostatistics and Bioinformatics.

A brilliant day at our Ethics and Innovative Trial Designs workshop. Thanks to the fantastic speakers, co-organisers and sponsors, and to all those who attended 🤩 @cmu.edu @ox.ac.uk

Great talks have continued at the Ethics and Innovative Trial Designs workshop, with Alex John London from @cmu.edu and Jerome Singh from Uni KwaZulu-Natal on the ethical aspects of adaptive designs.

Our Ethics and Innovative Trial Designs Workshop has kicked off with @thomasjaki.bsky.social speaking on routinely used and complex adaptive designs.